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Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

Fermented Tinal posted:

Bumpin' this cause this beautiful car needs more posts about it.

How I picture people creepin' this thread:



Thanks man. Engine harness is up next and it's a big one. I'll try to take some more pictures as the last post was a bit "eh". I've been busting rear end around the house since it's still been cold on the weekends and we're contemplating a move before too long so I haven't had a lot of time (or effort) to go play with wires. Next weekend's looking promising so far so I'm going to try to get out there and bang out the next bag.

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LloydDobler
Oct 15, 2005

You shared it with a dick.

Haha. Have you named the car yet? Because Spagett! would be a fun name.

And yeah, that's pretty much how it is.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
I usually just call it the FrankenNova. It's got parts from no less than 8 different donors plus multiple aftermarket manufacturers plus totally custom stuff by me. Waffling between FNKNSTN and LSXBODY when I finally get custom plates for it.

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

I usually just call it the FrankenNova. It's got parts from no less than 8 different donors plus multiple aftermarket manufacturers plus totally custom stuff by me. Waffling between FNKNSTN and LSXBODY when I finally get custom plates for it.

4DRMODOR
E: that's not actually funny but I was trying to think of something around "4 door chicks more" or "door 4 so what"

cakesmith handyman fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Mar 18, 2019

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

cakesmith handyman posted:

4DRMODOR
E: that's not actually funny but I was trying to think of something around "4 door chicks more" or "door 4 so what"

SEDNLYF

We only get 7 characters over here and that makes a surprising amount of difference when it comes to getting creative with plates.

Turbo Fondant
Oct 25, 2010

KR3WCAB
Put lolgas in it and NOSVA (or put a bmw motor in it and NOVANOS)
NOVACADO poo poo there's no good way to shorten that to 7

Turbo Fondant fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Mar 18, 2019

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
There are two "big" harnesses under the hood. One behind the engine for the wipers, distributor, starter, alternator, oil pressure sender, and heater; one for all the front lights, temp sender, horn, and e-fan. The main connectors for these two harnesses get snapped together and then get plugged into the back of the fuse panel that was installed on the firewall. This weekend's goal was the rear "engine" harness.

We approach the victim.



The next time the engine bay gets emptied, I'm going to make it a point to give everything a good scrub down. I did a little cleanup when I had the engine out, but I didn't break my back over it since I knew it would be going back in.

First step of the process is of course to get rid of the old poo poo. Not a huge deal, just unplug all the crap and ease the harness out as you go. Starter wires were a bit of a pain in the rear end since I had to get the car up in the air and then deal with foggy safety glasses. Once everything was unplugged and unscrewed, out she came.



First step was working the main plug down into place and getting it cinched down to the fuse panel. It will come back off so I can run the front lighting harness and then it will all come off again so I can throw some dielectric grease on the connectors before it goes back on for good. Backside will get sealed up with some silicone as well. You can see the existing lighting harness plug up in the middle there.



Did the washer/wiper motor wires first. Route the 4 wires where they need to go, terminate some ends, plug them into the connectors, and plug the connectors onto the motors. You can see that the white wire goes to the wiper motor first and then jumps over to the washer pump. The monster cable tie is just to keep things straight for now. I need to pick up some small black ties to neaten things up and then I'm going to pick up some wire wrap and get everything covered once I finish all this.



Next was the fat red wire that runs from the starter to the alternator. That got run up and then along the heater hose to the alternator. Held in place by more giant zip ties. I left the tails on because these ties have the little release tabs so eventually I'll take them off so they can be reused. You can see the orange wire in the top left here that got run over to the heater blower motor.



Three more wires go to the starter solenoid. Red battery feed back to the plug, purple to the actual starter control, and yellow that will go to the ballast resistor once I go buy one. This kit is actually designed to work with an HEI distributor right out of the box, but since I'm not running an HEI (and I don't intend to spend the money on one), I need to install a ballast resistor to turn the wick down a little bit on this thing. That will go between the plug and the coil with the pink wire pictured below and also connect to the yellow. That's why there's still a ton of each of those wires still present.

