Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Before I get myself into trouble... I am replacing the wiring harness . I would think to make thing easier you could either drop down the dash and work easier than in the blind. Any advice?

I heartily recommend dropping the dash. That will make it easy to get at everything, and also make it easy to do housework like lubricating the speedo, control cables, rebuild the heater valve etc. When you put it back in, you just fish the tail of the harness through the hole in the firewall--that is how the factory did it.

I think it is a tossup as to which would be easier and IMHO, kind of depends on how you prefer to work. As Ross mentions, other things can be accessed with it out. Just dropping it forward will help but there are still areas of difficulty.

Unless you are cutting the old loom, one tedious but necessary step would be disconnecting the old where needed and either pulling the old harness inside the car or disconnect at the cluster so the dash can be removed and wires pulled thru into engine bay. The old will be very stiff, possibly wrapped around steering column brace and may not allow much movement.

Dash is held in by several screws under the bottom windshield molding, the hood release & vent handles, radio bracket, a couple of bolts at the bottom corners and the steering column clamp--maybe one or two others.

Once screws are removed, dash will be loose. Either removing entirely or just dropping forward, be sure and protect the steering column shroud with some padding. It might be necessary to loosen or remove some bolts from the steering box and toe board to allow the column to drop a bit for maneuvering around the steering wheel. Dash is heavy and awkward. You can remove it alone but is much better with a second person.

Well I might have done that one backwards. I did the engine compartment first. Do you think I will be able to get the harness in place with the dash forward?

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How are you doing the wiring replacement? Did you buy a reproduction wiring Harness? If so, then I think it would be very difficult to get the harness through the opening in the firewall due to its thickness and the way it branches off at a right angle inside the car (behind the dash)

My preference would be to remove the dash from the car and connect the new wiring to the controls and instruments where they are easy to get at and then feed the engine compartment harness through the opening in the firewall. I believe that is how the factory did it.

Actually it was very easy to get to threw the firewall. So far it has been fairly easy. I bought it from Rhode Island Wire. If luck is with me I will have it done by Monday.

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Well, if you're that far along then there's no need to remove or loosen the dash. The new wiring harness must be a lot more flexible than the original ones. Any that I've seen have been very stiff.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

I replaced the wiring harness on my 1947 Super Clipper with a Rhode Island Wire repro harness. I didn't remove the dash but did take out the radio and speaker grille to better see what i was doing under the dash. Removal of the front seat wil help also since you will have room to lie down as you poke around under the dash. I cut the entire old harness where it enters the firewall.

Clipper 47-question 1 Does your Clipper have the under seat heating unit? 2. How difficult is it to remove the radio?

thks

David

David, Yes my car has the underseat heater. I recall that I put a blanket over it when I had the seat out so it wouldn't get damaged by me lieing on it although it isn't that difficult to unbolt and remove. The radio may be different than on my '47 but it is fairly straight forward process. Remove the tuner and volume knobs, remove the nuts underneath, There are two hooked rods; one on each side of the radio which have wing nuts on the bottom end holding the radio to two brackets. Remove these and unhook the two rods and the radio should be free to be moved towards the firewall so that the tuner and volume rods clear the dash holes and the radio should drop down. Power wire and antenna must be removed also of course and other wiring may have to be moved around to allow the radio to move back. I found that it helped to remove the radio and speaker grille so i could reach around and undo dash gauge wiring and to see what I was doing. Not sure if this also applies to the '49 but I imagine it must be similar. Good luck!