wire colors vs. wiring diagram

[deathbound]

I'm in the process of re-wiring my 38 Plymouth P6 Coupe. I have the B&W wiring diagram in the service manual & one of those large laminated color wiring diagrams from that on-line auction site. Both of those call-out or show the same colors used for each wire, but my original wiring/harness is different. What I mean is, the diagrams both show only solid color wires without tracers (dashed white or black threads) in the cloth covering as in my original wires. I'm labeling EVERY wire before I disconnect it from it's terminal. Has anybody else experienced this or am I just crazy?

I forgot to mention, I have a complete harness in very nice condition from a 38 Plymouth sedan that I'm using & will have to alter/add a few wires to make it work.

Thanks for any input.

[garbagestate 44]

I have found from restoring old radios and from working on the 47 that the dyes used in the cloth covered wire can fade a lot over 6 or 7 decades and for that reason,color I.D. can be misleading. good luck-J

[Big_John]

The tracers on your wires are tied to wire size. 18 gauge has no tracer, 16 gauge has 1 tracer, 14 has 2 and 12 has 3. At 10 gauge it changes back to a solid color and 8 gauge has 1 tracer.

[deathbound]

  garbagestate 44 said:

I have found from restoring old radios and from working on the 47 that the dyes used in the cloth covered wire can fade a lot over 6 or 7 decades and for that reason,color I.D. can be misleading. good luck-J

That's the case with the wires currently in my car. The colors of the wires in the harness I'm installing/altering is very good & legible.

  Big_John said:

The tracers on your wires are tied to wire size. 18 gauge has no tracer, 16 gauge has 1 tracer, 14 has 2 and 12 has 3. At 10 gauge it changes back to a solid color and 8 gauge has 1 tracer.

Thanks Big John, I looked more closely at the harness I'm going to use & see exactly what your talking about. This info helps a lot. I have to make a new harness from the dimmer switch to the headlights-what gauge was used? Somebody had used what looks like lamp cord or speaker wire to replace a couple of those wires. Also, what gauge is used for the wires from the generator to the voltage regulator?

[Big_John]

  deathbound said:

Thanks Big John, I looked more closely at the harness I'm going to use & see exactly what your talking about. This info helps a lot. I have to make a new harness from the dimmer switch to the headlights-what gauge was used? Somebody had used what looks like lamp cord or speaker wire to replace a couple of those wires. Also, what gauge is used for the wires from the generator to the voltage regulator?

I don't have a good diagram for your car, but the 50's cars used 16 gauge for the field and 10 gauge for the battery wire. My 53 Chrysler has 14 and 12 gauge wires from the dimmer so if you used 12 gauge for all your dimmer switch connections, you should be good.

[alan32433]

You mentioned you bought a color diagram from the online place. Be careful using it. I bought one from them also and found several major errors in it. The coil and regulator diagram was incorrect. I emailed them about it and they didnt even reply. Had I used it to wire my car, it wouldn't have started nor charged, not to mention it could have ruined my NOS regulator.

[deathbound]

  Big_John said:

I don't have a good diagram for your car, but the 50's cars used 16 gauge for the field and 10 gauge for the battery wire. My 53 Chrysler has 14 and 12 gauge wires from the dimmer so if you used 12 gauge for all your dimmer switch connections, you should be good.

Thanks again Big John, what gauge for the "A" terminal from genny to reg...same as the field?

  alan32433 said:

You mentioned you bought a color diagram from the online place. Be careful using it. I bought one from them also and found several major errors in it. The coil and regulator diagram was incorrect. I emailed them about it and they didnt even reply. Had I used it to wire my car, it wouldn't have started nor charged, not to mention it could have ruined my NOS regulator.

Alan, thanks for the heads up. I will confirm all connections from what I labeled to the wiring diagram from my service manual.

[desoto1939]

i have used Rhode Island wiring. And they sell wire by the foot. Also note that you can get the heavery gage 14 and they will put the correct color and sticker on the wire to look like the original. I would suggest that use 14 gage as a minimuk where the 16 gage was used just to caryy mre volts to the particular item that you are wiring.

Rich hartung

Desoto19392aol.com

[Young Ed]

  desoto1939 said:

i have used Rhode Island wiring. And they sell wire by the foot. Also note that you can get the heavery gage 14 and they will put the correct color and sticker on the wire to look like the original. I would suggest that use 14 gage as a minimuk where the 16 gage was used just to caryy mre volts to the particular item that you are wiring.

Rich hartung

Desoto19392aol.com

I second this. I redid my entire p15 using only 14 and thicker.