Hey- that's a familiar looking fuse panel!! Looking good! I like the idea of using colored heat shrink on each end. I went the expensive route and got a bunch of spools of different colored wire. Tried to keep much of the system color matched to the factory wiring too. Still have to draft up a revised wiring diagram for the truck now that dad's got it pretty much wrapped up. Keep up the good work! You'll be amazed how much better everything will work with the new wiring.

 

Thanks Dano. Yeah, I got that fuse panel from Amazon for $15.59 with free shipping along with 40 fuses. And I recognized it from your thread.

I've been keeping track of the revised wiring with the added barrier strips and destination for all the fuses so I can store that info with the wiring diagram I got from ClassicCarWiring.com. I know that next week I'll forget what I did. Plus, the original wiring diagram doesn't show turn signals, electric wiper motor and switch or the cigar lighter.

But I did discover something else when I took the speedo out. This truck came wired from the factory with turn signal bulbs in it. But since the truck was not ordered with the turn signals, those two wires were connected to the instrument light wire. That explains why I always had both arrows illuminated when I turned on the lights. And if I did it correctly, I should get those arrows to light when I use the turn signals. Just like downtown.

 

I worked on the wiring again today, and got a lot accomplished.

The only wires left to run are for headlights and high beams, taillights, park lights, brake light switch and turn signals.

I reinstalled the gauges, speedometer, starter button, wiper switch, light switch and ignition switch and tucked up some of the wires. I'll finish tying them up after they're all in.

Then I tested what I could with the battery charger. I'm not putting the battery back in until the high beam switch is back in. Everything that I could test works. I had one problem to fix with an instrument light, but that was my own poor workmanship.

Here's the dash back together.



This is the fuse/barrier strips panel today. I added another fused circuit for the cigar lighter. That circuit isn't on my wiring diagram, so I didn't think of it during the planning stage. So now I'm using 7 fuses. That leaves 7 for future "enhancements" of which I can think of none that I want to add.



Here's the new harness before it's wrapped. Yes, I had a lot of red wire. But you can see my color coding scheme on the voltage regulator left to right: Yellow with a black stripe, Black with a white stripe, and Yellow.



And here are the wires to the generator, coil, temp and oil gauges. Did I mention all the gauges seem to be working?



I really hope this thing fires up again when I'm finished with the rewire. And that all the new circuits work like I planned.

More later... It's Fat Tire time.

 

Yesterday I commented about the turn signal "arrows" and the light bulbs in the dash. I said they were wired as dash lights since the truck didn't come with turn signals.

So, once again, I didn't know what I was talking about. The 51 speedo assembly has 5 light sockets: one for high beam indicator, 2 for turn signal "arrows" and 2 for instrument lights. When the PO last reinstalled the 2 instrument light holders, he plugged them in to the turn signal holes. I put them where they belong when I reassembled the dash, and now my instrument lights are much brighter (as they should be) and I don't have the green arrows on all the time the lights are on. Imagine that.

If I can find the correct lamp sockets, I'll install turn signal "arrow" lights in the future. Has anyone seen these for sale anywhere?

 

Steve,

I was just rereading my thread, and see I never answered your questions.

No, Charlie does not live with us.

I don't know that we'll ever fire another group project rocket. We have no plans to do so.

I'm a District Service Manager for a business equipment manufacturer. I've worked for the same company for over 37 years. My territory is the western 13 states.

Sorry for the much delayed response.

 

Well, I finished all the wires today, put the battery back in, and everything works! I still have to wrap the cables under the hood and put the seat back in, but that can wait til tomorrow.





Before:

 

Nice! I bet everything works alot better now. Why the use of junction strips? (I think you called them barrier strips) rather then straight to the fuse panel? Looks good though!

 

Thanks Dano.
I went out after dark to check everything again, and I'm really pleased with the results. Betsy now has working headlights, park lights, taillights and turn signals. She had none of them when I got her.

The barrier strips are instead of connectors. I got some connectors, but the pins were too small for the 10, 12 and 14 gauge wire. So I decided to use the barrier strips. I will be removing all the wiring and components again someday when I'm ready to paint, and I felt this would make it easier to disassemble and reassemble.

Only seven circuits are fused: ignition switch, cigar lighter, stop switch, 30 and 15 amp to the light switch, dome light and turn signals.

I'll update again tomorrow after I finish the job. I still have to reinstall the seat and wrap the harness and secure it properly.

 

Steve... who are you?

 

So. Much. Better.

There's another 20 years for the old buzzard. What's next?

 

Steve is ibuzzard.

 

Funny you should ask. I finished off the exterior wiring today by wrapping the harnesses.





Then I came back into the house to upload these pics, and had a PM from Stu McMillan about some Craigslisted RV wheels and tires less than 8 miles from me. So I drove over immediately to check them out. I ended up buying seven wheels and tires for $50 each! Four of the tires are like new! So, I'll be giving him four widow makers tomorrow morning for towing away his RV.

Thanks again Stu! YOU ROCK!!!

And now for another dumb question from the rookie... The fellow I'm buying the wheels from loaned me a tool for breaking loose the lugnuts. It's like a giant ratchet with a gearbox which gives you at least double the force. My lugnuts came loose like butter. The scratched up label on it says X4 Corp 7D-750. It's about 4" in diameter. Anyone have any idea what this tool is called? I think it must be a torque multiplier (Google) but I'm not sure.

 

Like I said in the latest pm, Joe, glad it worked out. Glad you got all seven, glad you got good tires, glad the price was right, glad you didn't have to crawl around in some yard to find them, and glad you didn't have too much $4.00 gas invested. It was meant to be.

That tool is a torque multiplier. I guess I've seen a pic of one like it, but it's not like mine. Mine is the big cluncky type like in this picture. Works, but I normally end up using a BFH to really get the job done.

Again, glad it worked out. Stu

 

Stu,

Where can I find one of the rear wheel inner studs? My left rear is missing one. Like the three shown here in your pic.

 

Les Schwab, Napa, any big truck or trailer dealer, etc. Standard Budd inner cap nut to fit 3/4" x 16 tpi stud. Make sure you know whether it's left or right hand thread. The stud will be marked "L" or "R". Stu