Most of the articles here are success stories of challenges overcome – like the previous article on This Blows: the Vacuum Side. It doesn’t always work that way.
I’ve spent the last week re-installing the exhaust system to put in the small mufflers that replace the temporary sections of straight pipe. This was also the time to install the new rear sway bar and make sure the exhaust fit around it.
The Imperial has been snow locked the last couple of months with large piles of snow in front of the workshop. We finally had a warm spell which melted enough snow to get the car out.
So, time to drive the car around the block and test all the work from the last couple of months!
The engine still isn’t running well. Rough and not much power.
There is a lot of noise from the exhaust – banging and scraping sounds. And it sounds and smells like there is a significant exhaust leak under the hood. This is frustrating after spending time trying to make sure everything in the exhaust fit.
I need a new speedometer cable. Right now I’m using the original two piece speedometer cable which runs through the AutoPilot cruise control. The cruise control had to be disassembled because it interfered with the new dual master cylinder for the brakes. Part of the body of the cruise control remains, doing nothing but holding the gears that connect the two speedometer cables. And it is in the way of several projects I’d like to do.
I’ve been trying to get a new one piece speedometer cable for a non cruise control car since last July. The first source wasn’t able to deliver after several months. The backup source for a used cable doesn’t have any. Looks like I get to do a complete restart on finding a cable.
Despite having a rebuilt power brake booster there is absolutely no boost for the brakes. The brakes themselves feel fine – after repeatedly bleeding them there is a high, firm pedal. Which requires pressing yourself into the seat as hard as you can to stop. All of the troubleshooting hasn’t found a cause for this.
The car may be running hot. The temperature gauge went up to 3/4; in the past it only went to about 1/2. Need to look into this. Simplest cause would be an air bubble in the cooling system. Do I feel lucky?
It looks like it is time to step away from the workshop for a couple of days.
The heater control switch mentioned in a previous article has two functions: electrical switching and switching vacuum actuators used to control the air doors in the heater.
Testing the vacuum actuators requires running the car – which I’ve been reluctant to do in the middle of winter. Yesterday hit 50 degrees, so time to open the workshop door and start the engine. Unfortunately I couldn’t drive the car anywhere – there is still over a foot of snow in front of the workshop.
The engine started easily. After letting it warm up a bit I tried the heater. Success! Or at least partial success. Some of the vacuum actuators worked fine. Others were stiff; hopefully this is just due to lack of use.
The actuator that controls the outside air door doesn’t seem to be working; I need to troubleshoot this one further.
But the good news is that I have working heat and defrost with proper control of the air doors, fan, and temperature control. And there was much rejoicing!
The air doors for the air conditioner also seem to be working. The next steps for AC are to rebuild the AC compressor, get new hoses, and charge the system. With any luck I will have working AC by the time I need it.
I’ve mentioned once or twice that the website Garage Journal is a source of inspiration and information for many of the things that I’ve done building the workshop. I’ve also mentioned that Garage Journal has cost me a lot of money.
One of the recent threads on Garage Journal mentioned that Grainger is having a closeout sale on a number of fasteners with extremely low prices. And they included a link.
So I “innocently” followed that link. And discovered closeout prices of 80%-90%+ off of regular prices. And the regular prices are pretty good.
So I started going through the closeout section in detail. Here is the result:
No, that isn’t the whole order. It looks like about 3/4 of it. A collection of bolts and socket head cap screws in stainless steel, Grade 5, and black oxide ranging from 1/4″ to 3/4″.
That fastener storage cabinet I just finished? Not big enough. Fortunately all of the new bolts are in bulk boxes, so I can stash them on a shelf.
The previous article More Workshoppery Storage covered updates to the workshop. Now lets get back to working on the car.
When I got the Imperial the heater blower was dead. No matter how the switches were set the fan didn’t move – didn’t even twitch! So “make the heater blow” was added to the (steadily growing) list of tasks.
When doing repairs on the firewall I had to pull the heater plenum out. This was convenient, as pulling the plenum is the first step in checking and replacing the fan motor.
Heater Plenum (glovebox removed).
With the plenum on the workbench undoing three bolts removed the motor. The motor was shot – almost locked up and plenty of play in the bearings. Directly applying 12V to the motor leads produced no movement. OK, need a new motor.
