Seeking some info on wiring harness

[Clatterville trolley]

I bought three tubs of wiring harness' in a whole load of other 67-72 parts. That was a while back and I am just now going through them to see if any of it is usable.

Thus, I now have some basic questions about harness construction. I have an assembly manual and have looked at those wiring diagrams and I purchased a wiring booklet from LMC only to realize that the same information was in the assemble manual

I see in the diagrams a wire that is called 'resistor wire' is that just a small wire that will melt quickly if something goes wrong or does it have a 'resistor' linked into the wire?

Also all of the wiring harness I have at least 2 or 3 wires cut off. I was thinking if I unwrapped a couple of the more complete ones and robbed the needed wires out of some of the extras I could come out with a usable complete harness.

I have inspected all of the harness and have found some pretty wild "adjustments" to the original harness. I have a couple of pictures that I will post after I get the photos loaded.

Is it smart to use the old wiring - 50 years old - or is it just more realistic to bite the bullet and get a new harness??

I have learned a lot just reading some of the threads over the last few days. Look forward to maybe contributing some myself. Really I have learned a lot just going over the old harness about what is in what harness and where it is placed on/in truck body.

Thanks for any insight! Jay

[Andy4639]

I took my 68 truck harness a part. Cleaned it good and fixed all suspected trouble spots reinstalled it. The truck is a original though no high power draws. If you do use relays where ever you can to min. amp draw's.

[Clatterville trolley]

Thanks Andy4639 for suggestion.

A couple of other questions I forgot to ask in my opening post:

It appears that I have a wide range of years represented in the wiring I have. Made the assumption that harness with marker lights are 69-72. Also decided the full rubber plugs for headlights must be for 67-68. Is that a correct assumption?

On what I take to be the early harness it has a thin cloth covered wire that the later ones do not have - what is that for?

Thanks again. Jay

[toolboxchev]

I just rebuild a complete underdash harness using 4 old ones including the fuse panel

It is a painstaking process but what the heck, I paid 80 bucks for 3 used ones plus the one in my truck.

Cleaned all the contacts, making sure corrosion if any was completely brushed away. Sprayed with Electrical contact cleaner, Or Electric Motor cleaner which is more chemically suited, at least to me.

All the plastic ends were pulled apart, and scrubed out, Dawn dishwashing soap, and small gun bore brushes, plastic kind.

Finally when assembled I utilized a DVOM to measure resistance across the contacts and found most of the old stuff was of very little resistance if any. I did solder a few of the Packard connectors just to insure a positive connection.

Only problem I have now is needing a Heater only blower motor, or upgrading with a relay to pull full power high speed from the engine compartment.

If you see a mess of corrosion in the ends of a connector it may grow up under the plastic cover and into the wire, you will see this most commonly in battery cable ends.

It is doable. It does take some time. I prefer to reuse anything I get my hands on.

[Clatterville trolley]

I am a 're-user' also unless it makes lots of sense not to. Your info will be very helpful and has been most informative. Thanks for taking your time to respond to my request. Jay

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by Clatterville trolley

Thanks Andy4639 for suggestion.

A couple of other questions I forgot to ask in my opening post:

It appears that I have a wide range of years represented in the wiring I have. Made the assumption that harness with marker lights are 69-72. Also decided the full rubber plugs for headlights must be for 67-68. Is that a correct assumption?

On what I take to be the early harness it has a thin cloth covered wire that the later ones do not have - what is that for?

Thanks again. Jay

Yea I would think so.
As far as the cloth covered wire where is it located in the harness. Most resistor wires going to the coil have the cloth covering.

Here is some of my 68 wiring harness with the head lights & park light connectors. Also bulk connection in the harness that carries all the load. I cut it out and mounted a late model link on the core support on the drivers side and ran everything from it.