Wiring Harness Removal

[cplne]

I am having Robert McBride build a complete wiring harness for our 53 Kaiser Manhattan.  Got the forward harness mostly out but need some advice before I start tearing things up.

I can't get the headlight or windshield wiper switch out of the dash.  The ring on the outside of the switch is not moving and hate to tear them up with a pair of pliers.  Is there a trick getting those switches out? 

The interior is mostly out of the car however the headliner and side post are still in the car.  how do I get the wiring harness from the door plunger to the courtesy lights on the side post out.  Looks like they run up the door frame?

Lastly the gas tank has to come out at some point but do I really have to drop the tank to get to the fuel sender??

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

FYI this is my first attempt at finishing an auto project.  Built two aerobatic planes and I will assure you it is not the same!

Mark

[joefrazer]

To remove the headlight and wiper switches, first you'll need to remove the knobs. They're spring loaded so if you stick an opened paperclip into the back of the knob on the flat part of the post and push forward,that should release the tension on the spring a pop the knob off. Then,you'll need a pair of snap ring pliers. Use them to turn the bezel off the front of the dash. You should see two slots in the bezel...insert the tips from the snap ring pliers into the slots and turn counter clockwise (lefty loosey). A pair of long, thin needlenose pliers will do the same thing as the snap ring pliers.

The wiring harness for the interior post lights does run up the door frame and inside the headliner so it'll need to come out to get proper access to the harness.

And yes, you need to drop the tank to get to the sending unit. On the 47-50 cars, there was an access door, no such luck on the 51-5 cars!

Hope this helps!

[cplne]

Thanks

I am trying to get all this out to Robert before I leave for the Middle East for another rotation.  Will start removing the rest of the interior tomorrow.

Mark

[cplne]

Thanks for the advice.  Got the wiring harness out and on the way to Robert.  Pleasantly suprised how easy it was to drop the gas tank.  Would like to test the sending device before I re install the tank.  Any advice?

[joefrazer]

To test the tank unit, use an ohm meter. Set it to the a setting of 10 or more and attach lead to the baase and the other lead to the screw that attaches the wire to the unit. Let the arm hang as if the tank were empty. You should have a reading (it'll either be 0 or 1 depending upon how you attached the leads). Then slowly raise the arm and you should see the readings change. If they don't, your tank unit may be no good. They operate on resistance so you may be able to clean up the contacts by removing the cover and cleaning the contacts. I've had success doing that. If the readings don't change, even after cleaning the contacts, it's time for a new sending unit.