Which lead to the usual situation: New motors aren’t available. 60 year old used motors probably aren’t in much better shape. Fortunately, the Internet had an article claiming that a compatible motor had been used on certain heavy trucks through the mid-1980’s and had a part number for it. I tracked down the part number online, ordered one, and put it on the shelf (this was two years ago).
It was now time to re-install the HVAC system. I found the plenum (with new motor installed!), hoses, and other miscellaneous pieces and laid them out on the workbench.
First step: check voltage on the connector to the blower motor. Yup, 0 volts – just like the last time I checked two years ago. Print out copies of the wiring diagrams from the factory service manual, dig out a set of colored pencils, and start identifying and tracing the wiring.
It quickly became obvious that a job I dreaded was required: remove the heater control switch from the dashboard. On most cars – at least most cars of the era – the heater control switch is fairly accessible. On the 1963 Imperial it is buried in one of the instrument panel wings. Deeply buried.
Heater Switch
After donating modest amounts of blood while blindly fumbling deep into the unfinished sheetmetal in the back of the dash I had the switch out and on the workbench.
There are 5 electrical connectors on the back of the switch, in addition to 7 vacuum lines. The switch controls power to the the blower motor as well as the AC compressor. A separate switch, built into the WARM lever on the right side of the wing, controls the blower speed. The question was what controlled what, what worked, and what was broken? The blower speed switch was fairly obvious: after applying electrical contact cleaner it worked properly.
The main heater switch, on the other hand, didn’t make sense. I ended up creating a spreadsheet and checking connectivity between all possible combinations of the 5 electrical terminals and mapping this to the wiring diagram. It wasn’t clear from the wiring diagram exactly everything was connected, but it looked like the part that controlled blower power was dead.
At this point, looking through a different part of the factory service manual, I found the diagram I was looking for that explained everything:
With this diagram everything made sense. There are two separate power leads going directly to the fuse box and two separate circuits: one for the AC compressor and one for the blower motor. With the testing that I had done it was clear that the blower motor circuit was indeed stone cold dead. A new switch was needed.
To repeat an overly familiar refrain, this part is no longer available. 60 year old used parts will be questionable. A check of Ebay showed that some NOS (New Old Stock, 60 year old unused parts) were available. For $300-$500.
More searching on the Internet showed that this basic switch had been used in many Chrysler cars for almost 20 years. There were about ten different part numbers that were (largely) compatible. Time to start searching on all the different part numbers. Amazingly there is an OER – Original Equipment Reproduction – part available! An OER part is one that is a new reproduction of an old part that is an exact replacement. This part, OER-3895790, was actually available from multiple sources and was “only” $120.
When the new switch showed up I grabbed the multimeter and tested it. Power for both compressor and blower motor on exactly the pins indicated from the electrical diagram!
Re-assemble the switch plate and re-install it in the dashboard. Again with only a modest donation of blood. Hook up all of the electrical connections, grab the multimeter, and check voltage at the blower motor connector. Zero volts.
What The?!? Oh, right, the car has to be turned on. Dig out keys, turn car on, and check again. Zero volts.
Again, What The?!? Oh, right, the heater switch is OFF. Punch in AC and try again. 12V on the AC compressor and 0V on the blower motor.
OK, back to basics. Unplug the connectors to the switch and check supply voltage to the switch. 12V on AC compressor and 0V on blower motor. Krud, time to troubleshoot the wiring harness.
Since this wire is supposed to go directly to the fusebox there shouldn’t be any chance for a problem. The fuse checked out as good, so time to drop the fusebox. And look at wire C1, Black with a White Tracer, power for blower motor, hanging in mid air. It had pulled out of the fusebox. I recalled that this wire had been tight with I re-wired the fusebox. Apparently too tight. OK, splice in a 6″ extension and re-connect to the fusebox.
Now back to the blower connector: with Car ON and heater switch in AC I now had 12V on both AC compressor and blower motor! Next step, temporarily connect the blower motor and check it. It spins! In LOW, MEDIUM, and HI! Check all of the settings on the switch: Off, MaxAC, FreshAC, Heat and defrost – all work as they should. And there was much rejoicing!
