Converting to all toggle switches??

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duey_roc

duey_roc

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I wanted to get rid of my old headlight and wiper switches and make everything on toggle switches. How difficult would this be? im not much of an electrical guy but you gotta start somewhere. I got a virgin complete wire harness from a 73 duster that I was going to use. Any suggestions and feedback would be awesome!
 
I am not an electric guy but I have had my switches out of the car and seen ALL the wires connected. Wipes have different speeds, so you would need a toggle with multi positions to keep the wiper speeds. Or they will be just on or off. Your headlight switch would be the same, multi function of that switch.
Just some things to think about.
 
Step 1: Ask yourself why on earth you would want to do this.

Step 2: See Step 1.

An early E-Type Jaguar had a mostly toggle switched electrical system. So just "upgrade" your car with mid 60's Lucas electrical components.
 
What the Chief is alluding to, here, and for those of us who have had to deal with them, the only thing on earth worse than a Lucas electrical system is whatever - in - 'ell you call the 'Marialli' crap that Fiat has been known to use.

Actually the light switch is the least of your problems. The wiper switch is going to be a challenge, and wiring will depend on what kind of motor you have now.

Last, I would certainly NOT start with a factory harness if that is what you are determined to do.

Why in 'ell am I up at 4:45AM. I can't freekin sleep, that's why
 
67Dart273 said:
What the Chief is alluding to, here, and for those of us who have had to deal with them, the only thing on earth worse than a Lucas electrical system is whatever - in - 'ell you call the 'Marialli' crap that Fiat has been known to use.

Actually the light switch is the least of your problems. The wiper switch is going to be a challenge, and wiring will depend on what kind of motor you have now.

Last, I would certainly NOT start with a factory harness if that is what you are determined to do.

Why in 'ell am I up at 4:45AM. I can't freekin sleep, that's why
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The Magneti Marelli crap Fiat uses is now in the new Dodge Dart and many other Chrys products. Aftermarket electrical for old Mopars is now Chinese and new Mopars is Magneti Marelli, we may be doomed.
 
If you have ever worked on the low bid contractor crap that passed for mopar during the Daimler era then you would realize it has to get better since it can't get much worse.

To the original poster, is this a drag car? Maybe you should create some kind of linkage and bracket that uses a toggle to operate the factory switch. Mount the switch under the dash and have the toggle pull the rod out. From a wiring standpoint it sounds like a whole lot of work for little to no gain. There are much better ways to improve mopar wiring.
 
Do you mean toggle switches or rocker switches?
It could be done with rocker switches and remain all-Mopar with some B-body parts. Remembering back to my old '70 Charger, both the headlights and wipers were controlled by rocker switches on the dash.
 
Thanks for all the post and replies guys its helping a lot! To start, I want my dash to be simple. I got the factory wire harness because financial issues are involved. I planned to take this wiring harness and see which wires go where and eliminate all the wires I don't need. (AC, radio, seat belts, etc.) I wanted to have all the switches on the bottom of the dash with only ignition and a few others next to the gauge cluster. whats the difference between rocker switches and toggle switches?
 
Make sure the toggles or rockers are rated for the amp load.

Some systems are better suited to using the toggle/rocker to trigger a relay.
 
That was my other question. Will each of these toggles need a relay in between the switch and the component it's connected to?
 
duey_roc said:
That was my other question. Will each of these toggles need a relay in between the switch and the component it's connected to?
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You can do it any way you want (if you insist) if you use large enough wire. What you do NOT want to do, as I already said, is chop up a factory harness and depend on the bulkhead connector. Do a search on here for that, or look for "MAD electrical" on Google.

The thing that say, an underhood relay box gets you is that heavy loads, pumps, fans, headlights and even ignition, don't have to go into and out of the bulkhead. You can simply control relays, which lightens the load on the bulkhead "through" harness, as well as shortening current path.

I'm not trying to insult you, here, but from the questions you are asking, you may not be ready for something like this, without some local talent.

A "drag only" car with no accessories can be as easy as ignition and start. Two huge wires and a great big heavy duty toggle and start button.
 
67dart273: I really appreciate the info as this is my first rodeo with electrical. If its going to be that big of a deal, maybe I can stick with the stock switches.
 
duey_roc said:
67dart273: I really appreciate the info as this is my first rodeo with electrical. If its going to be that big of a deal, maybe I can stick with the stock switches.
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OK, post back with specific questions. I'm glad to help but this kind of a project is fairly major. I'm assuming this is a street driven car. The other thing you might want to consider is liability. If you do something which, in the case of a court case after an accident, might get picked on by some lawyer, if the car dies in traffic, or stop/ turn lamps don't work, etc, etc, you could be leaving yourself very much open.

I Googled "sleazy lawyer" and this was the second hit

340x_4c99dbb11f1be7c3c4.jpg
 
You state you're not much of an electrical guy yet you want to completely revamp your wiring. To do so you need to know the current loads of each circuit then calculate wire size and run. You'll also need to know what switches to buy and/or when and where to use relays. There's a whole lot more to think about too. I would recommend you stick with the stock wiring.
 
I tore apart the wiring under the dash today and started rewiring things. It actually was pretty easy. Seeing the back of the light switch and wiper switch definitely has convinced me to stay with the stock haha. And I know I said I'm not an electrical guy and Im not but I know at least the basics of it as far as replacing things electrically go. Enough to run a new wire harness underneathe and pull the old one out
 
Just out of curiosity, do you HAVE to have the bulkhead connectors or can you bypass them?:-?
 
Do you plan to use a dimmer for the instrument cluster lights?
 
Yes only because for now they work. This wirin harness is only to get things going properly. Once I start working on the interior, it'll have a painless wiring harness
 
duey_roc said:
Just out of curiosity, do you HAVE to have the bulkhead connectors or can you bypass them?:-?
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No you don't have to have a bulkhead disconnect. You could run all your wires through a large rubber grommet/boot and solder all the connection points together.
 
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