The Snakes Alive CMP Wiring Project

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I am posting this on both the Maple Leaf Up forum and the Canadian Military Pattern Vehicles Facebook group.

Keith,

Great project! Would be nice if you / we could collect enough information for MLU members to piece together their own wiring loom.

Thanks,
Hanno

PS: I hope you are directing people to mapleleafup.net instead of mapleleafup.org - or was it that long ago since you starting to hunt down the snake

[Lauren Child]

Great project I was wondering how cables were supposed to be routed.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Keith

Great idea, I have been frustrated in the past by not being able to make this wiring harness information understandable, and usable. I have Chevy Pat 13 Late, Pat 13 Early, and Pat 12 harnesses staked out on large plywood panels, which I have used to make harnesses for my own CMPs and a few others. (No I'm not looking to do more harnesses until I get 3 other restoration projects out of my shop. I have not really been able to work in the shop for 3 months because of a shoulder problem.)

My problem is in figuring out how to reproduce at full size these boards to share with people. Take a look at what is already up on my website http://www.canadianmilitarypattern.c...nformation.htm
http://www.canadianmilitarypattern.c...%20Harness.htm

What can be done practically to make this information in particular the pin panels reproducible? Any thoughts or tricks for making digital photos which can produce 1 to 1 size accuracy? These things are huge 3 x 8 feet.

W Pat 12 wiring harness 008.jpg

What I've done is spread out on paper covered plywood the complete harnesses from my trucks, which fortunately had not been butchered or modified. Each branch has been fastened down with notes on each lead. Wiring diagram ID number, function, gauge and color code.
Copy of Wiring Harness Guestion 001.jpg

Some good news the differences for the Chevy Pat 13 to accommodate the different wheelbases is simple as all the harness are the same back to the connections inline with the transfer case the rear harness then is simple to adjust for 101, 134, or 158 wheel base. The differences for the different dash is similarly relatively easy to account for by making all the dash leads longer.

This is an interesting project and hope that we can add this information succesfully to the CMP knowledge base.

Cheers Phil

[Keith Webb]

Good to see there's interest in it... my aim is to not only show what goes where but also to show as far as possible what things looked like when new.

As an example how many know the speedo cable on a Ford CMP should be secured by a clip on one of the rear valley cover bolts on the engine?

The condition most people find a CMP these days is far from original so having some sort of guide I think will be really helpful which is why it's great to see the likes of experts such as Phil Waterman chiming in.

Just on that note Phil - probably the best way to photographically document your pinboards (which I think are an excellent idea) is to carefully take a series of photographs with the camera on a tripod, moving it a measured distance each time so there is overlap to allow the photos to be stitched together. Don't use a wide angle lens because the distortion makes it difficult to align things. You can then create a panorama which can be scaled to show the whole thing or zoom into details as needed.

Just had a look at your page on wiring which is just the sort of thing we need to let everyone know is available, fantastic work. We spend so much time reinventing the wheel! I will concentrate on doing the Ford version of this.

There are of course places such as Vintage Wiring Harness here who make new versions and say they have patterns to make harnesses for Ford and Chevrolet CMPs. I've seen the wires which are a modern, safe sort of facsimile of the originals.

Your point about the voltage cut out rather than proper fusing or breaker is a good one and I think something like that should be incorporated, hidden behind the dash.

[motto (RIP)]

I am currently wiring up a Dodge WC57 Command Car and even with original wiring harnesses it's not easy to figure out exactly how they were installed.
Keith's suggestion to include detailed photos of everything in situ is a very good one.

David