As a bonus, one of the problems with the heater was that the buttons weren’t illuminated. There is an electro-luminescent (WL) panel next to the buttons that is supposed to light them up. The one on the opposite side of the dash for the transmission buttons worked, but the heater didn’t light up. I checked the power for the EL panel, and it showed 132V AC (should be 200V, but that is a topic for another day). When I pulled the switch assembly out I discovered that the connector for the EL panel wasn’t plugged in. OK, this is too easy, but I’ll try it anyway. Plug the connector back in, turn the lights on, and the panel glows! Easiest repair yet. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to fall.
Re-installing the heater plenum and reconnecting the vacuum lines were merely difficult. I need to check correct operation of the vacuum operated heater doors, but will save that for a warmer day.
Check this one off the list and move on to the AC plumbing under the hood.
Workshop Note
The temperature the last few weeks has ranged from near zero to the low 30’s. The workshop is now a comfortable place to work! I’m setting the heat low at night, allowing it to drop down to 38-40 degrees, and turning it up in the morning. It takes a couple of hours to get to a comfortable level, and then maintains that temperature with no difficulty. I keep it in the mid to high 50’s while working. No more complaints about winter in the workshop!
In the last article on Workshoppery Storage we got started on this vital work for the workshop to really be usable. The latest project is more storage for the workshop. Unfortunately, at the end of this project I’m at the point where I actually have plenty of storage and need to focus on organizing and storing everything into the storage…
Parts Cabinet
I’ve grown fond of storage cases – the cases of bins that are fantastic for storing nuts and bolts and similar small parts.
Parts storage case
Speaking of nuts and bolts, I’ve started buying them in bulk – quantities of 25-100 from places like Bolt Depot and by the pound from Tractor Supply. This is much cheaper than buying small quantities from the local hardware store or big box store. Each storage case is filled with a single size of bolt, like 1/4-20, in multiple lengths, as well as nuts and washers. It is surprisingly easy to fill up a storage case with a single size of bolt!
And the different types of fasteners accumulate: Bolts in 1/4-20, 5/16-18, 3/8-16, and 7/16-14. A collection of 3/8-16 bolts in Grade 8. How about 1/4-20, 5/16-18 and a few 3/8-16 bolts in Black Oxide? Can’t forget the Machine Screws in #6, #8, and #10. As well as a few machine screws in #12. Also can’t forget the assortment of sheet metal screws. And assorted special parts like fuses and adapters.
The result is eight or ten of the parts cases stacked on top of each other. The one you need is either in the middle of the stack or on the bottom, meaning that you have to play Tower of Hanoi to get the case you need. Many times you need two or three different sizes of bolts, meaning multiple chances to play the stacking game. You have to find someplace to put the case so that you can open it – and it seems that the case is always trying to fall on the floor and scatter bolts everywhere. Did I mention that I’ve overloaded most of the cases, so they have 12-15 pounds of bolts?
And, of course, I need more of these storage cases!
This lead to a set of requirements:
Store 20 of the parts cases.
Easy access to the parts cases.
Direct access to each case without moving any other cases.
A dedicated place to open the cases.
The obvious solution is a rack of shelves sized for the parts cases. I considered several alternatives. I really wanted to make it out of laser-cut steel with drawers for each case, but the cost was prohibitive.
The ultimate design was a cabinet frame made of 3/4″ plywood with 1/2″ plywood shelves sitting in routed grooves. Yes, this is overkill – but remember the overloaded cases. Five feet high supports exactly 20 parts cases and a set of casters let’s me put it wherever is convenient.
Routing 40 precisely measured grooves for the shelves was a considerable concern – until I realized that I could make a T-square jig out of scrap and bolt it to my work table.
Routing Jig for Parts Cabinet
The jig makes sure that everything is square and accurate. Screwing the two cabinet sides together ensures that they are aligned. An alignment mark on the side of the jig eliminates measurement – route a slot, pull out the cabinet sides until the routed slot aligns with the mark, route the next slot, and repeat until done. Easy and accurate!
After routing the grooves in the cabinet sides it was straightforward to assemble the cabinet, slide the shelves into place, attach casters to the bottom, and load up the parts cases.
I installed a pair of full extension drawer slides for one of the shelves, providing a pull-out shelf to place one of the storage cases on when getting parts out of it.
