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More work on the re wiring job on the '49 23 series. I bought a complete wiring harness and have installed the front lights and engine compartment, switches, ignition. I did not want to complete the dashboard until all the wiring is in. The dash inst. will be my last thing to finish. So now I'm starting on the rear lights and working forward.

Here is my questions: Do I need to drop the headliner to get to the wires running along the roof line from the dash to the truck? Can the wires just be pulled or are there clips hold them in place? Any other ideas or tricks are very much welcomed.

All the best and thanks!

You are between a rock and a hard place. I won't say with 100% certainty there are clips on the loom but I would feel strongly enough to bet money that the 49 was built very much like the 47 and will have the same type clips as is shown in these 47 photos.

One clip is still as factory would have done it but the other two are shown open and are made of quite heavy metal. In addition to the clips, in some models courtesy lights were treated as an option and had their own two or three wire loom. If your car has that setup those wires could also be intertwined with the wires going straight thru to the trunk thus preventing any pulling.

The hard place comes because the headliner is held on the sides by being tucked into a narrow channel and retained by very sharp toothed plates plus some tacks. Trying to remove the old fabric will almost certainly damage it enough that you might as well think of replacement.

You can see the loom clips in these photos. The black strip is the headliner retainer. The sharp teeth are in the narrow space between the plate and windlace which is itself tacked or stapled to various parts of body.

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Deskdriver, I have nothing to offer but this job is something I need to do as well. Any tips or pictures of your progress would be appreciated!

As always, Howard, thanks!

Hey Sloride75
Howard is a great source of information and has helped me a lot. I did post some pics about 2 weeks ago about 2 discs that are on the back of the clutch and blower switches. I didn't know what they were and guessed they might have been for the wiper assembly as they had a ridge cut in them. Well it was deduced that the discs are resistors, again thanks to Howard and others. You can check out those pics.

I bought my harness from Harnesses Unlimited. There are many others out there, but I just liked what I saw with H.U. They make your harness according to your car and it can take a couple of months. I send the dash and had the speedometer repaired, clocked cleaned and lubed and the other instruments checked. Of course if you doing a restoration you will want the gauges looking like new. Mine cars just a driver.

When the harness(s) arrived I was surprised by the instructions as they detail where every wire goes. My old harness was of no use as many wires had been changed, so I just took it out a piece at a time.

My suggestion is order all the gaskets ahead of time! I'm putting in new bulbs through out (even checking them before they go in). I needed a new glove box insert as the old one was almost falling out. I suggest you get the speedometer checked and lubed and get the gauges checked since you are going to have all that opened up. Now,I guess I'll have to spring for a new headliner.

I don't think the wiring is the hard part, its all the other things like the resistors on the back of the switches, things disconnected and left hanging. Someone's immortal words on this board went something like this; "The problem with Packards is the idiot that owned before you". I'm learning this is very true and I'm trying not to be an idiot!

Let me know if I can help

Thanks for the reply, and offer to help. I hadn't heard of HU yet, they look pretty good. I had seen the Rhode Island wiring harness websites but they don't emphasise having the correct terminals as HU does, and it's something I was wondering about. I take it the quality is as advertised?

I intend for my car to be a driver for the foreseeable future, and I'm hesitant to pull the dash to replace the harness. However, I'm also concerned that the old, cracked, and sometimes bare wires in the engine compartment will lead to catastrophe. Luckily not too much has been mangled by previous owners, so I may try to only replace the engine compartment wiring without pulling the dash. What are the gaskets you're referring to?

Also, I agree - Howard has been immensely helpful!