'68 & '69 Charger hood-mounted turn signal assemblies

[cjw916]

I thought I would share my positive experience I just had with ordering & installing Charger Specialties hood-mounted turn signals. They can be found here:

http://www.chargerspecialties.com/signals.htm

CS112 is a pair of signals for $219.95, CS114 is the short primary wiring harness $32.95, needed to connect the lamp leads to the T-shaped wiring connector near the master cylinder. Total cost $252.90

Compare these prices to Year One:

https://www.yearone.com/Product/1966-74-a-b-e-body/jh112

Their single lamp is $159.17 (times 2 for 2 lamps)

https://www.yearone.com/Product/1966-74-a-b-e-body/jh114

And their wiring harness is $51.01, for a total of $369.35, $116.45 more expensive than Charger Specialties.

Nearly exactly the same part numbers? Hmmm? My suspicions are that they're the exact same parts supplier, and Year One is gouging us. . .

Anyhow, my car did not come with hood-mounted signals; my hood had the block-off metal plates in the hood. They easily popped out, after I made sure the T-shaped wiring socket hanging above my master cylinder was indeed for the hood lamps!

First pic is of the wiring connector.
Second pic is the primary wiring harness plugged in & fastened to the hood. I used two wiring clips (third pic) near the right side of the hood, and two clips (fourth pic) going across the hood.

[cjw916]

I mounted the signals & ran the wires down the inside of the hood, exiting through round holes near where the primary wiring harness mounted. (first pic)

The lamp mounted perfectly & looks great. (second pic)

The lamp is plenty visible when lit. (third pic)

And looks great from inside the car. (fourth pic)

Very happy with the quality of the pieces from Charger Specialties, Russ was great to deal with, and you can't argue with the price.

Christopher

[mauve66]

did you happen to measure the holes in your hood before you put the signals in?? curious to the hole dimensions for installation in the back of a hood scoop/ and outside bezel dimensions also

[cjw916]

The lamps are exactly 2.25" wide by 0.75" tall, with rounded corners. They mount by sandwiching a tab on the left & right of the lamp. The tab is approximately .25" x .25", the lamp body sits in these tabs, and the cup-like back (gold in color, 1st pic in 2nd post) bolts on to hold the lamps seated against the tabs. I would extimate the tab is set back from the lamp lens face by about .25"

If it's a steel hood scoop, I'd say it'd be easy to cut & hammer so that the tabs hold the lamps right where you would want them. If it's fiberglass, it'd be more work to get the tabs 'just right' where you'd like them.

Christopher

[Dino]

Year One is gouging us. . .

Wait till you see their shipping quotes.   

Looking good my friend, I was looking at mine the other day.  They still work but 40 + years of the elements have turned the lenses white and brittle.

[cjw916]

The ones Classic Industries shows on their site have part of the blinker face painted black, I do not know if this is 'correct' or if the all amber lens face is 'correct'; I'm not worried, I like the way that mine look, I'm not going to pull them to paint that mask, even if it is 'correct'.

Christopher

[69wannabe]

The one's I bought from PG classics have the black painted on them. I can't remember how much they costed me but I already had the housings and just needed the lens's, wiring and retainers. They are not too pricey if you have the retainers. Mine work good and look good and I haven't seen any others with the black paint on them but it works for me!! 

[MaximRecoil]

Year One is gouging us. . .

Pretty much everyone in the "restoration parts" business is "gouging" us; some just do it worse than others. For example, look at that little harness for $32.95. It is a good deal compared to $51.01, but you could make that harness yourself for far less. When an individual can make a one-off of something themselves in a matter of minutes, paying full retail prices for the parts, for way less than what a big restoration parts retailer is selling it for, you know "gouging" is going on, and lots of it.

That harness consists of what appears to be a 2-cavity Packard 56 female connector ($0.55 retail), two Packard 56 male terminals ($0.78 total, retail), two short lengths of 16 or 18 gauge electrical wire (practically free, but let's be generous and say $1), and two bullet connectors (the ones with the black rubber boots may be hard to find, but ~$0.25-each ones from the hardware store work just as well).

So that comes to ~$3. You don't get the 3 wire retainer clips doing it that way, but even if you bought those at full restoration parts business price ($2.95 each from Charger Specialties), you'd be at ~$12 total, still far cheaper than $32.95.

[Dino]

There's a thread on here somewhere that discusses the black on the lenses.  I think there's a trace of black on mine but it's hard to see.  Either way they look great and I wouldn't worry about it unless you're going for a 100 pt car.

[tan top]

There's a thread on here somewhere that discusses the black on the lenses.  I think there's a trace of black on mine but it's hard to see.  Either way they look great and I wouldn't worry about it unless you're going for a 100 pt car.

have a look here 

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,21334.0.html

[JohnXP29]

Originals had a black gasket to prevent water from entering the engine bay.  Some of the reproductions paint the lens to give the factory look, however a lot of water can get into the engine area without an actually gasket.  Prices are all over the place on reproductions parts, I like Classic Industries and RT Specialities lately.