Wiring up the Headlight Switch
I picked up a headlight/park light switch and a wiper/washer switch from a 1968 Chevy Van. They have matching black knobs but down the road, I will change them to chrome knobs.
Here's the 1968 Chevy van light switch
One problem that I immediately ran into was how to take off the knob to remove the light switch. A quick search of the net and I found out that you remove the knob and its shaft at the same time. There is a small button on the side of the light switch that you press then pull the knob/shaft out.
Release button highlighted and knob/shaft removed
The next step is to undo the locking bezel. It has two squares that require a special tool or a hammer and punch to turn. Once loosened, you can turn it easily by hand. I found that the tool that I made to tightened the wiper transmission trunions worked perfectly.
Close up of the locking bezel
Custom tool made from a 1 inch diameter pipe
There is one large electrical connector that fits onto the side of the light switch. I assume it follows the standard 60s GM color code:
ConnectorZilla
I've arbitrarily assigned numbers to the pins to document their function
Here's the color code versus the switch pin numbers:
1 - Orange - Parklights 2/3 - Brown (pins 2 and 3 are connected together) +12 V for Parklights 4 - n/u 5 - Blue - Headlights 6 - Green (dash lights) 7 - Red +12 V for headlights 8 -White (dome light)
Diagram of light switch pins
I'm not doing things quite by the book so my wiring is different from the standard wiring. I'm running my park and headlight circuits through some relays and controlling them by grounding the circuit at the light switch. I'll just document the switch's standard function here to avoid confusion:
Schematic of the light switch
I figure that there is two +12V inputs to the switch so that a separate fuse can be used for the park lights and another for the headlights. I don't have a GM wiring diagram to compare the schematic to. This is my best guest from testing the circuit out. The assignment of the colors to their function may be wrong in the sense that I've reversed the function of the pins on a switch. So +12V may not go to pin 7 instead its swapped with pin 5's function...