Wiring question

[Doug&Deb]

I’m planning on rewiring my 52 Coronet soon. Since much of the wiring runs through the roof area I’m wondering if it’s necessary to remove the headliner or can the wires be pulled one at a time. I’m not planning on buying a pre made harness because of cost. Also how do you get to the instrument cluster? There’s not much room.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I think you will find you will need to drop the headliner to remove/replace the wiring as I recall mine was routed and fixed in a fashion one just cannot tug on it and get it removed.  As this is old and easy frayed and insulation gets broken off the wires...you wish not to jiggle and jerk on these.  Other than the B-post wiring you will have to address if you wish the overhead lighting switch to work.....simple to run new harness from below the floor as is modern vehicles. 

[Saskwatch]

  Hello there Doug - “Been there Done that “  …. Not sure I’m in the position to advise but I will share what I did & why. 
     First - you are absolutely correct that there is not much room to work on gauge cluster, we had the seats out and the clutch / brake shafts out with the master brake cylinder at the time , so I was able to use the fire wall as kind of a headrest/ support while doing the required yoga pose & stretches to tilt my head far enough back to get the focus out of my glasses , all while having both hands above said tilted head , fumbling away with the wiring connections. 🤷🏼‍♂️

  Next was the headliner, b/c of the overall , questionable shape of ours , we decided to “undo” the left side , front & rear just enough to get at the wiring , nothing to lose sort of thing.
while it is not wrapped together as one unit , it is fastened together in one bundle and then that bundle is clamped in 3or 4 places to hold it in the channel that runs above the door & window on the Cl. Coupe. 
  Unfortunately, that makes it almost impossible to fasten a new wire unto the existing wire & use it to pull one wire at a time along the side of an untouched  headliner into the trunk area. 
   We were able to reattach the side , front & rear of the headliner satisfactorily.  
   👍
   

[OnlyMopar]

Just sent thru this on my 47 Dodge Custom. I removed both instrument clusters as I had to totally rewire everything. I used new wire thru out and established my own color coding using cheap finger nail polish ( all colors were widely different from each other to avoid color/shade confusion). The only wiring I had behind the headliner was the wires to the dome light and two center pillar mounted on the center pillars, and all the rear clip light wiring, tail lights, turn signals,tag light,trunk light. All the rear clip light wiring had several splits or bifurcations for the driver and passenger sides. I had my headliner out already, actually was rotted away. The bend over tabs I mentioned earlier were very tight against the wires and would not allow them to move at all. I am placing all the front yo rear wiring on the floor. 

[DonaldSmith]

I did mine the hard way.  2007.  Also primed the steel and added a stick-on acoustical/insulating layer. 

I had fun threading the wires through the windshield post.  

While I was at it, I added a few spare wires to the trunk area. You never know.

 

[desoto1939]

in Don smiths picture for all of the people that are installing a headliner you can see the metal brackets above each door that hoods the headliner tucked up under the doorframes. Some will have some very small teeth to grasp the headliner. Use a spackle blade maybe plastic so you do not discolor the headliner.

 

I help the painter do mine on my 39 Desoto.

 

Rich hartung

desoto1939@aol.com