1956 Chevy LED Tail Light Conversion - Dakota Digital LED Tail Lights

1956 Chevy LED Tail Light Conversion Deep Red Illumination

Driving a classic car out on the road is stressful enough these days without having to live with the fear that at any moment some idiot is going to smack into the back of your pride and joy. Thankfully, some cars will stop automatically, but the rest of the tailgaters who multitask while they drive are still a serious threat. Trust us, there are few things worse than watching in your rearview as some jackhole locks up his brakes, while you grip the steering wheel and go to maximum pucker point as they ram into your car.

What are you supposed to do to prevent this horrible situation? One way to get their attention is to convert our incandescent bulbs to brighter, faster and more efficient LEDs. Let's face it: Just about every new car sold today has bright LED tail lights and the '50s brake light technology just doesn't hold a candle to them.

The LED conversion we are talking about is the one offered by Dakota Digital. The company offers upgrades for all the Tri-Five models (plus '58s and '59s) and doesn't just stuff a bunch of LEDs in a simple housing; it builds a complete circuit system. Scott Johnson, sales manager at Dakota Digital, says, "For the '56, we wanted a stock look with no hot spots, but use the technology of the LED. LEDs turn on much quicker and every millisecond counts. At 60 mph, that could be a few feet of difference."

Another benefit of the LED is its longevity; these are rated to 50,000 hours. Even with that lifespan, Dakota offers a limited lifetime warranty, so these will be the last set you will have to buy.

To house the trick LEDs, we picked up a set of all-new tail light housings from Danchuk. Steve Brown, general manager of Danchuk, says, "Reproductions of '56 tail lights have been available in the industry for years, but not anything like this. We started with a perfect set of originals and then began the process of making all the tooling 100-percent in the United States of America. After casting, we sent them out to get the best quality chrome-plating money can buy. The end result is a set of tail light housings that are absolutely breathtaking."

Brighter, good looking, and they just might save you and your car.

Here are the all-new housings manufactured in the good ol' U.S. of A. by Danchuk. The company started with a perfect set of originals and then made the tooling from them. Steve Brown of Danchuk told us, "Believe it or not, it takes six different molds to make these housings." Not only is the housing all new, so are all the little things that go into them, like the bulb sockets, gas door parts and the original style clip that safely holds the wiring in place. They come complete with all mounting hardware, reflectors, seals, gaskets, tail light lenses and clear back-up light lenses.
Here are the all-new housings manufactured in the good ol' U.S. of A. by Danchuk. The comp
Here is the LED conversion for the '56 from Dakota Digital. You get everything needed, including weather-resistant crimp connections. Dakota Digital recommends soldering the wires, but includes them for the soldering challenged. The entire circuit board except for the face of the LED has two coats of conformal coating, much like an epoxy resin for weather resistance. These are made to slip right into the housing so there will be no need to grind away at your new or existing housings. Additional circuitry in the board will keep the LED output or brightness the same. If there is a power drop, like when an electric fan kicks on or a large stereo system hits some deep bass, don't sweat it. No more dimming lights due to power draws.
Here is the LED conversion for the '56 from Dakota Digital. You get everything needed, inc
Here is a good look at the difference between the new Danchuk housing (left) and our restored originals (right).
Here is a good look at the difference between the new Danchuk housing (left) and our resto

It's not hard to spot the better of the two. Our tail light housings were re-chromed and then hand-painted, but they just don't have the crisp details like the new units. There are some areas that still have little bumps under the chrome and we'll not get into the bad the paint job. They do look good from 10 feet away, but close inspection revealed the shoddy work. The only excuse we have about our sub-par restored set is the Danchuk versions were not available when we bought them and, sadly, we paid nearly the same price.
It's not hard to spot the better of the two. Our tail light housings were re-chromed and t
Getting the housings out of the car is pretty straightforward. All the screws are exposed on the passenger side, while most of the driver's side screws are behind the built-in gas door.
Getting the housings out of the car is pretty straightforward. All the screws are exposed
Once the housing is free, undo the wiring. The '56 wiring just needs to be twisted out of the socket to be removed. Our car has an aftermarket wiring harness in it and those plugs came out the same way.
Once the housing is free, undo the wiring. The '56 wiring just needs to be twisted out of

