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rewire 59 cadillac

Started by chris92026, January 15, 2018, 02:54:14 PM

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chris92026

so I decide to rewire all car with an aftermarket kit (only one I can afford on my budget )
look pretty straightforward
I do have a couple of question if someone did the same
1 how do I find out if I have fogs light or no?
2 how do I wire the power windows ?do I keep the original wire (pretty bad shape )?
3 it looks like I have power doors but not sure
4 I do have power vent windows, have to keep the original harness to?
thank you


59 Cadillac Sedan Deville
C.Perrin

Roger Zimmermann

Fog lights equipped cars have 4 lenses which are made with real glas, plus a rotating small lever under the headlamp knob. Without fog lamps, the lenses are made with plastic and, of course, the rotating lever is omitted.
Under the lenses, there are special bulbs on cars equipped with fog lamps, like the picture below:

1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101

chris92026

thank you
i know I don't have the rotating knob so no fog lights
C.Perrin

chris92026

Finally started on the new wire
Under the owner supervision

Skwerly62

Keep the old harness! If for anything use it as a reminder of how it all went together from the factory. The new kits are very straightforward with clearly marked wiring. Take your time, lay it all out loosely before making end termination cuts, make sure it all works, THEN button it all down with zip ties/loom. I focused on one section at a time ie. Engine compartment, front lighting, dash, rear lights etc. then moved on to the next.
As far as your window and doors go buy some new wire from HD or Lowe’s (correct color and gauge) and just make a new sub-harness using the old as a template. A few dollars of male/female connectors makes it all look professional and closer to stock. Took me about a full weekend to do my Belair. When all else fails call customer service! Good luck.
(Former helicopter Avionics Tech) Chris
1958 Extended Deck 62 Sedan SOLD
1960 Coupe - current project
USCG Vet - Fly CG!

Bobby B

Quote from: chris92026 on January 15, 2018, 02:54:14 PM
so I decide to rewire all car with an aftermarket kit (only one I can afford on my budget )
l

Chris,
Hi. What constitutes an "Aftermarket Kit"?  Do you mean one that's not made up from a specialized wiring company, or styled after the original harness? I'm curious how a generic wiring harness could apply to so many different vehicles. To me, that would be asking for more trouble (and time) than just waiting to save your pennies for an accurate copy of the original harness for your car. Especially if it's a keeper.....
                                                     Bobby
1947 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible Coupe
1968 Mustang Convertible
1973 Mustang Convertible
1969 Jaguar E-Type Roadster
1971 Datsun 240Z
1979 H-D FLH

russ austin

Use a 4 pin relay for the power windows/power vents. Run a heavy gauge wire from the fuse box to each door. Be sure to use a 30 amp circuit breaker instead of a fuse.

Your choice where you want the relay. In the door is ideal, as the shortest run for the wires to the motor is ideal. Use the original window switch wires as the trigger wire. 

Just google 12 volt relay wiring to see how they are wired up.
R.Austin

chris92026

Bobby B
the harness is easy to install if you know where everything goes
the car is in decent shape but the previous owner just cut on the restoration he was doing
i was happy not to get a rust bucket and some kind of decent interior after cleaning
I did not expect that much trouble with the electric, that what happened when you buy a car from pictures
it's part of the reason I am going for less expensive parts
I still need to replace some glass and exhaust and don t know if the car run and drive
I would not have bought it if I saw it in person, but now I am going to fix it and drive it !!!
C.Perrin

59-in-pieces

Christophe,
By the looks of some of the pics, it may be too late but for others who will be changing out wiring harnesses, I offer the following.

There are a number of harnesses which split - behind the dash - the right side of the car to the left, and those that run from the front of the car to the back.
I used pre-made card stock tags that had a looped string at one end through a heavy reinforced eyelet, from a stationery store.  I wrote on the tag what the wires went to.
The harnesses often connect one to another.  In that case I attached one tag on one side of the connection and another to the other side before disconnecting.  One tag would be labeled "A" and the other tag labeled "A".  in this way you know they connect one to another.  The next connection of harness to harness would be labeled "B" on each side and so on.  In this way when reconnecting long runs of harnesses to harnesses you can keep them together.

If you get a harness it may or may not have the same connectors.  Depending on how OEM - annual retentive - you can replace the connectors to remain as true to OEM as you are trying for.

When a harness attaches to an assembly like a widow motor, light, gauge etc. then tag the harness connector with a description of the item and which side of the car it belongs.  This is extremely important as you take on rewiring the area behind the dash with all its controls and lights, instruments, and accessories - label each tag as the wire and connector attaches to the item.

The original harnesses were wrapped with tape which must be redone for a top job.  There are a fair number of splices all of which were originally soldered and should be again.

The OEM harnesses were often mounted to each other as they went side by side with rubber harness self locking ties, or/and an adjacent surface - metal - by circular metal bands with tabs with holes in them through which screws are used to affix the hold down to the metal.  Make sure to save these hold downs and replace them on to the harness at a close as you can to the original location so as to keep the harness taught or loose as was originally designed.  In other areas there were nylon push pins/tress with flat "T" bases held to the harness by the tape, the trees were pushed into holes in the sheet metal to secure the harness.

A critical area of where harnesses fail is through the door jams running from the dash into the doors to power the controls in the doors - door locks, windows/vents motors - courtesy lights.  Care should be taken to wrap these harnesses up tightly and allow excess wire within the kick panels to allow them freedom of motion.  there are horseshoe conduits - open on one side with arrow shaped tabs to hold the harness stiff within, restricting the bending caused by opening and closing of the doors.

Finally and critically, each run/wire of each harness should be "rung out" to confirm you have continuity of the wires in each harness from one end to another, before and after they are installed.  Lack of continuity may be located and repaired while more accessible than after installed in the car

Have fun,
Steve B.
S. Butcher

Bobby B

Quote from: chris92026 on February 12, 2018, 09:25:28 PM
I did not expect that much trouble with the electric, that what happened when you buy a car from pictures

Chris,
Hi. Sorry to hear that. I've been down that same road before, and I'm feeling your pain. Pictures can be deceiving and so can people. Follow Steve B.'s good advice. I've made up Harnesses before from scratch, for cars where they were no longer available for. Nowadays, almost everything is out there. I just thought that maybe it would be more cost effective to buy one than get that involved with repairing. Like Steve said, make sure everything is wrapped properly, check for continuity, and watch your wire routing near sharp metal. A wiring fire is the last thing you want to happen. Be Safe and Good Luck!
                                                  Bobby
1947 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible Coupe
1968 Mustang Convertible
1973 Mustang Convertible
1969 Jaguar E-Type Roadster
1971 Datsun 240Z
1979 H-D FLH