I installed a new turn signal switch/cam in my ’66 F100 two years ago. It wouldn’t work, so I’ve been using hand signals ever since. Some drivers seem to think that I’m making obscene gestures, so it was time to figure this out. Turns out there are several issues, by working my way back through the (very simple) wiring diagram. The starting point is the fuse block, which is badly corroded. Touching the fuse itself with a test light showed current, but when I took it off and tested the back, where the wire is attached, little or nothing.
But that’s just the starting point.
I’m going to have to get parts (fuse clips) to rebuild the fuse block, so I’ve temporarily jumped it. Signals work, at least on the driver’s side. Now there’s wire and/or bulb holder issues with the passenger side. Looks like the wires are probably semi-shorted somewhere. So I’ll be spending some time under the truck this afternoon.
What’s your current automotive project?
I couldn’t get my riding mower to start a while back and thought I would lose my mind trying to troubleshoot it. I was showing 12 volts to the switch with my multimeter but it still wouldn’t crank.
Finally put a test light on it and saw just a faint glow. Aha! Traced it back to a badly corroded fuse holder between the battery and switch.
I suppose I could have figured out how to make my $100 multimeter tell me the same thing the $2 test light did, but I’m not sure how.
No the multimeter wouldn’t tell you the same thing on its own. Modern DMM have a 10 megaohm input which means they draw essentially zero current and will show full voltage even with a single remaining strand of corroded wire. You have to load the circuit to truly test it, which is why that good old test light still has a place at the top of the box for diagnosing electrical issues.
Yes; I always use a test light as it shows how much current exactly is flowing, or not. Very analog, in a good way.
I disagree. A multimeter would tell you the same thing.. just use the ohms function to measure resistance instead of voltage.
That isn’t that accurate in this instance and if it is something like a tail light circuit it isn’t very practical.
This summer’s project is to redo the brakes on the 83 LeBaron. When I started it in the spring, the brake pedal went down near the floor. Not looking forward to trying to loosen 37 year old bleed screws on the calipers and cylinders. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be done immediately, so out with the PBlaster to soak the hardware.
The headliner replacement on the 95 Voyager is also on the list for this summer. I’ve had the replacement material for 4 years, just had too many other priorities. At least I got the rototiller up and running good after a three year hiatus.
Good luck. You may want to check at your local parts store for one of these. https://www.amazon.com/IPA-8086-Light-Socket-Brush/dp/B00KHC651Y though they likely sell just the brush which of course is cheaper. That is often a cause of poor connections on those old sockets.
The other thing to know is that you can buy the parts to replace the contacts in your socket with these. https://jcaparts.com/products/1157-ba15d-dual-contact-socket-repair-pigtail-gm-1955-80 again they should be available at a good local parts store, or at least they can get them from their warehouse.
If you splice wires do yourself a favor and purchase uninsulated connectors and adhesive lined shrink tubing. Check your favorite hardware store, not the auto parts store. Or use the heat shrink insulated connectors that have the adhesive. Yes more expensive and time consuming to install but it will last the life of the vehicle and not be a failure point. Do not use the standard heat shrink outside of the cab, water gets in and it holds it in accelerating corrosion.
The first year or two of when I was maintaining the fleet I spent so much time chasing down electrical problems caused by previous “repairs” using the cheap crimp connectors and/or cheap non adhesive heat shrink.
Forgot to talk about my current automotive projects. Surprisingly, or un surprisingly it has to do with electrical.
A long time friend of mine is now in a wheel chair. He doesn’t have a lot of money so he picked up a wheel chair van that had been sitting for years. So I’ve done your basic tune up and checking it over. However the bulk of the time has been spent messing with the lift and door system. Someone had installed a battery saver in the circuit that powers the lift and it would trip requiring someone to lift the hood and reset it for the lift to work. So new wiring to bypass that. I’ve got the parts on order to do a dual bat set up with a dedicated lift battery. The bigger problem has been crappy connections.
I was finishing up the tune up and went to close the doors and the first one shut fine but the second one wouldn’t move. I traced that one down to the ground for that door’s unit being held to the body with a drywall screw. The bugle head bottomed out before it really clamped down the ring.
Next time it was the first door that wouldn’t move. I tracked that down to a corroded pin on the control board mounted inside the door operator mechanism.