Parts Cabinet
The cabinet easily absorbed all of the parts cases I have. All that is left is to get more parts cases. And parts to go in them!
Cleanliness
Welding, grinding, painting, and woodwork all produce dust and grime that gets on everything. This is part of the reason all of the recent storage is closed – to try to keep the contents clean.
So it was time to add doors to the original storage cabinets. These are the two 8′ tall cabinets that were built several years ago – one shallow and one deep.
In the previous article on Workshoppery the workshop was insulated, sheetrocked, and painted. With the walls finished it was time to start on storage. Actually storage and organization – I need to not only store things but to be able to find them, to get to them during projects, and to easily return them to organized storage. Ongoing pain points included storage for large items, tool and supplies storage, and materials storage.
I also wanted a few luxury features: a good sound system and a computer that were protected from shop dust and grime.
The Big Cabinet
Big shelves and deep shelves are required for a lot of the tools, materials, and collections I have. However, big and deep shelves mean things shoved to the back where they are difficult to find and access. Plus open shelves allow shop dust and grime to get all over everything.
The answer is a big cabinet with half shelves and half drawers. Big means 8 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. With doors!
Big Cabinet
The bottom half is drawers and the top half is shelves. Two of the drawers are designed for stereo and laptop computer.
Big Cabinet showing drawers below and shelves above
This was the first time I had built drawers and was “a bit of a learning experience”… The cabinet and drawer sides are made of 3/4″ plywood. The drawer bottoms are 1/2” plywood set into routed grooves. This is probably overkill (hey, there’s a first time for everything!), but these will be heavily loaded. The drawers use full extension heavy duty slides, allowing them to be pulled out completely so that you can get to the back.
The jackstands in the botom drawers have been a nuisance for a long time – they are one of the reasons for building this cabinet. These jackstands weigh 15-20 lbs each. They are in the way, easy to trip over, and painful to kick. I can now get to them easily when I need them and store them out of the way when I don’t.
The laptop is in a pull-out drawer where it is easy to get to when needed and protected from the rest of the shop when not in use. The laptop is a 12 year old unit that still works fine for browsing the Internet and looking up things when needed.
Laptop in Big Cabinet
Building this cabinet was a big project but it turned out great – after fixing my various “learning experiences” along the way. Note that if a drawer slide is installed crooked in the cabinet, nothing you do to the drawer will make it fit any better…
Main Workbench
The goal is to have a Steevo Bench, which is named after a build thread on the Garage Journal website, with cabinets above. I’m part way there, so this is a snapshot.
Garage Journal is a truly evil website which has cost me quite a bit of money. Based on feedback of many people I decided that I wanted New Age Pro cabinets. The cabinets went on sale around Thanksgiving and four of the tall wall cabinets somehow showed up in my driveway. That’s not going to do anyone any good, so they needed to be moved to the wall!
I discovered that these are indeed high quality cabinets made out of heavy gauge steel. Which means that they weigh about 80 lbs. Each.
The good news is that they come with wall brackets that you bolt to studs, hang the cabinets from the brackets, and then bolt the cabinets themselves to the studs. I had already planned out this job, so I hung the cabinets from the handy engine hoist, raised them to the needed height, and observed the front legs of the hoist hit the wall while the cabinet was still a foot away.
The lifting point on an engine hoist is behind the front wheels. This is necessary to keep the back of the hoist from coming off the ground when lifting heavy objects. If you are lifting light objects you don’t need the hoist…
Time to add an extension to the hoist. Trying various available materials I discovered that a 2×3″ stud fit perfectly into the main tube of the hoist. Dig a 6′ piece of 2×3 out of the materials pile, bolt it to the hoist, and bolt the lifting hook from the hoist to the end of the stud. This worked perfectly to lift each cabinet to the needed height, position it, slip it over the brackets, and gently lower it into place.
Hoist with extension placing cabinets
The plan was to build a ten foot workbench with a 1/4″ steel top around two 44″ Harbor Freight tool cabinets. I had been waiting for the Black Friday sale to get the tool cabinets. Unfortunately they only had one in stock, so I now have one cabinet in the workshop and one cabinet on order.