'

With the exception of the resistor, that's it for the engine harness. There are actually 5 additional loose wires that aren't used yet, but I'll get them plugged in eventually. Two of them are for running an ECM and the other three are for VSS signals for an electric speedometer. They plug into designated slots on the harness plug so I'll hang onto them until the LS gets built. Front lighting harness is next. Weekends have been jam-loving-packed so maybe I'll get a chance to bang that out next Sunday. We'll see. Thanks for looking.

Boaz MacPhereson fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Mar 25, 2019

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Got most of the front lighting harness done on Saturday. This harness plugs into the bulkhead and supplies power to all front lights (headlights, turn signals, parking lights), the horn, brake fluid light, and the water temp sender. As I was going through the bag and organizing parts, I noticed that they failed to include the lamp sockets for the marker lights that were supposed to be in there. I've reached out to the manufacturer and hopefully they'll be cool enough to send me a couple replacements. I've verified the rear harness has them so I'm not real sure what happened.

Anyway, old poo poo came out first as usual:



Once the old one's out, the new one gets clipped together with the engine harness and fastened to the bulkhead connector. The wires then run up the driver side fender to the radiator support and start getting terminated. In the second picture here, you can see the tan and green wires dive off about halfway down. Those are the brake warning and temp sender wires. Side note: need to pick up a new temp sender as the one that's in there now has two terminals and I only have one wire.





I then split things up to make it a bit easier to work with.



- Top wires (green and tan) are for the headlignts. Both run to the driver side light and then get daisy-chained over to the passenger light. Each light gets its own ground wire so those are separate.
- Next three (lt blue, dk blue, brown) are for the marker lights and turn signals. Brown gets sent to the driver marker light, daisied over to the driver turn signal with the lt blue, daisied over to the passenger turn signal with the dark blue, and then one last trip over to the passenger marker light. It's all be terminated, but again, I'm waiting on those sockets.
- Green wire goes to the horn and the orange light is getting used for a trigger wire on the relay for my e-fan.
- Brown wire on the far left of the bundle runs over to the regulator on the alternator.

Stopped taking pictures at this point because I kind of had to haul rear end through the rest of it. Had to get all this done before noon as our afternoon was packed. Once I get all the new wiring in, I'll pick up some wrap and neaten things up some. I also have plans to move the battery to the trunk and make a power distribution center to live under the hood as well so some of this stuff will change a little bit, but I want to get the "stock" wiring in a good place before I go making a bunch of drastic changes, you know? Anyway, that's another bag (mostly) done so I really only have the rear body harness left. That's gonna be a pain in the rear end because the back seat is gonna have to come out again, I think. Ugh.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Did a little bit of cleanup and miscellaneous work today but didn't take any pictures. Things don't look much different now than they did in the last picture. Went out and picked up a ballast resistor and a new temp sender. Temp sender swapped out easily enough (after draining the coolant) and I have the resistor wired but not mounted. The screw provided is too big for the hole I'm going to use and the screw that came out of the hole is way too short. Gotta go spend a quarter and pick up a new screw. Probably get that tonight so I can call the engine wiring DONE. Temp sender wire wraps up the front light harness as well. I've still got the wire for the brake warning light, but I'm not really concerned about that one. I still have the level sensor for the F-body master cylinder I'm running, but it's a 2-wire connector and the new harness only has one. I don't have the pigtail for the sensor either, but maybe I'll pick one up at the yard and see if I can't figure out the pinouts. Whatever.

The wires under the hood are still a bit of a mess, but I don't want to buy any wrap until I get the rear harness in so I know how much I'll actually need. Speaking of the rear harness, I'm not real sure when I'm going to be able to tackle that monster. Might get some time to start hacking at it tomorrow, but my weekends have been pretty full lately while we're house shopping and next weekend is gonna be a total fuckfest due to family flying in and birthday poo poo for me. We'll see what shakes loose, I guess.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





The level sender is probably just a switch. So just need to figure out if the wire in the harness should get 12V or ground when that switch activates.

Does the harness move the headlights onto relays, or does it follow the old GM policy of running the current through the switch?

