fbekholden.com

The small things that make ya night! :p I've not long had the reverse lamp wired up in my ek.. the 3 point turn from back lane into garage (no light also) is now tooo easy ... query though, is there another segment to the housing that is not normally supplied as standard to the rear light assembly..? auto elec just soldered the wire straight to the light bulb.. just checked on my old Blu ek and it too just had this.. ???

.. for the inside section that is...

G'day Leina,

For the reverse lamps, there is normally a black rubber plug that is fitted to the back of the tailight fitting (from inside the boot). The plugs get removed, and a "tail" is fitted. The tail has spring loaded contacts to supply power to the bulb, and electrical leads to connect to the wiring harness - see the green wired fitting in the photo below.


One way to get a tail is to butcher an old wiring harness, though care needs to be taken to ensure that the right type of bulb is used to match up to the contacts in the tail. Some of the tails that you can cut out of an FB/EK harness have two contacts, and hence need a bulb with two contacts - using a single contact bulb (like an indicator bulb) means that the bulb will not contact properly. Note that the tail in the photo above has only one contact.

Because the wiring harness I butchered only had twin-contact tails left, I ended up using a stop/brake bulb, as it has two contacts. Trouble is, the two-contact bulbs have their bayonet pins offset, and would not screw/bayonet into the light fitting. I resolved this by filing off one of the bayonets. A bit fiddly, but worked in the end.

Cheers,
Harv.

Thanks Harv again for your help/advice! Quite simple really once explained and looking beyond reverse lamp socket!.. will use old Blu's indicator terminals and bulbs..

You gota luv a reverse light package when they come with it all,where is the switch

Ooops... no switch in that photo. Here's a photo of the switch:

, and a photo of the switch + bracket.


I love it even more when you buy the genuine switch off eBay, and it doesn't come with the adjustable bracket to mount it to the steering column. Must have driven more than a few people nuts trying to work out how to fit it.

It's also a heap of fun adjusting the switch when the nylon trunnions have dropped out of the steering column... sodding column doesn't return properly and the switch fails to actuate even after you spend a few hours trying to tune it with your ten year old son operating the gear lever (don't ask me how I know ).

Might have to write a reverse light guide one day, though a few other projects to finish first.

Cheers,
Harv.

Yeh got the complete switch/bracket.. first thing I looked for!.. All set up and working great, gear change seems a little noisier than before though, clicky sounds... it was the terminal part that I was missing/wasn't aware of and didn't think to look at the way brake indicator was set up! Will get the soldered connection replaced with terminals.. All good