On my own vehicles I’ve been slowly working on lighting for the van. Since it was an ambulance in its prior life it originally had strobes at each corner of the extended top where you would typically have marker lights. On the middle of each side and on the back it had scene lights. State law says they have to remove the strobes before they auction it off. However they decided to take the scene lights and the dome lights in the cargo area.
I’ve found some markers that will fill those places, some nice LED work lights for the outside and recessed lighting for the interior. Thankfully they left the wires in place and I’ve found a switch panel that will replace the one they removed that left a hole in the dash where the storage cubby would be.
However I’m going a little more sophisticated. I’m using SPDT switches, relays and a couple of diodes to give selectable individual control. The work and cargo area lights will each have their own switch with one position tying them to the dome light control, so they will come on when the door opens. There will also be an off position and one that just turns that light on w/o the dome. I’ll probably set that up to get power from the battery saver so it will shut off after 10 min to prevent battery drain, though with the LEDs that may not be that big of a concern.
The rear light will be a little different and that is where the diode’s will come into play. Its car controlled position will also be fed from the back up light circuit. The diodes will allow it to turn on with the back up lights w/o turning on the dome and vice versa.
Unfortunately it has been slow going and I need to order a few more parts to complete it but I have mounted the work lights and powered them up with jumper wires and am happy enough with them that I’m ordering some for the pickup that will go on the back as back up lights and at the front of the canopy on each side. Haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to control those yet, other than the rear will double as a back up light.
Very cool of you to be helping your friend and obviously sweating the details so that things work better than they ever did when new, so as not to leave him stranded.
Power to you!
Thanks, both of you. He has been my friend for 30 years. He has always helped me when he could and was a big help in building my business way back then. He was a painter back when I started my mobile auto repair business and he sang my praises to many other tradesmen.
As a ‘mobility-challenged’ person myself, I’m touched by all the work you’re doing for your friend.
I had already replaced the bulb sockets previously. They were all so bad, in some cases I couldn’t get the bulb out.
The lights and turn signals are all working since I put up this post. Someone had wired in a trailer light socket really crudely; got rid of that and cleaned up the wiring a bit.
Now I have my dash cluster out to replace all the bulbs. Only two were still alive.
But I’m still going to have to deal with that badly corroded fuse block. I’ve found a good Youtube video that shows how to redo it.
Thankfully since it is a Ford you can get the parts to do that, one of the bonuses of old Ford (and GM) vehicles.
$%$#@$%^& trailer connectors. I’ve seen way to many problems caused by someone crudely hacking one in.
With all that you are doing it is going to feel like a new truck. Heat, turn signals, gauges that are readable, such luxury.
I’m in the middle of a bunch of projects and my fleet looks like a herd of beaters right now.
I’m repainting the hood and passenger fender on my wife’s Civic. She’s been a very good sport about driving around with these parts in primer while we waited for the paint to come in.
My ’81 Westy is also in the process of being painting. I put a decent coat on the front end before I ran out of paint and had to order more. It’s a good match, but the replacement paint is really thin and expensive. I plan to also do some cleaning of the poptop shell today, which looks kind of moldy and dirty at the moment.
Lastly, my Honda Element got its quarter panel window smashed out in Crescent City, CA last week when I was hiking at Endert’s Beach. A thief swiped a duffel with a few changes of clothes, but also left me with the broken window that I duct taped and drove 300 miles home with. I have the replacement glass and adhesive and am going to attempt that job later this week.
Paul, Paul, Paul. This potentially a very dangerous situation. Many times when the turn signal switch is not working properly it will result in the brake lights not working consistently. When I bought my ’66 F250 years ago, it had problems with the turn signal switch. That’s when I found that the brake lights were iffy also. The power for the brake lamps is channeled through the turn signal switch. If you signal for a left turn then apply the brakes, the left side will flash off and on, while the opposite side will brighten with the brake lamp. There are only two filaments available. The turn signal switch can be thought of as a primitive logic circuit. Luckily the seller had included a good used switch assembly.
You can check for power going to the switch at the steering column connector plug. The output of the switch will be for right and left circuits, you can test them at the plug with a test light. Old fuse panels often build up corrosion at the firewall or back panel connector. Good luck with your repair. I should be doing more work on my cars but I’m spending most of my time working on the house. This car won’t be going anywhere for a while!
They’re all working perfectly already!
Now I’ve got my dash cluster apart to replace bulbs.
Looks the picture didn’t load.
