Sorting through whats behind the center console - help needed

[Carterwithak]

In reading about the Spiders and their electrical system I wanted to do what I could to smooth things out for the rest of my ownership of my '78 Spider. In the 2 weeks I've had the car I've installed both the AR headlight and Ignition relay kits, swapped all the lights minus the headlights and idiot lights for LEDs, and installed a new turn signal flasher. Everything on those installs have been working great so far. I can see better, I'm more visible, theres less load on the electrical system and I don't have to worry as much about the ignition switch quitting on me. Done with electrical untill I upgrad the alternator (I thought like someone who didn't just buy a vintage car). On to the next projects.

I wanted to move the parking brake lever over some as it was at a slight angle that had destroyed the center console around it. In pulling the interior bits out to get to it I found the rats nest of wires you'd expect from an old car with an aftermarket radio. I unplug this from that, do what I have to do with the parking brake and put it all back together. And what do you know, the radio that was previously not working worked. I didn't plug in the courtesy light because like a dummy I didn't tag what went where. No biggie, don't need it. A few days later go for a drive and its getting chilly. Go to turn on the heater blower fan and get nothing. Great. Today I pull the interior bits out to see what's not working out and nothing obvious is wrong from what I see. Find a Switch laying under the heater controls that I work out is for the parking brake light, get it hooked up and working. Cool, I'll take that as a win and just wear a heavier coat when I drive for now. I'd rather do the sparkplugs and an oil change today. Put it all back together and now the hazard switch and radio don't work. Fantastic guess I'm doing wiring today.

Four hours later after pouring over the wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual and that the previous owner had printed out. Plugging this into that based on what I saw and I still have diddly squat. I do however have a really confusing set of wires to sort out. And the hazard switch lights up if that counts for anything. Below is what I'm working with in the very likely case that someone has a better idea of whats going on than I do.

Violet from dash to Hazard Switch

Violet & White from hazard Switch to Red & Black (to hazard flasher?)

White and Black hazard Switch to courtesy light farside from switch

White and black from courtesy light to dash

2x Black from courtesy light center to dash (Ground?)

Yellow from Kenwood ('"to battery") split to 2 violet. One to dash, one to courtesy light switch

Violet from courtesy light switch to dash

Blue and Red with female connector to nothing

Teal and White with female connector to nothing

Yellow to nothing (cigarette lighter?)

Red to cigarette lighter

Black with female connector (cigarette lighter ground?) spliced to black wire with fork connector that was taped over and a violet and black with a 2 wire female connector. Violet and black from female connector to dash. Nothing plugged in.

Any help is deeply appreciated. If I'd known what I was getting into I would have studied electrical engineering.

[Akspider]

There's a good wiring diagram on Mirafiori - you'll need to register (free) lots of other good info there too. Tried to attach the pdf diagram but couldn't figure how so go to http://www.mirafiori.com register and try this link:

https://www.mirafiori.com/forum/viewtop ... 78#p525415
(or search in library- electrical diagrams -1978)
page 5 has a lot of the items you're trying to hook up. Good luck!

[Carterwithak]

Thank you, these diagrams look like they'll be really helpful. I'm probably going to have to make my own that combines some of these pages and another that is what I have behind my dash. Maybe that'll help me clean up some of where things are spliced together and remove wires aren't needed.

[Akspider]

It's definitely a challenge! I disassembled the dash & console - labeled all my wires on masking tape but didn't get to it for several years - most of my marks disappeared! Especially had a difficult time with the hazard switch. Most white/black and black are at ground. A cheapy test light is handy either tying a lead to body ground to test for 12v power or clipping the lead to 12v to probe grounded wires. And then the added wires from a previous owner and the fading too..... Can be real head scratchers!

[reidyyz]

I too will be facing the rats nest puzzle when it warms up, because my center console is also out, going back in (and on the road, fingers crossed) so I hope it all works out for you. One thing I've done is that I came across a wire harness that's 10+ ft long (originally for bed heating pad, that crapped out) so I moded the harness to bolt onto the ground lug of the battery cable. I use it to check the continuity of all my grounds where ever they are. I have found some dodgy connections that I've fixed. There's nothing worse than spending time troubleshooting a problem, then discover your test ground, isn't .