Working up the parts list for the workbench I discovered that steel prices are quite high. Some research revealed that there is a major shortage of steel right now, causing near record high prices. Yes, another COVID-19 impact. Steel supply is expected to catch up with demand in the first quarter of 2021, so I decided to put off the workbench until prices go down.
Another thing I wanted for the workbench was some pegboard on the wall – but I wanted something better than regular pegboard. Wall Control makes steel pegboard that looks good, so I ordered enough to go under the wall cabinets and on the big corner cabinet.
This brings us to where we are today:
Workbench in Progress
The speakers are some 35 year old Boston Acoustics A150s that had been in the basement for years. They sound great but were too big and had been replaced with smaller speakers. I had been brainstorming various types of wall mounts for them but then realized that these heavy duty cabinets will work just fine to hold them up.
The receiver shown in an earlier picture is an old Nakamichi AV8. It sounds great but became obsolete when HDMI replaced S-Video for TV equipment. It had also been in the basement for years. The tablet is an old HP tablet that supports Micro-SD cards – throw in a cheap 64GB SD card and it holds an entire music collection. No, the tablet wasn’t in the basement. It was in the bottom of a desk drawer. The result is a “free” workshop sound system with considerable authority.
Materials Storage
Materials storage ranging from 4′ x 8′ panels of plywood and steel to 8′ studs to shorter and smaller pieces of wood and metal has been an ongoing problem – they were scattered all over the place, piled in inconvenient places, and always in the way. One of the construction projects was to build storage for these.
Materials Storage Cart
This cart stores a wide range of material, rolls to where it is needed, and can be placed in an out of the way location. I’m no longer tripping over scrap, looking for pieces I might or might not have, or fighting large sheets!
It’s been a while since the last update. Further, there has been absolutely no progress on the car. Which is not to say there has been no progress!
You will recall regular whining every winter about the workshop being too cold. As well as whining about lack of storage and general complaints about organization and overall work environment.. And regular pronouncements of “I have to get this place insulated and sheetrocked!”. And organized. And generally cleaned up.
I was finally directed by She Who Must Be Obeyed to “just get some people to come in and get it done”.
The workshop was framed with 2×6, so we were looking at R19 insulation for the walls, R49 for the ceiling, and 5/8″ fire rated drywall. Yes, the workshop will end up better built and better insulated than the house. I asked the contractor who originally built the workshop for recommendations for good insulation and sheetrock people, called them, and got estimates. Expensive, but all the indications were that they could do a good job. Time to arrange a transfusion for the checkbook, schedule the work, and start Project Workshop Interior.
Unfortunately the first step in the project was to completely strip the workshop down to bare studs and empty it out. Everything had to come down off the walls. Everything had to be moved somewhere else – the garage, the shed, and the basement received most of the piles.
I scheduled two weeks for workshop cleanout and prep. By working long hours I actually managed to finish up the day before work was supposed to start! In addition to taking things out, the gable ends needed to be framed out to make the end walls flat from floor to ceiling. More CAT6 networking cable needed to be run – I ended up with 12 Ethernet ports in the workshop. This may be overkill, but it is convenient to have networking where you need it.
For organization, sanity, and being able to find things, the best place to store the Imperial parts was on the car – so the car had to go back together. Bumpers had to be installed, large quantities of trim had to be installed, the hood had to go back on, and various other parts and pieces had to be located and bolted back on. After all of this the car was backed out of the workshop and covered with a car cover for the duration of the project.
A number of things had to stay in the workshop. Fortunately these were on wheels so they could be moved around as needed by the construction crews.
Workshop Cleaned Up/Out and ready for insulation
The insulation crew filled the walls with Fiberglas insulation. They then added baffles between the soffit and the roof, stapled a cloth backer to the bottom of the roof trusses, and blew 15″ of cellulose insulation into the attic.
When the inspector showed up the conversation could have gone badly:
Inspector: “First of all, I see a bunch of new work electrical boxes but no electrical work on the permit”.
Me: “All the electrical work was on an earlier permit”.
Inspector, checking records online: “There is an electrical permit from July for a generator interlock but nothing about wiring”.
Me: “Check the one before that”.
Inspector: “OK, here is a permit from 2017 for electrical service, electrical panel, and general wiring of the workshop. It is completely signed off with rough and final inspections. Looks like you are good to go on the electrical”.