I need to do a distributor shaft seal swap out on the Supra. It’s a common wear point on the 2JZ and if left unchecked can spew oil on the alternator below (pretty sure this is what killed my alternator a few years ago but it was also a 25-year-old original part).
Aha, a trick question. Because as soon as I say “None, everything on both cars is just perfect”, something will immediately crop up and I will be elbow-deep in something.
New valve cover gasket for the 04 Civic has been sitting in the garage for a month or so. I’ve been waiting for the ambition that I ordered to show up.
I did a rear heater core on my Eurovan last weekend. Luckily the part was cheap ($30) and everything was accessible from the bottom. So no cleaning carpets and it wasn’t the front one that requires the dash to be removed. I spent more time worrying about and researching it than the 1/2 hour to replace it. Next up a leaking fuel filler neck on the wife’s Previa.
Several projects. One, replace the radius arm bushings in my 65 F100 and get new tires. Two, change out the stock intake manifold in the 2004 3800 Series II engine for the improved version in the trunk. Then do the water pump and those plastic elbows along with it. Three, remove the condenser, drier, compressor, low and high pressure hoses, then clean out what is left in the 91 626 before changing over to R134. All parts in garage. Four, several oil changes and possibly the front bearings in the Polara as they have been in there long enough and I have NOS US ones in stock.
Later, there is a bunch of painting to do such as a hood and bumper cover to start.
What’s the indication that the radius arm bushings are shot? I get a metallic “clang” if I stab the brakes at any speed. In normal use, I it doesn’t do that, although I am feeling a bit of a pull to the right momentarily when I first apply the brakes. My though was that it could well be the radius arm.
How hard to replace the bushings?
If original then the rubber will have cracks or worse as in my picture. When worn out one would hear a clunk which I don’t. The other thing that can happen is ovaling out the bolt hole in the pivot mount. My other side only shows cracks. The truck does not wander any but I don’t want issues.
Now some have said drill out the rivets and I say screw that. A better way, and the way I am going to do it, is as follows.
1. Loosen and remove cotter/nut/washer on back of arm
2. Remove hook that limits I beam travel. 11/16″ nut.
3. Jack up crossmember until spring falls out. Tire still on ground. I’m changing shocks so out they come.
4. Roll tire forward till radius arm clears and falls out with some help.
5. Clean off and replace forward bushing.
6. Put arm back in and roll wheel back.
7. Put on rear washer, nut, and cotter pin.
8. Put spring back into original position and lower slowly.
9. Reinstall hook that limits I beam travel.
A little anti-seize and torque radius bolt 90-100 lbs. Some say 180-220 lbs. while others say that is too much. Have the manual in front of me and it doesn’t mention that nut in the Ford Shop Manual section 3 page 50. The 11/16″ nut is only 20 lbs. I am going out now to do and photograph.
Yep, that 1 1/8″ nut is at 180 lbs and a bear. The cotter pin was also a pia. Six foot breaker bar cracked that baby loose.
Let me know how that works out. I need new shocks too. I needed them 20 years ago. 🙂
It can be a pain but yeah usually it isn’t that hard to pull it forward out of the bracket once you’ve got the other things apart.
Over in the Ford truck forum the guy that posted this method said for him about 2 hours. For me a week minimum since I never put back dirty parts once taken out. Just the first 1 1/8″ nut and metal washer took me 15 minutes to clean. Now I am treating the surface rust on the washer before painting in a few days.The spring will also be completely cleaned and painted before going back in along with the housing and new shock. That is just me with things being spotlessly clean as though I was working around an eye… a more than half century habit.
Oh, make sure the jack can get up there so the springs tension is released and drops out or helped out.
It does make it much more pleasurable to reassemble when everything is nice and clean rather than covered in decades of grime. Unfortunately getting all that grime off can take a lot of time, but should be worth it in the end.
Thanks. I will probably do that. What’s a good source for bushings?
Painted washers! Wow. I’m impressed.
But I’m going for the 2 hour routine. The truck has a load of yard clippings that need to be hauled sooner than later.
If you have a come-along, attach it to the frame and the other end around the I-beam to pull everything forward. Makes life a ton easier! I’ve also bought these from many parts stores including Rock Auto.
For the extra 15 minutes that it takes I prefer to remove the spring and loosen the radius bolt a bit. This way you ensure the radius arm is centred in the whole so bushings last properly.
Brian: thanks. Good info here, from both of you.
Ford still makes them. The following parts numbers are for a pair.