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

IOwnCalculus posted:

The level sender is probably just a switch. So just need to figure out if the wire in the harness should get 12V or ground when that switch activates.

Does the harness move the headlights onto relays, or does it follow the old GM policy of running the current through the switch?

Yeah, I can't imagine it'll be a big deal to get that fluid sender hooked up. I vaguely recall throwing the pigtail away when I brought it home thinking "eh, gently caress it I won't use that." Oops.

The harness was a direct replacement so no, no relays on the light circuit. I plan on building a little relay/fuse panel in the near future to rectify that, however. Figure I'll make something sorta like this:



My main problem right now is figuring out where the hell I can put it. Plan is 2 relays for lights, 1 relay for the e-fan, plus 1 or 2 spares to run poo poo in the future. Some driving lights, maybe. Even if I don't do the whole panel, I will eventually get some relays in front of the lights.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Pigtail get!



GM actually uses this connector loving everywhere, but I snipped this off the brake fluid level sensor from a 2002 Grand Prix. Now I just gotta figure out what these wires do and I oughtta be able to get it wired in. Neat.

sharkytm
Oct 9, 2003

Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo


Fallen Rib

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

Pigtail get!



GM actually uses this connector loving everywhere, but I snipped this off the brake fluid level sensor from a 2002 Grand Prix. Now I just gotta figure out what these wires do and I oughtta be able to get it wired in. Neat.

Weather pack and metripack. Well worth your money to buy the right terminals, seals, and a cheap crimper. I used to do a lot of OEM plus wiring, and it's so nice to just use the right terminals and not have any solder/crimp splices inline.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

sharkytm posted:

Weather pack and metripack. Well worth your money to buy the right terminals, seals, and a cheap crimper. I used to do a lot of OEM plus wiring, and it's so nice to just use the right terminals and not have any solder/crimp splices inline.

Yeah, this actually plugs right in to the fluid level sensor so I don't need any fancy pants weatherpak tools. Years from now maybe I'll go nuts and replace a bunch of connectors with the good stuff. I've been hunting around online looking for a wiring diagram for this circuit and haven't found crap. Not sure if it's one signal and one ground or two separate signal wires. I fear I may have to abandon this sensor and just live without it

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Well you can always remove it and hook it up on your bench to figure it out right? I'd figure it's a simple plunger and low fluid grounds the connection turning on a light. And it would normally be a one wire connection but instead uses a known good ground as a two wire.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

StormDrain posted:

Well you can always remove it and hook it up on your bench to figure it out right? I'd figure it's a simple plunger and low fluid grounds the connection turning on a light. And it would normally be a one wire connection but instead uses a known good ground as a two wire.

I thought about that, but I'm not sure how to go about it. From what I've found, the sensor contains a reed switch and there's a magnet in the float that does something to the switch when the fluid gets low. With the two wires for the switch I'm not sure if one is power in and one is power out to the light or of one is "signal" and one is ground or what. I guess I'm not sure how I'd rig something up to test it. I'm not nearly as clever with the sparky stuff as some of you guys.

sharkytm
Oct 9, 2003

Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo


Fallen Rib
It's not power in and ground, it's just a dry contact. Think light switch, not light bulb.

The cluster is probably putting 12v on one side of the bulb, and this switch lies between the other side and ground. Switch closes, bulb turns on. Put your meter in continuity (or ohms) mode, connect the leads to the two wires and see if there's continuity. If not, flip the reservoir or fill/drain it to see if the contact closes and you get continuity.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Yeah, by virtue of having just two wires and the purpose it serves, it is almost certainly a switch instead of some form of level sensor. So the only thing you need to figure out is if low level means the switch is closed, or if it means the switch is open. The rest of the circuit is easy once you know that.

Raluek
Nov 3, 2006

WUT.
You also need to know if it's supposed to be switching the high side or the low side, but since there are two wires it's probably the high side. If it was low side, I'd expect it to get its ground from the chassis, and only have one wire out.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





The switch itself shouldn't care. Also, given that it's installed in what I believe to be a plastic brake reservoir, it probably can't self-ground

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

IOwnCalculus posted:

The switch itself shouldn't care. Also, given that it's installed in what I believe to be a plastic brake reservoir, it probably can't self-ground

Plastic sensor housing in a plastic reservoir, yeah.

