Trunk light resto Do they come apart?
 

This may be the best place to list this, has anyone had success trying to disassemble a trunk light for cleaning or restoration?
Wondering what you have found.
Thanks!

Are you talking about the 60's era reel out lights?

A reasonable question :)
Yes, reel out light!

I saw you were in Big Pontiac Tech so I was pretty sure it was about the reel out light (had one in my 62 Cat) but after all these years you never know.

It doesn’t look like these are made to come apart, at least very easily. I have several of these and wanted to replace the damaged cord on one of them. It appears the unit is held together by the rivets located around the bulb socket so I never replaced the cord. Don’t know what year light you have so yours may not have rivets, but still some form of rivet type attachment in the same location.

Thinking about it now I guess the rivets could be drilled out and replaced with pop-rivets at reassembly making sure that the new rivets don’t interfere with the cord. I’m also guessing that there is some type of slip ring set-up that allows the unit to turn while the rivets still hold things together. Don’t know how the cord is internally attached at the light which could also be a problem.

If you could find a trashed out light to use a test case that would be great. Don’t know if I would start drilling on a good light.

NOS

A bit pricey though . . . .

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35394437709....c101506.m1851

WOW!!! I thought I way overpaid $150 for my in box NOS light a couple of years ago:eek:

What condition is it in now? In my experience they can get tatty looking but they usually aren't in terrible shape. I did have one once that the mercury switch had failed, and I was able to remove it and replace it with a toggle switch (the only problem with doing that is you have to remember to turn it off by hand when closing the trunk.) They were fairly common in that era so there should still be some decent used ones kicking around, look for them at swap meets or online at the usual places. That eBay listing for an NOS one seems to me like the seller is fishing - unless it was a concours restoration I'd look for a good used one for a lot less money .

'Twas hoping that they could be disassembled for cleanup without re engineering the damn thing!

Mercury switch replacement
 

Try finding what is called a tilt switch on the internet.
When it tilts past level the switch changes off n on.
Parts from security devices

... or from pin ball machines.