Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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dinosabella
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:00 pm
Your car is a: 1977 Fiat 124 Spider

Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Post by dinosabella »

I am in the slow process of installing the early style bumper on my 77 Spider. I decided to try out Spider-Point for the first time.
I ordered the bumpers, brackets and the aftermarket turn signals that mount to brackets under the front bumpers.

Very satisfied so far with the quality of the bumpersm the brackets and the general fitment (haven`t started the back yet)

The aftermarket flashers have two female terminals vs. the stock flasher wiring harness which uses 3 wires with female terminals. I will have to chop of the female terminals and convert to male spades. This should`t be a problem for me.

QUESTION: Which of the 2 of the 3 wires am I supped to use. The actual flasher can accept two wires and there appears to be a space to tuck the third wire, although it does not make any metal to metal contact.

Thank you
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

My recollection is that, for the original version, two of the wires are for the actual turn signal flasher, and the one remaining wire simply operates the turn signal indicator at the bottom of the speedometer. Who knows why Fiat designed it this way, but they did.

I believe the grey and purple wires are the ones you need for a 2-terminal flasher, and the blue/white wire is the one for the indicator lamp in the speedometer.

However, if you connect just the two wires, your indicator lamp won't work (although the outside turn signal lights will be). Maybe someone has a better idea, but my thought is to connect the grey wire to one terminal of the flasher, and connect the purple and blue/white wires together to the other terminal.

Or, you can buy the original 3-terminal flashers from various Fiat vendors and just go that route.

-Bryan
dinosabella
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:00 pm
Your car is a: 1977 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Post by dinosabella »

Thanks Bryan,

I will give the combining the two wires a try. I would have used my old turn signals but they are in pretty rough shape. Since I have the new aftermarket ones I might as well try to make them work.

Will let you know if the setup works.

Dino
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Good luck Dino, and I recall playing with 2-terminal flashers in my various cars, and sometimes they worked, and sometimes they didn't. Usually when they didn't work, that just meant that they flashed really slow or way too fast. Sometimes I had to try a few brands before I found one that flashed at the right speed.

-Bryan
dinosabella
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:00 pm
Your car is a: 1977 Fiat 124 Spider

Re: Bumper conversion flasher wiring

Post by dinosabella »

Got around to hooking up the SpiderPoint after market front turn signals that mount under the front chrome bumpers.

The drivers side seems ok-ish, it works but blinks a little slow. The passenger side sort of created a mess with many other lights on the car. When I turn on the pass side indicator, it doesn't work, the drivers side actually flashes and the back indicator flashes faintly along with the tail lights and even the trunk light!!!

Before I dive further I must apologize for my hazy memory and lack of accuracy. Years ago, I removed the big tube bumpers and added a generic light that barely worked as an indicator, the passenger side never worked correctly. When the emergency flashers were on, the two front indicators didn't flash at the same time. When the parking light or headlights were on the passenger front indicator driving light function did not work. All this to say that there was a problem with the front passenger indicator and side marker (doesn't work at all) even before I installed the new lights,, ,I was hopping the new lights would fix this.

Last night I noticed that the pass indicator and side marker feed into the same connection point and then feed into a harness that feeds into the pass footwell then feeds into the radio console box and dash. I could not find a ground wire to clean. The only ground I found it the front pass side was one that was attached to the coolant overflow tank bracket. I vigorously cleaned every surface to bare metal. No change but now my windshield washed fluid pump now works after many many years!

Would the grounds to the front pass turn signal and side market be under the dash???

Thanks
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