Basic Hot Rod Wiring

Wiring always frustrated me, even the simplest layout can be confusing. The easiest one I've found to be useful is in Mike Bishop's book How To Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod, page 121. The diagram included everything I needed when I built my first roadster, with exception of an ammeter (amp meter). With thanks to Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel, I have taken liberties with their model and have slightly revised it. Here are the revisions I have made:
- I added an ammeter in series, a lot of people are confused where to wire it.
- I upped the headlight wiring because they draw a lot of amps and 14 gauge is felt to be to small.
- And lastly, I corrected the horn wiring. The fuse to relay to horn wires should be heavier then the switch to relay wire. He had them backwards on the original diagram. Click the picture to enlarge.

This was designed for 12V systems, but can be used for 6V also. If used for 6V, make all the wires heavier by 2. For example 14 gauge wire will become 12 gauge, 10 gauge will be 8 gauge, etc.

Update, Sept 27: This posting is by far the most popular of my posting. Obviously there is a need for this info. Another Note: you can drag the drawing to your desktop folder to save it or print it.