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SURMOD
1930 Hudson Super 8
The Wiring
The wiring on the car was terrible. On the right is a pile of wires that I took out from under the dash that weren't doing anything.
For some reason the ignition was wired up so it was always live.
The above pictures are from the bottom of the steering column. On the back of this buss board is linkage that is controlled by two dials on the centre of the steering wheel. The one dial operates the throttle. But since the original engine has been replaced it is no longer used and I don't even have have the necessary linkage that goes to the carb.
The other dial on the steering wheel controls the headlights/taillights and the running lights. So by rotating the dial, that moves the linkage on the back of the buss board which rotates a brass disc. It has 3 bumps on it and they fall into holes on another fibre disc that presses up against the brass disc. The positioning of the disc either turn on the running lights, or the headlights/taillights, and there is a third location that turns on the interior dome light. On each location the dash lights come on as well.
The inside the mechanism was very corroded and needed a complete overhaul and clean up.
The brass contact ring on the left has the same bumps on the other side and it rotates so that the bumps coincide with the contacts on the buss board.
The insulating centre divider that fits between the brass disc and the contacts on the buss board was really worn out and it just wasn't doing it's job.
The picture on the right shows the insulated centre divider after I rebuilt it using JB Weld.
Most of the wires were either redundant or unnecessary or going nowhere so I got rid of most of them and put all new ends on the wires and cleaned up all the contacts and coated them all with electrical contact grease.
The reason there was so much corrosion at the contacts is that the whole assembly is prone to all kinds of water or road debris, since it's down so low and mounted right on the frame beside the engine at the end of the steering box. I built a doghouse for it using body steel and I put on an access door so I could maintain the contacts and have access to the headlight/taillight fuse.
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