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Boy, after the investment in plating (never inexpensive) I am pretty reticent about distrubing the plating or risking cracks in the pot metal. I use good ol' JB weld on things like that. I abrade the plating with a little Dremel wire wheel attachment to insure a good bond, and clean with laquer thinner before the join-up. I have drilled and tapped holes as in Howard's description, but done so before sending out for plating.

Mr PB, I agree about drilling and tapping before having plating done. However these headlamp doors along with a significant number of parts were plated before I purchased the Carib. I have to deal with what I've been presented with.

I thought I would add a few pics of the Caribbean lately. I have the headlight relays all wired in and working. Pass. side needed some mud removed from front fender and back by courtesy light. Also some pics of where AColds and I have been sneaking off to see some different cars.
TL control box with cover removed. Doing bodywork on Caribbean. A 48 Frazer. A couple of Hudsons - the maroon conv is all original.

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I finally got my taillights in. I found a strange problem and remembered I had the same problem on the 400. There are two screws (#10-12 X 7/8) at the top of each casting that screw into the rear quarter. On the inside of the quarter panel is a small hole that accepts that screw, but on the outside is punched a square hole that looks like it should take a small well-nut. I patiently finagled a push-clip from the inside and got the screw in. I used a plastic license plate insert for the other side but it does not line up very well.

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Randy, I resized that photo you sent me, here it is.

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The plastic piece that holds all the wires for the four-switch on the drivers door was broken and could not secure the wire terminals for the four-gang switch. I purchased a NOS plastic piece from one of our vendors, but discovered an odd anomaly. The original plastic piece had grown and stretched the insulating piece that secures the wires to the plastic piece.
Now I know you skeptics will contend that plastic does not grow. I used to believe that die-cast zinc didn't grow either, but have learned I was wrong about that also. Here is a pic of the two pieces side by side. Now I am going to have to drill two small locating holes in the end of the insulating piece because the alignment "nibs" don't fit anymore. You can see the nibs at the end of the plastic piece.

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I believe die-cast tends to expand and distort from even a subtle amount of corrosion over a long period of time. Some die-cast is a rather "spongy" alloy to begin with; worse yet, if unplated.

However, I suspect the reverse is true in this case - that the replacement (polypropylene?) plastic part has shrunk over all the years that it sat unused in the box/bag. Else, pehaps it is not truly NOS.

You may very well ask, then, why the factory-installed part didn't shrink. I would suggest that the (phenolic) insulator/board, as a by-product, served as a stretcher of sorts, trying to maintain the original perimeter of the black plastic part - perhaps even causing the original plastic part breaking as it shrunk.

Brian, that is perhaps a more plausible explanation. I will figure out how to drill the two new nib holes and proceed from there. A mild setback. An aside - there is no part number in the plastic molding and the wiring harness 472129 is not listed in the price list? Wiring harnesses 472126 and 6489038 are listed?? Curious???

Mine also gave some grief. While not broken, it had bowed slightly causing the phenolic to loosen on one end. That plus the weight and stiffness of wires & motion of door would periodically pull it loose from those terminals.

I removed the phenolic, tightened all the connectors and when putting it back together countersunk the outer holes & used small nylon screws & nuts to keep the phenolic on snugly. Made the center ones lightly larger & drilled corresponding holes in the back of the switch and threaded those for nylon screws. That keeps the block on, phenolic tight and have had no more issues for almost 2 yrs now.

Randy -

Confused by your post, I looked at the parts book, as archived here at the site.

Gr. 30.387737 lists front door window regulator harness as follows:

P/N 472126 for 1955 sedans
P/N 472129 for 1955 and 1956 hardtops and convertible
P/N 6489038 for 1956 sedans

However, P/N 472126 is also shown in Gr. 30.50316 for the rear door of both 1955 and 1956 sedans.

Meanwhile, I believe the black plastic part is called a terminal body, listed in Gr. 30.38774 for front doors. P/N 472088 is shown for the four-switch unit. (I believe I have an NOS one, somewhere offsite.)

Unless I have my terminolgy criss-crossed, the phenolic insulator is then called the terminal body cover.

Curiously, Gr. 30.50319 lists two different designs for the terminal body for single switch unit of the rear doors. P/N 472087 is same as used in the right front door for 1955-56. P/N 6489447 is for 1956 only and only in used the rear doors, but is shown to be 1/16" longer!

Listings for two phenolic covers for the rear door also correspond to that difference in length. However, there is no such difference noted for either front door switch - even the right front single switch, which, again, is the same as used for the rear doors.

The plot thickens...