68 how do you keep the parking lights on with the headlights

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Been wanting to do this for a while on my Dart. Looks a lot better driving down the road with the PL and HL on at the same time.
 
MILO said:
It still seems if you jumped your parking lights to your headlights at the back of the switch that when you turned on you parking lights the jumper would feed the headlights.
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don't want to overload the switch.. your better off getting the headlights to trigger a relay that lights the parking lights.
 
danmc77 said:
here are the wiring schematics for a 68 Dart. Take a look at the diagram of the headlight switch - it has 4 or 5 different terminals on the back - each powers a different set of lights - hazards, parking, turn signals, tail light, ground, etc. The terminal that powers the front parking lights is only switched on in the "parking light" position, and turns off when the heads are switched on. The one terminal that powers the tails and marker lights is powered in both positions. If you jump the two terminals, it will now power the front parking lights in both positions. The headlights are powered by a seperate terminal, so the heads function exactly like they did before.

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1968/68DartA.jpg
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1968/68DartB.jpg
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I guess that I would have to try it to believe that parking light wouldent feed the headlights when you have the switch in the parking light position

Maybe if the switch has a terminal for parking lights and a terminal for tail lights you could (at the switch) unhook the parking light terminal and connect it in line with the tail light terminal that would add the 2 front parking lights???
 
abodyjoe said:
don't want to overload the switch.. your better off getting the headlights to trigger a relay that lights the parking lights.
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The way the factory did it was REMOVE the parking lights from the original parking light terminal and parallel the front lamps with the tail lamp terminal.

They use the very same switch, the P terminal is no longer used.
 
Wow…a lot of tailchasing and guessing in this old thread! Fact is, the headlamp switch is the same whether you have a car that turns off the parking lamps when the headlamps come on (all cars through '68 except Barracudas) or a car that leaves the park lamps on with the headlamps ('69-up). It's safer to have the parkers on when the headlamps are on; that way if a headlight burns out other drivers still see you as a double-track vehicle (not a motorcycle). You don't need a relay and you will not overload the switch by making the easy mod to keep the parkers on with the headlamps.

Remove the headlamp switch and place a short 18ga jumper between the "P" and "R" terminals on the headlamp switch body, right down at the base of those terminals. Make sure the ends of the jumper are neatly tucked so they won't touch any adjacent terminals, then push the connector block onto the switch, on top of your new jumper wire. That's all you have to do. It puts the tail and park lamp contacts on the headlamp switch in common with each other. '69-up cars fed the parkers and tails from what had previously fed only the taillamps (which obviously remain lit with the headlamps).
 
HERE IS HOW the factory did it. Right out of the 72 manual. NOTICE that the P terminal is not used. Both park and tail are hooked to the "R" "rear" terminal.

mmpobt.jpg
 
danmc77 said:
I actually converted my front parking/turn signal lights into HID running lights, so I had to do this mod in additon to mounting new turn signals (led signals hidden at the bottom of my valance), and modifying the original housings to accept the HID bulb. IMO, it looks pretty bad-*** driving around with the HID fogs on.

On the Charger, the parking lights turned off when the heads turned on, but they also functioned as turn signals.
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Pics?:toothy7:
 
Hmmm. Never noticed there was a difference between the Barracuda and all the others.. wonder why they did that. My barracuda keeps the parking lights on with the Headlights...

I did notice my daughter's 66 Mustang turns off the parking lights. Actually the switch design is very similar to the Barracuda. I was thinking about doing this modification to her Mustang!
 
danmc77 said:
I actually converted my front parking/turn signal lights into HID running lights, so I had to do this mod in additon to mounting new turn signals (led signals hidden at the bottom of my valance), and modifying the original housings to accept the HID bulb. IMO, it looks pretty bad-*** driving around with the HID fogs on.
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Yeah, it looks bad-***, but in the bad (illegal and dangerous) way, not in the good (cool, nifty) way. Most of the info here applies. You cannot just "decide" any ol' lamp with any ol' bulb into a fog lamp, "running light", "driving light", etc. These are safety devices we're talking about, not fashion accessories or toys. They need to work the way they're supposed to work. The grownup thing is to find ways of customizing your car without creating safety hazards.
 
