Discussion moved to the "Hudson" forum category.

Scotty, don't be fooled by those wires and flashers at the fuse block . The factory switch has a turn signal flasher under the dash. Most the after-market harnesses also have the provisions for 4-way flashers. the factory turn switch does not have that provision. We have found it much easier to use the factory switch, which is like a more modern car, interrupting the brake lights when direction signal is applied. It has 2 powers coming into it. One is the switched key power and the other comes from the stop light switch when the brakes are applied. The stop light feed wire comes from the circuit breaker under the dash. Change the flasher to 12V and the bulbs,circuit breaker,...
The wiring diagram is in the '52 - '54 supplement mechanical procedures book, and I think the online library. We redo some of the wires at the fuse block. They are usually nice long wires and have where they go marked on them, so re-route them as needed over to the steering column. Cut and splice as needed.

can these be soldered into the the main indicator? again newbie and this is the first car i have ever rewired completely. Also alot of the diagrams dont show some connections i have, so far the easy ones are done and i think the most daunting one i was able to figure out as the wire bundle got smaller but the harness i got was universal so without all the connections and what was there when i started makes it complicated without all the stuff there and no specific diagram. i really do not want any of the the old wiring in it for safety so i am replacing every connection even the housings on some but trying to keep the original feel, of course the circuit breakers are replaced by the fuse block but my diagrams are missing several things. they are from a 52 which shouldnt be much different from a 54 but heater and wipers are non existent.......just one connection at a time crimp, solder, heat shrink then annotate to add to the library for future members. searched and cant find a detailed repro of other fixes

Do you have the '52-'54 Hudson mechanical procedures manual?. It has the complete wiring harness diagram in it. It is best to have the new harness on the bench, or a piece of plywood, spread all the wires out and start positioning the harness sort of like it goes in the car. By sorting the wires and laying them in the corresponding direction they go, will let you compare the old harness, usually laying on the floor, to the universal harness and Hudson wiring diagram. You can then sort of build the harness on the bench/board, a few zip ties bringing wires together, etc,... We have found it is much easier to use a new harness, built for the car, and modify it as needed. We use a 5,8 or 10 spade fuse block, and turn it on with a relay or relays depending on what we are powering up. To figure out your universal harness, you should have a simple volt/ohm meter. With it, you can determine where wires come into and how they are bundled.

Doug looked in the manual but it doesnt show the wires from the indicator, searched the site and forn a diagram showing me the colors coming from the switch to the junction block as brown, yellow, blue, red, green, orange, and yellow (6 wires). but the blue shows as the fuel guage and the others are a mystery. what i think is from what i can figure should be red which attaches to two points should be power then2 should be front,real left. 2 should be front,rear right then one for the horn but this is close to the final step of having most of the connections done. didnt have much to go on from the original harness as it was close to butchered or non existent. all that is left is this and the floor dimmer minus the new connectors for all the lights

I don't know if Alex is following this, but maybe he can point you in the right direction to find it at the online library. I don't know how to scan and post, so I can't help there. If I have time, and think about it, maybe I'll get the page numbers and what book the diagram is in. It is also located in the Jet supplement manual.
The wires are going to be power in, which I believe comes from the flasher , power from the stop light sw., left frt., right frt. R& L rear.
The more I think about the '54's, You really need to get the wiring diagram, because the '54 is slightly different than the '52-'53. The '54 has a R & L indicator, which could correspond to your universal wiring harness, less the 4-way flashers. We usually install the 6 pin switch in '53 and before, which all only have 1 indicator light, for either direction selected, '54 has them both, and I think only has a 2 prong flasher. It was very common to find most '54's have turn signals, so I can't say we have worked on that many for indicator add-ons.

my service proceedures manual is 48-52 cant seem to find a 52-54, got pretty far figured out under the dash so now back to under the hood and stuck again st the starter switch and horn relay i only have 2 connections there but 5-6 wires...ughhh

Scotty, most of the universal harnesses have all the wires necessary to connect to a GM style ignition switch, and are all usually marked. @ powers, one is the acc. and one battery power that will be switched. Find the 1 wire that goes to the solenoid to energize the solenoid on start mode, it should be marked, and all usually come from the fuse block. Laying it all out on the board, sort of re-engineering it before you install it.

I hope his helps. I resurrected an old barely legible wiring diagram and made this cartoony version for my 53 HH. In 53 there was a junction block where the directional wires in primary colors met with the traditional loomed wires going to the rear junction blocks and elsewhre. I used this to set up my 53 with a modern fuse block hidden near steering column. Maybe this will help you identify the original setup

Perfect that diagram was exactly what I needed that works out great as far as the panel light and horn button go I've got those pretty much figure it out however again on the starter switch I have to Bullet connectors and to screw terminal connectors I left the original connectors on there when I had to cut the wires off but some of these were not attached to anything and they don't show a double connection on the wiring diagram either the button for the shift lever light or I should say the shift lever lamp that goes down through the column and out into the hood had gone from there and attached to a terminal on the starter switch but also had another Branch with three more red connected wires to it as well I'm not sure if there was a regional accessory that's just not here but again they're all original wiring so that part I'm a little confused with at this point I'm pretty much just going with what the wiring diagram shows and try to figure out if I'm missing something after that

Wow that was a mouthful! And I'm not sure about the involvement of the ignition switch, but here goes...
In ref to the old bullet connectors I recycled them by soldering them to my new wiring so I knew they'd fit the connectors. If you go with original style wiring harness from YNZ or Rhode Island they'll come with the right connectors. If not I'm sure there is a source out there, but I like soldering so I did so. The bulb for the shift indicator must tie in with the output from the dimmer rheostat that ultimately supplies all the dash wiring so the brightness of the dash lights, including gauges and shift indicator. can be adjusted all at once. Follow that rheostat and see where it goes. In 53 you could find a small white knurled knob poking down from a chrome bezel under dash.

That dimmer rheostat gets its power from the light switch. There should be a wire coming from light switch to the rheostat, activated when light switch is turned to parking lights or headlights.

Yep looks like im an idiot. What i thought was the starter switch is the overdrive switch, 2 bullet connectors and 2 screw connectors. Got the rheostat wired in so now all is set except ill have to go get a starter switch. I was wondering why the diagram showed it on the interior. Not sure where its supposed to mount but guessing its just a momentary switch. My solenoid has a switch on the bottom for starter switch and the ignition is like a modern one for switching. I did reuse the connections for the dash and horn just soldering them on so now just have to do the overdrive and wire the dimmer switch in after the floorpans get here. Thanks for all the help from all

Glad you got it all sorted, and no you're not an idiot. Credit is due you for learning your system and doing some ground-up wiring rather than throwing a replacement system in and learning nothing. Keep us posted and we stand by to help.