Wiring Woes

izze_8

Junior Member
This makes no sense to me at all....I am following this diagram.
wiring-diagramcolor2sm.jpg


Negative terminal goes to the starting motor. Red wire goes from starting motor to passenger side of Junction Box. Which then goes to the drivers side of the Ammeter. The instrument light connects to the passenger side of the ammeter. then goes to ground.

There is nothing to stop the instrument light from running all the time.

And if the passenger side of the ammeter (black wire) goes to the drivers side of junction box, where the coil connects to. What stops the coil from having power constantly as well?

I tried following this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwirH7f0a9o

My test bulb is on constantly because there is nothing stopping it from getting power when connected to the coil. I am quite frustrated. Please help me understand this.
 
The popout opens the circuit in the ignition system --it doesn't matter if the coil has power to it when there is no "ground" ---in a stock system
The inst panel light has it's own switch --- in a stock system
 
I don't understand the question, but with all things electrical no two people will give you the same answer. The bigger mystery is desiding which amswers are correct, it is a black art, not everyone can understand, I'll die never understanding it. Bob
 
I don't understand the question, but with all things electrical no two people will give you the same answer. The bigger mystery is desiding which amswers are correct, it is a black art, not everyone can understand, I'll die never understanding it. Bob
Yo, Bobaroonie, Dog:cool: at attention, me & Ol' Bill will always give you the same answer & it'll wurk! Buster T.:cool:
 
Ford did do wiring a bit different from other car companies. As mentioned, power can be applied to any electrical device and as long as no ground path has been established, no current will flow. So the horn has power and pushing the horn button establishes a ground path. The ignition switch connects the coil to the points (ground path), etc.

If you have an oval speedometer, then push the instrument lamp in and clockwise to turn it on. If you have a round speedometer, then flip the light switch on the lamp under the top dash rail.
 
This makes no sense to me at all....I am following this diagram.


Negative terminal goes to the starting motor. Red wire goes from starting motor to passenger side of Junction Box. Which then goes to the drivers side of the Ammeter. The instrument light connects to the passenger side of the ammeter. then goes to ground.

There is nothing to stop the instrument light from running all the time. That is correct! Power is at the light allowing it to turn on and off at any time.

And if the passenger side of the ammeter (black wire) goes to the drivers side of junction box, where the coil connects to. What stops the coil from having power constantly as well? Nothing but since the ignition switch is open no current is flowing.

I tried following this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwirH7f0a9o

My test bulb is on constantly because there is nothing stopping it from getting power when connected to the coil. That is right as stated above. I am quite frustrated. Please help me understand this.


Hope the above helps.
 
OK, I have an oval instrument panel. So what I was missing is that the Inst Panel Bulb can be turned on or off by pushing in and twisting it. So I took a closer look at my panel bulb this morning. The light socket is recessed into the instrument panel. There is a small lip beveled out from the instrument panel where a light cover slips over the light bulb/socket. This cover is free to rotate 360 degrees without stop. And there is no possibility of pushing it in or out. I can pull the cover off with ease and have access to the socket/bulb directly. I tried turning the bulb CCW. It rotated about 30 degrees then stopped. But the bulb still was powered. I did some google searching and was unable to find my exact instrument panel. So I assume I have some wacky instrument panel that I should be replacing? Has anyone seen the type of panel I am explaining?

Just to be clear. My instrument panel does NOT look like this
19640.jpg

3854603846_58a1d9db01_z.jpg
 
I took a look on macs site. This looks like a switched version. So I guess I need to install a switch somewhere.
 
That instr. panel light is different from my '29 light. I would try to find the right light. You don't want to be adding switches if you don't have to. Just my opinion. Good luck.
 
"Red wire goes from starting motor to passenger side of Junction Box".

The red wire only goes from the ignition switch to the coil.

Bob
 
Thanks Paul!

I am in Dallas, TX. I am already a member of the DFMAC here. I do get a lot of support from the club. But, sometimes it is faster and easier to post here. Everyone in the club is retired, and work on their vehicles during the week days, taking evenings and weekends off. I am only 35 years of age and need to do as much as I can after work hours during the week. I am learning a ton from all the support at the club and on this forum. I am sorry to post so often with such simple problems. But I promise that with a little time I will start to be able to figure most of these problems out on my own. I hope I am not being to much of a bother here.

For the time being, I will just disconnect the instrument panel lamp until I can purchase the turn style switch version. I think once I remove that constant ground from the equation, I will get the correct results from my test bulb... opening and closing the circuit with the ignition switch should toggle the bulb on and off.
 
The instrument lamp has a base and cover. I've read on here that you should use both original parts, or both repro parts because an original part and repro part don't fit each other.
 
Back
Top