VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Wiring Dome Light in a '34

The new wiring harness in my '34 does not have a wire for the dome light and I have not found a wiring diagram that shows how it is wired and where the switch is located. Any help would be appreciated!

I may be able to help a little. I have a '35 master and the '34's may be similar...but then again the 34's are unique in many ways. Here goes.
The switch for the dome light is mounted on the passenger side door jamb. If you have the interior out you may see a hole that's been drilled in the wood about a third of the way up the window height. The switch is recessed in this hole. The wiring runs from the unswitched side of the ignition switch up and over the passenger window in the roof framing and to the switch location. From the switch it runs to the light. The light is grounded to the roof framing on my '35.
Again, your '34 may be somewhat different but this may help put you in the right direction.

Jerry,
Your dome lamp should have the switch integral. There should be a hole in the lens ring for a small pull knob. A hot wire comes to the switch and a ground wire goes from the lamp to the body shell as I recall.

Mike

The Master has a switch on the door post. There is a hot wire that runs up the left windshield post to the lamp. That wire is hot all the time. Then there is a ground wire from the body of the lamp that runs to one side of the switch. A wire runs from the other side of the switch to a metal ground location.

Hi Youngfalcon,
If you go to "Old Online Chevy Manuals" then scroll down to "Fisher Body Manuals" then "34 Fisher Body Service Manual", on page 42 you will find a good (written) description of the set out for the dome lamp wiring. Also on the same site under "Chevrolet Manuals & Information" there is a sub heading for Wiring Diagrams for 1923 - 1960 Pass. cars and Trucks. There is a section there for 1934 Switches which indicates where the wire comes off the light switch. The switch on my car is integral with the light but mine is Australian (Holden)bodied. The good wiring diagrams (U.S.) that I have sourced all show a separate switch as described in the manual.

which body style are you working on ? differant body styles have differant switches .

Guys, thanks for the posts. I'll take a closer look at the on-line manual. Mike, I don't see where there would be a switch at the light but I may not have the original light assembly. Pushrod, my '34 is a standard 3 window coupe.

Guys, I went back and dug a bit deeper into one of my boxes of parts and found another dome light "base" and, as Mike said, I see the switch on this one is built into the socket. I also found the small rod with a knurled knob that goes to the switch. It looks like a push/pull arrangement. I assume that it is on when pulled. So I will need to run a hot wire to the socket and a ground wire over to the metal body and I should be good to go.

I have another question. I have the piece of wood that the dome light mounts to. It fits into slots in the wooden side to side pieces of the roof. But I also have another piece similar to it but about twice as large (8" x 19"). I don't see where it would go or what function it would have. It has no holes where anything was mounted to it but it is tapered on each end to fit into slots like the other piece. Any ideas or suggestions?

Jerry,
The block mounts so the switch is at the front. The ground wire goes to the right side and attaches to the bolt from your trim strip which surrounds the top. Does this make sense. Do you have a lens and rim with the hole for your switch?
Extra long dome lamp mounting block??? Maybe Howard was planning to streeeetch the coupe into a limo.

Mike

Mike,

I do have the correct lens and chrome rim with the hole for the switch. When I asked the original question I was looking at a set that most likely came off the '39 he had for a while. It does not have an integral switch. I hadn't noticed the difference.

I guess I won't worry about the extra piece of wood but am curious where it came from. I don't think it would be off a '39 would it?

I think I understand where to ground the wire. Thanks for your reply.

My worm gear adjusting nut and middle slot screw appear to be stuck????
can I unscrew both at once and put them in a vise without anything "inside" the stearing box falling or sliding out of place??
I've adusted the play out of steering boxes before; however I've never attempted to remove the two
Thanks
Wing nut