Anyway, I'm not real concerned with that right now as a brake fluid light is pretty low on the priority list. I did get a pretty sweet birthday gift, though:



H4 retrofits to replace the sealed-beams. Those combined with some relays down the road should give me some pretty good visibility.

Unfortunately, I don't know when I'm gonna get around to installing them because we just bought a house and now my life is gonna be full-throttle for getting the current place packed and ready to sell. Don't know if I'll get to the lights or even the rest of the wiring harness before We move. That's probably gonna be in June so we'll see what happens.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Nice, and congratulations on picking up another project :haw:

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

IOwnCalculus posted:

Nice, and congratulations on picking up another project :haw:

Yeah, you got that fuckin' right. Thanks.

I'm actually pretty happy with it. 3-car garage, already finished basement, fully wired with Ethernet (with a patch panel!), and a yard that's big enough to be nice but not too big to kill me with a push mower. Maybe I'll make a thread in DIY about various adventures...

Anyway, I was right about full-throttle on packing up the current place. Staging person came out today and pointed out all the poo poo that needs to go before we can do pictures and showings. Spoiler alert: it's drat near everything. Progress on Frankenstein has pretty much come to a halt, unfortunately. Again, technically I can throw the battery back in it and, in theory, it should fire up. All the wiring save for the rear light harness is done. I've still got some poo poo to reconnect under the hood, but it's all there. 15 miles to the new place would be a hell of a Shakedown Mk II, but dealing with any hiccups would just add to what I'm sure will already be a stressful-as-gently caress day. Maybe we'll get a good offer not long after listing and I'll have a good chunk of time before closing, but I'm not holding my breath.

I don't know how long a thread has to be idle for it to hit the archives, but hopefully I can keep this thing alive. Had a pretty good run so far.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
This is a shameless anti-archive bump.

I was right about not making any more progress on the car before the move and the back seat is full of boxes and the trunk is full of other crap. It's gonna get moved via flatbed so I might was well take advantage, right?

Spent a good chunk of yesterday packing poo poo in the garage and noticed a couple things that just made my loving day. Rear end is leaking. Pretty sure it's the pinion seal based on where the fluid is. That's super awesome. Also, one of the tension rods in the trunk snapped its own end off so now my trunk won't stay open. I've been looking around online at where the hell I can buy these things but I can't find anything for third-gen cars. If I totally run out of luck, maybe I can bend one up in the future out of some rod stock. Guess we'll see what happens.

Moving in about two and a half weeks so it'll be a lot of moving poo poo around and settling in before I really get going again, but maybe I'll throw some new garage updates in here.

th vwls hv scpd
Jul 12, 2006

Developing Smarter Mechanics.
Since 1989.
I'll just be happy to not see this fall into the archives. Good luck with the house move! Definitely post some photos of the garage. I always want to see what people do for storage or maximizing floor space.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
I am still mostly alive and luckily, the thread is too. Zero progress on the car as we're still organizing the new place. Finally getting some time in the garage, but it's not quite there yet. Gotta get some more stuff up on the walls and in the basement then I'll be able to maybe get that wiring harness finished up. Need to get the new headlights in as well along with some relays. After all that happens, the engine's going to need a little love if I really want to drive this thing with the current SBC. Nothing major, but I need to get my hands on a timing light so I can at least get a good base tune on it. Then I can start gathering parts for the LQ.

In the meantime, here's a couple shots of the new garage. It's tighter front-to-back than the old place, but at least I can get all the cars in it.


StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
I really should copy the storage over the door idea. I could probably clear a whole rack of camping gear up there and actually get some clearance on the side of the garage.

I also loathe seeing my project with stuff stacked on it or in front of it, right now there's a big box of recycling that can't fit in the bin. Sure I'm not moving the car anytime soon but it's a quiet reminder I'm not working on it.