The sheetrock people told me that all of the lights and electrical covers had to be removed. The wall outlets weren’t bad, but taking down the lights from the 16 foot high cathedral ceiling was work. When the sheetrock crew showed up to drop off staging and supplies they told me that taking the covers off the electrical outlets was a good start, but that the actual outlet had to be removed from each box to allow them to cut out around the boxes for the sheetrock and to apply the plaster.
Of course I have 28 electrical outlets and 7 network outlets in the workshop. A long evening was spent removing all of these.
I’m always amazed at how fast a professional sheetrock crew is. Two people came in and did the entire workshop – a 28′ x 28′ building with 11′ high walls, 16′ cathedral ceiling, over 40 outlets of various types, with heavy 5/8″ drywall (120 lbs per sheet) – in ONE DAY!
Common practice in New England is to skim coat the walls with plaster rather than just mudding the seams. It took four days for the plaster team to finish. The final result was great – flat walls ready for paint. Well, after letting the plaster dry for 4-5 days…
Finished plaster walls with cutouts for 110V, 220V, and network. Some people think I have more outlets than are absolutely necessary. I don’t agree.
I got a quote for painting that was over 3X what it would cost me to do it myself. The quote was for 2 coats of white on the ceiling and 2 coats of off-white on the walls. I wanted something a bit nicer than that. And I wanted help with all of the high work on electrical, lighting, and heating.
Step 1: rent a scissor lift.
Scissor Lift
This particular lift will go up to 19 feet tall, so it easily handles the 16′ cathedral ceiling in the workshop. The working platform is about 8′ long giving plenty of room to work. The lift goes to exactly the location and height needed, enabling you to paint huge areas in little time.
With the scissor lift in the workshop it was time to:
Apply 8 coats of paint (primer and two coats of Ceiling White to the ceiling, primer and two coats of light gray to the walls, and two coats of darker gray to the lower walls.
Re-install all of the electrical outlets, including the 7 in the ceiling.
Re-hang the 4′ LED shop lights. Upgrade from the original 10 lights to 16 lights making the shop much brighter.
Re-hang the ceiling fan.
Re-hang the heater from the ceiling.
This would have been almost impossible to do from a ladder. After this experience I will always get a lift for large jobs!
One other thing – I had seen pictures of two tone paint jobs with a red dividing stripe that look really sharp. It turns out that you can get vinyl stripes – the same vinyl used for outdoor signs – for $50 for a 100′ roll. These install quickly and easily, taking less than a half hour for all four walls.
Do the trim around the windows and the door and you end up with a finished workshop ready for for further customization.
Finished Workshop
I’m quite happy with how this turned out! More updates to come on storage, new equipment, and arranging an effective working environment.
In the Electrical 3: Bulkheading we replaced the factory connector with a new more modern design. Like the bulkhead connector, the fusebox under the dash is is old and crufty.
Old FuseboxOld Fusebox rear view
In addition to rust and using old style glass fuses, this old fusebox only supports 6 circuits. This makes it difficult to add new electrical devices. In addition, some circuits are outside this fusebox. For example, the power windows and power seat are on a separate subsystem.
I’m replacing this with a Bussmann Series 15305-1 fuseblock. This includes dual power busses, space for 20 automotive fuses, and is designed for Metri-Pack 280 series connectors. An interesting aspect of the Metri-Pack 280 is that the connectors are the same size as automotive mini fuses. This means that automotive mini fuses can be plugged directly into Metri-Pack 280 female connectors. Using the Bussmann fuse block all you have to do is install a Metri-Pack connector onto the end of a wire and insert the wire into the fuse block and then you can plug in a fuse. Each power buss in the 15305 is capable of handling 100 amps and each fuse can be up to 30 amps.
Bussmann 15305 20 position Metri-Pack compatible fuse block
The power busses are connected to the new bulkhead connector described in a previous post. It is currently using the factory wiring configuration; ultimately each bus will be supplied by 3 wires and capable of delivering 60 amps of power.
The process of wiring the new fuse block is the same as wiring the bulkhead connector: Start by building a diagram of circuits.
Interiof Fuseblock
Using this plan I then went through the process of cutting the wires, adding labels and new connectors, and then plugging into the new fuseblock.
