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  • 60 T-Bird
    Experienced
    • Jun 2 2010
    • 347

    Question about wiring

    Well...I'm back on here after a very long sabbatical. I became extremely ill for about a year during my last year of working. I've retired, bounced back and back on my 60 bird. 4 or so years ago I replaced the dash which was a "fun" project. Now I need to plug all the wiring back in. I wish I had a 5 yr. old with 3 elbows per arm...it's that hard. Have I missed something here? I could not see any way of plugging them in before the dash was mounted.
    I took the brake pedal assembly off and the steering wheel but it's still a bear. Other than going to harbor freight and buying specialized pliers like these...


    or these...

    or these hose pliers...

    does anyone have any helpful input?
    "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"
  • Tbird1044
    Super-Experienced
    • Jul 31 2012
    • 1346

    #2
    Hi Martin:
    Glad to hear you're feeling better and congratulations on retiring. Gives a lot more time to work on the old Bird.
    As for the wiring, I have found that pulling the drivers seat out and also the lower trim panel gives better and easier access under the dash.
    All of the wiring at the base of the steering column should be pretty accessible. Sometimes a pliers is needed to connect or disconnect the Ford bullet connectors. They can be pretty tight.
    As for the wiring behind the instrument panel, it is best to pull the clock, speedo and guage cluster. You can then connect all of the wiring and reinstall the units. The 3 large holes in the instrument panel will also give access to connect things like the CVR, cig lighter, turn sig. bulbs, oil press and gen lights etc. As for the ign. switch and headlight switch, the wiring should be connected to the terminals and then install the switches.
    I was even able to plug the wires into the radio and then install it through the lower access plate and wiggle it into place.
    Hope this helps.
    Nyles

    Comment

    • simplyconnected
      Administrator
      • May 26 2009
      • 8778

      #3
      Nyles, you give excellent advice. I couldn't have said it better.

      The only thing I can add is, think of the line workers who get ONE MINUTE per car to connect the wires. Many times she's a woman because the ladies are usually smaller than the guys and they work quickly. Jumping in and out of five hundred cars per shift every day is daunting but the girls turn it into a Zumba rhapsody that I always loved to watch. Not one motion is wasted and they welcome a conversation while they work just to break the monotony.

      God Bless the ladies. They do many jobs much better than the men and they're a whole lot prettier. - Dave
      Member, Sons of the American Revolution

      CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

      "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
      --Lee Iacocca

      From: Royal Oak, Michigan

      Comment

      • YellowRose
        Super-Experienced


        • Jan 21 2008
        • 17188

        #4
        Question about wiring

        Martin, I am glad to see that you are back with us and I hope you are feeling much better now. Please downsize your pix you posted. As you can see, to view what all your wrote one has to slide back and forth to read it. The max picture size allowed is 800x600pixel. Thank you and good luck putting your Tbird back together again!

        Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
        The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
        Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

        https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
        Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
        https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

        Comment

        • 60 T-Bird
          Experienced
          • Jun 2 2010
          • 347

          #5
          Sorry Ray. It's been awhile since on this forum. The other forum I am on auto-size's pictures. I will be more careful in the future.
          "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

          Comment

          • 60 T-Bird
            Experienced
            • Jun 2 2010
            • 347

            #6
            Originally posted by Tbird1044
            Hi Martin:
            Glad to hear you're feeling better and congratulations on retiring. Gives a lot more time to work on the old Bird.
            As for the wiring, I have found that pulling the drivers seat out and also the lower trim panel gives better and easier access under the dash.
            All of the wiring at the base of the steering column should be pretty accessible. Sometimes a pliers is needed to connect or disconnect the Ford bullet connectors. They can be pretty tight.
            As for the wiring behind the instrument panel, it is best to pull the clock, speedo and guage cluster. You can then connect all of the wiring and reinstall the units. The 3 large holes in the instrument panel will also give access to connect things like the CVR, cig lighter, turn sig. bulbs, oil press and gen lights etc. As for the ign. switch and headlight switch, the wiring should be connected to the terminals and then install the switches.
            I was even able to plug the wires into the radio and then install it through the lower access plate and wiggle it into place.
            Hope this helps.
            Nyles
            Thank you Nyles, the seats and trim are still out and makes it easy to lie under the dash. Your idea of removing the gauges (again) seems like the only way to go. I wonder if I can remove the whole instrument cluster bezel and do it that way?

            Originally posted by simplyconnected
            Nyles, you give excellent advice. I couldn't have said it better.

            The only thing I can add is, think of the line workers who get ONE MINUTE per car to connect the wires. Many times she's a woman because the ladies are usually smaller than the guys and they work quickly. Jumping in and out of five hundred cars per shift every day is daunting but the girls turn it into a Zumba rhapsody that I always loved to watch. Not one motion is wasted and they welcome a conversation while they work just to break the monotony.

