Cool Swap or Can Of Worms?

[the elder rocker]

Hi Folks-
I need to lean on the Gurus here again! I'm working on a '67 Custom Cab SWB with a big engine and a 4 speed. Cool. Rough old truck that was used as a truck until it sat for 20 years. Enough tales of woe. My question is this.... I bought a parts truck for this one. A '67 Ranger. It has full gauges and courtesy light switches in the doors. The SWB doesn't have this. The harness in the SWB is a little buggered in the turn signal/emergency flasher/brake light area. Some real Rural Engineering going on. The Ranger is buggered in the ignition/starting area. Big red wire to a push button nicely mounted in the dash. Is trying to combine the two into a good harness while adding gauges and courtesy lights a good idea, or am I just opening a can of worms that I'll have to eat?!? Oh, the Ranger is butchered under the hood, wiring wise. Nothing ever easy, huh?
Thanks in advance for any "been there, done that" knowledge anyone can share!
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS

[cep62]

It could be a can of worms .
old wiring gets brittle .
My thought is, to take the harness out of the parts truck and
see how much fun that is , and what shape its in.
then rethink your plan.

[the elder rocker]

That's a great thought. If it comes out easily enough and looks as though it will mate with some of the underhood wiring it might be a go. The ignition circuitry in the SWB is really good and can go on the donor harness. Looking at both harnesses and the diagrams it appears to me that the Ford harness is almost "modular". Lots of plug in connectors scattered about instead of long-run huge bundles. Is this so? I'm thinking that would make replacing segments easier(?)
Thank you kindly-
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS

[tsherry]

If you're handy with a soldering iron and know how to insulate, I don't see this as a big deal. I've undone numerous hack jobs on under-dash wiring, some while it was in place, and have never had an issue.

That said, if the wiring is so brittle as to have the molded on insulation crack and flake off, replace every.single.bit.of.it.

[the elder rocker]

Handy with a soldering iron?!? You kidding?!? I mostly work on British stuff! This Ford stuff, while unfamiliar, is kind of simple in the electricals! See-Lucas headlight switch settings----Dim, Flicker, off! European engineering theory #1- If 1 part will do the job, 3 will do it better! Seriously- Thank you for the input!
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS

[cep62]

See-Lucas headlight switch settings----Dim, Flicker, off! European engineering theory #1- If 1 part will do the job, 3 will do it better! Seriously- Thank you for the input!

Why do the British drink warm beer?



They have Lucas refrigerators .

Lucas the prince of darkness.

[67mann]

my buddy was an MG nut (triumphs,you name it)and I don't know which was on the side of the road more.....his car or my AMF SHVLHD
Mike, take your time and you'll get it. I took an harness out of an 67 customcab and then later grafted it into a 67F100CS...this will come in handy http://www.fordification.com/tech/schematics.htm

[fordman]

Yes alot of the wiring harnesses are modular
And can be swapped to a certain point. If you have one truck with no gauges in the instrument cluster and the other truck does have them. That is a small problem. The instrument cluster must be used with the in cab wiring that truck came with. You can add aftermarket gauges to a truck that doesnt have cluster gauges. You can swap entire wiring harnesses. And the cluster
No problem. Soldering may help you too as already mentioned.