Color coded wire diagram, '46 V8

[OLD AS I]

Am sure I have seen a wire diagram before showing engine and body wiring indicating the coloring of the wires, see there is something on Vanplet site however very hard to read, anyone know where I can find a better /clearer layout, ...........cheers

[Charlie Stephens]

If you have an instruction (owner's) manual for your car check there.

Charlie Stephens

[JSeery]

The color coding is fairly consistent from year to year. I have some diagrams on my computer at home I can post a little later.

[V8COOPMAN]

I'm gettin' old and blind, but I can still make-out the colors on this schematic if I squint just a smidge! DD

[Drbrown]

I made a written tabulation (second item below) of OE wiring colors to use with my '47.

TABULATION OF WIRE CIRCUITS, COLORS AND GAUGES
FORD CARS BETWEEN 1941 AND 1948

Mercury cars similar; Lincoln cars and Truck systems may be similar but often vary.

This tabulation was transcribed December 2015 from the following sources:
(1)"Ford V-8 Service Bulletins; 1941-1948 Complete; Publication Pages 267-268; 1945-1947;Subject No. 15999; Wiring; Bulletin Page No. 168; Published May 17, 1947"
(2)"Ford 1942-1948 Shop Manual – Service Handbook; (Appendix) Service Bulletin; Unnumbered Page titled "Wiring Diagram of DeLuxe and Super DeLuxe Ford V-8, 1945-48"
(3) 1941-48 Ford Book by The Early Ford V-8 Club of America; Copyright 2004; Appendix C; Pages C-5, C-7, C-8 and C-9 (wiring diagrams, color code diagrams, etc)
(4) "Service Manual" Ford …. 1946 thru 1948 (reprint); Copyright 1946 Ford Motor Company; Containing Part One, Part Two and Part Three with Chapters I thru IX.

Within the above four references (a) some contradictory information was found regarding wire colors and gauges; (b) descriptions of wire color combinations were found to vary i.e. the terms "tracer" and "cross tracer"; (c) common modifications are noted in italicized text.

IMPORTANT: Circuit wire colors and gauges are based on original 6 volt systems as described in the above publications. Check your system and equipment to determine if there were later changes.

**CHANGES: If converting to a 12 volt system, OE 6 volt wiring is adequate only if in top condition, due to voltage change .... BUT certain modifications must be made or are recommended: i.e. starter motor, generating device, light bulbs, voltage reducers added to fuel, oil and temp gauges, elec clock, radio and heater motor (last three were OE options). Six volt starter solenoid, horns and horn relay may survive but should be altered/replaced. Consider sending some items to professionals for conversion i.e. starter, generator, clock, radio, heater motor.

**CAUTION: Based on OE wiring diagrams the Ignition and Cigar Lighter Circuits are connected to the "input terminal"of the Circuit Breaker and thus are unprotected/unfused. Fuses should be added to protect them. Other than the horns, other OE circuits are protected by the original Circuit Breaker. [I did add a fuse on the horn circuit] Personal experience: The insulation on the feed wire to my ignition switch melted due to overload by key-operated accessories. I corrected this by running a feeder wire from the ignition switch to a 30 amp relay under the dash, which turns-on a small fuse board. The new fuse board, fed directly by raw battery power, now feeds the key-operated accessories i.e. heater, radio, directionals, wipers, etc. Low power items such as dash gauges, tach or ignition resistor (if you have either) remain directly operated from the ignition switch.

CIRCUIT DESCRIPTIONS ORIGINAL COLOR AND GAGE
Generator to Regulator:
Generator Armature to "A" regulator post Yellow with Black 10
Generator Field to "F" regulator post Black with White 16
Generator "B" post to Circuit Breaker Input Yellow 10
Generator Ground to Regulator Ground Black with Red 16

Alternator if used (3-wire) output to starter relay Yellow 10
Alternator Field to ignition switch Brown (varies) 16 (with a 10 ohm 10 watt resistor & 5 amp fuse)
Alternator Sensor to starter relay White 16

Circuit Breaker Input to Charge Indicator; Yellow 10
Charge Indicator to Starter Relay; Yellow 10

Starter Relay from Starter Button. Black 16
Starter Relay to Horn Relay; Yellow with Green 10

Horn Relay to Horn Button; Blue with Yellow 14
Horn Relay to Horns. Yellow with Green 14
(also found as Yellow with Black)

Circuit Breaker Input to Cigar Lighter. Yellow with Green 12
Circuit Breaker Input to Ignition Switch. Yellow with Black 14

Ignition Switch to Fuel Gage; Black with Green 16
Fuel Gage to Temp Gage; Black and Green 16
Temp Gage to Sender Unit(s). Black 16
Fuel Gage to Tank Sender Unit. Yellow 14 or 16

Ignition Switch to Coil Resistor; Black with Red 16
(also found as Red with Blue)
Coil Resistor to Ignition Coil; Red and yellow 16

Ignition Coil to Distributor Points. Black 16
Ignition Switch to Oil Gage; Black and Yellow 16

Oil Gauge to Pressure Sender Unit. Black and Yellow 16
Ignition Switch to Optional Heater. (unknown) 12 rec

