Interior light question

[SkidMark]

On the 65 fastback my son and I are restoring, the interior lights are on with the doors shut. The switches are in the door jamb and if we push them both in the lights go out. I looked at it closer and the doors dont even touch the switch when they are closed. Original doors, everything is lined up perfectly. Is there supposed to be a plate or something on the door to push the switch??

 

[Midlife]

No plate, except on a 64.5, I believe....

 

[AzPete]

Never seen a plate. Do you have the correct switches?

Build up the area the switch hits on the door with some layers of painters tape to see just how much it takes to get them to work. Sounds like there is something out of alignment on the car.....doors or cowl....due to damage. Both areas of the switch mounting and the area on the door should be flat also.

 

[classicdoug]

You should have the larger type door jamb switches. They go in a round hole that has two notches on each side.

I've also seen the small switches swapped in where someone just drills a hole in the jamb and screws one in. If that's the case, then you might have self adjusting switches.

A lot of the metal door jamb switches are self adjusting. They are too long at first and then when you shut the door for the first time, they push in and are automatically set to the right depth. I'm not talking about the center springy part that moves in and out as the door opens and closes. The adjustment part is a thin cylinder that the center springy part sits in.

If your car has these, they are probably pushed in too far. I've never tried to pull that part back out, but you can probably gently grab it with some pliers and pull it back out, or take the switch out of the jamb and try pushing it back from the back side.