A note on wiring harness companies

Kdancy

I am installing a wire harness on a 51 and a 52 Hudson. Right now I am using the YnZ harness for a 52. I have found some wires that are not on the Hudson factory diagram, optional hood light and optional engine light on mercury switch. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what these were for and called YnZ. They called someone who specializes in Hudson to find out what the wires were for. (I wonder who they called?)

 (I think next time I will make up my own harness from scratch, using factory colors and sizes)

  Anyway, having installed several harnesses from different manufacturers, none of them number their wires just like the factory manuals, making the wiring job much more difficult then it should be. Anyway, here is a note I sent to YnZ that might be good info for others to note-

I have installed harnesses from several harness makers including yours. Of all the ones I have worked with,

Lark Works, who specializes in Studebaker, has been the easiest to follow.

The difference is that they give you a diagram of each harness and subsection. This makes it much easier to follow each harness assembly and compare them to the factory diagrams.

 The other thing that would be a big big help, is numbering the wire just like the factory diagrams number them. This way one is not constantly looking at the factory diagram to match up the harness wires and their route before install.

keithfullmeryahoocom

I am wiring my '50 with the Ynz harness, also.  A nice harness, I don't want to trash them, but I had the same question when I talked to them.  They send out a separate diagram, unlike the factory one, with different numbers to each wire.  Why not use the original factory numbers, so we don't have to have two diagrams out, transposing one to the other.  Not a deal-breaker, but man, when it comes to complete rewiring, I need all the help I can get.

Kdancy

Another issue I just figured out (with Lance's help), the new colored wiring diagram I bought from Prospero's Garage, is not fully correct. I have spent a lot of time trying to reconcile the colored diagram against the Hudson factory owners manual wiring diagram and found that not all of Prospero's matches the factory one. Just found that they have the clock circuit running from the Coil post of the ignition switch and not the lighting switch as factory diagram shows. 

keithfullmeryahoocom

Ha!  I'll be sure and make note of this as I havent got to the clock wire yet.
In some ways (like the evolution of gps on our cell phones which leaves me TOTALLY lost when it is down) trusting a new wire harness will leave us stupid when it makes a mistake.   I had several on mine that left me scratching my head and frustrated.   A quick phone call to the YnZ factory remedied the situation though, as they were simple, easy-to-fix mistakes that cost me way too much time and pain.
One I remember is that the cross over wire to the oil sending unit was way too short.  I looked at that WAAY too long trying to figure out how to get it to work.  A quick call had an extension on the way.  There were several others also...k

onerare39

I have used YnZ twice and was completely satisfied with the results.  I did have to make a call to them during both installations, they answered both questions in detail and got me back on track.  When I did my 54 sedan, I had triple checked each circuit and connection, but was still hesitant about hooking up the battery!  I called YnZ and they they said to use a flashlight lantern battery in place of a standard battery, it will run all the circuits but not cause any damage if something is wired incorrectly.  The horn relay and starter will click but not engage.  Everything checked out perfectly, I put in a good battery and ran another circuit test... no smoke or fire, the car started right up.  I also had them wire in a circuit for an electric fuel pump and fog lights.

John Forkner  

Jay_G

Guys, remember the way these guys get their wiring harnesses to duplicate,  is from old cars.  In this case with YnZ they got at least one of their stepdown harnesses out of a car brought to them by Bill Albright years (decades) go.  Now I know Bill was careful when he pulled it out of the car but remember there could have been mid year changes, that may or may not have been reflected in the manuals.  So there you have the cause of some of the confusion. 

I know they are also trying to refine and correct the products the best that they can.  So give them the feed back but remember they are going off of what someone has brought them.  I know this because I took them the 46-47 turn signal relay that I had for wiring.  I also know there were looking for the wiring harness for the electric hand in a 37 Hudson (the harness that went down the steering column).  They did not have it because no one included that harnesses in what they brought in for duplication.   

So there you have the story of how they get what they have.  If you have not seen them putting a harness together you should go down and visit.  It gives you a whole new understanding about the amount of work involved.

Jay

Kdancy

I've built a couple of harnesses using original harness, factory schematics and modern gxl copper automotive wire. But on these two, most of the harnesses were missing. The main problem I have with "vendor" harnesses is the lack of them using the factory schematic numbering system. As stated in my note to YnZ, this makes it much more comlicated as you translate the two different numbering systems.
I actually prefer to build my own if the original wiring is intact.