CB Terminal "A" to Stop Lamp Switch; Green 14
Stop Lamp Switch > Stop Lamps Green 14

CB Terminal "A" to Pillar Lt Switch > Lamps Black with Blue 16
Pillar Lt circuit to Electric Clock Fuse Yellow with Black 16

CB Terminal "A" to Dash Lt Switch; Yellow with Red 12

Dash Lt Switch to Instrument Lt Rheostat; Black with Blue 16
Rheostat to Instrument & Clock Lts. Blue with Red 16

Dash Lt Switch to Tail Lamps; Black 14
Tail Lamp circuit to License and Trunk. Green 14

Dash Lt Switch to Parking and Ignition Lock Lts. Black and Yellow 16

CB Terminal "H" to Dash Light Switch; Red with Yellow 12
(also found as Yellow with Red)

Dash Lt Switch to Floor Foot Switch; Yellow with Black 16
(also found as Black with Yellow)
Floor Foot Switch to High-Beam Lts; Green with Black 14
(also found as Black with Green)
Floor Foot Switch to High-Beam Ind. Lt; Green with White 16
Floor Foot Switch to Right Low-Beam; Red with Black 16
Floor Foot Switch to Left Low-Beam. Red with Yellow 16
(also found as Black with Red)

**Accessories NOT covered in this tabulation: (1) Radios; (2) Fog Lights - circuit Breaker Input terminal to 20 amp fuse; #14 wire; color optional; (3) Directional Indicator System; (4) Tach; (5) Electric radiator fan; (6) Aftermarket elec wiper motor; (7) Overdrive or Columbia rear end [my BW R10 OD works fine with 30 amp fuse & relay and #10 wire to its solenoid]. Aftermarket providers often provide wire, fuses and hopefully instructions.

REVISIONS: ** indicates a paragraph edited/amended by drb on 2/26/2017.

Note: The first item I attached below is from a Dealer's Service Bulletin and is similar to V8Coopman's diagram.

[V8COOPMAN]

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Originally Posted by Drbrown

I made a written tabulation (second item below) of OE wiring colors to use with my '47. Although I found a few inconsistencies between Ford documents, this may help.

The first item below is from a Dealer's Service Bulletin and is similar to V8Coopman's diagram.

No, no, NO! That second PDF of yours just makes it TOO easy! DD

[Drbrown]

V8Coopman .... I should have copy writted it.

[JSeery]

I have found this PDF file useful in the past (47 FordWiring).

[Darrell S]

[QUOTE=Drbrown;1434563]V8Coopman .... I should have copy writted it.

Thanks so much Drbrown, just what I needed. Hopefully very soon.

[OLD AS I]

Barners, thanks to all the replies here, will make a wire diagram for my rebuild to run on my engine stand to see if I have things right prior to burning something up

[Drbrown]

Regarding my Post #5 above "Tabulation of Wire Circuits, Colors, Gauges .... " I revised/amended three paragraphs in the Tabulation that are preceded by my marks (**). This supersedes the attached *.pdf version.

[FortyNiner]

Check the Van Pelt Sales site for wiring diagrams (parts diagrams / electrical)

[dwick01]

This is an old thread that I just came across and JSeery provided 47 FordWiring.pdf that is awesome. The actual pictures shown in this pdf are of excellent quality and very helpful to me. Just want to thank JSeery for putting this out there.

[FortyNiner]

The photos show some modifications to the ignition circuit that I haven't seen previously. Specifically, moving the resistance coil under the hood seems problematic.

Another useful resource are the laminated, color diagrams from classic car wiring on ebay.

[dwick01]

FortyNiner, I found that on ebay. Thanks!

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by dwick01

This is an old thread that I just came across and JSeery provided 47 FordWiring.pdf that is awesome. The actual pictures shown in this pdf are of excellent quality and very helpful to me. Just want to thank JSeery for putting this out there.

VanPelt has a number of wiring diagrams on his site (in addition to a lot of other useful information).

[dwick01]

Thank you. I finally figured out how to zoom in on the pictures and print them out. I was mainly looking at the generator wires as I am going to replace the generator along with some of the wires.

[Boxhead]

Hi All,

I am having trouble opening DrBrowns files, keeps telling me it's corrupted and have tried on 2 different platforms.

Not sure if it is doing the same for others?

Could someone please repost them to see if that allows me.to open them?


Cheers

Corey

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[Kube]

Originally Posted by Boxhead

Hi All,

I am having trouble opening DrBrowns files, keeps telling me it's corrupted and have tried on 2 different platforms.

Not sure if it is doing the same for others?

Could someone please repost them to see if that allows me.to open them?


Cheers

Corey

Sent from my SM-G977B using Tapatalk

Um Corey, not so certain you want to open a corrupted file. Just sayin'.

[Boxhead]

Originally Posted by Kube

Um Corey, not so certain you want to open a corrupted file. Just sayin'.

Thanks mate,

If it was anything but a pdf document I wouldn't try. PDF docs are generally ok unless they have code for signing etc which could have something malicious.

I do tend to agree with you though, cheers mate

Can you open it ok?

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