LOTS done today!

Time to tackle the front end wiring....

 First I separated everything into lights, engine sensors and power runs...

I cut out a lot of the excess wire and re-routed it all to the end pieces.

 Then I tore apart the old harness and took out the parts I needed: lights, alternator, starter wires, etc:

 Here you can see the light connectors wired in just awaiting new hi-low sealed beams.

 This is the electric wiper controller, ready to be set in the console with everything else.












I stopped there on the wiring for now, as I needed to get some of the front end together to check the rad placement, fan size, routing for the wires, etc. I also need to buy some stuff for this next week of work, including components to build the console and Hi-low headlights.

 Having the computer in the shop sure makes finding wiring diagrams and advice on engine swaps easy!

 You'd think by now manufacturers would have come up with something not so delicate to wick heat away from the coolant!

Every time I unwrap or work on a rad, some fins are bent, crushed or worse - this one is brand new, it's just been moved a few times.

They sell fin "combs" to straighten bent fins - and I used to have one - somewhere. A screwdriver works too...

I straightened out most of the worst offenders, then removed the tranny cooler and turned it around to meet up with the lines coming from the car. I'm guessing it was ordered for side lines, they just put them on the wrong side!

After measuring it up I added an 18" electric fan and some tranny line connectors to the shopping list.






I then spent some time mocking up the seat placement (the yellow Bristol Board is to mock up the console later):

The owner made a good choice on the seats. They're in great shape and both flip and slide forward for easy access to the back seat. The drivers seat is powered as well, which was wired up yesterday.

The floors is rather uneven so I made sure the car was level on the lift and that the seats remained level as I moved them around.





On the drivers seat, the outside rail will be raised about 1.5" and the inside rail only 1/2". On the passenger side only the outer rail will be raised 1/2".


Key parameters in locating the also include sight lines out the glass, shoulder height, as well as how close it comes to the shifter, steering wheel and pedals.






Although a ton of work has been done it doesn't look much different - but it'll sure work different!

 Finalized the Vintage Air system today, including routing all the hoses and wiring. Its a BIG system for sure. This is the heater control valve, which allows hot water to flow into the car when the heater is turned on. The cut you can see in the heater hose is where I had to put part of the metal tube (that I removed from under the intake plenum) back in, in order to keep the small tube in play, which siphons off coolant (hot water) to the throttle body (TB). This keeps the TB and itès sensors at temperature.

Heres that piece installed. Unfortunately, I like things to look clean and it makes for a lot of clamps...

Just below that I brought the vacuum and 12V lines out to be connected to the battery source at the solenoid.

Below Im hooking up power to the drivers seat. Gonna be a well-appointed rod!

The wiring harness from Its a Snap came with only 3 connectors pre-set and one was for the high-low dimmer switch on a GM column!

Sometimes hoses that fit one end are really tight at the other end. In these cases I often use a heat gun to soften the hose and WD-40 to help it slide over the connecting tube.

Don't forget to check out my website at 

www.E-tekRestorations.com !

Unearthing parts and pieces....

The wheels went on and the Cougar went to paint today....

Here's where the Cougar sat - giving me back my engine and metal fabrication areas!

 

Lots more time spent on wiring the 40 Ford today.

Below is the door opener actuator control box. Once it's all wired up I'll mount it to the inside of the dash panel.

The wiring for the door actuators and power windows were all slipped through the door wire tubing:

The power window switch is wired up and awaiting it's spot in the soon to be fabricated console.

As discussed in my last  post, there's a metal tube that routes the water from the water pump to the back of the engine and then on to the heater core. In this application however, there was no room to connect it that way, so I had to move the EFI harness, un-bolt the intake plenum and remove that tube in order to re-route things...

 

Also un-earthed some long-dead residents in the process!

Below: I'm holding the tube I removed from under the intake plenum which will be exchanged for a hose connecting the water pump to the heater exchange unit hanging from the firewall bung.

Don't forget to check out my website at 

www.E-tekRestorations.com!

No photos...

I have been reading (and studying) up on high-end vehicle wiring and AC installation and am amazed at the amount of work it takes to wire up a new rod from scratch - even with an aftermarket harness. Add to that the wiring and installation of an AC system, EFI, power locks and windows and a full compliment of gauges  and we're talking weeks of full-time effort!

