1963 Us Navy Dj-3a

Continuing on with the license light.

New wire soldered to the plunger:


A new spring from my junk drawer:


De-rusted housing (vinegar works amazing), new bulb, and it works!


I added a ground wire and reassembled the whole thing. It was a bit tricky because the inner part of the housing isn't flush with the outer and wants to rattle around and not make a good ground connection. I used some rubber grommets as spacers to keep the round wire tight and to keep things from rattling.

Still works. The "patina" stays because that's the kind of Jeep this is:


Some cloth wrap (similar to the original) and a weatherpack connector for the wires:


Back on the Jeep:


Now I need to make a ground harness and finish up the power harness and I'll be done with the back of the Jeep.

 

Got the rear all buttoned up.

Building the harness with plugs for all the lights. It got routed inside the rear crossmember and help in place with P-clips:


Left tail light:


Right tail light:

 

Fire this thing up already!

 

I'm trying!!!!

 

Look what I found on ebay for $45.00:


A Tuxedo Park license light for a spare! The seller didn't know what it was for and listed it as a "rat rod license light":

It showed up in the mail just now. After some initial inspection, it's in pretty decent shape.

Glass looks good:


The chrome is good, but it has some dents on the tip:


Very little rust. this spare is in better shape than the one I'm using:

 

I was too busy removing snow tires, cutting down trees, mowing, spraying weeds, and weed-wacking to get much done on the Jeep over the weekend. Welcome to Spring where my free time disappears.

I did get the last of the dash stuff mounted so I can start working on the dash harness.

I made a template to drill for turn indicator lights:


The hope is to be somewhat symmetric:


Of course, I didn't check behind the dash when drilling and they are perilously close the studs that hold the instrument cluster. Where there is a will, there is a way, and I can make it work. I think the nuts for the indicator lights will over hang the cluster well enough to hold the top since I can't get the proper cluster nuts on. Anyway, it looks decent:


Next was my auxiliary switch panel. The PO has a couple of cheap plastic switches in a piece of vinyl floor tile mounted where the original e-brake handle was. I think one ran the cooling fan override. I never figured out what the other did before I yanked the wiring. You can see them in this old picture:


I have four switches for the four extra relays, and if I arrange them tightly, they just fit in this hole. I didn't want to wreck the very clean trim job they did:


I used the old floor tile piece to template holes in a new metal plate, screwed it on, and traced the shape of the hole on the back side. Then I pulled it off and laid out the holes for the switches:


Some drilling, some paint, some switches, and done!


Now I'm starting to work on the fussy dash light harnesses.

I'll need to make a ground harness from scratch too. The following items all need ground wires:

• Turn signal indicators
• Auxiliary switches (for the LED that lights up with the switch is on)
• 3x dash lights for 2 1/16" gauges
• Wiper switch
• Volt meter

 

When I did mine I welded a 1/4 bolt to backside of dash that I ran my grounds to.

 

I like that idea.

 

Harnesses for the turn signal indicators and 2 1/6" gauge lights. The white things in the turn signal harness are computer style connectors that fit through the retaining nut on the back of the lights:


Light harnesses in, and starting to route things where they go. I need to bundle these up better under the dash by the fuse box and I can start cutting things to length:


I also need to run a few custom wires like the previously mentioned ground harness, a wire from the heater switch to the heater blower motor, and a wire to the power seat.

If you're curious, this is how much extra wire you have from a Painless harness when you put it into short Jeep (not counting the dash wires I haven't trimmed yet):

 

Harness p-clipped to the firewall and one connector done last night.

Jeepsterman has a plug that fits that back of my ignition switch. Crimped and soldered pins:


Much nicer than individual blade connectors:

 

Coming along!
The extra wire is a bonus, added to your spares collection.

My understanding - these plastic shells are used to speed progress on the assembly line.
Does keep everything tidy, and assures that the wires go back correctly if the switch needs to be disconnected for some reason.
Disconnection rarely needed IRL.
Kinda think I'd solder rather than use individual connectors.
You could solder directly to the blades, then cover with shrink wrap.
More solid, more reliable.
Connectors are an electrical liability, generally.
I'd suggest that's why the blades have a hole in them.

 

Headlight switch wired up last night. I didn't use the terminal that only turns on the front parking lights when the hearlights are off. They will be on when the headlights are:


The orange wire is for the driver's power seat. It's stupid, but it's there, so I wired it up.

Wipers and turn signals next.

 

I was at exactly at the spot with what the orange wire was for. I knew it didn't belong, so thank you for the confirmation.

 

It's supposed to be power for the parking lights. Apparently some Chrysler product headlight switches have incoming parking light power separate from the headlight power. Probably so they can be fused separately. My headlight switch doesn't support that, so I figured it would be perfect for the power seat. It's in the right place and only needs to support 10A.

 

Under dash ground harness built, and ground/incoming power jumpers made for the aux switches:

 

When I rewired Old Blue, I used one of these for both the grounds under the dash and in the engine bay. It has a 4 gauge lead directly to the battery.




I also used those terminal posts in my 3B for all the grounds.

 

Too busy doing yard crap again this weekend.

I did get the aux switches fully wired up and installed. Busy:


I was too mentally blown out to tackle the turn signal wiring after that, so I played with another blue on my test fender. Aged Rustoleum royal blue:


It's a little bit too "blue" of a blue, but I like that it looks like a color from a different era. Maybe.

 

That's the paint and color I used back in 2011. This picture was taken last year or so, lighting is everything.

 

Working out the turn signal wiring. The color coding of the Painless harness is the same as the newer GM stuff, but my turn signal switch has the older color coding.

Pins inserted in the mail connectr the right way:


Installing pins for the female connector:


I split up the ribbon cable from switch and wrapped it in tape for protection and easier routing:


Next is heater, cigarette lighter, and gauge cluster. I'm also going to run the wires for a future tach while I'm at it.

 

Nothing picture worthy, but I got the heater and cigarette lighter wired last night.