Rewiring Your Studebaker

by Fred Duplechin

Have you ever worried that some of that old, brittle, cloth covered wire on your otherwise classy Studebaker will short out? ... that frayed old circuit breakers will have Alzheimer's and forget to break? ... that the headlights will come on when you press the brake? ... that all your blood, sweat and tears will go up in flames on the side of the highway somewhere? Stop worrying and rewire that baby!

If you’ve ever considered rewiring, but were overwhelmed by doubt, put it aside. They don’t call it EZ Wiring for nothin’. Rewiring my car was one of the most satisfying parts of the renovation. I converted my ‘55 President from 6V positive ground to 12V negative ground to allow me to put a modern sound system, air-conditioning, power window, etc. I ordered a modern 22 circuit harness from EZ Wiring (386) 437-1077. It arrived promptly and I studied the simple 13 page manual. "Can’t be that easy", I thought to myself. I dutifully filled out the pre-wiring planning section and got to work. I kept almost all circuits and converted a couple of the "extras" to serve for weird stuff like the transmission’s "anti-creep" solenoid. As I told you in the last newsletter, I soldered a new set of wires onto the turn signal switch. Those wires all hooked up to their corresponding wires on the new harness. A couple of newsletters ago, I mentioned that NAPA (and probably others) sell replacement leads for the bulbs and even sockets if you need them. The harness comes with headlight sockets. 

EZ Wiring makes their harnesses with GM type plugs for the column type ignition switch and other column functions like turn signals, but it’s easy to cut off those GM plugs and attach them to the Studebaker leads. Yea, it was a little tedious. Yea, I did get puzzled a couple of times, screwed up a couple of times, cussed a couple of times. But..., thinking back, I shouldn’t have. Tech support at EZ Wiring is fantastic - almost like psychotherapy for your frayed autorestorer nut nerves, calmly, patiently, politely steering you back on track.

I also got a little 12V conversion help from Randy Rundle at Fifth Avenue Antique Auto Parts (785) 632-3450. He sent me a couple of "Runtz" units to keep my 6V fuel and temp gauges, his 6 to 12 volt conversion guide (excellent!) and some good ol’ free advice.

For you purists, Studebaker International still sells the original type harnesses for 6volts in two pieces, front and rear (at about twice the price). After doing it, I think you could get away with just the front harness. The rear is simple and made from vinyl covered wire. My rear wires were in good shape compared to the front wires (many of which were cloth covered. But, it you change only the front set, do change the dome light wires because the originals are cloth covered.

Go for it!