The power seat and power window wires were removed from the existing circuit breaker, terminated into a WeatherPack 3 circuit male connector, and three new 12ga lines were run from the new fuseblock (F-2, W-1, and W2B in the diagram above) to a WeatherPack 3 circuit female connector (shown here disconnected).
There are now plenty of extra circuits available. After connecting all of the factory wiring I added four additional circuits for future use. Each of these is 1′ long and has a Metri-Pack 280 series female connector installed. I can wire in new devices by putting a Metri-Pack connector on their power line, plugging it into one of the open wires, and adding the appropriate fuse. This avoids having to remove the fuseblock to get to the back side to add a new circuit.
If needed I can add an additional seven switched devices and five unswitched devices – this should provide plenty of expansion capability!
There was one special case: the instrument cluster lighting is on a dimmer circuit which changes voltage – this circuit can’t be connected directly to a power bus. I connected each side of the instrument cluster lighting to a Metri-Pack 280 series female connector and plugged in the specified 1 amp fuse. It is really convenient building fused circuits using the Metri-Pack system.
In the previous article Electrical 2: Grounded we started the electrical work with perhaps the most overlooked part of automotive wiring.
Perhaps the greatest weakness in the electrical system of older cars is the bulkhead connector that connects the engine compartment to the rest of the car. Unlike modern bulkhead connectors, these old connectors were not sealed – this leads to corrosion in the connector which increases resistance, reduces voltage, and leads to a wide range of problems.
The problem is made even worse by undersized wiring which is also corroding and likely to have cracking insulation.
Imperial bulkhead connectorBulkhead with connector unplugged
In this second picture you can see the corrosion inside the bulkhead connector. Surprisingly the wiring insulation is still in good shape. The red and black wires are power and ground and are 12ga – this is marginal for today’s electrical loads.
Modern cars use waterproof sealed electrical connections. Examples of this include Weather-Pack, Metri-Pack, and Deutsch. I decided to use Metri-Pack and Weather-Pack which are widely available and “reasonable” cost.
Weather-Pack connectors are rated at 20 amps. Different models of Metri-Pack are rated at 14 to 60 amps per connector; I’m using the Metri-Pack 280 family, which is rated at 30 amps per connector. Unfortunately Metri-Pack is not available in high pin count bulkhead connectors.
The best choice is the Weather-Pack 22 Position Bulkhead Connector. This is a sealed bulkhead connector that supports 22 connections. Using an adapter plate it fits into the same space as the factory bulkhead connector, meaning that it isn’t necessary to cut the firewall.
Weather-Pack 22 Position Sealed Bulkhead Connector
As mentioned, the Weather-Pack connections are only good for 20 amps. I really need more power than this. The factory bulkhead connector only has 18 connections – this means 4 connections are available for other use.
I will be using two of these to provide switched power and two to provide unswitched. Combined with the factory circuits (one for switched and one for unswitched) this will give me three 20 amp circuits – which provides 60 amps total power delivery – for both switched and unswitched power.
Installing the Weather-Pack bulkhead connector was a tedious process. For each wire:
Identify wire and circuit. Cross check terminal location and wire color against factory service manual.
Double check identity of wire and circuit.
Create 2 labels for wire. This identifies the circuit and use.
Cut wire from the old bulkhead connector.
Slip label over wire.
Slip Weather-Pack seal over wire.
Strip end of wire.
Crimp Weather-Pack terminal onto wire.
Use heat gun to shrink the label.
Move on to next wire
At the end of this process you have 44 wires ready to plug into the connector shells. It is critical to get the same wire plugged into both sides of the connector – crossing wires is a bad thing. To make it more entertaining the two halves of the connector are done separately and are mirror images of each other.
The way to avoid problems is to have a map of the connectors showing where each wire goes. A spreadsheet is a surprisingly good tool for this.
Start by listing all of the circuits on the factory bulkhead connector. Include connector pin location, circuit number, wire color, and wire size. Also include a description of the circuit. Looking forward, plan which pin location on the Weather-Pack connector will be used.
Bulkhead Connector Wiring Diagram
Spreadsheets are square and the Weather-Pack bulkhead connector is round. The answer is to visually map spreadsheet cells to the round bulkhead. In fact, do this twice – once for both male and female connectors.
