Technical How to get started?

Long story short, as my username suggests, I have a '54 3100. This is the family heirloom. My dad swapped in a SBC 327, Borg Warner T-10 and a 10 bolt posi from a '57 Chevy back in '71, two years before I was born.

I got her running. Good even. But some electrical gremlins exist. When I pull the headlight switch. I have headlights and rear marker lights. No front parking lights or turn indicators front or back. Brake lights work when I push the pedal. Looks like it has an aftermarket turn signal stalk from JC Whitney or something of the sort.

I'm guessing I'm going to get real familiar with test light, not that I know what I'm doing. Any input? Thanks in advance.

Chad

 

Take a picture of the turn signal switch and post it.

 

what Gimpy said......one the other hand - my first driver was a 50's Studebaker pickup.....just had the two lights out back....a buddies dad's Gulf station just wouldn't let me pass inspection because I didn't have all the stuff working like a 60's truck.....hell I finally read the inspection book....didn't need but 1959 down factory stuff....my hands worked wonders ! Went across the street to the Mobil station - got it inspected and was able to drive it to High School on Monday.
Just saying you really don't need a bunch of stuff - get it going - and let your dad ride your shoulder a bit !

 

a lot of times with old headlight switches you don't have front parking lights with headlights on, parking lights only work in the first notch, second notch turns parking lights off ant headlights on.

 

yeah, no parking lights if the headlights are on, that changed around the mid-late 60s with the government safety kick that required seat belts, back up lights, etc.

The turn signals, you're going to need to learn to use a test light. If none of it is working, maybe it's not getting power. Usually turn signals need the key on, the other lights don't need the key on to work.

 

Thanks all so much for the response! I'll take a picture of the signal stalk tonight and post it up.

Great information about how they had the lights configured back then. I even called my dad to ask him if he remembered but he did not. So that will really help out! And I will be buying a test light.

Talk to you all soon.

 

Welcome to the HAMB, congratulations to being brave enough to play with electricity. I'd install a kill switch first off to protect that family heirloom. Bob

 

And get a fire extinguisher if you don't already have one. Once you run continuity with a test light, start looking for places that wires bend or rub, especially around the frame or corners of sheet metal. Also, add ground straps in several places and remove, sand down and reattach ground straps and wires wherever you can. Sounds tedious, but you'll be surprised how much a difference it will make.

 

Thanks again for the responses! I do have a fire extinguisher within grabbing distance.

I bought the test light today and an ohm meter/voltmeter. I'll take a look at power going to the signal stalk. Until then, here's a picture of the stalk. It appears to only have a fuse link on the power wire, and two wires that go to the signalstat, obviously one wire for each turn indicator?

FWIW, gauge and speedometer lights do work.

 

That looks like a 5 wire system. Look inside the cover and find the mfgr name & part number, then you can find the schematics on the internet. The power should be coming from brake light switch, broken thru the condensor and out to flash the brake lights; another feed to flash the front turn signals.
It is a little trickier than you'd think, because the rear brake lights share the same element as the turn signal. Modern cars simplify it by having different lamps so the brakes and turn lamps can be on at the same time.
The slightly larger aftermarket turnsignals are 7 wire, I believe yours is 5.

 

Keep in mind the turn signal is wired to interrupt the brake light voltage using a flasher to open and close it based on heat from resistance.

Check for open turn signal fuses, then the flasher. After that wiring into and out of the turn signal switch.


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lots of the really old turn signal switches like that which were installed on old trucks, used separate set of lights. Does the truck have any extra lights added on? or places where they might have been, but were removed?

 

Love the steering wheel!

 

Thanks again for all the responses! And yeah, I love the steering wheel too..

So as far as wiring schematics, this may be getting a little above my head but I'll take a look when the wife and child are out tomorrow. It's all a little daunting. I'm currently try to find a buddy who has some insight on this stuff here in town. As I'm finding out, this isn't a job for a noob but I'm trying.

I will try to find the manufacture for the stalk and see if there's anything out there. At the very least I will take a look at the harness and see how many wires are coming off and where they are going to.

It can't be rocket science. But I am dealing with a learning curve. The last vehicle I dealt with was an 90s Volkswagen that had a clear schematic for the wiring harness. This seems to be quite a bit different upon looking at the wiring diagram. Looks like there may be multiple grounds all over the place. Is this true for vehicles of this age?

At the very least I hope to see if there is actually power going to the signal stock tomorrow. Seems like a good place to start to me but what do I know!

I took a look at the wiring to the front turn indicators, there is only two wires. So unless, like someone said, power is being interrupted for the "blinking " there likely is no parking lights, just flashers for the turn indicators. The rear brake lights are aftermarket. I have yet to determine whether they have a parking light wiring that my dad doesn't remember. Right now, they only light up when the brake pedal is pressed.

I'm suspect that there is some tomfoolery going on with the wiring but hopefully it's not a complete hack job. When I asked my pops about it, I got the "hell, that was 40 years ago, son" response.

I'm willing to pay the price! Such a cool truck.

 

There are some semi-truck style lights that are between the tailgate and the bumper that light up with the headlights. Whoa is me.

