Task 1:  Headlight Switch Modification

Goal - Headlights come up, but not on, on the first stop of the switch.  I want them to stay down on the first stop so I can drive with just running lights.  They should come up and on the second/final stop of the switch.

Info I have received.

Disconnect battery ground strap.
Remove two screws, allowing fuse panel to drop, and unscrew bezel allowing headlight switch to be pulled out from rear so terminals are visible (leave all connected).
Terminal "K" on the switch has 3 gray wires attached. One is a jumper to terminal 58b. Remove the smaller (diameter) of the other two gray wires from "K" and attach it to terminal 56 of switch (has re/white lead on it).
Reconnect battery, give switch a try, and if all OK, disconnect battery again, replace switch and fuse panel, reconnect battery final time.

I tried it. One of the "other two gray wires" has two wires coming into the same terminal so I am not sure which is the smaller one. I can try it both ways. Then, does the smaller of the other two gray wires on K go to terminal 56 IN ADDITION to the red/white wire already on 56, or IN PLACE OF IT?? If the former, I'll need to find one of those connectors that allows TWO female connectors onto the same male terminal. If the latter, what happens to the red/white wire?

response:  You need to leave the red/white wire on the #56 terminal, so presumably you will need a piggyback terminal in order to make this work. 

I can't help you with which grey wire to move, because the wiring diagrams for 1971 cars only show two grey wires attached to the 'K' terminal (one of those is the previously mentioned jumper to the #58b). So this third wire is not on the wiring diagrams. However, the wiring diagram already shows a grey wire in addition to the red/white wire on the #56 terminal - and guess what - that grey wire already on the #56 is the headlight motor wire. So apparantly, the factory wiring diagrams already show the grey wire on #56 rather than being wired to the 'K' terminal. Interesting.

Makes it awfully hard to diagnose problems or figure out solutions when the wiring diagrams do not match the car!

Anyway, the grey wire on the 'K' terminal which should not be moved is the wire for the rear trunk light and the license plate lights. So if you switch the wrong wire, then your license plate lights should come on at the first click of theheadlight switch instead of the headlights poppling up.

Hope this helps.

Another response:

I removed the switch (see related post) and disconnected the 'K' terminal and the other terminal (don't remember #) along the same side but on the other corner. It is the terminal that has a jumper wire to the 'K' terminal.

I connected the 'K' terminal to a power source that is switched on with the parking lights. This sends power to the inst lights through the dimmer with the parking lights on.

I connected the other terminal to a power source that switches on with the headlights. This gives the signal to raise the lights with the switch in the headlight position. The ignition must be on for the headlights to come up.

I was able to do this without cutting any wires, just adding the ones mentioned.

I used the pelican parts site for the reference where there is a post about repairing the lightswitch.

This is for a '70 914-6. I hope it is helpful to someone.

Art

If the headlight fixtures go up when you select the parking light position of the light switch, there is either a misconnected wire or the switch is internally defective. There should be a GY wire and a RD/WH wire connected to pin 56 of the switch. If a GY wire is not on pin 56, it may have erroneously been connected to either pin 57 or pin K. (Pin 57 and K both have a G wires on them too. It could be that a previous owner erroneously connected all of the G wires together when replacing the switch.)

Phil