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1948 - 1956 F1, F100 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Fat Fendered and Classic Ford Trucks

Wiring help needed

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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 07:19 PM
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Wiring help needed

Hey everyone. So I noticed that my pink frankentruck has lots and lots of wiring. Prob wires the truck doesn't even need. Below are some pics of what I'm working with. My main goal was to clean it up and straighten out a few gremlins but I noticed that alot of my wires were corroded so I tackled those too.




Now I'm really in a mess. I have a multi meter and I know my basics around wiring for the most part. My question to you all is does anyone have a wiring diagram for a 12 volt 56 f100? And also maybe even a simple wiring diagram for a truck ? that just needs lights, signals, horn, dash lights, and eventually I'll toss in a cd player of some sort.

I know my truck has alot of random pieces to it and it has modern blade fuses (reg size not minis). Thanks for any and all help guys and gals. Thanks and take care. -Sky
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 07:44 PM
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If you have a few hundred extra bucks and you're planning on the truck becoming a restored, dependable driver, you might want to start over with an after-market wiring harness with the wires labeled as to where they are going. How many issues do you currently have? Now, bare in mind, this is advice from a guy who hasn't completely finished rewiring his truck and who still has to run down a few more circuits. Since that has blade fuses, I'm not sure that a '56 wiring diagram would be of much help.

Of course, this is what I started with and that's only what was on the motor.



Here's what it looks like now:
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 08:13 PM
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A wiring diagram is right here in the archives...

http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/Re...ng_Diagram.jpg
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 09:17 PM
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Thanks Carnut. Yeah it'll be a driver nothing super fancy, I wish I did have the few extra hundred laying around it'd be nice but I just bought a house so money is going other places at the moment and I have plenty of wire left over from other car and bike projects I have done in the past. By the way your wiring looks great in that second pic.

52 merc thanks for the link. I couldn't find anything like that after numerous searches. Is there a wiring diagram out there in this site that includes a starter solenoid? I only ask as I have one and I figure I'll be making my own diagram using stuff from the link you posted and other diagrams to make sure I'm 100% good to go. Thanks again for the help do far everyone.
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 09:59 PM
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Originally Posted by sky56
Thanks Carnut. Yeah it'll be a driver nothing super fancy, I wish I did have the few extra hundred laying around it'd be nice but I just bought a house so money is going other places at the moment and I have plenty of wire left over from other car and bike projects I have done in the past. By the way your wiring looks great in that second pic.

.
In that case, a multi-meter and a long piece of wire with alligator clips on both ends will be your best friend as you trace wires to where they went. Thanks for the compliment; I've tried to hide as much as the wiring as I could.
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 10:10 PM
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I have found wiring gets a lot easier when you buy a tube of zip strips (nylon ties), some wire wrap (plastic loom) and start tracing wire from start to finish. You can also get a basic 12 circuit fuse panel and wire for about $89 and start the madness there by rewiring the truck. I hate trying to find and fix what a previous owner messed up or rigged. Just my .02. Good luck.
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 10:44 PM
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here's a neat site with trouble shooting and all

Hot Rod Wiring and How to Do It
 
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Old Jul 12, 2012 | 11:59 PM
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Originally Posted by sky56

52 merc thanks for the link. I couldn't find anything like that after numerous searches. Is there a wiring diagram out there in this site that includes a starter solenoid?
Actually, all I did was type '56 Ford wiring diagram' into google and that popped up. It was that simple. And if you look back at the drawing just left of center, below the battery, there is the starter solenoid. It's labeled starter relay.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 10:53 AM
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Well after sitting down with a pen and paper and my multi meter and the links/diagrams you guys sent me I tackled the wiring up front to start. This is what it looked like after a bit of work



Then I wanted to clean it up even more so I bought some flex tubing from home depot ($1.99 for a 7' section isn't bad) and went to work and this is what I ended up with




I know it's not a pro job but I feel good knowing I was able to do that for cheap and a bit of hard work. More to come as I tackle the cab here soon. Thanks again for the help everyone.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 11:03 AM
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And this is what I was left with after clean up lol


I'm not sure what was going on with all those wires but I made sure that what I need is up front and now I'm all good.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 12:40 PM
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Looks great. Nothing like a project you can immediately see the results on.

I will be starting from scratch on mine, so I plan to take my time and make it look like your end project.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 01:38 PM
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Hmm... I don't miss that. It looks like you're off to a good start.
 
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Old Jul 18, 2012 | 02:09 PM
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Thanks guys. It was def rewarding to see instant results and it looks so much cleaner too. Dmack91 I wish you the best when you do yours. I took my time and was patient and it helped in the long run.
 
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Old Jul 19, 2012 | 12:21 AM
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I wanted to add a lot of electric accessories to my truck and get rid of the rat's nest of previous owners fixes and mods, and a cheap radio shack glass fuse panel. I could have run my own wires, but I have plenty of experience trying to trouble shoot such non-standard wiring, spending hours figuring out which red wire is which and what it connects to, so I decided to use an EZ wiring Home of EZ Wiring color coded and printed wiring harness with 21 circuits, modern plug in fuse panel for 165.00. It was well worth it! Uses standard GM wire color coding and OEM quality wire and components. If anyone pays more than 200.00 for a harness you overpaid for the "name"! You can buy a 200.00 Seiko watch or a 2000.00 SS Rolex, and the fact is the Seiko will be more dependable and accurate at keeping time.
 
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Old Jul 19, 2012 | 07:38 AM
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You need a couple of things to make touble shooting simpler down the road . 1 wiring needs to be neet(as in tidy) . 2 either color code a diagram to what you have or do as I do and install a wiring harness with labled wires ,if they are color coded and labled then even better .P ut everything in loom and strap it ip tight . You will thank yourself later .
 
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