"STOP" When The Light Flashes

Hello Gray Ghost fans!

Well, it's still winter and it's still cold out.  So work in the garage is painful.  Time for one of my "patented" small projects, to keep me in the game while I wait for warmer weather.  This one, though, is one that I've been thinking about for several years.  I've had the parts almost that long, too.  I just never got it done.

Have you figured it out from the title?  Maybe you have an idea, but I doubt you know the specifics.  The title phrase (minus the quotation marks) is what is on every school bus stop sign.  It tells the good drivers that when the lights are flashing, they must stop.  That way the kids are safe to exit the bus.  OK, you knew that.  But how does it relate to the Gray Ghost?  Easy.  But first how about a pic?  Here is a shot of an aftermarket, universal light socket for a single contact bulb:

Interesting, n'est ce pas?  I did not, however, need the whole socket.  This is all that I needed:

The wire/contact/spring will be used.  The housing is extra.  Too bad they don't sell just the wire/contact.  You'll see why in a moment....

Next is another aftermarket, universal housing.  This one, however, is a dual contact housing.  Together, in the package, it looks like this:

Blown apart, it looks like this:

The only part that I need for my project is the white wire and special contact ring at the top of the photo.  This special contact is the ground contact in both the original application and in my custom application.  It looks like this in a closeup:

Together, the two parts that I've hacked these socket sets for look like this:

You can see that the black (power) wire goes through the ground contact ring.  The ring will sit in the bottom of the socket, held in place by the spring and the non-conductive material that surrounds the power contact.  I needed this extra wire for the grounding connection because the custom application that I'm making will not be making contact with any metal on the truck, thus it can not be the ground point like it is in normal single contact bulb applications.

But what is this going in and what, exactly are we doing and how does this relate to a school bus?  Patience, grasshopper.  All is about to be revealed....

This is a view of the inside of the light housing for the light that I am restoring/modifying.  As you'll quickly see, I did nothing to restore it, other than the rewiring that we are about to talk about.

The socket is in the middle of the housing.  On either side of it are two press fit bolts.  These are the attaching points for the light to the truck/bus.  I chose not to strip the housing and repaint it because there is only a slight amount of surface rust and it is coated with an industrial quality paint.  Probably full of lead, too, now that I think about it.  Next is the reflector, the original cork gasket and the new, LED bulb sitting inside the housing:

Notice that the reflector and cork gasket both have a notch in them.  When you assemble the whole light, those notches need to be aligned with a similar notch in the light lens.  These allow moisture to weep out of the housing, if necessary.  Next is a stainless steel ring that clamps around the housing and the lens and holds it all together.  It looks like this:

I did have to replace the nut and bolts, as the originals were rusted badly.  Here's a shot of the reflector and LED bulb assembled into the light housing:

And now, for the the reason for the title and all of the hoopla... the light lens: 

It's the "STOP" light from a 1940's - 1950's school bus!  The whole light assembly is about 7 inches across!  This will be the the third brake light.  Fully assembled, it looks like this:

My plan is to build a set of bed rails and incorporate the third brake light into the rails that cross the rear of the bed.  There is plenty of room between the top of the bed and the rear window, so I'll adjust the light to sit just below the window.  It should be plenty visible from the road.

I know what you're thinking.  Seven inches across!  This is overkill.  It may well be.  However, back in the day, safety just wasn't the same consideration that it is today.  In fact, the truck originally came with only one tail light.  If you were worried about safety, you could buy a dealer installed second tail light for the passenger side!  Same for turn signals...not included.  However, the dealer would be happy to sell them to you!  And, as if that weren't bad enough, the tail lights are tiny!  It's also something that modern drivers have come to expect...that bright light on the back of the vehicle.  So that's where it is going.

Here's a shot of the back of the light showing the mounting bolts and the wires coming out of the housing:

I'll need a little dab of silicone caulk where the wires exit the housing.  I didn't have a grommet to use there, so the silicone will seal it up.  Turns out the bolts are standard 1/4-20 sized.  I'll get some washers and nuts to attach the light to the bed rails.

The light itself is a K-D lamp company light.  The housing is an SP158:

And the glass lens is an LS321:

Interestingly, the inside of the lens is embossed with the word "STOP" and it is painted to highlight the wording.  The inside looks like this:

And now for the money shot:

It Works!!!  Took it out into the garage and used some alligator clips to test it on the battery.  Voila!  The light is lit...better follow the rules and STOP!

Tomorrow I hope to beat the rain that is forecast and actually build the bed rails.  That means running the table saw outside in the cold... not fun.  We'll see how well I do in the morning.