Backup light wiring - Lateral-g Forums

rockdogz · #1 02-25-2005, 12:48 AM

Ok, I'm putting in a new wiring harness and new TKO600, and have the following question. There are 2 pigtails for the backup light on the trans. I don't see any backup wires in the engine side of the harness, but there are 2 under the dash. Do I route those back through the firewall and down to the trans wires?

As a follow up, where do the two wires under the dash go that are marked 'ignition switch to neutral safety switch' and 'neutral safety switch to starter solenoid'? These are two wires (thicker, maybe 12 guage) that are bare and not part of any connector.

Thanks,

69MyWay · #2 02-25-2005, 06:43 AM

Painless Harness???

In most cases you have a 12+ hot ignition on wire that routes through for the back up lights. The two wire switch on the trans allows the 12+ wire in and then out to the lights. The lights are grounded near the rear body panel. It appears you will just loop through on your two wires under the dash. You will want to power it up and verify that you have a 12+ ign on on one those two and the other goes to the back up lights in the harness.

The thick wire is your neutral saftey switch. It interrupts the 12+ ignition START power to the starter unless the car is in park/neutral...or the clutch is in.

If you wish to make it functional you will need to get a neutral saftey switch for your clutch pedal. Or, if you want to live on the wild side you can wire it direct, but the car will be able to start in gear that way.

Or...you can run it through a hidden switch for anti-theft override.

Hope that helps!

BTW-the saftey switch wire is usually purple, and back up light power is usually green.

rockdogz · #3 02-25-2005, 11:58 AM

Thanks for the help - yep Painless harness. I'll try to verify on the green wires for the backup lights, but I would hope that I can simply take the two wires that end up under the dash and re-route them down to the trans wires. I shouldn't have to mess with the backup light wires that go out to the rear of the car to the actual lights, right?

I'm a little confused on the neutral safety switch - do you know which part I would use for a manual trans? Is it just a switch that detects when the clutch pedal is depressed so that the car will only start when it is? I searched for neutral safety on Classic Industries' web store and got part E237 - is that it? Or is that for an automatic?

Thanks,

69MyWay · #4 02-25-2005, 12:16 PM

I don't know what you are using for a clutch pedal. The older neutral saftey switches were wired through the clutch pedal. The switch would mount to the clutch pedal bracket and close when the clutch was depressed. Here is an example of one for a 1979 Chevy truck. If you got one like the one pictured below, you would only make up a simple bracket to hold it in place. On the cars with auto trans the neutral switch and back up switch are made together in a cluster that usually mounts on the column for column shift cars, or in the center console.

That E237 is for auto trans.

These kind screw into the trans:

69MyWay · #5 02-25-2005, 12:37 PM

They don't show a picture of it here, but the 1969-1971 Vette manual neutral switch is pretty cool. These mount on the pedal housing and you attach a wire arm to the pedal to trip it when depressed:

EH4-064 1969-E77 NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH ETENSION MANUAL TRANSMISSION

as available at www.madvet.com

rockdogz · #6 02-25-2005, 12:57 PM

Thanks again - I'm using the stock mechanical setup from Rick's. Wasn't there a stock neutral safety switch for the factory 4 speeds of the day? I would think someone would have a reproduction of that which should fit into my setup without any modification

rockdogz · #7 02-25-2005, 01:10 PM

Ok, maybe I'm over-thinking this - can't I just hook these two wires together, and then I can start the car whether it's in gear or not... So I just have to remember to put the clutch pedal in when starting (duh). Is that what most people are doing?

69MyWay · #8 02-25-2005, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockdogz

Thanks again - I'm using the stock mechanical setup from Rick's. Wasn't there a stock neutral safety switch for the factory 4 speeds of the day? I would think someone would have a reproduction of that which should fit into my setup without any modification

I agree, but I can't seem to find a part number or description for one for a first gen camaro.

69MyWay · #9 02-25-2005, 01:22 PM

Found it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

www.yearone.com

Part # Description Price Add to Cart
L19205 Neutral safety/back up light switch, 1967-68 M/T models, reproduction.
$62.00

carbuff · #10 02-25-2005, 01:55 PM

Oof... Touching a nerve here! ;-)

I used the generic GM Muscle Car Painless harness on my 70 Camaro, and I ran into a few issues. One specific to the topic at hand.

On the back-up lights, there were wires inside the car that were part of the wiring which went to the console area if I remember correctly. I routed through through my tunnel to my T56 and hooked them up. Then, when I connected my battery, I suddenly had the lights on. Huh?

Turns out that, at least on my harness, the backup light hot wire was ALWAYS hot. I ended up picking the power for that wire up somewhere else. So, you might check for that if you can before you complete all the wiring...

I wired the starter wire through the clutch pedal switch on my harness as well.

One other thing. The wiring for the power window circuits was woefulls inadequate! I added relays and my own wiring rather than using the Painless wiring.

I don't generally hear these kinds of complaints about these harnesses, so I don't know if I just got a bad one or what. But I know it caused me a good bit of frustration!

Good luck!

Bryan