wire

[lignell]

What gauge wire do I need for my 39 ford i'd like to replace some wiring under my dash thank you

[Phil Gillespie]

Perhaps a little more detail as to where its going, lights, horn, ignition etc will alla factor in choice of wire gauge as well as 6 v or 12 v.
You will be provided with plenty of good solid advice.
Phil NZ

[woodiewagon46]

Like Phil states, more info is needed. There were different gauge wire used for different amp rating. Also are you going to use modern wire or are you trying to keep it original?

[JSeery]

These diagrams might give you some idea of original wiring size. If you are going to deviate, use a larger gauge wire than shown, not a smaller one.

[Drbrown]

llignell .... Several years ago I researched Ford Manuals and Service Bulletins regarding specified wiring colors and gauges for various circuits in 1941-1948 Fords and prepared the attached Tabulation. As noted, (1) the data is for the original 6 volt circuits, (2) I did find a few minor conflicts in the published data, and (3) I inserted additional info if one modified the system for say an alternator.

Although you are working with a '39 the wire gauge data would be similar. Some times year-to-year they appear to change wire colors.

My attachment is in *.pdf format.

[JSeery]

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Very cool Drbrown, I have a similar chart. What I have tried to do (with very little success) was determine the tracer color pattern! I know the patterns Ford used and what some of them were on some circuits, but never could figure them all out. Ford was fairly consistent with their color coding and some of the coding exist well into the modern car era.

[Drbrown]

JSeery .... Nice work with your wire color tracer research. I could not further decipher some Ford documents when they used the terms "tracer" or "cross tracer" etc because they had no illustrations to show what they meant. So I just tabulated the color combinations.

It would be good to have more "exacting" information but obtaining wire reproductions of specific years would likely be expensive and/or impossible.

Regardless, could have fun with those tracer patterns. In color I would like them for their artistic appearance. i.e. how about producing them as ribbon for wrapping paper or wall paper borders ??

[JSeery]

All of these patterns (and many more!) are readily available from suppliers such as Road Island Wiring Services. The issue is just knowing which ones to use for which application. Some are fairly easy to figure out, such as headlight wiring was mostly Ford 50/50. But some are harder to figure out. All of the original wiring I have is so faded it is difficult to decipher. Also, the color coding seems to be somewhat consistent from year to year, but from what I have seen the tracer pattern seems to not be.

[lignell]

thanks for your help