On Thu, 14 Nov 1996, Ralph Jannelli wrote:
> Well this is confusing!! When I restored my 1965 Spit MKII I also had
> to find a light switch for the dash panel. Ross's summary is close to
> what I found, with one main difference! The harness was set up with a
> circuit that went from the Brown (battery) on one terminal to another
> color which I forget at the moment but that is the power feed to the
> switch on the column. This means that the running lights and the
> headlights would not activate unless the panel switch was on. The
> panel switch is a pull switch with two positions. The first pull will
> turn on the dash instrument lights only the second pull position will
> allow the other lights to activate with the column switch.
> Does this make sense?
Well, yes and no. First off, what you're describing sounds like the "rest
of the world except for the U.S." specification. Did you buy a new
harness when you restored the car? And, appropos of my message yesterday,
is your "main lighting switch" one of those I saw at VTR with a
headlight pictograph on the knob? ;-) This would be correct for the setup
you describe, but not the correct knob or wiring/switch configuration for
original U.S.-spec. cars.
Also, given the setup you have, I think the wiring on the dash switch
might be reversed. The first position should activate the lighting
circuit, and the second position should light the gauges.
Just to further complicate things (oh, thanks, Andy, we thought you were
sorting this out for us. Now you're going to make it worse!), my
original, first edition Spitfire 4 factory spares manual does detail the
U.S.-spec. lighting equipment correctly, and it describes the column
lighting switch as having the flash feature for the high beams. But the
factory Herald/Vitesse/Spitfire is rather quiet on this subject.
I do remember going through similar grief many, many years ago when
Dad's original Herald needed to have the column switch replaced. (No,
Heralds in the U.S. did not have a flash-to-pass feature in the column
switch, but otherwise they were set up like U.S.-spec. Spitfires). Being
a brave then-16-year-old wanting to save Dad some money, I volunteered to
replace the switch, and proceeded to yank out the old one rather
quickly. I just as quickly discovered that the wiring diagram in the
owner's manual didn't describe the U.S.-spec. car, and I had quite the
time with trial-and-error reconnecting of the wires on the new switch! Did
finally get it, though.
--Andy
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