Dan Masters' Wiring Harness

 


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The "DASH".... Oh My God!

My mantra for the rest of this installation is: "I trust Dan Masters, I trust Dan Masters, I trust Dan Masters". Prior to adopting that mantra, there was a lot of "Oh my God, what am I doing tearing out all this wire under the dash?" At this point I cut all the old wires from the front and rear of the car so that I was left with that mass of wires that are up under the dash. On my main page there's a link to November 1997 which was the first time I pulled my dash and labeled everything. I pulled it again in May 1999 and I re-labeled every wire with these little Jeweler's tags, the kind that they put around a necklace strand and are impossible to tear of remove. Almost 6 years later and the tags are still firmly in place.

I spent a lot of time with a razor knife trying to cut away all of the harness wrap while not cutting a finger off. No small task given the room you have to work in under the dash. Add in all the sharp edges on the metal dash and it's amazing that I haven't drawn blood yet.....well maybe a little blood. Once i had a good idea where all the wires went I cut the harness free and pulled it out from the dash. Now I was able to remove the rest of the tape and cut all the bulbs free while retaining all of their wire. Seeing as all of the bulb wires are "hard-wired" right to the bulb, you don't want to cut them too short. These dash bulb wires are the only original wires you'll retain along with a few other wires that are hard-wired to their "device: e.g. horn, turn signals, ignition switch. All the dash bulbs that go on with the headlights are wired together from the factory with some sort of wire nut. I wanted a more permanent connection so I got these connectors that enabled me to solder everything up tight.

Here's an ignition switch comparison that shows the original connector and the new one. The easiest way to do this is to remove the back module of the switch and do the wiring in on your workbench.

So at this point here's how the dash area looks as I begin to pull the new wires to their approximate position. "I trust Dan Masters, I trust Dan Masters, I trust Dan Masters".

January 17th.......... BRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....we've been hit with a cold snap with today's temps in the teens and forecasted for single digits this week. My 55,000 BTU heater is real good down to the low 30's and scrapes by when it's in the 20's so I won't be working in the garage for a few days. As a result this was a good time to work on the mounting arrangement for the auxiliary switches that Dan supplies and/or recommends you install. For my installation I'll be installing the two switches he provides as the hazard switch and the "anti-theft" switch. That switch kills all power to the power block. I also bought a single pole, double throw switch for my electric fan. This will give me 3 options: On, Off and Auto-run. The tricky part was finding a suitable place and way to mount them. Seeing as I had some steel plate left over from my hood release project, I used that. I decided to mount the "panel" on the steering column bracket. It's off of the way from the heater/demister hoses and is easily reached from the driver's seat.

More Dash Wiring here!