Changing wiring

B

B-ster

Senior Member
When converting to 12v, and new wiring harness, how do I attach the new wires to things like the power window motors? Do I have to take it apart and run the new wire into it and solder it onto whatever the old one is on? Or do I cut the old wire just long enough to be able to solder the new wire into it? Cuz the wires are all frayed coming out of it. I've never done anything like this.
I do have a lot of things I will need to connect to new wiring.
Thanks
Oh, and fir those of you who don't know me, my car is a 54 Lincoln Capri with ac
 
On something like that, I would clean all the frayed insulation off down to the bare wire and connect the new wires to the old wires. Then I would wrap the old wire and new connection with electrical tape and slide heat shrink tubing as far into the PW motor as I could go, heat it to shrink and call it a day.
 
Yeah, I don't really know how all these connectors helps me fix wiring that is just barely holding onto the motor. I wouldn't trust connecting another wire to it without worrying about it shorting out.
I guess I'll just see if I can get into it and see how the wires are connected. No idea if all things are able to be taken apart
 
All those old motors can be disassembled and rebuilt. Just how, and where you get parts is another question. Rotorwrench knows more about fixing wiring than most of us, comes with being in the aircraft business. Things I did in the building industry are not acceptable in the vibration environment of a car or airplane. Even the wire itself is different.

So before you get into specific repairs I think you should have a plan, or at least an overview, of where you want to end up. Saves going down some dead ends. Here’s my first stop looking for connectors and such. There’s also usual restoration sites, aaca.org would be a start.


https://www.waytekwire.com/
 
More than likely your motors are the same as the motors for my Skyliner. I have some extra ones so I took one apart. Bad idea. I don't have enough hands to get it back together even if I could replace the wires. So I sent one off to an electric motor repair shop in WI who advertises on the interweb. He sent it back to me in pieces. If you PM your address to me I'll send you one of them so you can see what you will be getting into. What I ended up doing is cutting them to about four inches and sliding shrink tubing as far as I could over the wires. I used the four different colors of shrink tubing that matched the colors used by Ford to be able to identify which was which. I attached the wires to the new wire harnesses I bought from YnZs Yesterday Parts. They work on a bench. I won't install them until after the car is painted.

I have rolls of that shrink tubing I will probably never use again. If you're interested I'll send you some.
 
Yeah, and it was only sitting for 57 years. Who'd a thunk it. I'm going to have to rewire all four door motors and switches, the driver's door has buttons for all 4 windows. Plus I'm going to have to try and figure out the seat. I don't know why I am not able to post pics on here, it would probably help explaining some things I don't know what that are. Is there an instant message or private message thing on here cuz I wouldn't mind the offer for the disassembled motor and shrink tubing. Thanks for the offer GLAmes
 
B-ster said:
... I don't know why I am not able to post pics on here, it would probably help explaining some things ...
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When I use my cellphone to take photos the 'file size' of each one is usually about 2.5 to 5 MB.
To upload photos to FordBarn as an 'attachment' to a post (the paperclip icon) the file size has to be a max of 1.99 MB. So I transfer the photos from my phone into this laptop and use the generic "Paint" photo editing software to reduce the file size, then post the photos. The software also lets you add circles & arrows and text into the photos.

If your photos are somewhere on the internet in a photo saving service I believe you can paste their URL to the space provided by the "Insert Image" icon. It's in the top border of the small window that you type a post, reply or comment into. But I've never tried it.
 
So if I get a wiring harness, what connectors do they have? What do switches and motors have for connections? Are they like spade type connections? Just soldered onto something?
 
When I rewired my first 1951 Mercury, I went through all the components one at a time and rewired everything. Most stuff will have a bullet type connector somewhere but electric motors still have wires from inside that go bad. I carefully removed motors and removed the outer shell cover or covers as necessary to gain access to the internal wire connections to the coils. I was able to tell what colors of wire went where on the inside since they hadn't faded all that bad inside there. I purchased wire in small lengths that matched the motor wire and replaced them. Some solder and some crimp so a person has to just see what is there and make a decision on how best to get the new wire attached in there. As long as it fits and is well insulated then doesn't matter how it is as long as the connections are good and the motor cover will go back on. Test things as you go for function. There are electric motor rebuilders out there but they aren't inexpensive. Many times the units just need a good clean and lube to function for another 50+ years.

