I went to look at the potential donor truck for my main disconnect wiring harness.

CS65: This truck does not have the ALT and Oil guages, but does have the emergency flasher. The light is mounted through the steel in the cluster bezel to the right of the speedometer, but not in the circle for the Oil guage.

There is no motor (or hood) so access to the engine side of the firewall would be easier than in my truck. There was also a washer fluid bag on the fender apron, but I didn't notice the switch in the cab.

The ignition key was present and from the feel of it, the ignition switch wiring is intact. Access to this truck is pretty limited, especially on the drivers side. Its got close by trees and considerable over growth. Plenty of poison ivy everywhere.

I'm pretty concerned about the insulation piercing connectors for after market wiring. I think the punctures could be "filled" or packed with a small amount of silicon and be air/water tight and virtually unnoticeable, since they're under the dash.

CS65: Can you see the pad you're interested in? I know its not a good picture. Someone spay painted the interior red and there is noticeable overspray on the wire harness and little on the firewall pad. It might clean up. This pad didn't look too bad. I saw one split about 1 inch long starting at the top near center of the truck. The one in my truck is nicer, but this one isn't bad. It would be a substantial effort to get the pad out.

I'm undecided about the harness and looking for advise. I would like to pick up the flashers, washer and seat belt options that this truck has. Not sure if the seatbelts are original. How would I tell? The truck also has the horn that is missing from my truck. The guy said I could just have it (I think he meant if I bought the harness).

Thanks all.

 

Ick...poison ivy....I would hack that back first off and get as much access as you can as the bulk of it is done on the driver side...you can slide over to the left from the pass. side but flipping yourself under when needed would be a real pain if not impossible depending on how big/small you are. However once you get the cluster out and out of the way you can pretty much see everything thru this huge hole.
The truck not having the extra alt/oil press. gauges isnt any worry as far as swapping...but...before you get carried away, undo the main disconnects and inspect them for the same issues you are dealing with...if they are strong then proceed. One other thing to be cautious of...if the trucks windows have been down or out or broken or whatnot look over the harness as you can to look for whatever rain/moisturer may have gotten to it. If the truck has been closed up as far as door glass and windshield, it should be ok...but as i said, look over the disconnect plugs and pins.
As for the pad...it is a tedious piece to remove...the dash essentially gets gutted to the bone. But what I see in pic is okay, how is the rest of it going over to the passenger side ??? They typically split vertically where the firewall curves inward to the inside of cab at trans hump area.

Keep me posted :-)

- cs65

 

CS65: (others welcome to read)

I made it back to the donor truck this past Sat. I got more better photos of the firewall mat for you. Their high resolution. I could dumb them down and post them here or email them to you. You'd be best served by the high resolution if you really want an idea of what it's like.


I had to move a substantial log off the left fender to get good access to the firewall (engine side). Many vines around it, but none were poison ivy. I pulled the main disconnects appart and found the clips and had them through the firewall in short order. If I hadn't known about the clips going in, who knows? Read that as thanks .

So started on the instrument cluster, concerned about the ignition boot. All was well, and got the dash controls and instruments disconnected, including the 4-way flasher that wasn't part of the notes you provided.

Pulled the boot off the high-beam switch and realized I need to pull that wire up from behind the mat you're interested in. The two certainly have the potential to damage each other in this process, so I decided to loosen the emergency brake handle from the firewall to allow the wire to move with less/no resistence.

This meant that I had to return to the engine side of the firewall. I loosened the nuts on the brake mount, went back under the dash, but the bracket wasn't coming off the mat/firewall. Hammer in hand I gave the nuts each a little rap...nothing.

At that moment I remember that I needed to push the wires from the brake light switch back through the firewall. The gromet was gone. I pulled the boots off the switch and discovered that only one went to the firewall. The other was wired into the under hood wire harness. The second wire coming from the firewall was just cut off.

This isn't what I was expecting. And obviously, this harness has been compremised. The questions starting running through my mind: Is it still worth anything? How bad off is it really? How hard would it be to untape this harness and mine and tape the good parts of both back into a single good one? I decided to stop feeding the ravenous misquitos and take some time to think about it.

I got my missing driver's side horn and a nice pair seatbelts (but only 3 mounting bolts...4th one was already gone) for $10. And the photos of the mat. So not all was lost. I haven't played with the horn yet, but the belts are cleaned and installed.

 

Im glad all went relatively well for you...I had forgotten about the high beam switch wiring...many I have seen had it run behind the pad, but after the fasteners for the pad so it could be snaked out in my experience. The brake light switch wires...If thats the only area thats been messed with by a PO, I wouldnt sweat it...in the grand scheme of things, thats an easy fix and easily accessible too from both sides of the firewall.
As far as the firewall pad pics go, email them to me which you should be able to do as I believe you have enough posts to do that(25).


- cs65

 

I looked at your profile and there was no contact info listed. Where do I look for your email?

 

Haven't been able to pull up your email address. I've got 6 or so fat (high def) pics from various angles of the pad in the donor truck. I'm thinking about not going back for the harness. There's a nice looking one on ebay tonight and it's out and not too much more expensive. Your input on both items is key.

 

I tried to send you an email but I got a msg that says you dont wish others to email you...I saw this by clicking on your nick and checking public profile, to the right a lil bit was a link hi lighted in blue, clicked on that and it said you didnt want to recieve emails but if I wanted to reach you to contact an administrator...


Can you email me or send me pvt msgs as I know I can recieve both...


- cs65

 

I guess I don't have enough posts yet to see your details. Soon...soon.

 

I see with that reply that you now have 25 posts so you SHOULD be able to email me...

- cs65

 

HER IS A LINK TO A WIRING HARNESS ON EBAY CHEAP RIGHT KNOW.

eBay Motors: 1965 FORD F 100 Truck Fuse Box & Wiring Harnesses (item 190259546561 end time Oct-19-08 18:33:52 PDT)