1955 rewire where to start

JRH

JRH

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Jul 1, 2022
Thunderbird Year
1955
I'm scheduled to start a rewire on my car theirs 3 separate harnesses front crossover,main,and rear. Should I start from the dash and work both ways or say from the headlights back to the rear of the car. Any suggestions would be awesome. Thanks in advance
 

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Myself I would start in the dash and work my way out front. Then from the firewall back.
 
I have the electric manual and the shop manual' I'm in north west Indiana I actually started on the front crossover sence the main harness is backordered. I took the grill out under the front 5/16 nuts every one broke off 2 you can't get a square shot at it (frame tube in the way of course). Die ground one off rounded the hex head. Top are large philips screws (screw driver and small channel locks) stripped one (die grinder again) There's no way to soak them with penetrating oil. Got the harness from Casco wires look to be the same colors as original.

P.S I took the nose trim off last fall its either 3/8 or 7/16 nuts used a open end wrench bent at a 90 some things always in the way I know a 1/4 inch ratchet and socket didn't fit in there. Go for the 3/8 first I believe that's what I used.
 
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Start at the dash and work forward and back. When I rewired my 56, I pulled the dash. If you are going to do it with the dash in, pull the seat so you have a lot more room. If your car has been changed to 12 volt, I recommend you install electric wipers. My opinion, the ones from New Port Engineering are the best. Used in two cars, my 56 Bird and my 54 Ford
 
paul5456 said:
Start at the dash and work forward and back. When I rewired my 56, I pulled the dash. If you are going to do it with the dash in, pull the seat so you have a lot more room. If your car has been changed to 12 volt, I recommend you install electric wipers. My opinion, the ones from New Port Engineering are the best. Used in two cars, my 56 Bird and my 54 Ford
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Not ready to go that route to pull the dash i mean. I have a resister for the gauges do you know what wire to tap into for the 6v gauges?
 
JRH said:
Not ready to go that route to pull the dash i mean. I have a resister for the gauges do you know what wire to tap into for the 6v gauges?
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You have to trace the power wire from the gauges to the power source. I believe there is one source (ignition switch) for both gauges and the gauges (gas and temp) are wired in series. Once you find the common wire, that should be connected to the resister and then to the gauges. On the wiring diagram for my 56, this wire is black with a green tracer (also could be black with a green end). Most likely the 55 is the same.
 
JRH said:
Not ready to go that route to pull the dash i mean. I have a resister for the gauges do you know what wire to tap into for the 6v gauges?
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1955 and 1956 fuel and temperature gauges did not use a resistor. The black/green wire from the ignition switch connected directly to the gauge.

55 & 56 Gauges.jpg

1957 used a constant voltage regulator that was between the black/green wire from the ignition switch to the black/green wire going to the gauges.

57 Gauges.jpg

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue
 
I started with the dash. For what it's worth, I found it much easier to remove the dash and rewire on a table. You may not need to do that, but I have crap for a back and trying to do it while installed provided me with a new 'worst spasms ever' to deal with.
 
I am about to start my re-wire, first thing I did was buy a wiring diagram from CASCO. When I got the 55 they had disconnected everything under the hood, oh boy. So by color codes I can hopefully get it right.
 
JRH said:
You should be OK
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Yah, just keep in mind that if you have never done a job like that before it will take lots of time and research to do it right but once you get the logic of how & why they did it that way it will go faster. I just wonder why everything was disconnected?
 
Maybe someone started the job and just gave up and left it.
 
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