Fuse '57 BT

[kurly]

I would like to fuse my bike for safety. I always heard the ground wire was the fuse, if so, what size wire should it be so it burns up before the rest of the wiring? At the Kucklehead reunion in Milwaukee I saw many with a modern fuse in the ground wire, What amperage are people running in the modern fuse? One more question on electrics, my Oil pressure light socket needs to be replaced. How is a (new,re-pop,salvaged) socket removed and installed in the dash mounting plate? Thanks Kurly

[bmh]

Don't know that I'd rely on the ground wire as a fuse. For those who wanted them I've installed a 15 amp in an inconspicuous location,usually under the dash. Though if you don't mind seeing it, somewhere on top the battery would provide best access.

[bobdo]

Kurly,
I've always seen fuse holders on the negative side of the battery, so that's where I placed mine. Years ago I had one on the positive side of the battery & that worked fine too. I'm not the one to talk with electrical questions, I just follow diagrams. I was fortunate to find a cool bakelite fuse holder at Davenport last year. The plastic ones look kinda outta place on an older bike.
I had to replace a light socket on my '47 dash. I talked to Clete at Old Dude about it because I thought I might be able to replace the insulator on the socket. The one between the socket & base. He was helpful in explaining how it was & I needed to replace the socket, which he had. He said it was difficult to replace looking like a factory job because a machine rolled a flange over. I ended up using fillet tools to roll the flange over & it looks exactly like the factory job next to it. If you don't know, fillet tools are used in prototyping or pattern work. They look like steel cartoon barbells. They are a rod with two different size spheres on the end. A set of them give you a range of fillets. Anyway, starting with the smallest to largest I sequentially peened over the flange & then finished laying it flat with a flat body hammer. I was damn pleased with the result. Removing the old one was the hardest part. I used an old wood chisel to get under the flange to pry it up, then lightly hit it to cave it in toward the middle to get it out.
Hope this helps, Bob

[kurly]

Thank You Brian and Bob, I will proceed and conquerer! Kurly

[Perry Ruiter]

One more question on electrics, my Oil pressure light socket needs to be replaced. How is a (new,re-pop,salvaged) socket removed and installed in the dash mounting plate? Thanks Kurly

I use a big set of Vise-Grips to remove the old socket assembly. You want to get it down to just the hole punched in the base with none of the old socket left. I have NOS sockets in stock and have special tooling made up to press in the sockets. Looks bone stock, have done dozens and dozens of bases without complaint. PM me if you want details ... Perry