Greywolf II - "Dusty"

[Greywolf]

It's together and running again, more stuff needs to be done. Around 3:30 AM I sat down and built a wire harness for the radio, and figured out what to do about a satnav (Magellan) and power center for USB and accessories. (more about that later). I went on from there and got it all back and running by 6PM.

Still no tach, the column is still a worry, but it smells nice inside and the A/C is better than in a friend of mines brand new F-150

[Greywolf]

Strange (Happy Quattro Valve de Julio, by the way), it was raining today: so I set out to the nearby store for some brew since nothing was going to get done today anyhow. The tach began to work, as if whatever Gremlins had been messing with it packed up and went home...

Must have been Redcoats. hmmmmmm

I also found why the left front corner marker light wasn't lighting, corrosion on the contacts... I'll have to get on top of that once the weather clears - my solution is to use an emery board or sandpaper to clean the contacts, and then give them a light coat of petroleum jelly.

Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) repels water, lubricates the socket, and does not prevent electrical conduction on what it is applied to.


After twenty five years, none of this is at all surprising. 1991 to 2016 - I think the car is entitled to some 'Arthritic' electrical contacts...

[Greywolf]

This is the Voltmeter I'm going to install - it's due in about two days from now:



Advantages here are that I don't have to have a separate wire set to illuminate the gauge


Pretty hot, slick, and cool looking, isn't it?


*Note: for any 2" gauge, you have to allow an extra 1/8" on the hole you cut - so the actual hole is 2 1/8" for a 2" gauge to fit right, this provides 1/16" on each side so that it fits in easily

I can be damned happy only splicing two wires instead of four (including grounds)

It will call for a ground, and one wire to the ignition run/accessory lead. Key on - instant reading of what the battery has got!


And it has a nice price: Less than twenty bucks! I think it was $18.99 (USD)


Best of all - IT'S BLUE :smurf:

[Greywolf]

Gauge arrived - it has a mysterious extra 'green' wire besides the red and black that I assume is because it's a generic harness. I'll set up the wiring tomorrow, it's too late in the day.

[FestYboy]

Likely a dash illumination sense wire.

[Greywolf]

I thought so too - but the rap sheet that came with it was nuts, it only mentions two wires, a red and a black.

I'm guessing that the green wire should be connected to a wire from the dash illumination dimmer switch, but I really don't want to mess around with it at this point, I'll see how it is at night with BLUE in the first place, and down low where it isn't very distracting.

I don't wanna (F) this up when I just got it - so there is a limit to how much experimenting I want to do.

For now I think it's bitchen, and I'm just gonna run with it like that...


FOOTNOTE: To get at the mounting screws for it and deal with it at all, you have to remove the package tray so that you have room to work. It would have been a real pain otherwise. They are very small nuts and washers, until they are tightened down you need lots of room to get in there. A quarter drive socket set is mandatory!

WARNING: DO NOT open the box until you have it in a place where small nuts and washers cannot escape. The hardware may be loose inside the box, and if it falls on your carpet good luck finding them again...
Especially with a shag rug!


Not having the radio installed was also a huge plus.


But hey! Isn't that a perfect spot? I think it's prettier than a barmaid at 2 AM... :fofd:

[Greywolf]

Last note on this: DO NOT force the gauge into a small hole, that's how I ruined the original one. Use a die grinder or something to gradually widen things out until you can slide the gauge in without a problem.

Pressing a gauge into a place it doesn't want to go is a good way to break it.

Be advised that gauges made in China may have very strange and possibly useless advice:

"And you can also for more enjoyable experience perhaps do the following..."

~CUT!
(snip)

Don't let that throw you, just use common sense.


~ "Was I being an asshole? I thought I was - but I wanted to make sure..." :tm:


* I hope you're beginning to "GET" my sense of humor

[Greywolf]

YAY TEAM!!!

I had a good ol' time today running north to Charleston MO to meet William and nab a column for fifty bones
~Here's the trip VID:

"DUSTY" seems to be getting just under 39 MPG at this point, at highway speeds.

This is based on:
140 mile One Way
3.58 Gallons
(Odometer read 137)

[brushhippie]

Like the blue gauge. Cool!

[dliverance]

That's awesome gauge placement. I'm going to have to use that spot for my wideband

[Greywolf]

If you've been following this - I got the power mini-panel in place today. After doing the video it cooled down, and all I have left to do is make the jumper to go from the resetting breaker to the starter positive. I'll show that tomorrow after an errand I have to run in the AM

[Advancedynamix]

That's neat!

[Greywolf]

Summary of July so far:

[Greywolf]

New front pads - and sure enough the caliper slides were rusted and not lubricated:

[Greywolf]

Muchas GOODIES collection amondo!!!

I went back to the source today and rounded up a bunch of whatever was there - sadly - the four or five transaxles thought to be in the rafters of the old shop turned out to be far less than expected. But there was a pair of bonuses I had not expected to find:

A COMPLETE B6 head, and a new in the BOX crankshaft, but for what I don't know yet. All I can tell you right now is that it was the same shop attic I found a "GENIE" Mazda 323 header in. Here's the scoop on video, once I dragged all of the loot home:

There's also a pair of BRAND NEW IN THE BOX brake calipers that I think are base Festiva, and a set of used steering knuckles and rotors that are conspicuously Ford or KIA Aspire (They have studs in the rotor discs, not bolt holes)

Down the hill from it all on a trailer there are two engine blocks that may be workable (for 1.3L) and a complete 1.3L engine. But I want to know where is the rest of the engine the B6 head came from - that is a mystery so far...