I have the new and complete, I hope, wiring for my 56. WOuld it be best to remove the dash to do this job? If so, how hard is it to do? Perhaps I can chat with someone who has done this? Thank You Jim
Definitely remove the dash to rewire the car. It's a piece of cake! There are 6-8 screws under the defrost deflector on top and 2 bolts on the bottom at lt & rt ends by hinge post. also paint the inside surface of the dash(it's real dark under there after you get it back in the car!) and pre-wire the dash adding plugs to ease the next removal if you need to.
Thanks for this info. I have to rewire mine also. Question: What wiring did you, Jimmy2car pick up for yours?
Depends on the car but I removed the dash from our '54 Ranch Wagon,it was much easier to wire with the dash out of the way. HRP
I did mine too.. dash out. More work on the '59 than the older cars. Save the screws in a safe place, take pictures and jot some notes down. In my case it was a few months that I had it out. The only good thing I did was put all the hardware in a marked box.
56Ford390 I bought the new wiring from Mac's when they had a 20% off sale. It's supposed to be exactly like the original. Still expensive, tho. Overall, it looks like a formidable job. Seems like all the trim around the windshield has to come off. I'm worried... Jim
I did my 54 with the dash in, using an aftermarket harness. Not too bad. You have to remove the front seat to make it easy.
I'm in the 'dash out' crowd. Like others, I wired the dash on the work bench and used a plug to make the install easy. Wiring it is easier than you think.
Hey guys...I'm starting the process now. I got a kit from American auto wire. Could someone elaborate on using a plug? Also are there any wires I should not rip out?
I think the only "plug" I used was for gauge/speedo, the rest are pretty easy to get to basically I took all the old wires out, the new harness should be marked for ease of install with instructions. Don't forget to make new ground wires(engine to frame/body,etc. )as the kit probably won't have them. the worst part is running the tail lamp portion thru the rocker. by all means add relays to headlamps and add grommets, (plastic door edge guard works great on sharp metal edges ) in bare sheet metal hole where wires are going thru. like I said, cup of cake to do, but time consuming. let me know if I can help
That's great information! Thank you! I know that if I just start I'll be alright. For the headlight relay is there a one you would recommend?
I used Ron Francis. I think RF and American Autowire are the two best available. You made a good choice....I hate to see guys go budget on wiring, and reproduction kits, although pricey, aren't always adequate if your modernizing your ride with A/C, EFI, electric cooling fans, fuel pumps,etc. Remember, the 50's cars didn't have much in the way of safety stuff like fuse panels, relays, etc By "plug", he was refering to connectors that can be unpluged so that something like a dash panel can be removed easily and quickly. A suggestion...if you use two or more of the same size plugs in the same area, vary where the male and females are so they can only be plugged in one place. Use a continuity checker to verify good connections as you go. I got my connectors at Radio Shack for the gage panel. I'll see if I can find a pic.
found.... A tip....pick up some velcro straps at home depot/Lowe's. They are about 6" long and come in a roll of 50 or so. Really handy for keeping things temporarily neat and tidy as your going along, and keeping things organized will go a long ways in getting it done right.
I did dash out.I used a rebel wire kit.Check my profile ive got pics.I chucked the factory oem idiot lights and went with Omega gauges.American made!
I pretty much chucked all the old wiring. Anything related to the dash cluster (since I was keeping it) I saved and labeled. Stare at it a while and you start to see how the illumination was done, on my car it was mainly blue wires that fed into each other. I was able to weed out a lot of wires off the cluster and tidy it up. I have gauges, but will be wiring up the idiot lights for oil and water. Something I carried over from my stock car days, easier to see a light when you're doing 90 in traffic than looking at a needle. I used a Kwik Wire GM 2nd Generation harness. They gave me the Ford column plugs. I have pix on my build thread here somewhere. I made up a plywood harness board which made things easier.
