The EZ kit arrived today, as did our first truly spring-like day. The Banks rose blooming, trees blossoming and himmelberg coming out of hibernation for another assault on the truck are sure signs that spring has officially sprung.

So I want to rewire. Why? The rats nest of big and little wires that run all under the dash distresses me. I couldn't bring myself to hook up the new instrument panel to that mess. Unwieldy and looking really unsafe as it does, I'm thinking 'fire under here would not be good'. Fooling with the truck is fun. So I read the instructions.

Nowhere in the instructions are the "what do I do with the mess I'm starting with?" Do I tear it all out, snipping and marking wires that run to the wipers or heater fan? Do I take the ignition switch and starter button out for easy access to their connections? What about all of those solenoids on my firewall? I've got two there and one under the dash.

I'm not really interested in knowing what my PO did before me... so should I just take all the existing wires out and start from scratch? I know that many Americans have done this before me... and not a few might have some pointers for the guy who never has.

Thankfully, himmelberg

 

I'd start from scratch.I don't see why you would have 3 solenoids.My 48 has 1.My e-z wiring kit come with a book called how to wire youre street rod start to finish.Tells alot about wiring.
ART

 

I can relate to the spring time wonders. The only thing I wonder is why I live on the Red River this time of year. The river is suppose to crest tomorrow at seventeen feet above flood stage and then maybe things will settle down. As for your wiring, don't you just love those speghetti messes. If you bought a kit to replace the old harness my first thought would to look at the instructions and see what they suggest. Otherwise I would start at the fuse block and replace one wire at a time and carefully lay out where they go and do it in a nice neat manner. I have seen some panels that have all the wires bundled up and the wires run parallel and it is a work of art. I haven't been that particular in the past but when I build a kit car for a gentleman out of the twin cities I tried to keep everything neat and clean. You have to have time to think it all out and have some understanding of the different circuits. Good luck on the project.

Gear Up

 

If three solenoids are any indication as to what you are starting with, I think I would rip it all out and start over. The new harness is completely marked as to where each wire goes. I'm not so sure the existing rats nest would be much help. Take some close up digital pics of special areas if comfort is needed.

 

Pull it all out and start over. You have one mess now, try adding a new wiring harness thru that mess. To many wires. Yank her out and start fresh.

 

Another vote for the fresh start. 3 solenoids? He must have used them for relays.

 

I vote for pulling out all the old wiring and start fresh. The markings on the wire and instructions should tell you everything you need to know. You might want to figure out what those two extra solenoids are being used for first, and if you really need them you can find a lead to power them up later. Perhaps they are just being used for connectors. I used one for that purpose on a project years ago where the battery was located under the floor. I mounted it on the lower firewall and ran a positive cable to one of the posts just to give me a place for charging the battery or a boost without having to crawl under the car.

Vern

 

I also vote for starting over. Take it all out, make sure all your connections are good, and ground the cab to the frame. Its not that difficult to rewire.

 

Slowly and deliberately I have followed the advise, fearfully snipping wires that connect my door opener, the heater motor and relays and endless solenoids. Now most of the old wires are cleared out and I'm labeling what few remain. Happily, my ignition switch matches the instructions, my column wires are neatly ready for reconnecting as I move cautiously ahead.

More spring cleaning tomorrow and some installation perhaps.

Thanks guys.

himmelberg

 

Here is what we are doing. Completely remove all the old. Make a very complete list of everything you need wired and everything may wire in the future (i.e. ever plan to add power windows?). Then compare the list to what the kit offers and match them up. The kit likely has more than you need, I recommend removing the extras starting at the fuse box. We then laid out the enire wiring harness on the floor as it would be routed in the truck and used some wire ties to boundle each group. These are the groups we used: rear of truck, front right side, front left side, engine, dash board, front inside cab, rear inside cab. Everything is labeled well. We made a spread sheet showing where everything goes so it will help in the future. We are using the black corregated plastic tubing for routing the wires in the truck. Summit sells it for about $7 for 25 feet. It has a split that makes it easy to use. They also have lots of fittings, tees, ells etc.

Bottom line, a little organization makes the job easier. Good luck.

 

Walston has the system! I tore out all the old wires, leaving long pigtails on anything that didn't have removable wires, ie wiper motor, fan motor, power vent motor, etc.
I replaced the wiper, headlight and dimmer switch with new ones. I'm running a lot of power acessories as well as trailer lights and brake controller, so I planned the routing of all the wires then divided up the harness. If you remove wires, remove them from the fuse block by releasing the connector from the block rather than cutting the wire, then save them for future use. Next decide on where and how you plan to mount the fuse block. The fuse block on my EZ wire mini 21 has a slip in keyed mount on the back so I made a matching plate and bolted it to the swinging pedal mount. That way I can drop the entire fuse panel in just a moment's time to trouble shoot or during the initial wiring rather than having to stand on my head under the dash. I'd also get some multiwire connectors so you can wire units such as the instrument panel thru them to make it removable later on without having to cut or disconnect a bunch of individual wires.
Arm yourself with an assortment of good quality heat shrink tubing, a quality cutting/stripping/staking tool (I got mine at Home Depot for ~ 25.00 in the electronic wiring department.) and a small 25W soldering pencil either the plug in type or the little butane powered pocket pencils (DON'T buy one of the battery operated "instant heat" ones, they're junk!) Both for soldering wires and shrinking tubing. Pick up a tin of paste flux for electronic soldering to use to clean the tip and some 1/32" or thinner rosin core wire solder.
Remove the seat before you start!
I suspect what you are calling solenoids are actually the original circuit breakers Ford used instead of fuses.

 

Hello Peter,

Looks like you received good advice here already. I assume you have Ford schematic, as well as EZ Wire? Are the wires on the new harness labeled? I would combine the two and draw my own schematic, circuit by circuit as I went. Wouldn't take long for a a man possessing your artistic abilities. Really speeds things up later when you're troubleshooting.

One other thing. I'm sure you remember the many soldering vs crimp debates here. At a minimum, solder the important stuff. Ignition circuits, headlight etc.

And I can relate to the beautiful desert spring. I think I saw a weed today. At least it was green. It should be dead by next weekend

 

The frustration of figuring out what was done before you will definately out weigh the frustration of figuring out from scratch...Rip it out is my vote also

 

Hey, 'fenders! Great to hear from you. I have been muddling through with schematics from the shop manual, the EZ stuff, and the advise here and it's all coming together.

Ahhh, the soldering gun. Didn't think of that as I've yet to come upon it. I've gotten as far as mounting the fuse block and running the fore and aft wires through the firewall. My instrument panel had been wired up... just need to find the wires on the harness to finish that part.

I need to find out how to wire my door opener. The righthand solenoid appeared to have something to do with this... as a switch or whatever, as Vern suggests.

I'm so unsure, AX that I'm including this little composite of the 3 things on my firewall that look like solenoids. There is one under the dash as well!


thanks for all the help to date... it has surely improved my confidence level.

Appreciatively, himmelberg

 

Yep, those look like solenoids. What are they wired to? One is probably for your starter, the other 2???