54 trunk wiring harness

[Lynn L.]

Any recommendations/techniques to remove and replace original license light harness? Harness runs between trunk shells and I am concerned about breaking harness. Thanks

[Randy G.]

Re: 54 trunk wiring harness

I'm sure you know the harness you are talking about includes the tail lights and and the fuel sending unit wires. It starts under the dash through a hole on the left behind the kick panel, runs under the left door sill up through the hole inside the gas tank area below the filler neck, up over the fender then the license lamp wires split away from the rest of the harness near the wheel well at the front left corner of the trunk.

As far as running the license lamp portion of the harness is concerned, after I removed what was left of the original wires I was able to fish a stainless wire through the split in the fender well where the license lamp wires come out in the trunk. I was able to tie it to the license harness near the end just short of the connectors. Before I did all that I used a small round file to clear away any obstructions to make it easier to slide the harness through that area of the trunk first. Mine seemed to be all plugged up with bonding glue and there as no way I was going to get the wire and connectors through.

One thing I did that helped. When I tied the harness to the stainless wire I did it so the wire came through the hole first followed by the connectors folded back and staggered (I used tape) so only one plastic connector at a time tried to slide through the hole. A big lump of multiple terminal connectors is not going to slide through anything.

No matter how you slice it, it is a major pain in the ___ and took me the better part of an entire evening to do it.

[Troy P.]

Re: 54 trunk wiring harness

It is not difficult to remove the plastic connectors before pulling the wire through. Then reinstall them. Pull from the gas tank area to the trunk and from the gas tank area forward to under the dash.

There are other posts available on this subject as it has been covered before.

Not easy to do but rewarding when done.

[Chris S.]

Re: 54 trunk wiring harness

is the car painted or not ?
I ran my front to rear harness and antenna before paint.
after I ran them - I put them in a ziploc before paint and taped the ziploc to the inside of the trunk.

for me...it was really really really hard to get the old harness out - they were installed prior to the top rear tail being placed on the bottom - additionally there is bonding material at the seam between the trunk and the gas tank area
I removed as much of the old bonding material as possible and removed the old harness - I then had to remove more and make a hole in the material for the new harness to pass thru. Your going to hate to hear this but I even pryed between the upper and lower (gently) in order to get the new harness thru

I also fished steel wire from front to rear - Taped it to the new harness and pulled it thru the rocker - huge time saver.

I took my time and was very careful.