Rewiring a 57 steering column

1930artdeco

1930artdeco

Well-known member
Hi All,

I am working on a stock 57 station wagon and have a couple of steering column questions. How did those of you with a Ron Francis kit rewire your stock turn signal switch? I am thinking I will need to splice wires at different lengths to keep a stock appearance and thickness of the wire bundle on the column.

And as long as I am there, how did you all clean it up-alcohol, WD-40, what?

Thanks,

Mike
 
Does the steering column wires go into a junction block? If so, when I rewired my 54 with a kit I wired the new wires into the junction block like stock, keeping the stock wires from the column.. You will have to put new ends (bullets) on the wires. The bullets are a special Ford size and are available. I know CASCO sells them, I assume other have them too.


The alternative is to cut off the ends of the stock wires, add new type bullets/receptors to the old wires and corresponding bullets/receptors to the new wires
 
Everything was so corroded nothing came apart easily or it broke. So I ended up snipping wires. My main concern is that the wires I have don’t match the RF chart so tomorrow I think a call is in order. Then I will probably start splicing….
 
Can you still read the stripe-codes on the wires? Mine were wiped out with age, so I had to go with color only. Even then it was hit and miss until I identified each one. But there are only like 9 or 10 wires to deal with. I cut my wires too, my harness came with the 2 connectors and contacts.
 
Not sure how much this free wiring diagram will help. But it will give you the original colors of the wires coming out of the turn-signal switch. IF you can follow the wires in the diagram without going cross-eyed... that will tell you their function: left-rear, right-front, brake, etc.

It may help to print the diagram, so you can turn the paper around as you follow the wires?

http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring%20diagrams/Ford/MWire5765-195.jpg
 
Dmsfrr, the wires have stripes? Thanks for the diagram I can actually read it on my phone. I even unwrapped some of the tape and no stripes, so either they wore away over time or were never there. I assume the former though. But it looks like I will have some digging to do on this part before I hook up the new ones. Thank you.

Mike
 
If you try to butt-splice the wires downstream of the switch, it may be difficult to get the wires thru the hole in the steering column hub, let alone trying to get them to fit inside the conduit that mounts on the side of the column. If I needed to do it, I would replace the entire length of the wires from the switch down to the bullet connectors. You'd need to get new bullet connectors. New bullets are sold by Dorman and some other vendors and are available at some chain auto parts stores and some hardware stores. These are crimp-type with plastic insulating jackets at the base, not like the originals which are solder-on type. Those are available from some of the repro parts suppliers. Make sure you are getting the right size as two sizes are available. Match the size to your originals or take your junction block with you.
Yes, the wiring is mainly striped color code, but I think there is one that is solid green. Be careful when hooking up to your original harness that you don't accidentally connect a green/white striped wire to the green wire at the junction block. The harness has both, but in some places it's hard to see the white stripe. Use the Shop manual to guide you in identifying which wires operate what.
 
1930artdeco said:
... the wires have stripes? ...
Click to expand...
The wire may have the primary color and the insulation on the connector has the secondary color, as these do.

The first photo is the wires coming out of the steering column of a '57 Bird.
If it matters, they are connected directly to inline female connectors with matching colors, not a junction block.

In the second photo, of the female connectors, notice the White/blue (right hand) and Green/white (left hand) Front turn signal wires are doubled up to also provide power to the indicator bulbs in the dashboard.

 

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The switch wires on my 56 are the same as dmsfrr - solid color wire with different colors for the ends.


Regarding the bullets - what I did was removed the plastic on the crimp on, crimped them on and used shrink tubing to cover where the plastic parts were. Much neater. They make shrink tube in different colors - you even be able to get a reasonable color match to stock.






Are new switches available ? - might be better to get one if so.
 
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Mike
see image from my '57 Ford TSS to generic GM style

some of the colors on the GM side might vary.

also note that the wires are bundles and go down the outside of the column tube, there is a small cover that covers them then they just kind of crawl up into the dash.

I'll have to take pics on my wagon when the rain is done this week. That one is bone stock wiring. but some of the covers are there. and harness Routing is stock.

On my '57 hardtop, its got EZ wiring and its basically generic GM to Ford. but I want use a delphi- style plug to be able to unplug all at once as needed.
 

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Thank you all, I was able to match the original colors and then match them to the new wires that will be coming up the column from Ron Francis. What do you guys use to clean the switch? Mine seems to just be dusty but it should be cleaned before I reinstall it.

Thanks,

Mike
 
be careful on the switch, I think I just used hot soap water and and a toothbrush then let it dry. the soldering points onto the switch are brittle, that mainly the failing point.

I actual opened mine up and cleaned it inside and took out all the old crust grease and light lubed it after assembly.
 
Mine actually works fine but just appears dusty. I will grab sone electronic contact cleaner and use that. I was thinking of water but I didn't want to introduce any corrosion.
 
1930artdeco said:
Mine actually works fine but just appears dusty. I will grab sone electronic contact cleaner and use that. I was thinking of water but I didn't want to introduce any corrosion.
Click to expand...
I've never taken one apart so I'm guessing here...
If the switch has any electrical contact lubricant inside, using a cleaning agent may wash that away. Allowing moisture to corrode the contacts sooner...?
Might be best to just brush the dust off.
.
 
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