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I need help to route a new harness to the rear of my 1947 4 door Deluxe Clipper.
I saw a previous post stating,
"To do it right, you really need to remove the dash. While it may seam like a pain, it can great simplify the task of routing. Half the battle is removing the old stiff, petrified wiring. The one tip I can give is leave a piece of the original wiring running up the A-pillar. The wiring for the tail lights, trunk light etc all run up the drivers side A-pillar, across the roof and into the trunk. If you simply cut the original wiring at the bottom of the A-pillar and leave at least one wire in place, then you can tape your new wiring to it, and use the old piece of wiring to pull it through. Getting the bundles of wiring up the A-pillar without a pull wire is a nightmare."
Does this advice apply to my car? My wires going up the A-pillar are in a harness. I can't just pull one wire up. Can I cut the old harness at the A-pillar and attach my new harness to the old harness and pull it into the trunk? I would have thought the harness would be secured at some point before getting into the trunk. I sure don't want to remove the headliner.

I highly count you will be able to pull the harness bundle all the way through without removing the headliner.

The old wire will be very stiff making it very have to pull from the bottom of the a-pillar all the way to the trunk. Also the wire goes over so sharp body metal area, and try to pull it the entire length would probably end up skinning the insulation off some of the wires.

When I rewired my car, I cut the bundle at the bottom of the a-pillar and taped them to the new wire and then pulled them up the A-pillar all the way. Then I ran it down the channel hidden by the headliner, and then used the wire to pull the bundle into trunk.

Thank you for your response.
It doesn't sound like this can be done with the headliner in place. Or, did I misunderstand what you said?

No I don't think it can be done. It was a pain to route with no headliner in the car, I would think almost impossible with the headliner in place.

I am considering running the harness through the firewall, down to where the high/low switch is, then into an electrical conduit that I run along the frame, then into the trunk.
Would this be acceptable to the Packard community?

I concur with BigKev on not being able to do it without removing headliner. Not sure how much difference on a Deluxe but I just looked at my 47 Custom and thru a tear in the ratty headliner can see one clamp which would have to be unscrewed. Another is under the dash just as harness enters the sheet metal cavity. Undoubtedly there are more. The wires also go down the center pillar to courtesy light switch, door switches and exit at the bottom going to the front seat if you have lights and lighter on the seat back portion. Those are most likely clamped somewhere as well.

If the wiring under was neatly done, covered and protected I don't think anyone would even know it was there. Entering the trunk to get to tail lights etc might require some ingenuity.

Thanks for the replies.
I think I will open the harness by the A-pillar and look at the old wires. Maybe, I don't have to replace the harness going to the rear.
When I opened the harnesses in the engine compartment, the insulation just crumbled off the wires. But, they were subjected to a lot of heat. I definitely have to replace all the wiring under the hood. There was a lot of patching with electrical tape there, but not under the dash, so there is some hope.

I just finished rewiring my 1950 Deluxe 8. I stupidly did the rewiring right after I had the headliner replaced. My problem was shorts in the engine compartment harness where it gets heated.
I left the wiring alone that is under the headliner and everything works OK. Those wires are not subject to heat and chemical attack. They are also never touched and disturbed because you can't get at them. The wires in the trunk however get damaged and I will replace them soon.

Thank you for the reply. I don't think I need to replace mine either. The wiring harness in my trunk is still with the original wrapping, with no electrical tape repairs and I am not going to open it. I looked at the wires going into the harness near the dash and they looked good.

I am going to replace all wires from under the dash going into the engine compartment and all wires in the the engine compartment.

I looked at the wires going into the A-pillar and I think they look good enough to keep. I attach a picture showing them.

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