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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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 Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:43 pm Post subject: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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| Has anyone ever restored an interior light? I know that sounds stupid, but I'm working on a '53 oval, and the interior light is a 9-10 month only interior light and I'd like to restore it. This interior light is probably one of the hardest be parts to find, and I happen to have 2 of them that I'd like to fix. One just needs the chrome repainted or however they did that part, the other one has an issue with the switch contact. I figured it would be worth trying to fix, and wanted to see if anyone has come up with ways to refurbish one. |
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Matthew Tolbert
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2004
Posts: 706
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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Seems they are not all that rare as I have 2 also haha. I'm interested if anyone has come up with a way to restore them also. One of mine came with my car and works but shows it's age and the other I got from the classifieds. It is supposed to have been NOS and is in good condition but isn't perfect.
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S |
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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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| Matthew Tolbert wrote: |
| Seems they are not all that rare as I have 2 also haha. I'm interested if anyone has come up with a way to restore them also. One of mine came with my car and works but shows it's age and the other I got from the classifieds. It is supposed to have been NOS and is in good condition but isn't perfect. |
Yours is the on/off only style too? Hopefully there's someone who's done this that can chime in. |
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Matthew Tolbert
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2004
Posts: 706
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:20 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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Yes they are two position on/off. Here is a picture of them
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S |
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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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| Matthew Tolbert wrote: |
Yes they are two position on/off. Here is a picture of them
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Those both look pretty nice, hopefully there's a way to clean these things up and possibly repair them. |
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sotos
Samba Member
Joined: November 15, 2014
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:57 am Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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| Matthew Tolbert wrote: |
Yes they are two position on/off. Here is a picture of them
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Nice pair ,somewhere on the site I read that these were probably painted originally with some kind of white paint inside, it seems from your photos that this is correct.
It would be useful if you could post a couple of photos of the inner side especially around the switch area. Thanks.
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http://www.komenda-porsche-designer.at/
Oval53 (June)
Beetle 1.3 1966
New beetle 1.6 2003 |
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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:39 am Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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| sotos wrote: |
| Matthew Tolbert wrote: |
Yes they are two position on/off. Here is a picture of them
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Nice pair ,somewhere on the site I read that these were probably painted originally with some kind of white paint inside, it seems from your photos that this is correct.
It would be useful if you could post a couple of photos of the inner side especially around the switch area. Thanks. |
They were definitely painted, I'll add some pictures of mine as well. |
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Matthew Tolbert
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2004
Posts: 706
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:35 am Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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Yes I agree on the paint. I Also read about it in a thread here some time ago. Here are a few pictures of the backside and of the switch and contact
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S |
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sotos
Samba Member
Joined: November 15, 2014
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:34 am Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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These pics are great ! Thanks Matthew. 
Certainly there is a "factory" look on how the paint is applied , now we need to know what kind of paint is that ,I assume it should have a degree of transparency and not affecting the plastic.
I have one very similar but with three position switch , I'll have to use that until I find a proper one.
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http://www.komenda-porsche-designer.at/
Oval53 (June)
Beetle 1.3 1966
New beetle 1.6 2003 |
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sotos
Samba Member
Joined: November 15, 2014
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:38 am Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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As a tip on Jays58s original question about the chrome part of the dome light ,
though I haven't done any restoration of this type myself I don't think it is painted but there must have been used a plating technique like this one :
http://www.muellercorp.com/chrome.php
_________________
http://www.komenda-porsche-designer.at/
Oval53 (June)
Beetle 1.3 1966
New beetle 1.6 2003 |
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Matthew Tolbert
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2004
Posts: 706
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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I think the most difficult part would be removing the old paint and chrome finish to be able to replate them.
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S |
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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 2:02 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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I finally got the interior light working and in the car, but I still need to figure out how to fix the chrome, and I need to replace the knob.
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Matthew Tolbert
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2004
Posts: 706
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:27 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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Looks good
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S |
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Brad Ripley
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Joined: June 20, 2011
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Location: Sparks, NV
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jays58s
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2004
Posts: 2133
Location: Nor-Cal
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: 1953 oval only Dome/interior light restoration |
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Is that a 2 position switch? '53 ovals came with a 2 position interior light that was only used for 9 months. The 3 position switches are for '54 and later bugs, those are fairly easy to find. |
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