Thanks again guys! Bob I know what you mean you kind of start to see a pattern In the wiring. I just don't want to mess something up. Like the front parking lamps it seems like the wires are attached to the whole unit. And Texas I am thoroughly impressed with how much custom work you have done on your car. I actually bought a 2001 Lincoln that I planned on transplanting, but I just don't think I can manage cramming it in there. I guess I'm going 302 efi. Mikhett I'll look into the Omega gauges. I'm eager to see what happens. I'm not sure how the original stuff will work with 12v. I know that my dad converted our 54 to 12v back in the 80s, but I don't remember the gauges working well.
The Ron Francis opening instructions tells you to follow their directions, and not the oem wiring, because they often changeup the way the wiring is routed. I imagine American Autowire is the same...these are new updated systems, and things are going to be wired diferently than the oem, and if you try and merge the two, you're gonna have problems. Follow their instructions, one wire at a time, and you should have no problems. I always say when I buy kits, 1/2 the $ are for the components, and the other 1/2 is for the instructions and engineering. The better companies know what they are doing much more so than us novices...trust them. I ***ume the car you're refering to is the one in the avatar. As far as the '01 Lincoln, I'm not even sure if they were the 4.6 in '01, but if it is...what I've been able to find out is that any Ford '56 or older is going to require either a fatman type front clip, or extensive modifications to the existing frame/suspension that is probably iffy at best imho..
The fact that a wire kit forces you to wire the car per the kit is refreshing. It cuts out a lot of thinking especially if you're using new components. Try to splice those into an old harness (that has no fuse box..) and have it work the first try.
As far as thw rewire goes im just going to diive in. Im samding and grining the floor pans first and repalcing rusted sheet metal. I'm hopefully going to por 15 the inside on Saturday, and start the wiring on monday! Unfortunately, frame mods far exceeds my expertise and cash flow. I have a 302 that I picked up cheap and I bought mounts from jeff. So has anyone used painless for a 302 efi harness, or have any suggestions?
My suggestion would have been to use the same company for the efi harness as the ch***is harness, but it may be too late for that, as I don't know if American Autowire makes an efi harness. Reason: When I wired my Ron Francis efi, I constantly ran into directions like...." if you are also using a Ron Francis ch***is kit(I was), run this wire to terminal #14, blue wire on the ch***is panel. If not, FIND the supply wire for blah blah blah...". Being directed exactly where to connect is much easier than figuring out where to connect. A manufacturer's efi wiring harness coordinated to their ch***is panel is just much easier with less chance for error.
I used relays from autozone . think they were 30 amp. you can buy kits online, offroad, driving lamp kits will work
amazon --http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFoQFjAGahUKEwiu4vSuuOrIAhWL1h4KHUgKBXI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHeadlight-Relay-Wiring-Harness-Ceramic%2Fdp%2FB00H5JFHR0&usg=AFQjCNGConoSgGfy50881v6EiYyCGhCvXA&sig2=t7CnE8xW77CqZgGs1iI7fQ
This is the Kwik Wire harness after I got it roughed out. The existing wiring on the dash cluster was tidied up and wired into the harness.
Depending on which American Autowire kit AJ bought, it may be a totally different approach from your Kwik Wire harness. I believe most of the AA harnesses are similar in approach to the RF Express kit that I used, in that the wires are not pre-connected to the panel...they are attached to the load/component first, then routed back to the panel for connection. Much easier on the brain matter, imho, when your not forced to deal with the entire harness at one time, but instead are able to deal with one wire, or one connector at a time. In the case of the RF Express kit, all, or most,of the connectors are pre connected to the wires, so additionally, one doesn't have to deal with the tedious installation of connectors on the wires. That can be a huge factor if your dealing with a late model engine with lots of multi-wire connectors. Not putting your kit down, Bob...just discussing the differences in harness design.
If you want to keep the headlight relay simple and "Plug and Play" use this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/361017529037?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
It worked out great for me, I'm sure most of them are pretty good. I almost went with the Rebel 9+3. I've had a few offers to wire other people's cars... but no thanks. Mine took long enough.
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