Insulator: C5TZ-3B203-D outer and C5TZ-3B203-E inner.
Around $7/box.
There is also poly replacements instead of Ford rubber. Some don’t like the harder ride with poly and others do. I’m going Ford as this is a cruising truck and not for track. With yours already loose after you tighten to 90 lbs. (read that again) with the truck on the ground you will need to check your toe in. Toe in should be 1/8″.
I’ve got an enforced week off, so have a whole list of things to do an my daily driver Karmann Ghia. Door scraper seals need doing and exterior trim clips need replacing, but those are pretty minor tasks.
I need to do an oil change and general service and thenperform the main task: replace the generator with an alternator. Not quite the simple task it is on a non air cooled motor, as the cooling fan is driven off the same shaft, meaning you have to remove that. This can only be done after removing the carb and associated plumbing, turning it into quite an involved job.
In addition to that I want to use my new PDR kit to pull some of the dents the old thing has accumulated over the years. Quite excited to see how that works.
Last major thing I did was to replace the shifter bushing and rear coupler. The Shifter shaft actually comes out through the front of the car – one has to remove 3 covers and the front bumper to do this! See pics – German engineers definitely do have a sense of humor!
I recently fixed a couple of things on my 2002 Miata that had been bothering me for a while. I leave the vast majority of the maintenance on my cars to trained mechanics, but there’s the odd small job I will tackle myself.
1) My Miata’s four dashboard eyeball vents had been staring at the floor for the last couple of years, refusing to stay in place more than a few minutes. I found lots of useful hints and videos for a fix on the web, and finally got around to doing something about it. The fix requires replacing the worn out friction pads located between the eyeballs and the sockets.
Removing the eyeball vent assembly is easy enough once you understand the mounting mechanism.
However, removing the eyeball from its socket requires popping off the front retaining ring. Easier said than done… The ring must be removed carefully since it’s visible – any scratches will be literally staring you in the face. There are four very tight plastic clips holding the ring to the socket, so breaking the ring or the clips is a distinct possibility.
The ring came off easily enough from the first vent socket, but the second one put up a nasty fight, and I came very close to breaking it. This required a different approach.
I then noticed that I could actually remove and replace the friction tabs from the rear of the assembly rather than the front, without having to remove the retaining ring! I simply replaced one of the four friction pads with a small square of stick-on velcro (loop part), and presto, problem solved.
None of the videos I saw on the web suggested this simple solution – they all required removing the ring, and warned about possible breakage.
2) The second problem I tackled was a loud cracking noise any time I drove my Miata over badly broken pavement. I had my mechanic check the suspension during a routine oil change. No fault found, and the cracking noise persisted. A while later, I had all four shocks replaced, as they were starting to go soft, affecting the handling and overall composure on rough roads. Nice improvement, but the cracking remained.
It was much later that I noticed that the cracking noise only occurred if the sound system was powered on. A few years back, I had the original head unit upgraded to a Kenwood with USB and Bluetooth, so the system was almost always powered on to provide a hands-free phone connection. What also threw me was the fact that the cracking noise occurred even when the volume was turned all the way down. Until then, I had not realized the noise was coming from the speakers.
Suspecting a bad connection, I removed the head unit, only to discover that the idiots who had installed the Kenwood had rather loosely twisted all the wire connections and wrapped them with bits of electrical tape, then shoved the entire harness back into the dash. I did not bother trying to identify which connection was causing the problem, I simply soldered and shrink-wrapped all 20+ connections. Put everything back together, and the cracking noise disappeared.
A highly realistic sound system! 🙂
The Accord was my wifes’ car for 8 years, and I didn’t meddle with it, but when She decided to buy an automatic last year, I only took on the Accord on the basis that I would convert the stalks to RHD. Practically all new cars in the UK have LHD column stalks because VW/Renault/Volvo etc can’t be bothered to make different ones for the UK.
Since I expect to be able to use the indicators and dip the headlights while I change gear, I’m not prepared to tolerate something intrinsically wrong. Just got my JDM Honda stalks last week.
That never occurred to me, that they would use LHD stalks.
Try again with the pic.
Try reducing the picture size. I usually reduce pictures to 1,200 pixels in the bigger dimension, and they usually post well that way.
And again ?
I guess I’ve been thinking about trading the car in… 🙂
But you haven’t even written it up yet! You have to do that first; it’s in your contract. 🙂
Anyway, with all those new cars being dropped off at your house, it’s not like you need a new car, eh? You probably don’t need your current car either.