My sales brochure called the front parking lights on the 'Cuda rallye lights.

The text says:

Sure the 'Cuda's got rallye lights. Big, square yellow ones. And when
you snap on your headlights, they continue to burn. Why? So you can spot another Barracuda coming towards you at night. So you can wave or tap
your horn.
You've been elected to a club. With a quick-cornering membership badge.
 

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MoparDart68 said:
Great info, Dan. Where are you moving?
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It would be Seattle, where my house is, that used to be my grandparents', where my dad grew up.

But because of DOMA, I have to choose between living in my country of birth or living with my family -- not both! -- so it's going to be Vancouver BC.

(Don't get me wrong; as second-preference locations go, I will be much happier with Vancouver than I've been with Toronto for the last eleven years. But that don't change the fact that it sucks to have second-class citizenship in the "land of the free, with liberty and justice for all".)
 
Tony Fields said:
I agree....I wonder how many customers went for that.
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It's pretty clear they were trying to start a fanboy cult…y'know, like the Jeep Wave™ or the MINI Wave™ or the PT Cruiser Wave™. Oh, hey, hi there, complete stranger…lookit, we bought the same kind of car, OMG!

I'm not much on manufactured community/fad things like that. I do wave to other A-body owners, but at this late date that's different.
 
slantsixdan said:
It would be Seattle, where my house is, that used to be my grandparents', where my dad grew up.

But because of DOMA, I have to choose between living in my country of birth or living with my family -- not both! -- so it's going to be Vancouver BC.

(Don't get me wrong; as second-preference locations go, I will be much happier with Vancouver than I've been with Toronto for the last eleven years. But that don't change the fact that it sucks to have second-class citizenship in the "land of the free, with liberty and justice for all".)
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Yeah....kinda like a guy who smokes cigarettes.
 
slantsixdan said:
Wow…a lot of tailchasing and guessing in this old thread! Fact is, the headlamp switch is the same whether you have a car that turns off the parking lamps when the headlamps come on (all cars through '68 except Barracudas) or a car that leaves the park lamps on with the headlamps ('69-up). It's safer to have the parkers on when the headlamps are on; that way if a headlight burns out other drivers still see you as a double-track vehicle (not a motorcycle). You don't need a relay and you will not overload the switch by making the easy mod to keep the parkers on with the headlamps.

Remove the headlamp switch and place a short 18ga jumper between the "P" and "R" terminals on the headlamp switch body, right down at the base of those terminals. Make sure the ends of the jumper are neatly tucked so they won't touch any adjacent terminals, then push the connector block onto the switch, on top of your new jumper wire. That's all you have to do. It puts the tail and park lamp contacts on the headlamp switch in common with each other. '69-up cars fed the parkers and tails from what had previously fed only the taillamps (which obviously remain lit with the headlamps).
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funny - I said that same thing on page one.
 
slantsixdan said:
Yeah, it looks bad-***, but in the bad (illegal and dangerous) way, not in the good (cool, nifty) way. Most of the info here applies. You cannot just "decide" any ol' lamp with any ol' bulb into a fog lamp, "running light", "driving light", etc. These are safety devices we're talking about, not fashion accessories or toys. They need to work the way they're supposed to work. The grownup thing is to find ways of customizing your car without creating safety hazards.
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yeah, yeah , yeah - we've heard your rant about this before old man. We get it - you don't like it.
 
slantsixdan said:
Yeah, it looks bad-***, but in the bad (illegal and dangerous) way, not in the good (cool, nifty) way. Most of the info here applies. You cannot just "decide" any ol' lamp with any ol' bulb into a fog lamp, "running light", "driving light", etc. These are safety devices we're talking about, not fashion accessories or toys. They need to work the way they're supposed to work. The grownup thing is to find ways of customizing your car without creating safety hazards.
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and LOL at this comment on a muscle car message board - you seriously think that all the cars on here with the performance mods they have falls in line with your philosophy? Maybe you should lecture everybody on here about the safety concerns of added horsepower and the litany of other mods that almost all of us do to these vehicles. I'm not a child - i understand the repercussions of modifying the lighting system on my car. For the record, my lights are properly aimed and I've never driven my car in the dark so i think it's a moot point. Take your "no HID" crusade elsewhere.
 
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