Congrats on the move though, I'm jealous of the three car garage. Even though I know it would just mean two project cars and a wife space.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
The overhead storage was from the PO of the house. From what I can see, it's built pretty well with deck brackets and all that good stuff. Obviously I'm not gonna load it up with engine blocks and other crazy poo poo, but it's a really good place to catch all of the random crap that accumulates in garages. Lumber, folding chairs, etc.

I hear you on the "car as a shelf" hate. There's nothing permanent at all about it, but it's just such a strong representation of a lack of progress that it sucks to look at. Progress will be ramping up again soon, though. Soon.

Steely Dad
Jul 29, 2006



Thinkin bout dat Nova

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Hey man, everything all right?

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Alright, so it's been too long since I posted in here. That's my fault. I've had a serious case of rear end-draggery this winter. I've just been having a really hard time getting motivated to do stuff. There's still a ton of little things I want to get done around the house but it seems like I just spend my weekends loving around instead of actually accomplishing anything. Don't know if it's a SAD thing or what, but I've been kind of having a rough go of it on and off. Recent events haven't done much to lift my spirits much, either. With nicer weather on the horizon and most likely very little to do on the weekends for the foreseeable future, maybe I can convince myself to get out there and finish that drat harness.

And hey, if president dumbfuck wants to cut me a check, maybe I'll buy some engine parts.

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Well I hope the spark comes back for you and you continue on soon. Sometimes buying a little part and putting it on can help.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Right, so, wiring, yeah?

Before I decided "yeah, I would like to buy a new house" I started installing the new wiring harness. I'd gotten through most of it save for the rear body and interior courtesy light harnesses. I still have a bit of cleanup to do under the hood, but it's all technically done under there. Wasn't exactly looking forward to that rear body harness as it dives behind both the driver side kick panel and the back seat. I had a strategy for it, but I feared that I'd have to remove one or both of those to get these wires run. We'll come back to that in a minute, though.

I decided I'd had enough time being a lazy-rear end and took the week off work. Unfortunately, when I requested it off, I had no idea that it was going to be the hottest week of the year so far. Regardless, I decided to get out there and get some work done even if I had to sweat my dick off to do it.

Some of you may recall that I got a set of Hella sealed-beam replacement/retrofit headlights last year. That was on the schedule for Monday.


It didn't go super well. Those Hella housings have a big rubber dust boot on the back to help protect the actual bulb. Unfortunately, that boot didn't want to fit super well into the mix and long story short, I ended up breaking one of the retaining rings that hold the lamp in place in the bucket. Old school sealed beam guys will know what I'm talking about.

You can see in this picture how the hole in the light bucket doesn't match up with the hole in the radiator support. From the factory that's not really an issue as it only needs to be big enough to let the plug pass through. Not only does the dust boot foul on the radiator support, but even without the boot the plug on the back of the new lights they were fouling on the rad support with the structure that actually holds the bulbs.


I ordered new retaining rings (just got both) on Monday and just got them from the mailman about 15 minutes ago. I'm going to take the Dremel and an assortment of mini deathwheels to the rad support and hog those holes out to see if I have some better luck tomorrow. With more clearance, I should hopefully have less trouble getting all the poo poo back together. Wrestling those springs isn't really my idea of a good time.


So Monday was a bust. I decided Tuesday was the day for the rear body harness. I took a bit of time just kind of re-familiarizing myself with the harness, the tools, and the process. I started with all of the rear lighting as the factory harness actually had a disconnect between the lights and the rear seat so I could yank all the old poo poo out easily enough. New wiring went in pretty well. I'm a lot more comfortable now with the crimpers than I was last time I was playing with this stuff. Not sure why, exactly, but it just seemed to 'click' a bit more for me. Once all the lights were done, it was time to run the main harness back from under the dash to the truck to meet up with the light harness. I managed to get away with not pulling the back seat or the kick panel due to a judicious application of electrical tape and some string while I pulled the old wires out. Very happy with that.