Weather-Pack Bulkhead Connector Pin Map
This map shows the location of each pin and the identity of each pin – each pin is identified by a letter which is the same on both the male and female connectors. Each wire is labled with the circuit number and description.
The process is to start at the bottom of the connector, find the wire that goes in that location, and insert it into the connector until it locks into place. Then find the next wire and insert it. Double check to ensure that you have the right wire and the right pin location. Continue this process until you have plugged in all of the wires.
After completing the first connector do the same thing on the other connector – making sure you are using the correct diagram, male or female!
At the end of this process you will have a new sealed bulkhead connector installed in the firewall with all circuits labeled.
The first article Electrical 1: Shocking Developments introduced our strategy for upgrading the electrical system. Time to get to work implementing that strategy!
As Captain Obvious has observed, electrical systems consist of two parts: power and ground. While power is obvious (pun intended), ground is often an afterthought. This makes the ground system a logical place to start for building a reliable electrical system.
The challenge with ground is that it uses the body and frame to provide an electrical path, often with poor connections. These connections are barely adequate when new and degrade over time. The battery ground is connected to the engine block, providing high current power to the starter. The engine block is then connected to the firewall with a single ground wire and a small screw. Various electrical components around the car are then grounded to the body.
Several months ago, as part of general preparation, I welded two bolts to the frame – one near the firewall ground point and one near the battery. This provides solid electrical connections to the frame with no chance of corrosion, making a high quality ground available to the entire car.
I then had two heavy duty ground wires custom made by GenuinedealZ. These ground wires were made from 4 gauge (4ga) tin-plated solid copper wire with heavy duty terminals and adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. What does all this mean?
Solid copper wire is a better conductor and stronger than aluminum or copper coated aluminum (CCA) wire. Low cost wiring is often CCA, which doesn’t hold up under severe service. Since copper wire by itself can corrode, a tin coating is used where it is likely to get wet. Tin coated wire is often called marine grade as it holds up to the harsh conditions encountered in marine use. Areas of a car that are exposed to moisture, such as under hood use, are good places to use marine grade wire.
Factory ground wires are often 12ga or perhaps 10ga if you are lucky, which was adequate in the 1960’s. As a point of comparison, 4ga wire was often used for the high current starter. When ordering these custom cables the cost difference between 8ga and 4ga is less than $1.00 per foot, so it makes sense to upgrade.
Heavy duty terminals, also made of tin coated copper, are sized for their application. In this case I have 1/4″ bolts for the frame ground and firewall ground and 3/8″ bolts for connecting to the engine block. One cable goes from the frame ground to the firewall bolt and the other goes from the firewall bolt to the engine block.
Sealing electrical components from moisture is a key to long life. Heat shrink tubing provides mechanical and electrical connection. Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing has a heat sensitive glue on the inside. When heated this adhesive melts and forms a waterproof bond. Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing is the standard for marine applications and is great for automotive applications.
The screw connecting the original ground wire to the firewall has been replaced by a 1/4″ bolt through the firewall. The firewall was sanded clean around the bolt hole for a good electrical connection, then the bolt was run through the two new grounding wires. After this the area around the bolt was sealed. Inside the car a 10ga grounding wire was attached to the bolt – this wire will be attached to a grounding block under the dash.
A dedicated ground line was run from the negative terminal of the battery to the other grounding bolt on the frame. This is currently a 10ga wire – it will be upgraded to a 4ga wire the next time I order custom cables. This grounding point will also be used by the power distribution box planned for high current loads like headlights.
The net result of all of this is a very solid ground system to support the rest of the electrical system. The existing body ground has been improved, which will help in general. Solid electrical connections of the body to the frame, engine block, and battery negative terminal will eliminate many potential problems. Using grounding blocks and dedicated ground wires for high current use cases will further improve electrical performance.
While not as exciting as other work, starting with the grounding system is key to electrical success.
Introducing the Imperial Deathstar, a black 1963 Chrysler Imperial. This is one of the largest production sedans ever built, and arguably the best luxury car of its day.
Join me what will probably be a never-ending saga of grease, aching muscles, and an empty wallet as I work to restore this over 50 year old survivor to a reliable cruiser.
