HJ front of dash pics

[Terry T]

I am looking for good pics of the front of dash showing what wires/cables go thru each of the holes in the sheet metal.

I'm building up since the FIRE.

thanks in advance

[Fid]

I know it's been over a month. I've been hesitant to reply to this as I could not find any pictures that I would consider a good and accurate representation. My cars have all been in storage now since Sept and they're not easy to get to if I wanted to take some pics but the attached pic will likely help.  Since there really aren't a lot of wires/cables coming through, this pic and some explanation should be useful.  I believe your car is a '51 and this pic is a '53 but it should not matter much.   As far as wires go, there's really only one factory opening and that's for the main harness which is in about the 1 - 2 o'clock position on the driver side vent damper opening (as you're looking at it from  the front).  It's hard to see that in the picture.  The speedometer cable comes through the opening in the 11 o'clock position of the driver side air vent damper. In the picture it appears as a large, thick black cable because at the time I had one of the generic speedo cables from NAPA in the car. The choke cable and passenger side vent control cable (if so equipped) come through the grommet with the metal pieces around it.  Other than those, I don't think there's any that are standard. The parking brake should be obvious and signal lights were optional so it's hard to say where those would go through. In the picture you can see a black cable coming through above the drip line on the passenger side. That's the antenna cable and I can't say that it's how it was done at the factory or dealer as I know we added the radio in the '70s and likely just drilled where we felt like.  The silver clips on the drip line hold the wire for the passenger side horn. The ones on this car were  not painted so I painted them  silver.  I've seen on the earlier cars that they are painted the color of the car so there must be a cross-over point where some cars where painted after they were installed.

[Terry T]

thanks

yours is a better pic than those I had taken at several KF events

[Corsairdeluxe]

Great shot for reference.Added it to the collection. One comment ...On some early 51's ,the O.D. relay is mounted just below the voltage regulator.

[Fid]

...On some early 51's ,the O.D. relay is mounted just below the voltage regulator.

Correct.  And the '53 regulator is mounted above the drip line on a bracket where earlier cars have it below.
Here's a couple of pics of the relay location on the early cars

[Fid]

Not to take the topic too far off but after looking at the pics of the early relay mount, I have to wonder if that change was made at the same time those extra body braces the early cars have were removed?  Both pictures I posted (and another I have that I didn't post) which have relay mounted under the regulator also have the extra body braces the early cars had. The reason I say this is because if you look in the service bulletins (and I don't have the  numbers right off hand) it states that if the braces need to be replaced, a new re-enforced firewall panel should be installed instead.  That is not an easy undertaking but that's what it states. I'll see if I can find that bulletin.  My '52 Henry J Vagabond (as late a '51 is there is) did not have overdrive originally but the mounting holes were there for the relay, located where the later ones are mounted.  Also, it has the "dimples" for the radio struts on top of the firewall.  I wonder if those updates were done at the same time?  I know we've discussed on these boards that earlier issue cars do not have those dimples for mounting the radio struts and the radio kit came with a template for the dealer to use to drill them. Without that template and without the dimples it would be very hard to know where to drill to mount the radio.  I'm guessing these features are part of the new / upgraded firewall panel.  Anyone have any info on this?