With that done, the whole harness is just about finished up. Need to get the courtesy lighting harness in to get the dome light and door plungers back in the mix, but that's pretty small potatoes. Maybe I'll tackle that tomorrow after the headlights. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the wiring process but it was so goddamn hot the only thing I could really focus on was getting the wiring handled. I'll try to be better when I'm playing with stuff tomorrow.

Feels good to have a productive post in here again. Thanks for sticking with me, guys.

Elmnt80
Dec 30, 2012


:neckbeard:

I hoped you were gonna keep posting about this.

Steely Dad
Jul 29, 2006



:hellyeah:

StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Hell yeah to taking a week off of work and getting stated.

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

Feels good to have a productive post in here again. Thanks for sticking with me, guys.

Thanks for posting :)

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Ok so I seriously had every intention of getting back out there and tackling the headlights today but my body decided "no you won't be doing that" and decided to do loving something last night to make my neck and shoulders so goddamn stiff that the pain of rolling over in bed woke me up. The last thing I want to do right now is sit hunched over in front of my car so I think that's going to have to wait until at least tomorrow. It's too bad I'm normally healthy because whenever I do need something, we don't have any actual good drugs in the house.

I'm actually disappointed and a little pissed off that I'm not out there right now. I kind of want to suck it up and just go but I know I'll hate myself tomorrow if I do. Ugh. :smugjones:

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...
Success!

Neck/shoulders were still sore but they feel a ton better than when I woke up on Friday. I still don't know what the hell happened but I really don't want to do it again. Anyway, got the Dremel fired up to open those holes up and pretty much immediately came to the conclusion that there was no way I was going to get the right angles to get at the holes with the cutoff wheels. I probably could have done it if I took the grille and bumper off but come the gently caress on, I'm not doing that to install some drat headlights. Then I figured "wait a minute, I'm trying to cut round holes... hole saw!" only I don't own any hole saws. 20 minutes later and I was back with a 2.75" hole saw from Menards.

Now, I don't know how many of you guys have a lot of hole saw experience, but I'm guessing it's more than I have. Trying to cut a hole in what is essentially a piece of sheet metal without using the pilot bit is an exercise in frustration. The saw just wants to wander wherever the hell it wants without any regard to where you actually want the new hole to be. Solution for that is to make an external guide. In my case, I had a nice little chunk of board that fit the bill pretty well. Put a hole in it, eyeball some trimming cuts, and put another little hole in to go over one of the adjusters and we're off to the races.

You can see here that I'd already started with the saw a bit and the hole was going right where I wanted it.


And yes, I'd already made sure all the poo poo was out of the way from behind it before I started drilling.

Once the hole was done, I threw the bucket back in place and was pleased to find that it was now a straight shot back to the engine compartment without the rad support getting in my way.


Threw a little paint on there to try to fend off the great northern tin worm and called the holes done. With that done, I approached assembly a bit differently. Before, I was putting the bucket in place, hooking the spring on the retaining ring, and then trying to sneak the lamp between the bucket and the ring and get everything in place. Stupid. Totally wrong and it's why I broke the old ring like a dumbass. This time I did it the right way - place lamp in bucket, place ring over top, and screw ring to bucket. Then put the bucket on the adjusters and attach the spring. During this, I noticed that I had my springs on the wrong sides. Driver and passenger were switched. Definitely wasn't doing me any favors last week. Once that's all done, you get this:


Eight more screws to get the surrounds back in place and my car now has fancy new German headlights. I'm happy with that.


Sidenote: everyone should own one of these. Go to your local cheapo tool store and buy one. They're also great for pulling out retaining clips from window cranks and door handles.


So yeah, that's headlights done. Now I need to get the battery hooked back up (and most likely charged... again...) and we'll see if this thing wants to run. Once that's done, I'll work on actually tidying up all the wiring and then I'll figure out why my trans wanted to start leaking.

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StormDrain
May 22, 2003

Thirteen Letter
Those look great, I would like to get a set for both of my sealed beam cars. Always hard to justify when I don't drive either at night. I don't drive them at all, but when I did, daytime mostly. Looks much better than any halo or LED lights which don't even work for me on serious hot rods SEMA type builds.

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