VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Wiring - Part 2

Folks:

Thought you deserved an update on the wiring adventure, and I need to ask another question.
After much grunting, sweating and trying to tilt my head back far enough to see out the bottom part of my bifocals, all the wires are in under the hood and under the dash. I found the stoplight switch right where it was supposed to be (thanks) and got the main harness fed through the firewall.
All the gauges and lights are wired, back as far as the dome light, and the gas tank and rear lights can wait for another day. But here's the question. There's a wire labelled "3- Stop light switch (terminal opposite 3A) to male in-line connector under dash to female connector in taillight harness to DS & PS stop lights (see diagram)."
First, there's no diagram, and second, the female connector in the taillight harness doesn't in any way match the male end on the wire that comes in from the stop light switch. My guess, and it's just a guess, is that these two wires belong together (like corned beef and cabbage) but they were made wrong. Even Y&Z makes mistakes, and one other mistake they made was to not send the wire that goes from the ignition switch to the coil.
Since there's no in-line connector anywhere under the dash that I can find, and a small tweak will make the male and female parts fit together (sounds like people, doesn't it?) does that idea make sense?
And finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you all. You gave me confidence and information.

Mario

According to the 40' wiring diagram, the wire coming from the driver + pass. side stop lights goes to one terminal of the stop light switch and the other terminal goes to the fused terminal on the headlight switch..
http://chevy.tocmp.com/chevywiring/diagrams/1940carwiring.pdf

Interesting. I looked for that sort of hookup and didn't find anything. There are only two male prongs on the light switch and they were both taken.
The interesting thing is that the instructions say that there's an inline connector where these two wires come together, and I don't see one anywhere.

Mario

Mario, I checked my 1940 Town sedan, original wiring harness-- never monkeyed with. Four wires come from driver side roof chase down to gauges. One to fuel gauge, Two to top connections on light switch, and one to a black rubber inline connector that connects that wire to main bundle of harness. Only a guess, but probably on to brake switch from there. Also my light switch has three other wires attached near bottom of switch, one to previously mentioned fused buss bar. others to gauge lights? Best of Luck to ya! Chevy40

chevy40:

I can't imagine that there was much change between '40 and '41, so what you're describing in your car is what I was expecting in mine. The rest of the wires you're mentioning are what I find, and what's missing is that inline connector. Since now I'm down to just tail lights, brake lights and gas gauge, that missing connector is the only remaining mystery. Well, that and how the mice got all the way up into the headliner to make a nest.

Thanks.

Mario

Mario - Put a Y n Z harness in my '40 4 years ago and never did find the in line connector for the 3 wire (I think the in line connector is covered by the harness braid). The in line connector is used to transition to 2 wires, one each for DS & PS. If you look at the wires of the harness that run to the back of the car (those darlings that you have to pull your headliner down for) you should find 2 wires that are natural colored and those are your brake light wires. The tail light wires should be natural with black crossed trace. I just hooked the #3 wire to one terminal on the brake light switch and the 3A wire to the other terminal and the other end of the 3A to the light switch (aka 'see diagram') shown in the lower right hand corner of the wiring instructions and it worked fine.

Mario, FYI, I know some auto interior guys who have an extra pair of bifocals made upside down...works real well for under the dash work and when looking up at the bottom of the car when it is on a lift.

Mike, Gator:

You've confirmed my suspicion about the wires. Y&Z did forget one wire, too, the one from the coil to the ignition switch, so I had to make one. I'll try the solution you suggest, which sounds like the most logical. After all, everything has been hooked up and these two are the only wires left loose.
I do like the upside down bifocals! What a great idea. It's exactly what you need when you're in a position like that.

Thanks.

Mario

How many pairs of glasses have you smashed while working under the car???Don't pay too much for those bifocals!!!chef-

Mario - The reason you did not get a wire that goes from the ignition switch to the coil is because that wire is armored (original = electrolock) and is not really a part of the wiring harness. If you have an unarmored wire someone has replaced your coil and ignition switch.

Chef, Mike:

Chef, so far I'm still on the first pair. They're a little grimy, but they're holding up. I should go clean them, since my wife has decided that she and I should go out to dinner tonight, and I have to be able to read the menu.
Mike, the wire that was there was regular unarmored wire. The car was done over from 6 volt to 12, so there's all sorts of new stuff in there. Should I get an armored wire to replace the one I had to make up? All the gauges except the gas gauge worked, and when I got into the trunk I saw why. The wire was clipped off. I'm waiting to hook that up until I get a 12 to 6 volt resistor.
As I got deeper into this job it got really obvious that the last person who worked on the wiring jury-rigged everything. The wires to the taillights ran along the frame, held on with electrical tape. One of the two parking lights has two wires coming out of a broken rubber boot, with neither one hooked up to anything. We'll see what happens when I hook the battery up.

Thanks.

Mario

Good luck...

Keep the class ”˜c’ fire extinguisher real close by, just in case.