My project has been getting my late father-in-law’s mobility scooter up and running again for a new owner – me. After charging up the batteries and taking it for a test run, I found it went dead flat after about 150 metres. Fortunately someone was around to help me push the beast home. The charger seemed to test out okay, and a new set of batteries later it was going perfectly. My ‘electric car’ – ha!
Since then I’ve gone to the shops twice (1.5km round trip). Now I just need to rig up an extension cord to the far side of the garage for the charger. The electrician has been going to come for two months…..
Yeah; those batteries will go with time. Lead acid, I assume?
Yep. Heaviest part of the whole machine, except possibly me!
I will be replacing the AC compressor and dryer on my ’79 Malibu this week. The one currently on it is a used one I installed about 20 years ago to replace the locked up original. It’s making noise, so I am going ahead and replacing it before something catastrophic happens. I converted the system to R-134 right after the used compressor was installed. Recently I had to fix a broken temperature control on the same car. Forty one years of use will wear a few things out.
There is a Pontiac Fiero GT V6 sitting in the garage that my son bought. Has a few needs.
Aha! Time to start a Cars Of My Children series. 🙂
And it’s off to a good start!
I’m about to drop the front differential out of my ’03 Ford Ranger and replace the mounting bushings. They’ve been shot for a while but I haven’t been looking forward to puling the differential out of my only vehicle and replacing them. I’ve replaced everything else in the front end in the last year so everything should come apart without much issue.
Paul, this project is already done but was similar in a way to yours. Turn signals quit. I first thought “flasher” and bought a new one from Pep Boys. But when I got home the new flasher had a different pinout than the original. I did some research and found that at midyear the circuit changed. My factory service manual showed the old version, my car had the new. I went back and exchanged the flasher to one for the next year model. But it STILL didn’t work. I probed with a test light and found no voltage on the circuit at all. Tracing the circuit back toward the battery, I found a bullet connector adjacent to the battery, and it was corroded from battery fumes! Some baking soda and wirebrushing, and a costing of dielectric grease on it, and all was well.
Haha all 7(!) of my current crap wagons are “projects’
1. Brakes went out on w123 Benz hobby car due to vacuum leak and it needs love
overall.
2. 2010 Cobalt delivery car needs a matching front driver side seat in black as the
original fell apart and a grey one was thrown in from a parts car until i get to jy.
3. 2009 Focus delivery car needs new sway bar links up front and a washer fluid nozzle
so I can get it inspected when the covid-19 extension runs out in July. Currently has
a 4/20 sticker. I want to sell this car as well.
4. 2007 Cobalt delivery car needs the top end rebuilt as it has a loud lifter knock.
Going to run it until it goes then either jy engine or parts for 2010 car…
5. 1986 C10, fix the fuel tank sending unit and get rid of the Q-Jet with an adapter plate
and an appropriately sized Holley and replace radiator if brazing fails for the 3rd time
6. 2003 Outback needs the engine currently on a stand finished (HGs, of course…) and
2 front axles swapped. I would like to sell this car as well.
7. Finally 2001 Cavalier replace fuel pump and check over for an inspection sticker. I
bought this from a coworker to flip as he didn’t want to fool with it. Got it running on
current fuel pump, but wiring is suspect. Replacement comes w/ new harness.
Lots on the docket but I lost my summer hustle due to pandemic and river conditions and I am a mechanic by day, food delivery driver at night and now a car flipper (ugh…) on the weekends. Plenty of weekend time to get 3-4 of my current fleet fixed and sold. Mostly waiting on parts. Then go after a few more vehicles to fix and resell I have been offered up…
Can y’all tell I am single?
Yes I can. 🙂
Sounds like you got your hands full.
I’ve just finished replacing some rotten wood and resealing our pop up camper trailer, and now I’m chewing through changing all the fluids in the Mustang. It’s 13 years old now so it’s time.
I’m also going to get the 1963 VW running and drive around the block. It’s officially off the road this year. Having the front beam rebuilt is probably the fall job.
