No, I didn't get a new car... (although I like, I like this one... man I want a wagon!).

Derek & Co. made a little road-trip Tuesday and dropped off Jenna's '66 wagon.

Job Scope:
Exorcise and eradicate the multiple electrical demons living in this ride.

Attack Plan:
Start at the RF corner and work through the body harness to the RR corner, then tackle the engine harness.

Known Faults:
 - erratic turn signals
 - erratic brake lights
 - No dashlights
 - No dome lights
 - Flakey "idiot" light system
 - intermittant starting

(It's kinda cool, having the '66 and '65 side-by-side in the garage! Roll up the big door and it's a back to the '60s flashback!)

Big thanks to John for being willing to take on this project... he says he likes a challenge. :D Too many electrical demons at once for me to try to get a handle on, better to leave it to the pros. It does look cool seeing those 2 in the garage together.

I had my garage filled with two 69 chevelles at one time is was also cool to open the door and see it like your garage right now. One had a big block with an 6-71 blower sticking through the hood and the other was a basically stock 350 4 speed car.

Good luck with the electrical gremlins, I like doing that kind of stuff as well. Better then pulling motors and transmissions.

67ss wrote:

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Better then pulling motors and transmissions.

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HA HA!    I resemble that remark the past few weeks!!! 

 

I'd rather swap engines than mess with electrical stuff... I can physically see if an engine is in or out of the car. And the next time I look, the condition won't be any different. I've never had an intermittent engine out of the car problem.

The only time I can physically see electricity is if it's making sparks or smoke. I just can't wrap my mind around things I can't see.

Thank goodness they don't put too much smoke in the little wires.

I was thinking of you (sshink) as I was writing that. But I will be doing a motor swap on a 69 chevelle here before car craft I hope. Putting a 350 together hopefully tomorrow and then dumping it in soon after.

I think I spent 40 hours wiring my camaro with the EFI system I put in to it and fixing the previous butchering that was done on the car before I got it.

Derek, you were wise to pull the battery cable when parking this thing... it was a fire waiting to happen!    (Oh, to qualify Derek didn't do any of this work)

When the BB went in, the accessory drive used put the alternator on the "wrong" side of the engine. No big deal, you just put an extension piece (3 wires) in the alternator wiring, around the radiator support (with the body harness) and put the ends back on to plug in the alternator. Theory was good, execution was poor!
        The extension piece wasn't soldered, and the butt splices used must have been crimped with two rocks. A gentle tug on every one pulled it apart! The 10ga. alternator output wire had bare conductors hanging out, and were arcing on the rad. support. If it would've made good contact & welded, you would've had a fire.

- The power feed for the HEI snapped off in my hand tonight.
- I found the Oil Pressure wire, and 1/5 of the wiper wiring taped off in the fender.

And, it is possible to remove the instrument cluster from one of these things from under the dash! I needed to get to the switches. One, to check connections and wiring colors - two, to tighten them up to the dash. The only d*mn way to get at the connectors is to have fingers like E.T., two wrists, and arms the size of a 5-year old.
(I hope the dashboard engineer for 66's spends an eternity in pergatory removing and installing headlight and wiper switches in his creation!)

That said, things still look good under there. Nothing fried, main harness looks to be in good shape. We'll see how things work out in a few days.

You may have more luck getting to everything by dropping the whole front of the dash out... That's why the steering column is only kind of temporarily in place with one fastener to the dash.

John, Do you solder all your connections? What do you use to cover the areas that do get spliced one way or another?

Tim H wrote:

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John,

Do you solder all your connections? What do you use to cover the areas that do get spliced one way or another?

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Not John.. But I solder and shrink tube all of the splices I make,,

I generally do what's known as a "Western Union Splice", solder it, then use heat shrink tubing over the connection. It's 95% as good as the parent materials, doesn't leave a "lump" or high spot, and won't fail. if done properly.

