46 Convertible Top Hydro Electric Schematic

That makes great deal of sense. I'm getting a much better handle on this now. Many thanks indeed.

Much obliged for the Columbia link as well.

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All sorted and operating fine. Many thanks,
 
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Without a circuit schematic there has been some head scratching involved but I just thought I'd add a postscript on what I did in case anyone has this issue.

The diagram on post 15 (thanks RW) shows a circuit breaker feeding the switch to the hydraulic pump solenoid. From this I assume that the correct hydraulic pump solenoid needs power to actuate it.

This means that the solenoid operating the hydraulic pump is different from the solenoid used to operate the starter motor (which uses earth to actuate it from the starter button).

You can use a starter solenoid. If you do use a starter solenoid remove the power feed from the hydraulic switch and replace it with earth. The hydraulic pump will then operate fine.
 
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I think the reason Ford designed it the way they did was to have a circuit protected system in case of shorts. With the ground system, the wiring has no protection. The other situation is that the top would be just like the starter in the respect that it could be operated without the ignition switch on. Any shorts in the system and the power top motor would start running. Just a lot of "maybe" situations but the Ford folks had their reasons I guess. Some of those pumps are mounted back in the trunk area so the wire harness would be longer. In the case of the Lincoln & Mercury cars of the 49 thru 51 era, the pump was mounted in the lower left side fender well area. They had hydraulic seats and windows as options in those cars as well as a power top on convertibles.
 
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