77 Byrd Wiring problems

Howdy,
 i have a 77 byrd with some (im guessing) wiring problems. Just recently my turn signals went out, i checked the bulbs and they are kosher, but i noticed that when  the switch is flipped the corresponding brake light will go out. also my left dash signal arrow has never worked though the bulb is fine, flashers work (cept for the left dash arrow.)The blue high/low beam dash light also went out  the same time my signals did. On top of all that my heater will only blow out the defrost vents and wont work in high, it was an a/c car originally but when one of the prev owners swapped out the 301 for the 350 sbc they capped the lines. SO.... What, where, and how do i begin addressing these problems? i checked the grounds on the firewall and trunk and sanded them down but got no results.

thanks Yall

simplypotter  
"It is written that, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" - St. Matthew 4:4

74-Nova
77-Byrd
99-Hoe

well first... lets start with one problem....

Just recently my turn signals went out, i checked the bulbs and they are kosher, but i noticed that when  the switch is flipped the corresponding brake light will go out. also my left dash signal arrow has never worked though the bulb is fine, flashers work (cept for the left dash arrow.)The blue high/low beam dash light also went out  the same time my signals did.

late 60s and 70s vintage cars had terrible problems with light socket grounds....    lack of contact between the bulb bases and the socket shield... and the socket shield and the ground wire that is sometimes attached to it..




when you have one side quit working when you active the other side... it points directly at a bad ground...

as a test... i normally strip back a few inches of stranded copper wire .. wrap them around the base of the glass part of the bulb.. right where it meets the brass shell...  then insert the bulb into the socket.. ground the other end of the wire..

some sockets have have a nice opening so you can tuck this additional wire through..  so you can make it work until you get a replacement socket...



you should also want to check the system at the negative battery post... use a digital volt meter set to 20 volts DC...   turn the headlights on.. test from the negative battery post to the body... if you have a good ground to the body.. you will get a reading of 0.02 volts...

you can do the same with grounds from other bulbs....       why are grounds important...

electrons flow from negative to positive...   if you have a bad ground or a corroded ground..   you may not have enough electrons to properly operate the circuit...  

Thank ya, Ill see if that does the trick  
"It is written that, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" - St. Matthew 4:4

74-Nova
77-Byrd
99-Hoe