Unfortunately, for a Blog such as this - dependent largely on photo's over the written word - there's not a lot to show!  Today I spent 4 hours routing and connecting the power window and lock wiring, running the AC vacuum hoses that open and close the doors for the heater, vents and defrost sections of the Vintage Air system, as well as routing the heater hoses.

Compounding things is a metal tube on this model engine that routes hot water for the heater under the intake manifold from the water pump to the back of the engine. The tube terminates right up against the firewall where a hose would normally be fitted and attached to the heater core. In this custom application, there's no room to route a hose from there, then to the Vintage Air Heater Control Valve before attaching to the firewall bung leading to the Vintage air heater core. To remedy this, I'll have to remove the intake manifold (1.5hr book time!) and either remove or cut the metal tube back so that the heater hose can be routed properly. All part of the fun in building a custom rod!

 I've got a fair amount of time booked in the shop this week and hope to get a lot of this stuff knocked off. Stay tuned - I'll take photo's of the good stuff tomorrow!

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com!

Got back from a week in New Orleans and couldn't wait to get back to it.....(is that weird?)


Got the AC and Heater firewall bung set up with a bevy of connectors which will allow me to hook up the heater hoses and get the engine running when the time comes. The AC hookups and charging can be done last.

The shaved door handle kit came with an over-ride switch that can be used in case the door fob(remote) is lost or locked in the car. It gets wired into the door lock actuator power wire and installed somewhere that can be accessed when the need arises.

The spaghetti slowly getting sorted....by weeks end it'll all be routed and tucked up nicely!

...and the windows are working after I figured out how to wire up the 6 wire GM-style switch. Power goes direct to the switch, then 2 wires go to each power window motor. The trick was figuring out which way was up and which down. The switch will go in the center console and will definitely add to the "Cool" factor.

Don't forget to check out my website at 

www.E-tekRestorations.com !

I have to go to New Orleans for work next weekend, so I took a shop day today (hehe). Got a lot further on the AC and door wiring systems. The Shaved Door Kit system is rather complex, with 2 remotes that can activate 8 channels. 

Right now I'm just connecting the doors, but eventually we'll tie in the trunk popper, fuel door, tire-slicing wheel centers and, of course, the ejector seat.

First up today was installing the stainless door wire conduits:

The stainless spring slides into a plastic bushing, which resides in a hole drilled into the door jamb. Pretty slick and relatively easy to install (relative to the wiring that is!!):

 The key is getting the hole in the jamb and door perfectly lined up. If it's even a little off it could bind the spring and the door....

Make sure your drill is up the task! I pulled out my medium duty "PowerFirst" Brand drill (Ok, calling it a brand is being charitable,,,) and went for it. The door side was no issue at all, but the jamb side was double-walled and I although I didn't notice the drill heating up, it started smoking something fierce before I gave it a rest!

After switching drills and finishing up the holes, the bushing almost slide right in. Some final filing was required to get it to seat.

The spring is then held on place on one side (your choice) by a snug grommet and the other end slides easily through the plastic grommet

Looks good!

Works too!

I know this looks like a mess (!), but it's actually mostly sorted! Unfortunately, these Vintage Air systems could use a little more wire in the harness!! The lines with the rubber elbows are actually vacuum lines to open the heater, AC and defrost flaps, then there's some regular 12 gauge wires, but also there's these 22 gauge wires to the switch that are barely 10 inches long.... makes for some limited mounting choices even if you choose to do some custom lengthening work.

If you look through the mess in these two shots, you can see I temporarily mounted the vacuum servos and relays on a piece of MDF in order to mock up the location of all those items and route the wiring.

 The Shaved door kit is another treat! It has 2 separate harnesses just to operate 2 doors! Sure, it can operate 8 channels total, but unless your wiring in a smoke screen, oil puddle and ejector seat, you won't use them all...

By weeks end I should have it completely sorted, then I can do some connection soldering and tie-strap it all in to make it look all professional-like!

Don't forget to check out my website at 

www.E-tekRestorations.com !