1947 wiring harness routing

[Nasser Almasary]

Hi everyone,
  I am installing a complete wiring harness in my 1947 convertible and forgot how the main harness (and other sub harness) was routed and how it was attached to the firewall and to the inner fender, especially on the firewall with so many confusing holes. The front end of the main harness (around the radiator) is self explanatory and it was figured out easily.
  I need some pictures of the fire wall and the inner fender to show the routing and all the grommets, clips, and connection of vacuum lines and the vent duct control wires/cables (might not be easy). I used different hydraulic pump for the top (under the rear seat) so no hydraulic lines attached to the firewall, I might place a complete dummy set for authenticity purposes. Any other tips in installing the harness (body, tail light, etc.) will be appreciated. BTW, my harness was purchased from RI Wiring and it is a very well put together job and RI gave me a very easy to follow instruction sheet, the only thing that is missing is the six prong plug which you have to solder your old one which I did and checked for continuity.
  I would like to thank Mr. Bill Ingler for the huge help he offered from the outset that was very crucial to reach this point in my restoration, thank you Bill. It was a long journey however (almost ten years) but I am at the home stretch now. Thank you for reading my post and happy holidays.
Nasser,

[Paul Tesone]

 Nassar - the car is looking good . I couldn't find any other pictures of the harness or firewall . I hope these prove to be of some help. If you magnify them , you can zero in on the firewall . Keep us up-dated with pictures . .... Paul Tesone CLC # 6876

[Smedly]

Nasser, I love the colors. your car is going to look sweet, when its finished.

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Nasser: Nice to hear from you again. I can`t believe those 10 years have gone by so fast. I know we started when you were living in Riyadh and then I think you moved to the US. I will get some pictures ready that you need. I just moved my 47 yesterday to another garage so it might take a few days to get specific pictures but I also could have some pictures you need on my computer. Please email me at    inglerfly@cox.net      and we can go from there.   Bill

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Nasser: Here are 3 pictures from my computer to get you started. Before you start routing the wire loom in the car I would recommend you take the engine/dash harness and lay the harness on the ground in front of the car. Arrange the harness as you think it would look in the car. That will give you an idea of where each part of the wire loom will be placed and what those wires inside that part of that loom will be connected to what part of the engine or dash. Look at picture 1 below. Arrow 1 in that picture shows the large rubber grommet around the harness and the location of where that harness comes through the fire wall. Arrow 2 is the grommet that holds the armored cable which comes from the ignition switch to the coil. The two arrows marked 3 are lines for the windshield washer pump to switch. Picture 2 shows the firewall pad attached to the fire wall so don`t forget to install a pad before running the wire loom. Notice on picture 3 where the red arrow is pointing on the wire harness.

After feeding the front part of the wire harness through to the firewall to the engine, notice where the red arrow is pointing. The part of the harness that goes across the bottom of the firewall goes to the starter solenoid. If you position the harness at this point on the firewall, where the arrow points, then that gives each sub part of the harness the correct length.  I will try to find more pictures.   Bill

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Nasser; Here are some more pictures for attaching your wiring. Picture 1 below shows a portion of the front harness marked HL. This contains the headlight/parking light wiring as well as the generator wiring. This HL portion of front harness is held to the inside of the left fender by 3 spring clips as pictured in picture 2, 3 and 4. Picture 3 shows the Generator wiring leaving the harness for the generator. I will post more pictures later.   Bill

Picture 4 will be posted in the next batch as this site says this posting too big with 4 pictures

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Here are more pictures of the sub harness that goes across the bottom of the firewall to the solenoid on the starter. Picture 1 below shows this sub harness with an arrow marked 4. Pictures 2 and 3 show this sub harness, attached to the bottom of the firewall, going across to the solenoid.   Bill

[Bobby B]

Bill,
  Hi….Keep those pictures coming! I'm also in the middle of finishing up mine, and the PO left a mess for me to deal with. I'm having a real hard time sourcing all the "correct" grommets that belong on the firewall, along with missing a couple of clips. Some companies have a few, others have a few different ones, etc. No one company has all of them under one roof, so it's been a little frustrating trying to move this along. Reading your posts and studying your car's pictures have been a real help to me along with a dose of incentive. Thanks…..

Nasser,
   Hi. Good Luck with your car. It's coming out beautiful. Please post some progress pictures for us to check out.
                                                                                                                                           Bob

[Nasser Almasary]

Hi All,
Paul: nice pictures and nice car, thank you.
Sheldon: thank you for the complement I am happy that you liked the color, it is the original color.
Bill: as usual you are very thorough, educative, and precise. you must've spent so much time selecting and prepping these picture on your Photoshop, can't thank you enough. I started, as you said, by laying the new harness on a board - along with the old one - for comparison and mapping, and also to check what is missing too, see the first picture. I then fed the main harness through the fire wall (inside to outside) and slipping the rubber grommet to its place, was not easy. as you see in the pictures I am connecting the gauges and the head light switch and then mounting them in their respective openings, I hope it works that way, lets see.
Now two more questions:
1- where does the oil line go through the fire wall ?
2- there is four wires coming out of the bottom of the steering column, these wires suppose to connect to four wires coming from the new harness (located) but the ends of these eight wires don't have any junction boxes nor some kind of insulated slip fit connectors. How do these wires get connected and how to determine which wires go to where since the old wires coming from the bottom of the steering column lost their colors ? see the last picture please. I am attaching some pictures to show my progress according to your advices
Thank you very much for your help and guidance.
Nasser,

[Nasser Almasary]

attaching more pix.

[harry s]

Hi Nasser, Good to see you are back on the '47. Good luck and keep us posted.     Harry

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Nasser:  Please look at picture 1 below and it will show you where the oil pressure line goes through the firewall. Almost the center of the fire wall behind distributor you will have a two hole grommet. Bottom hole of the grommet is the vacuum line from the engine fuel pump that supplies vacuum to the wipers, radio antenna and windshield washers. Top hole for oil line. I also have pictures and directions on how to route the vacuum lines. If you need this please let me know and I will post. Picture 2 below shows the grommet location that carries the radio antenna line( arrow 1) to the radio and the vacuum lines( arrow 2) from the antenna to the radio for raising or lowering the antenna. Arrow 3 is a ground strap from the lower head bolt on left head. Same type ground strap, same location on right head.    Bill

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Nasser: To answer your question on the 4 wires out of the steering column. Those 4 wires are as follows. One wire comes from the hydra-matic indicator light, one wire comes from the right turn part of the turn signal switch, one wire from the left turn part of the switch and the last wire is the feed wire to the switch. Now look at E diagram below. Coming out of your new harness will be 4 wires with what I call spade connectors. Out of the steering column you have 4  faded wires with spade connectors. E diagram tells you that 41 connector is connected to the left turn wire from the turn signal switch, 42 goes to the right and 40 to the feed. I now am relying on memory since my car is at another garage but 40,41 and42 are attached to the wires coming out of the steering column from the turn switch by what I call a triple blade connector pictures below. I think a single blade connector was used to join 43 with the feed wire coming out of the steering column from the hydra-matic light. If the old steering column wires are so faded then about the only way I can think of to find which wire goes where is to pop off the steering wheel to get to the turn signal switch and run a continuity check on each wire. Maybe someone else has an easier way of telling which wire goes where. Now the 3 wires on your new harness that have ring terminals are fastened to the signal flasher. Wire 37 to the x connector on the flasher, 38 to the P connector and 39 to the L connector. I also used Rhode Island also so I am hoping my numbers on the wires are the same as yours.   Bill