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1933 Buick Series 90- Electrical connections


Guest outlaw car man

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Guest outlaw car man

Hi Group.

Starting to install ( I hope) the wiring harness' on a 1933 Buick series 90 , 7 passenger sedan.

The harness are new, never installed, new dash harness was already installed when we got the car, got lucky.

My question: Can someone give a source for all the odd connections & pigtails that go like into the fender lights, rear curiosity light sockets things like that.

There's got to be a electrical restoration company or something out there, right ?

Thanks for any help

Sandy Jones

OCM

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Guest DaveCorbin

Dear Sandy:

A little tech tip here. Get a small 6V battery charger (5 amps is good) and set it where the battery goes. Clip the negative to the frame and connect the positive to the heavy cable to the starter. This allows for testing lights, clocks, etc. as you go. IF (or when) you get something wrong or backward, the charger will overload and cut out. It also allows you to check that things are properly grounded. IF you use the battery, you could have a fire or burn up that new harness.

Regards, Dave Corbin

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Guest DaveCorbin

Dear Sandy:

BTW, get your hands on a copy of this month's Bugle!! One of the featured cars is a 1933 90 series, custom bodied in Europe!! Pete Phillips has done his usual superb job on that write-up.

It should rev your motor!!

Regards, Dave Corbin

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Guest outlaw car man

Dave,

Thanks I got my copy, interesting car. I talked to the owners, briefly a couple months ago.

Called about a 1/2 doz places today, looking for the 1933 version of a quick disconnect for the electrical connections for the tail lights-

Most knew about the connections, some never heard of it.

Looks like I'm on my own again in the world of 1933 Buick Series 90 stuff. HA !

To be honest, have had a lot of great help though.

Fun stuff, love the hunt probably more then anything-

Sandy

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Guest outlaw car man

Looks like the trick is to do a direct connection, the old original stuff does not exist in reproduction.

I'm using pigtails ( #126) from RSC, fit great. Rebuilt the little rear courtesy lights & the fender lights with these. Same with the dash lights, socket connect from them too.

We are keeping the car in the #316 color combination, black upper & Navarre Green lower. Real classy looking for this big 90 .

Anybody need help, holler, right or wrong I'll share what I'm doing. I'm right in the thick of it till winter.

Sandy

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Guest outlaw car man

Hi John,

Thanks- When we found the car, it had a box full of two complete sets of wiring harnesses. The dash harness had already been installed , but the front & rear had not. Also there is a bunch of original looking wire and all sorts of connection parts.

There were no instructions but the box had Harnesses Unlimited on it so I called them. Very nice people sent me a new set of instructions and said if anything was missing they would replace it.

They said to call if I had problems. You know I will.

Sandy

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest outlaw car man

Dave ( or anybody )

If I clip the positive from the battery, to the wire that touches the base of the light bulb in the pigtail connection ( I'm talking the fender light as an example) , then connect the negative to the bolt that holds the fender light on the frame, then to the neg side of the battery, shouldn't the bulb light up ? I'm making a full circuit

I've tried this with a test light as the neg connection and the test light goes on but not the ( new ) bulb or any other bulb.

Yes, 6 V I thought this would be a simple thing . Am I missing something here ?

Sandy

Dear Sandy:

A little tech tip here. Get a small 6V battery charger (5 amps is good) and set it where the battery goes. Clip the negative to the frame and connect the positive to the heavy cable to the starter. This allows for testing lights, clocks, etc. as you go. IF (or when) you get something wrong or backward, the charger will overload and cut out. It also allows you to check that things are properly grounded. IF you use the battery, you could have a fire or burn up that new harness.

Regards, Dave Corbin

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Guest outlaw car man

The car had a box full of wire harnesses wire, clips etc from Harnesses Unlimited, still in the plastic wrap. I called them and they sent a full diagram, instructions . Still awful foreign to me, but I'll learn.

I've been restoring the lights as I go, had some problems with using a test light but got that solved thanks to some Buick guys here.

Got the fender lights working today and the connections for the tail lights.

Car is up on jack stands waiting for the wheels to come back from the shop, painting them to match body color as correct.

Appreciate the help.