A friend in Pennsylvania said that I should get a painless wiring harness and rewire it over the winter. May be a headache but worth it in the end.

 

Here's the video after replacing the resistor wire on the coil. First time it was running without issue in more than 20 years!

 

It appears that I was off on the signal stalk. The fuseable link is not part of that. I only see four wires that come from the stalk. Two go to the signal stat and the other two go through the firewall. In the dimness of my garage I can't see where the other go to tonight but I'd guess one is a power and one a ground.

 

Sweet ride! Find a tailgate and drop it a little so you don't get a nosebleed and you're good to go. Good job Dad!!

 

If that's a four-wire switch, it's likely that they're 1. power in from the flasher for the signals 2. power in from the flasher for the indicator light on the turn switch 3. power to left turn 4. power to right turn. To identify each wire, perform this test...

1. With the switch in the 'OFF' position, check for continuity between the wires AND to ground. There should be NO continuity between ANY of the wires, and ONE should read to ground (the housing). The one that reads to ground will be the indicator light, mark it as such. Note that the switch should be disconnected from the vehicle harness to perform this test.

2. Turn the switch to 'LEFT'. You should now have continuity between TWO wires, and two only. One is for the left turn lights, one is power in from the flasher. To determine which is which, go to the next step after marking these.

3. Turn the switch to 'RIGHT'. Again, you should have continuity between TWO wires, and two only. One of these will be one of the wires found in step 2; this wire is power coming from the flasher, the other is for the right turn lights. The remaining wire from step 2 is power to the left turn lights.

This type of switch is TURNS ONLY; you can't hook the brake lights through it and will require separate lamps for the turns. You can use the front parking lights for turns, but will lose the parking light function if you do. You'll need separate lights in the rear. You'll also need a three-wire flasher if you want the indicator light on the switch to function. The flasher will have three terminals; X, which is power in from the fuse panel, L, which will connect to the power in at the switch, and P, which will connect to the indicator light power in at the switch.

If this isn't what you find, then the switch is bad or it should have more wires coming out of it.

 

Don't get any better than that!

 

Hey, thanks all for the responses!

Before I forget to mention, my dad actually put extra leafs under it. I don't think I want to lower it, because I like existing the stance, lots of them lowered out there. And yeah, I'm a 327 fan. Always wanted one, and here it is!

Yep, the signal stalk is a four wire, Crazy Steve. I did some work today, and found a couple issues. First was the broken wire at the engine compartment/firewall that went to the passenger side lights. Respliced it back together. Things finally started working after I took the signal stalk off the steering column and found that there was some surface corrosion, so I sanded it off (apparently the ground for this is the clamp to the steering column itself) and after that, I had flashers. The only remaining issue now is the right rear indicator. When I turn the switch on, the front right blinks appropriately, but BOTH taillights flash together dimly when the blinkers are turned on to the right side. When turned to the left/driver side, the front and rear both function as they should. I'm guessing a rear ground issue, but...Then I ran out of time.

The family awaits, so time for pick up the kid from school and make some grub. Until next weekend, y'all, over and out (but I'll be checking back if anyone has more input).

Cheers,
Chad

 

Neat old truck! You are likely right about the ground.

 

Grab a new wiring harness for $170.00 and re wire the whole truck.

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Like said above... though you seem to be winning this headache, get a rebel wire harness and redo the whole truck. itll save you a lot of headaches down the road. And it should give you some peace of mind knowing the wires are all new and up to the task of transporting electrons safely. I was able to do my whole truck in about 3-4 days worth taking it slow and routing the wires as hidden as possible

 

Love the video! "Is he gonna drive that thing?"

 

Ground problem. Sounds like it's pulling a ground thru the other bulb to complete the circuit. Keep in mind only the power is controlled by the switch(normally), the grounds are at the socket, light housing or bracket usually.


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Yep, a wiring harness is on the radar for sure. A friend of mine suggested a Painless wiring harness. Does Rebel wiring harness come higher recommended?

 

What do you plan to do with the truck? are you going to add stuff to it that it didn't originally have, like power windows, electric fan, big stereo, etc? or leave it mostly original, with no added electric stuff?

If you want to leave it original, I'd tend to use a reproduction harness like this

http://www.classicparts.com/1953-54-Wiring-Harness-Alternator/productinfo/52-026/#.WAcAM8nRwVs

(they also make one for use with the original generator).

This one might take some minor modification to work with the V8, and your funky turn signal switch, but it would likely be easier to install than a "universal" harness.

If you plan to add more modern stuff to the truck, then go for one of the "universal" harnesses...I have no recommendations which one to buy, it's been a while since I used one.

(I have used 2 or 3 of the CP truck harnesses on 57-59 trucks in the past decade, and they seem to work fine for me).

 

Thanks, squirrel! That'd be what I want. I have no plans for adding gadgets. Most I would do is do a modern radio and hide a couple of speakers. And I'd probably switch it over to alternator, I'm not so sure how healthy the old generator is. Suppose I could have it rebuilt. I do appreciate the look of it, but I know an alternator is more efficient. Choices, choices...

 

Generators usually just work, you might need to oil the bearings. Voltage regulators for generators, sometimes cause problems.

An old truck with a 327 is not about "efficiency"....is it?