48 Wiring Harness

Darrell S

Darrell S

Senior Member
I'm new to the Barn and new to the 48 Super Deluxe, acquired in early July. I have done lots of reading and find so much on this site. The under dash harness is coming to pieces, had one small smoke out but no fire from the heater wiring. There are lots of bare spots, wires that are disconnected and also the lighting harnesses are questionable at best. What I am wondering is who makes the best harness for a novice like myself?

Also would like to know if it is possible to put a battery in backwards. This car is stock with a 6 volt system. It has negative ground and the ammeter is reading discharge at starting instead of charging. Previous owner installed the battery and would it have been possible to reverse it with no adverse effects?

If it is wrong, could it be changed back to positive ground without doing any damage?
 
Better get ready to have a gun to your head when you buy a harness. They think 46-8 are solid gold. You will also have to buy direct from one of the makers cause the harnessess that are sold by the big vendors are not quite right.
 
To go back to stock grounding, just turn the battery around and flash the regulator; to do this on a Ford you disconnect the F wire at the regulator, touch it BRIEFLY to the B terminal (Sparks!), and then reassemble and go. Engine and ignition OFF during this.
Be sure to catalog the wiring differences that occur in '47-8 Fords so you get all the right stuff...some early '48's had the early switch like '47 with steering lock, most had the switch with no lock. You probably want wiring for circuit breakers above instruments and resistor on coil, and I think some harnesses screw directly into terminals on light switch, others have bullet ends and snap into short wires already affixed to switch. My '48 was built in November '47 and came with a mix of '47 and 8 characteristics.
 
Darrell, I used to live on the res in Marysville (Tulalip) but have moved since. You will want to replace your harness. Don't fool with the old stuff. Try Sacramento Vintage Ford. I bought one for my 48 F1 pickup and it is great.
 
The usual problem with new wire looms is that they are made to cover a wide swatch of years, and often contain unneeded circuits. If you have a 46-48 Ford, get a copy of the Early Ford Club book on the 41-48 Fords. It is a gem that will answer all the questions!
 
I got my wiring harness from C&G about 4 years ago. perfect fit and correct colors for the wires.
 
I had a harness made up by Vintage Wiring Harness in Australia for right hand drive. It was to a 46 pattern, trumpet horns under hood and circuit breaker on inside of firewall and ignition resitor on the circuit breaker. I don't think I could get a 48 Ford harness RHD as US cars were equipped. Australia may not have used that pattern. Although my car is a Canadian 48 and had the US type wiring originally I chose to take the 46 wiring route as I had the 46 parts from a wreck. NZ assembled 48s all had the steering lock and switch and never went to non steering lock version. I used a USA made taillight harness I already had.

GB
 
Thanks for all the information, it is appreciated. This car is also Canadian. It has the lever shocks and I am told the interior looks like a US 46 so there are some differences. There are other needs but I want this wiring to be safe. My wife is already a little dubious about this as she thinks the car should be like our Honda, just turn the key and take off. I don't need a disaster to increase her skepticism.

I will post some pictures when I learn how. Thanks All.
 
I think some of the late 1948 changes were not applied in Canada...
Anyway, the key things you need to address are location of the circuit breakers and of the resistor, type of ignition switch, and how main harness connects to the light switch.
 
Hi all; My '48 114X Merc is also Canadian, and I found Tyee[spelling] in the V8 Times. He sent me all the drawings for the different harnesses in 47-48. I was able to figure out what the car needed. Newc
 
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