Light clarification

[Fireguyfire]

A silly question regarding front lights on a 70 300 convertible.
I’m sorting out the factory harness that had been removed and am re installing it but a lot of the end connectors had been cut off.

Looking at the FSM, I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but can someone confirm what the difference is between the location of the park and turn signal light, the side marker light, and the cornering light?

 

[CBODY67]

Park/turn signal lights should be in or near the front bumper outer ends. Side marker light will be in the front of the front fender, with the cornering light being just below them, usually. I believe there should also be a harness ground wire at the side of each side of the front harness, too? Of course, the lights, using different bulbs, will be specific to the applicaiton, too.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[Fireguyfire]

That is correct and is what I was thinking as well.
What has me scratching my head is the “cornering lamps”; what they look like, where they are located, etc.
I have the single wire connector in the right colour for a cornering lamp on each side , but I don’t think I have them.
Would every front end lighting wiring harness have them whether the car had cornering lights, or not?

 

[Big_John]

This car has cornering lights. Note white lens behind amber lens.

This car does not. Note smaller amber lens.

 

[Big_John]

This car is a Newport and has the parking lights in the bumper.

This car is a 300 and has turn signals/parking lights in the grille. The bumper is 300 specific. (and has optional bumper guard)

 

[CBODY67]

The "cornering light" was usually an upscale option on many cars, back then. When the turn signal was activated, the "white light" would illuminate "the way" the car was turning toward (as an "unflashing light"). On my '70 Monaco Brougham (with cornering lights), I discovered that the cornering lights would activate just before the turn signal lever was moved just a bit more, so if I did things correctly, I could turn on the cornering lights before the turn signals would flash.

As to the wiring harnesses, if the cornering light was a part of the side marker light unit, then they might well have the extra wire for the corerning light in the normal harness rather than having TWO harness part number for the same vehicle. BUT that can be variable depending upon the model of vehicle, too.

Once you determine which way your vehicle is equipped, then you can go from there.

Thanks for those great pictures, @Big_John!

CBODY67

 

[Fireguyfire]

My car definitely doesn’t have the cornering lights, so they must have installed a generic harness in case you ordered them

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

My car definitely doesn’t have the cornering lights, so they must have installed a generic harness in case you ordered them

Yes indeed. There are all sorts of wires/connectors "to nowhere", particularly under the dash. The harness(s) were--and still are--one size fits all (within reason, sometimes towing package electrics was added since it was an option).

SIDEBAR: A former coworker of mine is an engineer at GM HQ. He tells me the single most engineered and revised item on any car is the massive, one piece wiring harness in modern cars. There are several thousand tweaks to the electrical/computer/sensor harness as the car design evolves and gets into prototype mode and closer to production. No squeaks, no excess wire, easy to plug into the various components, lots and lots of retainers keeping it in place during assembly....it's a complex thing! The attempt is to make ONE contiguous harness for the entire car, without the bulkhead connectors we're familiar with. But it soon becomes a Burmese Python, and the UAW has limits on the weight that workers have to deal with. Something like 75 lbs, IIRC. Anyway, harnesses are an issue! Who knew?

Here's my car without corning lights/with fender signals, and yes, I do have that generic orphan wire in my fender for the non-existent cornering light.

 

[Fireguyfire]

Great info; thanks gents!