Hi Doug, redoing the front beam is a lot easier than one thinks. If your car is pretty rust free it will drop out easily (onto your head!) and the parts are all easy to get. Rebuilding it is actually pretty simple – it was my first ever major job on an air cooled VW and went smoothly. This despite everyone I asked in the local VW club saying it was a job for a speciallist…
The next task on my list is to service my Kubota 60″ commercial zero-turn mower. Should have done it last Autumn, but retirement and relocation have reprioritized a lot of activities. I recently had the truck aligned and shod with new tires. The SS and TourX won’t need attention for some time, thankfully. The VWs are crammed in the garage until I can get a 30×50 post-frame shop built.
My Delta 88 got outrun by a Toyota Sienna the other day so its time to get the Rocket 350 in the garage off to the machine shop for a 400 ft/lb upgrade.
The ’71 Satellite has an A/C leak
The ’71 Road Runner needs a clutch
The ’77 Grand Prix needs a new turn signal/brake light switch
The ’96 Ram needs a header gasket
Otherwise, the rest of the fleet is in pretty good working order
That’s a hella interesting fleet!
2011 Escape: Repair the horn.
2002 Grand Marquis: Find/fix rain leak onto carpet.
2003 Avalon: Brake pads.
LT.Dan has a somewhat cooler car collection than me.
I handed my daughter a 10mm socket wrench and showed her how to replace the spark plugs on our ’06 CR-V, as well as both air filters. They were the original plugs at 130K miles, so it was time. When we finished that we cleaned the engine bay with Simple Green and the pressure washer. The new plugs have smoothed out the idle and the engine feels five years younger.
Saturday afternoon I swapped out the plugs in my Scout for the second time in a week. All the parts houses claim Autolite 303’s are recommended replacements, so I put a set in last Sunday. The truck ran like hot buttered snot all week—choppy idle, stumble, down on power—so I did what I should have done in the first place and bought a new set of Autolite 85’s, which the parts houses say IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH YOUR INTERNATIONAL 345 but all the Scout guys I know swear by. My truck is happy again; the idle is like a sewing machine and the power I know and love is back.
Yup the extended tip 85’s are the way to go on a SV that isn’t in a MD truck. Depending on your ignition opening up the gap to .040, .044 or .045 helps too.
An electric ignition upgrade on the ’69 Skylark. Plus oil and filter, rotate the tyres.
Great topic, it’s interesting to read what other people are up to.
1. Put my 89 Deville on the road for August. New brakes, ball joints, shocks, struts, rebuild calipers, tune up, EGR valve.
2. New carpet, window crank knob s, battery, clean up voltage regulator in my 77 Marquis. The previous owner installed dual exhaust with glass pack mufflers that I hate, so I’m replacing those. Oh, and one new steel brake line.
3. Sway bar link, ball joints and exhaust manifold gaskets for my 98 Continental.
4. Blower motor and timing belt for the 2000 Volvo.
5. My 68 T- Bird has been off the road for 16 years. I’m going through it for resurrection. So far its a brake system rebuild and a new gas tank.
The list goes on. My Ford 8N needs a wiring harness, and my 96 T-bird and 98 Marquis need brake work, but thats for next year. There’s additional vehicles, where the repairs aren’t on the radar yet.
A few years ago I did the turn signal switch on my 71 F100. Many light circuits go through that switch, and the combination of bad switch and bad connections due to the ravages of time and poor quality repair attempts affected brake and parking lights and turn signals. Replacing the switch and undoing the hack repairs took several hours and lots of fiddling but make it much nicer to drive the truck knowing that I had brake lights and turn signals again.
I am getting ready to buy parts to do the timing belt on my daily driver Subaru Outback. It has 300,000 miles on it, so this will be the last belt I put in it. The engine has also developed some oil leaks, so I’m contemplating pulling it out to patch them up and also do the head gaskets. It’s a bit of work considering the age of the car, but it still looks and runs good, so I would like to get another year out of it, perhaps pass it along to my son when he gets his license.
I have two “current” projects in my lend-lease fleet, both very similar. A Caravan that shredded a front tire and gave the inner-fender and wire harness a good whipping. About eight wires are severed and the plastic inner fender shield is broken up.
The other project is similar. The car was in a fender-bender that didn’t cause much apparant damage, however, the impact did cause the ecm to be ejected. Being ejected wasn’t so bad, but once the car ran over its own ecm about 50 wires were pulled out by the “root” or severed.
I have worked through a pin-out diagram to get the wires back to their respective locations (you can’t believe how many similar shades of color are used) and temporarily connected for a test run. It’s running now but I need to refine the splices and terminal pin repairs
Paul’s got it now, but for some rudimentary application like this it’s often better to just go with a brand new aftermarket “clamp-on” turn signal switch.