Before you can install the LED, you need to remove the nut, washer and aluminum spacer from the back of the new assembly. Carefully pull the wires through the aluminum spacer so you don't damage the insulation.
Before you can install the LED, you need to remove the nut, washer and aluminum spacer fro
Insert the assembly, wires first, through the hole where the original bulb and plastic socket were. Use caution when feeding the wires through, again to avoid damaging the insulation.
Insert the assembly, wires first, through the hole where the original bulb and plastic soc
Insert the wires through the aluminum spacer, with one wire going through each one of the outer holes. Slide it over the stud, through the hole, in the center of the spacer. Make sure the shoulder side of the aluminum spacer is facing toward the back of the tail light bezel.
Insert the wires through the aluminum spacer, with one wire going through each one of the

Once you have it in, secure the aluminum spacer with the supplied nut and lock washer. Tighten the nut just enough to keep the board from rotating around. Not shown was us slipping the wires though the original rubber wiring harness pigtail grommets.
Once you have it in, secure the aluminum spacer with the supplied nut and lock washer. Tig
Danchuk provides a body gasket with the housings that needs to be slipped around the perimeter of the housing. A small dab of super glue will hold the two ends together if you are worried about a seam showing.
Danchuk provides a body gasket with the housings that needs to be slipped around the perim
Now you can place the housings in the car. Loosely install all the screws, and then make sure the gasket is sitting flat against the housing before tightening them all the way.
Now you can place the housings in the car. Loosely install all the screws, and then make s

To simplify installation, Dakota Digital supplies crimp connectors for a fast, weather-resistant connection. Dakota recommends soldering for the best connection possible. The company provides a schematic for the wiring but the simple version is Tail light=Brown to Brown or Black, Driver's Turn=Green to Green or Pink. Passenger's Turn=Green to Yellow or Purple, and Ground=Black to Chassis or Body. Here our buddy Lucky Costa is soldering on the terminal.
To simplify installation, Dakota Digital supplies crimp connectors for a fast, weather-res
Because our car has an aftermarket harness, we reused the plug assembly.
We had to purchase a few of the proper terminals to insert into the plug, but the clean install will be well worth the few cents.
We had to purchase a few of the proper terminals to insert into the plug, but the clean in

Attach the black wire from the new LED assembly to a body ground using the supplied ring terminal. We cleaned off the trunk paint and used a simple screw to ground the wire. Our car has upholstered trunk panels so this won't show, but if you have an open trunk then you might want to find an out-of-sight area for the ground.
Attach the black wire from the new LED assembly to a body ground using the supplied ring t
On the driver's side, feed the rubber wiring harness pigtail grommet as shown and install the provided retainer clip. This will keep the harness locked in place and out of the way so the gas door will open and close without interference.
On the driver's side, feed the rubber wiring harness pigtail grommet as shown and install
Then install the driver's side housing. The hidden gas filler has got to be one of the coolest features Chevy did on these cars.
Then install the driver's side housing. The hidden gas filler has got to be one of the coo

Test the tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals. Ours worked just fine, but if the turn signals do not flash you'll need to upgrade your flasher to a heavy-duty electronic flasher from your local parts store. Ours was upgraded when we installed the aftermarket wire harness. Now, if you are replacing both front and rear or do not have front bulbs, you'll need a no-load flasher like Dakota Digital's PN LAT-NLF. Keep that in mind when ordering parts.
Test the tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals. Ours worked just fine, but if the tu
After reinstalling the new lens, the lights look like stock, but better. They are a bit brighter, definitely illuminate faster, and produce a lot less heat so our lenses will stay nice longer. Since Dakota Digital uses a red LED, the tail lights illuminate a deep red. The housings are so dang nice they will impress even the most critical nitpicker. Now we feel a lot better about taking our '56 out for a cruise in the ever-so-scary Los Angeles traffic.
After reinstalling the new lens, the lights look like stock, but better. They are a bit br

SOURCES
Danchuk 3201 South Standard Avenue Santa Ana CA 92705 800-648-9554 www.danchuk.com	Dakota Digital 4510 W. 61st Street North Sioux Falls SD 57107 800-593-4160 www.dakotadigital.com