2016 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

Been madly involved with running the brand new wiring harness Phil W. did for me a few years back.

Did not realize how much of a nightmare it cvan be to snake the wires in pkace after the cab is almost all assembled...... but I am getting there.

Phil the harness is a delight to work with.... absolutely perfect.....THANKS YOU!!

Noticed in the process that my cab 11, which never went overseas, was never retro fitted with the front fenders marker lights nor the rear axle light..... that is now taken care of.... all my lights front and rear are working.... will be tackling the instrument cluster next...... what takes time is the hour of limbering yoga exercise before crawling under, over, etc.....

Would some one look at the wiring diagram in the MB-C2 and see if I am wrong.... the dotted lines for the second headlights ( yes mine has two) it seems that the dash instrument "Brigth Light" is shown as being wired ON when the low beam are actuated.....???

I have been using this diagram as my road map....... Phil made the wiring harness with EXACTLY the same color code as the manual...... it sure simplifies the process.....

I now have to factor in the new style ignition coil and the alternator...will keep the voltage regulator in place as a dummy so need to modify the diagram slightly. Also installing signal lights, for safety, and will be using an after market special dash switch similar to the fuel tank switch to manually turn on the flashers. Again Phil was thoughtful and included the extra wires for the flashers in the braided wiring loom.

Time to go out and get zapped!!

Cheers

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

please post some pictures of the process.....well, not you hanging upside down in the engine bay, but rather the actual wiring . I am also preparing to start on the wiring and spoke to Phil to get some feedback, as I am really new to wiring. Just like you (and all other for that matter), I have to include some flashers, so the challenges are similar.

regards,

Alex

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Good to hear the harness is going well. Besides yoga is good for use. I would not be surprised to hear that gal's got this job on assembly line.

Now having put new harnesses in both Pattern 12 & 13 after the trucks were assembled I can conclusively say that's not how it was done on the assembly line. I'm sure the started when it was a rolling chassis.

First time I replaced the harness on my HUP years ago, it has fully assembled took the old one out copy it and then installed the copy. When the HUP was over hauled twenty years later put the harness in starting with the chassis then once the bare body was in place much easier.

Anybody working on a Pattern 13 do the harness without the nose on, lot easier to wire.

Also as I mentioned on my Web site if you are making a new harness make it several inches (6") longer than the original, particularly at the dash end.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Phil what really helped was using the same color code as the original wiring.... made using the CMP MB-C2 wiring diagram much easier to use.

Putting in the wiring harness before the body is on the frame is definitely the way to go.... in a plant setting!!!

Fishing the headlight wiring after the fenders are installed is not easy...not impossible ...but not easy.

Alex..... regarding photos..... did not take any due to the tight physical location...... in some instances... I had to remove my jacket, roll up my shirt sleeve and remove my wrist watch to reach inside the engine bay.

I will try to take some photos and post them for you...... but if you have any specific questions let me know and will try to take additional photos or give you a verbal description.

Since Phil had faithfully reproduced the CMP harness it had the connectors mid way which allowed me to split the harness midway near the T-case cross member. It allowed me to install the rear section and the lights and apply power to test them out. I did the same with the front section...... I was fortunate enough to have 3 cab 12 to look at to see how the harness was installed as mine had been totally stripped out ( originally by the mice).

So having done the rear section I worked on the front section of the ligths and tested the headligths. Actually as you connect the most obvious parts you have less and less to be intimidated by.

My issue now is redoing an instrument cluster to that I can finish the dash wiring. I have to salvage a fuel guage then can move ahead.

I temporarily designed some front flasher lights to fit on the bumper for the signal lights... and they test good.... will have pics of that for you.

One of my headache right now is that my cab 11 never had side lights mounted on the front fenders and I am not sure I want to drill holes to install them. I am considering going back to the original headlights with the separate reflector/lens system which would include the built in parking lights inside the headlight bucket.

So far, starting from both ends and meeting in the middle, seems to work for me.

My plans are to fully hard wire the voltage regulator.... then modify to accomodate the alternator and leave the voltage regular sitting there as a dummy. I am not an expert at this and must admit that you need to really think and concentrate on doing it well..... it is not a slam dunk deal but do-able........ with patience and persistance.

Cheers

[Bob Carriere]

Totally rewired my C15a with a repro wiring harness made by Phil Waterman.

It's a lot of work.....did a final check with Grant today....found one wire out of place on the HAM-metre.

Reconnected the battery..... waited....no fizzz....no phiittzzz...no smoke.... so tried all the lights.... worked fine.... turned the new ignition key ...engine fired up micely and even the HAM-metre was working properly..... and this is a 12 volt conversion with a new alternator.

Brake lights did not work but we tracked it down to a defective brake switch....

Very pleased with the result and the harness from Phil was a delight to work with.

One more step closer to getting a safety for the road.

Cheers

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Good progress, I had this nagging fear in the back of my mind that you were going to say I had missed some important wire, or miss labeled something.

So now you have wiring lights whats left before the critical test?

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Finish the door with paint and new inner skins..... paint the seat frame and install and waiting for the 30Ohms senders for the fuel tank......

...... than road trip!!!!!!

It sure made my task a lot easier to have a "perfect" wiring loom to work with. I followed your practice and did soldered joint on all connections then skrink/heat wrapped. Connectors in the mid section were coated with di-lectric grease during assembly.......all carefully clipped to the frame....especially near the master cylinder......

Will be installing a manual turn signal system which uses a large switch similar to the fuel gauge switch.

I will be running "roadster" style like you without a top and plan to install the original rusted out cargo box as fenders are required....sort of a "work in progress"

Top needs a lot of small bumps to be removed and replace about 6 inch strip near the middle joint.

The cargo box will be reverse enginered later on...... I have 3 rusted hulk to work from.

One question on the harness you supplied Rob for his HUP....did you use the same wiring diagram or did you make a "one off" for his HUP????

A thousand thanks

Bob C

[Alex van de Wetering]

Hi Bob,

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier; My question regarding pictures was just out of curiousity to see the current status of your truck. The only real specific question I have regarding the wiring at the moment is what type of clips you have used to keep the wiring loom in place(?). From what I have been able to learn from my C8 is that the wiring in the engine bay does use some pre-welded clips on the inner panels of the nose..., as well as around the radiator....the wiring for the headlights are also snugly fit in place....but the loom going through the right chassis rails to the rear lights....seem to just "lay" in position without any clips originally? At least I haven't been able to find any remains of bolted or clamped clips on the frame rails.
I have bought some clips that can be clamped to the chassis rails (not used yet as I sill have to start wiring), but I wonder what others have come up with(?)

starting a thread called WIRING DIAGRAMS

Excellent idea Phil. Wiring seems to be a subject that comes up on the forum quite regularly, so it wouldn't hurt to put some of this info in a separate thread.

Alex