What order, engine or electrical? 72 Bus

[guymon]

I have a 72 bus that I stripped down and had sandblasted, primed and painted. Now I am putting things back together. I am a complete newbie. I have a Bentley but there are details it lacks. Trying to do this project with my 15 year old son. Anyway I now am wondering what next- Electrical back together or engine back in the car? With electrical most things I labeled and took pictures but its not so easy putting back together even with wiring guide. Like how do I know which wire goes to which tab on a brake light? I have the right wires. I know brown is ground just need to know where for other 2 wires go. Thanks in advance for help. Just figuring out where to start on rewire ect

[grtfldan]

I would say do electrical first, the motor will just be in the way.
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79 Bay 2.0 Fuel Injection

79 Bay project

[Oil Phil-M]

I would think that having the engine out of the bus would make it a bit easier to work the wiring harness through the back of the engine bay. Personally i find the wiring diagram for the 72 and earlier buses easier to follow than the later years if your an electrical newbie so you got that going for you. If you spend the time following the wires you"ll be able to solve most of your issues. For things like running/brake light designation you can ground the outside of a dual filament bulb then with a electrical test probe clipped to a battery touch each of the pins on the bottom of the bulb. The pin that gives the brighter light is for the brake wire which comes from the brake circuit switches. I've also found that unless you are rewiring the electrical that after 40 years the wires are "shaped" in such a manner that they basically line up and tell you where they need to go.

[telford dorr]

I recommend making one of these:

Buy a headlight bulb socket at your nearby FLAPS, some wire, and a couple of alligator clips. Use the finished assembly as a jumper wire from the battery '+' terminal to terminals on the light fixture that you want to test. If the terminal is grounded for some reason, no harm, no foul, no sparks - the headlight bulb will light up instead. With normal loads, like tail and turn lamps, it won't.

Makes trial and error testing safe and easy...
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'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
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Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
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