Well, dash is back in. All the lights work and a bonus, the clock started ticking away after some TLC. Modified the engine harness and got rid of the resistor wire at the bulkhead connector. Put a 12ga. in its place to feed the HEI via the factory harness. Gotta dig into the wiper motor now. Runs constant on low regardless of switch position, and the switch meters out good.... head scratcher... probably shorted to ground inside somewhere. Called it quits at the steering column. Didn't feel like pulling the wheel and digging into the signals and 4-ways today.

After a relaxing 4+ days at the cabin... building 9 dock sections and mangling the prop on a semi-submerged tree... I got back to the wagon. Everything is going well, except the wipers kicked my azz a bit tonight.

Not too much left, should be done soon!

Dont be supprised the wiper switch ends up needing to be replaced sometime soon. Especially when they get this age. I still need to install the one I got from Larry at Corvette Specialties a few years ago. My original wasnt in that great of shape when I first got it. And that was 18 years ago. They didnt start repopping this switch until a few years ago.

I also noticed one of the last times I drove it with the club. We had a small rain storm leaving North St. Paul hosting one year. My wipers worked but the knob on the swich got pretty hot to the touch. Good thing that was a small shower.

Between the original & a "spare" that Derek had with the car, I built the best of two switches. These switches were seriously over-built when new - and usually the problem is either: - The factory lube inside turns to a semi-solid paste, and prevents the contact points from touching (also makes the switch hard to turn). - The internal "contact tabs" which connect the switch guts to ground start to arc, and lose continuity. (The tabs touch the switch shell, and are held there by crimping/dimpling/staking the switch case over the wiring connector plate. The crimp loses it's "tightness", and allows an intermittant connection - which allows the tabs to arc, compounding the problem.) The ticklish part is un-crimping the shell from the bakelight connector plate. Once apart the internals can be cleaned, lubed, re-assembled, then the whole shebang re-crimped to the shell. The other problem is rust. The entire wiper circuit is dependent on an exceptionally good ground connection between the switch body and the metal dash. Surface rust on the inside of the dash (where the switch body touches/backs up against) prevents good contact, regardless of how hard you tighten the retaining nut.

This post has gone way to long without pixs.

Here's one pic...

The new turnsignal switch was waiting for me today, so it's in the car now. Anyone that's going to replace their TSS in a '67 give me a call 1st! (This car has a '67 column...). It is a real PITA to snake the wiring through the upper part past the top bearing block. I'll save you a lot of hairpulling. Last thing to do is a new positive battery cable, a final test of all circuits & devices, give it a bath, and she's ready to go!

Cool! Glad to hear another wagon will hit the road soon!

Well, it's done. "Houston, all systems are a GO".

There is one small item that is up in the air, the NSS/Backup switch.

The original '67 Neutral Safety/Backup Switch (NSS) was intermittant. While digging around under the dash, these chunks of hard black plastic kept showing up. ????
As it turns out they were the shell of the NSS! It was all busted up and causing intermittant/no start conditions. The internal slider was cocked, and not making contact on the tabs inside.

I was able to rig up the '66 switch, and get it to work temporarily. There's been talk of a console & floor shift conversion for this car, so I didn't replace the NSS.

The car is home now... We brought it home last night, its longest trip since we drove it home from Nebraska 4 years ago. I stopped for gas at the truck-stop off HWY 52 at Inver Grove Heights, and it started puking antifreeze all over. Heater Core went bad, so I bought a "heater hose repair kit" in the truckstop, and looped the hoses to bypass the core, and topped off the radiator for the drive home. I'm just getting all my "bad luck" car problems done and out of the way before the 2 big trips in the '69 yet this year... that's 3 issues in a month. Brake caliper bracket, alternator, and now the heater core.

I'd meant to call you today and see how the trip went... I'm glad it was something easy to repair (and not electrical... whew! - I'm 100% confident in my work, but there's always that ugknown). Did I get the steering wheel on 1/2-way straight ahead? I didn't drive it far/long enough without a turn to really check.