1955 wiring

[Michael L.]

I'm going to have to completely re-wire my '55. Opinions on buying pre-made harness and if so, whose? Or, wiring from scratch, using the proper color / guage wires and connectors?

Also, any good reference books on wiring cars? If so, which ones. This is something I'd like to do myself just to know the car better.

I have plenty of time to do this, but I'm budgeting each phase. So if harness is the way to go, I'll start costing when I hear which is best...

Thanks!
Mike

[Russ U.]

Re: 1955 wiring

I rewired my 54 using wires and harnesses from Lectric Limited. Installing the main and engine harness was pretty easy. Lots of access in these old cars.

The Lectric Limited harness was a was a very good match for my 54. Just a couple of quibbles. The LL harness female connectors do not match up with the original turn signal male connectors. Thus, you need to either by the replace turn signal wiring or trim the original connectors. You have the same issue with the courtesy light switches. Plus, I note thant many of the LL connectors differ slightly from the originals. But overall, I am 100% satisfied with my Lectric Limited wires. Importantly, everything was a perfect fit. No length issues at all.

Lectric Limited includes a wiring diagram if you buy a harness. I greatly prefer the wiring diagrams that Don Olsen sells. Big color coded diagrams. I am a D- electrician, and never touch anything electrical as a result. But I can follow a big chart that shows a red wire connecting to the passenger side of the clock. I didn't use anything else as a reference.

Putting together a wiring harness yourself would be doable, especially if you have the old harness to use as a quide. I know somebody who did it for a 53, and it looks great. Too much work for me compared to the savings. The fun part is actually getting under the dash and doing the rewiring. I did not rewire the back however.

Hope this helps,

Russ

[Michael L.]

Re: 1955 wiring

Thanks Russ! How do I get in touch with Don Olson? Also, does his diagram detail the connections? Some just show wires running to the ignition switch, I'd like one that shows specific connections. I'm a D--- electrician, I don't want to fry my car!

Thanks again,

Mike

[Geoff C.]

[Geoff C.]

B&W Eye Test = Colored In Eye Tests *NM*

[Russ U.]

Re: 1955 wiring

You can reach Don at: vetsvette2002@yahoo.com

My old harness was in place when I was installed my new harness. Thus, for the most part, I did not have any trouble at all figuring out what went where.

There were times when I had to use the diagram, however. Even guys like us can follow this diagram. There are not all that many wires on a 54 or 55. And the LL harness are pre-fit, so most of the wires line up with where they are supposed to go. There are only a few times, for example, when you will have a choice of two wires of the same color (e.g., pink) to connect to a single connector. You just need to know one thing to make the right decision - a 10 pink wire is a lot fatter than a 16 pink wire. Once you understand the sizing scheme, figuring out what goes where is easy.

I have attached a pic of Olsen's diagram of the ignition switch below. I just attached everything in the order Olsen shows, and I didn't have one glitch. I had my fire extinguisher in my hand when I first turned the key, but the car started and ran just perfectly.

Good Luck,

Russ

[Geoff C.]

[Russ U.]

Re: 1955 wiring

Geoffrey-

I still had my old harness attached when I installed the new harness. Thus, for the most part, I would remove the old wire and then connect the new wire. Easy stuff.

I was looking at the Olsen diagram as I did this however. I realized that the diagram showed the attachments in their correct order. For example, for the fuel gauge, the brown wire attaches to the passenger side of the car (top of the diagram), while the pink wires attach to the driver's side. On the ignition switch, the purple wire attaches to the passenger side top connector. The pink wires attach to the passenger side bottom connector. The black wires attach to driver's side bottom connector. And the top driver's side doesn't connect to anything.

Thus, for my 54 at least, Olsen's chart correctly reflected the location of each wire connection under my dash. I believe I could have wired my car using just Olsen's chart if I had to.

Olsen's diagram is not perfect, however. His diagram does not reflect the three capacitors used on the 54 - his chart shows a coninuous wire rather than two wires spiced together with a capacitor. I knew about the capacitors and therefore did not have any problem with the missing info.

I guess my point is this - I really couldn't follow the standard diagrams in the owner's manual or the one provided by Lectric Limited. I could follow Olsen's diagram, however, and I used it a fair amount. To me, Olsen's diagram was much more helpful than anything else I could find.

[Russ U.]

On Second Thought

Geoffrey-

I just reread your post, and maybe I missed the gist of what you were driving at in my earlier response. You are right - using a near perfect harness from Lectric Limited made the wiring job doable/easy. Could I manufacture a harness myself using just the diagram - No. I could probably make the engine harness on a 54, because it is only about 4 wires. But there is no way I could make the main harness myself if all I had to go on was Olsen's diagram.

Thus, I think your point is well taken. Buying a good harness is probably the way to go versus making one yourself.

Russ

[Michael L.]

Re: 1955 wiring

Geoffrey, that is what I'm looking for a diagram that show specifics. A "55 Corvette Wiring for Dummies" so to speak. The diagrams you mentioned: will they have that detail?

Mike

[Geoff C.]

I agree 55 has so very few wires

Russ

That is what saved you: a new harness. Now forget about it if you needed to repair or replace or fix anything. Best to just replace it all.

Geoffrey Coenen

PS B&W TV > Color TV > Plasma

[Geoff C.]

I hear it's Photographic 3D, not flat 2D *NM*

[Paul Bowers]

Re: 1955 wiring

mike
i rewired my 57 and bought harness from lectri limited like the other guys did
they are a good co. to deal with i ordered a large blowup plastic wiring printout from them which is well worth the money cause the wires can get very congested on a small printout, plus the plasic is durable just take your time lay every thing out and tape and mark each old wire as to where it was so you can compare it with the blue print good luckpaul

[Jim T.]

Re: 1955 wiring

Have you tried contacting Roy Braatz about your 55's wiring?

[Roy B.]

Re: 1955 wiring

Lectric Limited did sell the harness at one time using plastic dash bulb retainers 53 to 57 instead of the original steel ones, some 55's had various different wires going to different locations then the norm thinking , but HAY it's only a 55 Corvette and you don't see many any way. They still dont sell the dash harness using the right baka-light ends that I know of for 53-early 54.