I have switched over my tail lights to the '54 Chevy lights, from the '53 on my bel air. The Bel Air has a 3 bulb system where the top bulb is the drive light, middle bulb is the brake light (dual filament), and the bottom bulb is reverse light. The '54 backing plate only allows for 2 bulbs (brake light and reverse light), so it's obvious to me that the running light needs to be wired into the dual filament brake socket so I have a running light by powering the smaller filament. The problem is the brake bulb socket for the '53 only has two wire connections, where it seems like I need 3 (one power for brake, one power for running light, and one ground)? Is this wiring assumption correct? Is it possible that the two wires could be power wires, and the ground is not necessary because the bulb socket grounds itself to the backing plate? Also, if someone has a '54 Chevy could you snap a picture of the rear brake bulb socket (top one) for me to compare with my '53 socket? I didn't know if I needed to purchase the '54 bulb socket, or if they were the same? If I do need to purchase the new socket, does anyone know where I could get one? Thanks in advance guys and gals.
Go to Autozone and buy a replacement pigtail for a dual-element taillight. Or a whole socket. (You'll have to cut the wires to splice in the new socket anyway.) There is nothing special about them - just take yours with you for reference on the size. They are pretty universal. I bought some '55 Chevy taillight sockets for my car when I did the same thing you're doing (they are identical to '54 Chevy), but that was only because I happened to go to a swap meet and there was a '55-57 Chevy dealer there.
Hmmm... you don't want the left or right signal feeding back into the running light part cause it'll light em all up though. Ohhh yep he's right... you should have 2 wires from the two bulbs, and on the new socket there will be two wires. Sorry brain fart!
There are also conversion kits for going from 2 bulb to 1 bulb. They essentially turn your taillights into trailer lights. I think they're about $10 from Wal Mart, and you just wire it into your old taillight wires, then it has new output wires to your taillights.
Thanks guys, So are the two wires going into the socket supposed to both be power wires, and the socket grounds itself to the housing? So in other words, no need for a ground wire?