A lot easier to install, includes 4-way function, and of course it’s all brand new.
I’d replaced the plastic cam before, with a cheap aftermarket unit. They tend to break. But this time I found a NOS unit on Ebay. Hopefully it will last longer. And my truck does have 4-way flashers! A separate knob on the dash with its own flasher unit.
It’s nice to have the self-cancelling function of the original.
I get the desire to go OE, especially retaining the cancelling feature.
But sometimes with older “solid” column trucks when
the cab-to-chassis orientation is no longer what it once was the original switch takes the brunt of the misalignment issues. Also many replacement parts aren’t as readily available as with Fords.
Aftermarket switches are a great cure in such cases, that’s all I meant.
After the COVID-19 delays, I’m at last putting the finishing touches on a 3sp to 5sp box swap on the 64 Comet. Need to deal with exhaust clearance issues and find a speedo cable to fit. Fingers crossed, I hope to be more or less finished this weekend and start testing and running-in the box.
Nice.
Thanks. As usual, a lot more work than I expected but it should be worth it. 5sp is a McLeod Racing Muscle Car 5.
One more
Envy those with mechanical skills & home garages. I am only capable of putting air in tires & no space to work in my urban home high-rise underground parking garage. I have a 1966 T-Bird conv. and last few months my mechanic solved the slow battery drain that turned out to be an electrical who-dun-it. Due to virus restriction issues repair garages strictly limiting cars serviced daily. Last 2 issues I planned might be put on hold until we get back to normal (?). Electric ignition upgrade would be nice but products sent from US to Canada still remain very slow to process, only when I have parts then it might take an additional month for appointment with mechanic. Driver’s side power window: need my friend to help fix. It slips going up (not down). Friend is a retired engineer, worked on this 3-previous times over the years, he restored his 1964 Bird himself, knows more about these under-designed/developed 1964/66 power windows than any restoration shop. Could be one more simple adjustment, could be more complicated. Other than power window switches, not much helpful regarding after-market parts. Seniors I know in Ottawa, keeping our distance, wearing face masks. Might not meet my friend in person this short Canadian summer. Nothing urgent to fix this summer. The Bird looks and drives great. I drive it more now than in the last two years. Stay indoors two weeks, then drive top down on one day every two weeks to shop. Never thought at my age going to the grocery store every two weeks wearing a face mask would be the highlight of my summer months. Thought summer of 2020, year before I retire, I would be traveling Europe’s high-speed trains from Venice to Berlin. Summer 2020 my adventure is now driving 15 miles round trip from home to pick up groceries once every two weeks. Not complaining, I am fortunate to have my Bird convertible and enjoy the twice monthly excursions.
My ’93 Audi 80 that’s getting a minor restoration now that I bought a ’06 Mercedes C220 CDI
Replacing the driver side door handle and lock cylinder on the K2500 pickup. Someone attempted to break in by unsuccessfully drilling on the lock cylinder and prying on the handle assembly. If they just broke the window and found nothing of value inside, I could just replace the glass in a jiffy for less than $50. This project is harder and more expensive. Handle, $30, pair of lock cylinders (cant just buy one) $40, re-keying one $45, plus hours of frustration dealing with tight quarters and fussy linkages.
Well, let’s see:
I’m about 200 hours into bodywork and prepping for paint on my gfs ’51 Studebaker Champion. Sanding this thing is kind of a nightmare — there are so many curves and body lines (thanks, Exner!!) but I’m hoping to have it done by the end of August.
My ’51 Hudson just got a new battery, ignition switch and electric fuel pump, as well as and clutch fluid change, so it’s a lot happier. This weekend I’m gonna pull the manifolds to find the exhaust leak(s), and if the manifold is cracked it’s getting a set of headers from Clifford!
My ’52 Nash Ambassador needs the heater cable adjusted and to have the electric fuel pump the previous owner installed moved back closer to the tank (vapor lock is a huge issue here in Albuquerque).
My ’53 Kaiser Manhattan needs to have me check the voltage regulator again to be sure it’s right, and needs the exhaust replaced, as well as a tire inspected for a slow leak.
My ’77 Celica GT Liftback needs most everything, but I’m currently chasing a mysterious clunk in the rear end. It shouldn’t be u-joints, had those done about a decade ago, but I should check them anyway, along with all the suspension bushings.
I’m never bored. 🙂