'55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

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Vincent Gillespie
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'55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#1 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello, I have a new wiring harness from YNZ and wires numbered 34, one grey and one white, for the door switch and courtesy/map light are obviously not long enough to reach the light or door but are way too long simply to go to the fuse board. My pictures show the 2 cables coming into the light are white but the photos of the rest of the dash wiring don't show where the junction box or route of the cables etc and bluntly there had been a lot of dicing and splicing over the years so it was a bit like spaghetti junction! Any one know what was the route, layout etc of these wires? I get the feeling it might be a teensey weensy bit easier to get this done before the headlining is installed!!

Thanks in advance.

V&S
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Jim Liberty
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#2 Post by Jim Liberty »

You can fish the new wires in you need to with the head liner in place. Start from the bottom of the "A" pillar and push a wire up. I can usually find the old wires, and use them. I'm working on a '55 now. The new harness connects to these with the door switch wires with a double connector block. My harness was too short also.
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James Davies
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#3 Post by James Davies »

Hi Vincent,

Does yours have a beige (off-white?) wire coming off #4 on the fuse box and going to a junction box? The junction box then connects to both door switches and the light switch itself I believe, as Jim mentions above.

I don't think I have good photos of this though. Let me see if I can find something.

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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#4 Post by David Green »

Vincent,
I installed a YnZ in my '53 coupe and my interior dome light is #24A. My harness came with a separate long brown wire labeled 24A at each end that I snaked from the driver's side under dash up the A pillar, behind the steel headliner frame and through a hole in the frame into the light fixture. My headliner was out so pretty easy. The power supply end of this long wire connects to the plastic screw connector block under the dash on the driver's side (photo). I suggest you replace the rubber grommet where the wire(s) pass through the sheetmetal into the A pillar.
Also, on mine the the wiper motor wires weren't marked differently for the two terminals and I wired them reversed. The wiper motor worked but as I found later didn't "park" the arms and shut the power off. I only found the problem tracking down a slight drain on the battery when I put an ammeter in series with the battery to look for a short.
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#5 Post by Jim Liberty »

DSC_0090.JPG
Here is a shot just below the drivers side "A" pillar. I use a double screw butt connector.
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#6 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Brilliant, thanks a million everyone.

My harness is only pulled through at the moment so it's simply lying on the floor of the car curled up and the headliner is not installed yet & I want to make sure it's done and correct before it is installed. As mine is a RHD I will bring the 2 wires, one for the door switch and one to the fuse board, down the Left hand A pillar.
The wire number sheet that comes with the harness has No. 34 as 'Fuse No. 4 map light & door switch etc.' I have looked in the bag of extra wires but there isn't anything labled 34 or of a length that would do the trick but that's easy it's only wires and a junction block.

The wires in the picture were original and the photo colour is a pretty good depiction I'd say it started out white in 1955.

V&S
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#7 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Sorry YNZ my mistake, the wires numbered 34, including the junction block, were in the plastic bag of extras. That's what you get for trying to do just one more thing when your knackered and should go & have a beer and relax.
V
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James Davies
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#8 Post by James Davies »

Glad you found the wires Vincent.

Yeah, yours and David's wiring will be different, as David's is a '53 which uses cloth-covered wiring and also has the interior light switched from the dash, whereas yours is switched from the light itself. But the same basic idea with the junction box.

And of course David's wipers are switched from the dash too, whereas yours has a mechanical Bowden cable in the dash with the electrical switch built in to the wiper motor itself.

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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#9 Post by Greg Bryan »

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I'm scratching my head on what I'm seeing - I have this drawing I did for the 54-55 dome light where I used the attached Reutter drawing as reference - albeit it is very poor quality, but I think my drawing faithfully represents the layout, however I might have the wrong color for the power wire from fuse 4 to the little junction block and on to the dome light.
There are 3 modes for the switch I believe:
1 - OFF as shown in the drawings
2 - ON with power going directly from the power wire to the light and to ground at the light housing
3 - DOOR - when in this position, the power path is very convoluted from the power source at the junction block, through the door switch (which is not a ground switch like the later door switches) back to the junction block to the light and then to ground through the dome light housing.

In the picture of Jim's junction, there seems to be one less wire ends (6) at the junction block than in the schema (7) - Jim, does your dome light work as above in all 3 modes?
Sheesh - no wonder they went to the much simpler system in '56

I made further correction in the attachment by edit - corrected wire colors
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54-55 Dome Light2.png
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James Davies
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#10 Post by James Davies »

Thanks for that diagram Greg. It's spot on. See the higher resolution version (with clutter removed) below.

And yeah Vincent, that wire coming out of #4 for the interior light is definitely white. In other photos, it just looked a bit yellowed. I just snapped this photo of the one I have, it's white. I suspect the brown wire must go to the wiper motor?
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Interior light wiring 1954-55.png
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#11 Post by Greg Bryan »

Thanks for the clarification, James!
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Re: '55 wiring to the Courtesy/Map light

#12 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

James I just checked my notes etc and brown wire does go to the wiper motor, I think the number on the spade connector on the motor is 53 but it's a bit out of focus. The earth lead is connected via the mounting bolt, I hope this is of some use.

V
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