Sandy

1933 Buick series 90

1948 Buick 56S

1972 Volvo P1800 ES Sportwagon

1999 SL 500 M Benz

2005 Nissan Murano

Old farm truck, wife & dog, 3 horses.

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  • 3 years later...
The car had a box full of wire harnesses wire, clips etc from Harnesses Unlimited, still in the plastic wrap. I called them and they sent a full diagram, instructions . Still awful foreign to me, but I'll learn.

I've been restoring the lights as I go, had some problems with using a test light but got that solved thanks to some Buick guys here.

Got the fender lights working today and the connections for the tail lights.

Car is up on jack stands waiting for the wheels to come back from the shop, painting them to match body color as correct.

Appreciate the help.

Sandy

Hey Sandy, how are you?

i need the wiring harneess to use in my 1933 Buick too, but i can't find. Do you know someone that haves this wires? coated cloth? tks

Eduardo

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Guest outlaw car man

I'm fine, thank you. I used Harnesses Unlimited for my 33 90. But I've used Rhode Island Wiring in the past also on other cars . You can find them on the computer search. The one on my 90 fit like a glove . Good luck with it. Sandy

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I'm fine, thank you. I used Harnesses Unlimited for my 33 90. But I've used Rhode Island Wiring in the past also on other cars . You can find them on the computer search. The one on my 90 fit like a glove . Good luck with it. Sandy

I just find in two sites that you told me, which one do you recommend? the harnesses unlimited is for the whole car? including panel? from what I understand, the one that fit like a glove is the harnesses unlimited, right? if yes, i'll buy this one. tks a lot for the help.

Eduardo

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Guest outlaw car man
I just find in two sites that you told me, which one do you recommend? the harnesses unlimited is for the whole car? including panel? from what I understand, the one that fit like a glove is the harnesses unlimited, right? if yes, i'll buy this one. tks a lot for the help.

Eduardo

I can't recommend either one, used both with no problem. I used Harnesses Unlimited on the Buick 90. No problems. You will have to contact them for what they offer. I did the whole car and was impressed they had a 90- Most say it's a 90 and isn't, just don't know. Sandy

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Guest outlaw car man

Eduardo- Another thing I found VERY important: lay out the entire harness, as if it's going in the car, on the living room floor . Study it. A lot. Then understand all the terms in the instructions, these are automotive electrical terms. Put all this in your head, then head to the car. I'm assuming you have a shop manual on the system too. I think they provide that anyway. Before you start, understand it, then go for it.

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For those that want to save some $$ and you have the original harnesses, You can buy the original style wire from John Brillman. He has all the loom and connectors. You can also upgrade to heavire wires if you choose to go to higher wattage lamps or add additional items like turn signals and electric fuel pumps. Cost is about 1/10 of the assemblies from the usual places. I have the wire info ( lengths, braid pattern, color and connectors) for 32 Buicks on a spreadsheet in excel if anyone needs that info send me a pm as it's too complex to attach these files to the forum.

Bob Engle

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Eduardo- Another thing I found VERY important: lay out the entire harness, as if it's going in the car, on the living room floor . Study it. A lot. Then understand all the terms in the instructions, these are automotive electrical terms. Put all this in your head, then head to the car. I'm assuming you have a shop manual on the system too. I think they provide that anyway. Before you start, understand it, then go for it.

Thanks my friend, I opted for the Harnesses Unlimited because my car is to much like yours and i liked the website. But i have one more question, my car doesn't have the device at the end of the steering column, what device is that? just the hand throttle? or have a headlight device too? where is the head light swicth? tks

Eduardo

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For those that want to save some $$ and you have the original harnesses, You can buy the original style wire from John Brillman. He has all the loom and connectors. You can also upgrade to heavire wires if you choose to go to higher wattage lamps or add additional items like turn signals and electric fuel pumps. Cost is about 1/10 of the assemblies from the usual places. I have the wire info ( lengths, braid pattern, color and connectors) for 32 Buicks on a spreadsheet in excel if anyone needs that info send me a pm as it's too complex to attach these files to the forum.

Bob Engle

Tks Bob but my car don't have nothing in his harneess. i have to buy a new one anyway. tks

Eduardo

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Guest outlaw car man

Can you take pictures of what you have ? I mean the end of the steering column ... You may not know what you are looking at or have a bad problem.

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