Ford was getting into new styles of pin and socket connectors in the mid 50s so it pays to know exactly what it had and find something that will work to replace it when necessary. The restoration supply outfits and the wire harness suppliers do a pretty good job of helping in this respect. It doesn't take long to realize that a old car electrical system is made up of multiple harnesses for the multiple circuits in the car. I don't remember how many different harnesses I purchased to get it all together. The Mercury cars in the early 50s had hydraulic windows and seats to the electrical set up was more limited to just the hydraulic pump motor and a series of valves to control flow. The electrical devices that came later are much more complicated but a person just needs to get a full electrical diagram for the car and it's accessories. Get every Lincoln manual you can whether in book form or DVD and study it well. Most Harnessed come with their own diagrams. Rhode Island Wire and his brother at Naragansett Reproductions are good suppliers, There is an outfit that makes stuff at a lower price up in Oregon or Washington state but they only sell to the suppliers like Macks/Ecklers & such. There stuff is one step down in quality from RIW but a person pays less. If a relay is found to be bad then a person can likely find a substitute that will work. I tend shy away from more modern Lincoln, Cadillac, and other high end cars now since they are way more complicated than the average Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. Thank God for the internet or we would still be doing things by phone and snail mail.
 
B-ster said:
Yeah, and it was only sitting for 57 years. Who'd a thunk it. I'm going to have to rewire all four door motors and switches, the driver's door has buttons for all 4 windows. Plus I'm going to have to try and figure out the seat. I don't know why I am not able to post pics on here, it would probably help explaining some things I don't know what that are. Is there an instant message or private message thing on here cuz I wouldn't mind the offer for the disassembled motor and shrink tubing. Thanks for the offer GLAmes
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There is an instant message feature. Click on my user name and a drop down menu will come down. Choose "send a private message to GLAmes". If your windows and seat have hydraulics it is completely different than my Skyliner. My choice for wiring was a factory reproduction from YnZs Yesterdays Parts. Not cheap and for someone with a large inventory of different color wires and multiple connectors probably not practical. For me it works. The wires are reproduced in the factory colors, all the harnesses are the correct length, the supplied diagrams are easy to follow and if you need a particular wire that they don't have a pattern for they will make you one if you can supply the old one. That was the case for my seat motor wiring.

To post a picture that is stored in my computer I pull it up, select edit , then resize , then pixels, then fill in the top box to 800. The bottom automatically fills to 600. Then when I exit the picture I select save. Right now I am using the quote box. I click on the paperclip icon (attachments), then choose file, then click on the picture you want to post, then upload. The id of the attachment should appear in the attach files box.
 

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GLAmes said:
More than likely your motors are the same as the motors for my Skyliner. I have some extra ones so I took one apart. Bad idea. I don't have enough hands to get it back together even if I could replace the wires. So I sent one off to an electric motor repair shop in WI who advertises on the interweb. He sent it back to me in pieces. If you PM your address to me I'll send you one of them so you can see what you will be getting into. What I ended up doing is cutting them to about four inches and sliding shrink tubing as far as I could over the wires. I used the four different colors of shrink tubing that matched the colors used by Ford to be able to identify which was which. I attached the wires to the new wire harnesses I bought from YnZs Yesterday Parts. They work on a bench. I won't install them until after the car is painted.

I have rolls of that shrink tubing I will probably never use again. If you're interested I'll send you some.
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I have a Skyliner, and had some bad experiences too. Why people take in work if they do not have the know-how, the time, or the inclination is mystifying to me. My car is done now, and quite nice.
 
Gene F said:
I have a Skyliner, and had some bad experiences too. Why people take in work if they do not have the know-how, the time, or the inclination is mystifying to me. My car is done now, and quite nice.
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I'm hoping to have mine drivable this summer. It has been in the works for a long time.

Twin grandkids when I brought it home and under the same tree two years ago.
 

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I was trying to get the front seat out today after figuring out some of the nuts come off the top and some from under the car. When I was looking at the connections under the front of the seat, I saw what appeared to be a hydraulic line attached to it and running thru the firewall. It was getting dark so I couldn't trace where it went to. I was under the impression that it was just electric. Electrical work is confusing enough for me, now I gotta figure out hydraulics? I wonder if there's something else out there I can just totally replace the power seat system totally without blowing my mind.
 
I can't help you there. My front seat just has two electric motors. The one I got for parts was from a '54 Merc so your Lincoln is a rare FoMoCo product.
 
If I have a problem getting the hydraulic seats to work at least I know I can just convert it to all electric
 
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