Electrical Plug Location

[Mel]

On the wiring diagram for the Studebaker and early II Avantis, an (eight conductor) electrical plug is depicted which feeds the dome lights, trunk light, tail lights, gas tank sender unit and license plate light.  This plug has connections for wire #'s 37G, 29, 47F, etc., and is drawn just beneath the 'Courtesy Lamp' drawing.  Does anyone know where this plug is located?  Thanks!

[WayneC]

I cannot answer your question directly, its been too long since I've done any wiring work, but perhaps I can give you info leading to the answer.

There was an article about replacing the wiring harness in the Avanti Magazine (Fall/Winter 2011) that is copied on Bob's Studebaker website here:

  https://studebaker-info.org/Tech/Bhend/avantiwiringbhenddec2012.pdf

The author does not include photos of the harness taken as as he was installing it in the car, but perhaps you could email him (wfhenderson@yahoo.com) to ask if he remembers the location of the plug or kept photos of the install.

I expect the plug may be located behind the right-side kickpanel, but I am not at all certain of that; it may be closer to the transmission hump, possibly under the dash or in the console since the wiring to the rear of the car runs beneath the rug along the driver's side of the transmission hump.

If you get the answer, it would be nice for you to update this thread with that information (and/or document your own work with how-to photos in a new thread).

 

[Mel]

Thanks, Wayne.  I emailed Bill, who kindly answered, but he did not remember any specifics of where the plug is.  Briefly, what I'm looking at is having a relay coil fed by #36 (hot) on the 'down' side of the plug with the ground fed by #37K or #47G from the courtesy lamp.  This relay will control the feed onward for #36 which, with the dome switches on, will cause the dome lights to come on whenever the door is opened or the courtesy lamp is manually turned on with the courtesy light switch.  (The only other feed from #36 on the down side of the plug is the trunk lamp.)  If I carry it through, I'll update here.  Thanks, again.

[Mel]

The plug is located directly above the steering column.  The above is basically correct but the grounding of the relay is by #37G which feeds into the plug.  I spliced into #36 on the 'downstream' side of the plug and into #37G on the upstream side of the plug.  (#37G is grounded through the door switches and feeds into the plug but not out.)  Both #36 and #37G can be spliced into with not much more effort than many other things under the dash.

The switch, as noted above, is a double throw switch with AUTO-OFF-ON positions.  This allows the feed to the dome lights to be controlled by the door opening/closing, turned off completely, or turned on manually.  The switches at the dome lights must be ON and can be left on permanently.  For judging, the switch can be placed in the manual position and the domes switched turned on/off as required and the courtesy lamp will operate normally.

I know the above is not complete as the feed to the hot side of the relay also feeds the center contact of the relay and the downside of #36 feeds the 'engaged' terminal of the relay.  I tried describing this above and it made no sense when I read it back.  I'll write this up for the AOAI magazine.  I'm really pleased with the way it works.