ok, let's do some electrical stuff. i have seen some backward-azz hillbilly wiring in my time, but what i discovered on the 52 was beyond what i have ever encountered. to begin with EVERY SINGLE CONNECTION on the truck was spliced with wire nuts and not connectors. wire nuts are for home and industrial wiring and not for automotive use. simply put, a wire nut is a long way from corrosion resistant and a wonderful way to have wiring problems. add to this, there were multiple circuits that were put together with short pieces wired together. most all circuits of importance were direct wired without and fuse/ breaker protection, and hot wires were left dangling everywhere. the radio, wiper, heat, and just about everything had to be turned off separate from the engine. the firewall mounted starter solenoid was secured by one single WOOD SCREW. it was at least a mess!
Let me tell you children a story. I was coming home from work a few years ago after a fun day at the goodguys event here in indy and see a bunch of smoke up ahead. I was driving a retired nhra crash/fire truck, still dressed in my red uniform, and had a couple of extinguishers in the back of the truck along with a hooligan tool. (now called halogen tool for political correctness). Anyway, I get to the fire, and it’s a very nice 40 ferd custom job that had just left the track. There was a small fire inside that was making it’s way towards either end, and the insides were black with thick smoke. In other words, with enough oxygen, it was gonna erupt.
I pull up, grab a halogen extinguisher and the tool and run to the car. I hand the owner the tool, and told him that he would have to break the glass, which he did. I filled the inside with fluorocarbons and the fire instantly died, only to relight a few seconds later. I told a bystander to grab the dry chemical extinguisher from the back of my truck and shot what was left of the halogen into the car. Again it went out, and again, it relit. Smoke was pushing out from around the trunk, so I asked the owner where the battery was.
He sadly says “in the trunk, but the latch is electric”. I pointed at the tool and told him, “you do it, I ain’t about to”. He tore the trunk open, and fire erupted from the area. Dry chemical killed the fire, but I could see the battery cables glowing red hot…………… and the fuel cell. I decided to hit the fire once more and back off. It went out, but relit a few seconds later. Right after that, the fuel cell lets loose. No big t.v. explosion or anything goofy, but plenty of fire. A few minutes later the fire dept. showed up and put the thing out. the guy lived up near Chicago, so I offered to take the burned out hulk home for him, and he accepted. I went home and hooked up my trailer, came back and loaded it, and took him and his wife home. All the way home he would stare off into space, then cuss, then remind me he had done a few shortcuts to the electrical system so he could make the event.
We looked at the car after I unloaded it. The guy had run a small battery cable under the floor mats up to the dash. The wire had pretty much welded itself to a seam in the floor that was as sharp as a knife. The battery was a brand new big truck battery that had plenty of cold cranking amps I suppose, but was pretty much melted. From the firewall back, the body was trash.
A steel body 40 coupe in amazing shape and probably worth 60-70 grand before the fire, and now, save the engine, pretty much worthless. All this because of a shortcut and rushed job. That kids, is a lesson for us all.
As I looked at the mess under the dash of the 52, I thought of the guy with the 40. At first I thought about repairing the wiring job the other guy did, so I left the power hooked up while I traced circuits. After the second time I let the smoke out of the wires, I cut every wire I saw under the dash and corrected much of what was under the hood. I am not done with everything, but everything is now fused or on a breaker and in a proper fuse box.
So, with this story,a warning. If you are doing your own wiring and don’t know what you are doing, then for God’s sake get with somebody who does, or, buy harnesses that are pre made and follow the instructions. There is NO EXCUSE for unprotected circuits save the battery to solenoid and switch connections, and those circuits should be closely examined for chafing, wear, bad spots, etc. and held in place with proper clamps. NO EXCUSE!
So, we begin. First, the mess:
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/068.jpghttp://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/069.jpghttp://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/021.jpgthe installed wiper motor was from a 70’s chevy and was cobbled up so that when the wipers were turned on, the motor flopped back and forth. The p.o. also bent up the wiper motor brackets, which made the installation of the new 2 speed electric one I ordered a real bear of an install. After about an hour of cussing and putting the new motor in, adjusting brackets, and removing and reinstalling the motor, it finally worked right.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/020.jpgnext came installing the new fuse boxes, and running wires for the power seats, gas tanks, c.b radio and rear speaker wires all under the carpet, and all fused. By the way. If you don’t know the amperage draw of a component, then look it up and size the wire accordingly. I almost always oversize wire where I can, so my stuff doesn’t burn up. You do what you want, but the information is available on the web and you are stupid if you don’t take the time and deserve what you get. The original wiper motor on my truck had been wired up with…………. Speaker wire. Good lord.
Ok… NOW LISTEN! ALWAYS MAKE WIRING HARNESSES WHEN YOU CAN. LOOSE WIRES GET INTO STUFF, RUB STUFF, AND CAN BE A FIRE HAZARD, SO DON’T BE LAZY OR STUPID, OR SLOPPY AND TAKE THE TIME! Automakers in the 60’s and early 70’s made harnesses from electrical tape wound around bunches of wires. Stovebolts from the earlier years did the same with friction tape. It worked pretty well. You make a harness by tightly holding a bundle of wires together and wrapping them with electrical tape with a 50% OVERLAP, so there is actually double coverage to protect the wires.
When completed with the taping, don’t be lazy or dumb and pull the tape until it breaks., it will certainly unravel later, so, use one of my favorite tools, a single edge razor blade, to clean cut the tape, or use wire dykes to cut the tape. Use plastic ties or insulated metal clamps when running the harness, and looks as you go for anything that might rub or cut the harness. If you do this correctly, the wiring job will last for decades. If you don’t, the number for 911, is………….911.
I reused part of the wiring for under the firewall, but tightened up the wiring.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/072.jpgmaybe this winter I’ll rip it all apart and redo it, but at least it is much better than all those wires running everywhere like it was.
Here’s part of the project as I was finishing it.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx229/97freightshaker/005-1.jpg
