I am putting my dashboard back together on my 69 and am troubled by the fact that the ground wire on the harness tach side of the bundle doesn't reach the ground pin on the back of the instrument. Looking at the assembly manual it would appear that the harness should be routed in front of some sort of metal box on the top of the steering column but I swear that is impossible.

Here is what things look like from the best picture I was able to take.



The colorful wires are on the steering column. The wrap at the bottom right of the picture is towards the front of the car and so in front of the aforementioned mystery metal box. Kinda hard to tell from the picture but verbally that's the way things are.

I had rebuilt my pedal assembly and steering column many years ago and this is the way I had put it together then. I could swear all the wires fit when I took things apart this time but maybe not. The only offending wire is the ground and maybe there was a sneak path that let things work. Dunno. I had to jumper the ground this time.

Given the pain of getting this back together I can't see any reason to disassemble it and try again. But if there's a next time and this is wrong, well maybe I will try to make it right.

 

mystery metal box = column support, note the black corrigated tubing, i have installed over the edges of the support,
the factory left these very sharp, ....enought to cut and short wires.

 

Here's another view.



Your writeup is not clear relative to the pic you provided. I'm not sure what the "mystery metal box" is that you describe. You're not talking about the ignition switch which is mounted on the column below the column's attachment to the dash? Two points: the speedo and tach cables go above the bracing (convertible), and the "main harness" that I've id'd goes immediately behind the speedo and tach housings.

 

69 vette - both of you, thanks

Those are great pictures. I actually had put some of the same corrugated tubing over the harness itself as it sits behind the "mystery metal box*" because it too has some rough edges. I'm sure now I created this problem years before the advent of digital cameras. The lapse between when you take something apart and put it back together is too great. It couldn't be memory failing - no, no just couldn't be.

19467 - you have solved another mystery for me - I didn't reattach the braces you show back then and I have been wondering what they're for in my parts bin ever since. This has almost got me enthusiastic enough to put it back together the right way since nothing else has been added to the dashboard from the time of this post. I would have to disconnect the rag joint and other stuff however to drop the column enought to reroute so that is the discouraging part. A lot of backward steps. It looks like when the steering column goes back in it will push the harness up some.

Again, great pictures, these are going into my notebook at a minimum. I failed to see why they never used a connector in the original design, but I would bet it is lot easier to attach the light bulbs this way.

*it's not the casting, it is something electrical on top of the column behind the casting

 

So I had these in my parts bin



Given that GM thought to add these I figured the bracing must have some structural value and as everything was in position to tear down again I figured what the heck, might as well do it. So it turns out I still don't know what these are for but they definitely don't fit



Forensically speaking, inspecting the bird cage front and back area where the left hand brace would attach there are no marks indicating anything was ever bolted there. And on the right hand side there's no place to attach anything to the tunnel area. My 69 is somewhat early so I wonder if these was incorporated later. I have a friend with a 68, will check with him. I am sort of thinking one of the braces is for the bumper area.

Here by the way is the mystery box



On the positive side, I have moved the harness forward. Have not re-installed the cluster yet but I am hopeful I will not have to crawl underneath again.

 

crap, .... now I got to go make sure I put those braces in !
and that box is the Ignition Switch.
and that rod slides up and down, when you turn the key .

 

My 68 friend doesn't have the braces either. My assembly manual page dated 10-1-68 shows braces and the notation is Redrawn and Redesigned. My car was delivered in 1-16-69. Probably I missed out!

69Vett: You might check to see if you can get the rubber sleeve in my last picture. That should have been my clue as to where to put the harness.

BTW, I've never noticed any vibration or anything else ever in AutoX or highway cruising.

 

The braces were only used on convertibles in 1969. Not sure about later years. Mine has 4 of them and it's a Nov 68 build. The lower brace in your first pic looks like one of the braces installed to stiffen the cowl. In my pic, if you'll look closely at the point of attachment of the left-side brace to the cast iron bracket, you'll see an unrusted area under the attaching nut. That's where the second brace was attached that runs to a spot-welded bracket on the hinge pillar. When I took the photo, I had just removed it. Also, you can just see the right-hand brace in my pic. The AIM shows it connecting to bracket spot welded to the w/s frame while on mine it connects to a bracket on the trans tunnel. These cars are like snowflakes: no two alike.