            God Bless the ladies. They do many jobs much better than the men and they're a whole lot prettier. - Dave
            Those were better times, when people were grateful for their employment. Now it's primarily robots.
            "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

            Comment

            • YellowRose
              Super-Experienced


              • Jan 21 2008
              • 17188

              #7
              Question about wiring

              That is interesting that another Forum has auto-size. I wonder if this Forum does also, but perhaps it is not activated. Hopefully, Dave ~ simplyconnected, will see your comment and check on this. It would be great if it does! It certainly would make things easier.

              Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
              The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
              Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

              https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
              Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
              https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

              Comment

              • 60 T-Bird
                Experienced
                • Jun 2 2010
                • 347

                #8
                Originally posted by YellowRose
                That is interesting that another Forum has auto-size. I wonder if this Forum does also, but perhaps it is not activated. Hopefully, Dave ~ simplyconnected, will see your comment and check on this. It would be great if it does! It certainly would make things easier.
                This is the forum I am on http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/. You can expand the picture by clicking on it, if need be. Hope his helps.
                "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

                Comment

                • simplyconnected
                  Administrator
                  • May 26 2009
                  • 8778

                  #9
                  Originally posted by YellowRose
                  That is interesting that another Forum has auto-size. I wonder if this Forum does also, but perhaps it is not activated. Hopefully, Dave ~ simplyconnected, will see your comment and check on this. It would be great if it does! It certainly would make things easier.
                  If we had the version of vBulletin that LOD uses, we would. With this version, no. - Dave
                  Member, Sons of the American Revolution

                  CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

                  "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
                  --Lee Iacocca

                  From: Royal Oak, Michigan

                  Comment

                  • Tbird1044
                    Super-Experienced
                    • Jul 31 2012
                    • 1346

                    #10
                    It would be a real PITA to remove the entire panel. You would have to pull the guages/clock/speedo to even have any chance to remove the panel.
                    The gauges come out really easily. Just pull the round bezel off and remove a few screws to pull the guages etc. The worst is the speedo, since you have to deal with the drive cable. If the cable is not long enough to allow for removal, then see if you can feed any extra through the firewall or disconnect it at the trans to allow the speedo head to be removed.
                    Once the guages etc are removed, you can wiggle your hands through the holes and get things connected. If not, find someone with small hands.
                    Good Luck.
                    Nyles

                    Comment

                    • 60 T-Bird
                      Experienced
                      • Jun 2 2010
                      • 347

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Tbird1044
                      It would be a real PITA to remove the entire panel. You would have to pull the guages/clock/speedo to even have any chance to remove the panel.
                      The gauges come out really easily. Just pull the round bezel off and remove a few screws to pull the guages etc. The worst is the speedo, since you have to deal with the drive cable. If the cable is not long enough to allow for removal, then see if you can feed any extra through the firewall or disconnect it at the trans to allow the speedo head to be removed.
                      Once the guages etc are removed, you can wiggle your hands through the holes and get things connected. If not, find someone with small hands.
                      Good Luck.
                      Nyles
                      Sounds good...I am working on it as I type this. Fortunately for me, I kidnapped a 5 yr. old on his way to school. I have him in a gunny sack in the shop in case I need him
                      "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

                      Comment

                      • 60 T-Bird
                        Experienced
                        • Jun 2 2010
                        • 347

                        #12
                        Ok...I let the 5 yr. old go..what a whiner! I'm doing pretty good now with the clock and the Temp/Fuel gauges out.
                        Looking at the Ford wiring diagram, I'm assuming the color codes are not that all accurate. Example: On the schematic all back lighting, lights, are B-G, or blue/green. Mine are just blue. Oil light should be Black/Green, Red/White. Mine is just Black and Red/White. A lot of the wiring is like this but I guess the ran out on the line just used black.
                        Part of the trick is securing the harness as you go. I'm probably 1/3 of the way through the mess.
                        "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

                        Comment

                        • YellowRose
                          Super-Experienced


                          • Jan 21 2008
                          • 17188

                          #13
                          Question about wiring

                          Martin, I can think of a couple of things that would cause the wiring not to match up with the wiring colors on the schematic. 1. A previous owner has been under there and re-wired a bunch of it with whatever color wiring he had available. 2. With age, the color stripe has faded away, or worn off.. 3. Someone installed a wiring harness in the past that did not have the wired color coded correctly. That third one just came to me... Good luck with it.

                          Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
                          The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
                          Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

                          https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
                          Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
                          https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

                          Comment

                          • 60 T-Bird
                            Experienced
                            • Jun 2 2010
                            • 347

                            #14
                            It has all the ford details to it including the cloth sheathing in some places. I'm thinking they ran what they had. I even unwrapped some wire and the strip was no evident.
                            "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow - what a ride!"

                            Comment

                            • Tbird1044
                              Super-Experienced
                              • Jul 31 2012
                              • 1346

                              #15
                              Make sure you get the CVR wired up correctly. I think even the old originals are polarity sensitive. Dave would know for sure. I'm testing my memory now, but I think the terminals on the CVR are different sizes so they can't be reversed. This is needed for the temp and gas gauge.
                              Nyles

                              Comment

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