derekf.com

2 May 2020
Electrics begin.

Ran the rear brake line.

Also the nutsert/rivnut tool arrived, so I was able to mount the emergency brake cables. This worked pretty well.

Finished cleaning up the inner fenderwells, epoxy primer time.

Think I'd mentioned that the shocks didn't want to fit in the lower control arm holes.

The internet suggested opening up the holes a little, so I did. The J-nuts took up a lot of the space I just added...

... and didn't survive me trying to actually screw things into them.

Plan B: Pull the suspension apart again, weld 5/16" nuts to the LCAs at the holes.

Helpful hint: The round spacers are not so you can get an extra quarter inch of drop; they're so the bolt-heads don't bounce off the shock body. On the other side, I opened up the holes a little and offset the nuts outboard a little, that worked better.

No pic of the welds, because I'm still an abysmal welder.

With this, the front and rear suspensions are both complete.

I found the washer bottle bracket I mentioned repeatedly over the past few weeks! It's right where it should be. Conveniently, that's right in the way of one of the fuse boxes.

Went ahead and cut apart that old exhaust to make it work. No wonder it's so heavy - that's 1/8" thick tubing!

Routing of the parking brake cable things.

After putting the shorter transmission mount in, the tie rod end still hit the oil pan -- by a lot less, but it still hit.

I loosened the bolts for the driver's motor mount and jacked up the car by the back of the pan.

With .105 of a gap there at the engine mount, the tie rod clears by .070.. so I put some .070 washers under the motor mount.

Now I can get this sort of steering angle.

Also just to be sure, I took a die grinder and cleaned up the top of the tie rods just a little bit.

I made some temporary mounts for the spare dashboard, just so when I applied power I'd have a thing for output.

Fun thing I hadn't noticed: this is a Canadian dashboard - it's in kilometers and liters and furlongs and such.

Painted the inner fenders inside and out with that Tractor Supply implement paint. Shiny!

And then I mounted them, because that's what you do.

The Chevette hoses arrived. I am not convinced that these aren't too long; a little worried about this position here, tight turn and maybe heavy bumps?

I got some radiator bushing things. They're "Nolathane", they're nice enough but when they ask if it's big block or small block int this case, there's an actual difference. These fit two of the four locations.

I also ordered an aluminum radiator because the internet told me to.

Next up is wiring.

I'm using mostly the 4th gen F-body harness, but I want to use the 60s headlight switch and AC controls.

Shared my notes on the headlight switch in a previous update (here's a link again), time to start trying to figure out the AC controls.

My switch is crusty, and probably original.

Initial testing only found the wiring used for med 1, med 2, and high.

With the aid of trial and error, and various places on the internet (no link because I didn't get enough info in one place to link it), here's the first pass of detail. There's a different style switch that I found information for (see the right side) but that's not what I have.

My switch - as mentioned - is crusty; the low and off positions were intermittent at best. Hopefully spraying it with electronics cleaner and cycling repeatedly will improve it.

The way it does the AC compressor is strange. The top lever turns on the compressor in Max, Norm, and Heat. This switch - that doesn't actually work on mine - is only connected if the AC door is open (at least that's how it seems like it should work).

Here too, hopefully cleaning will help. I suspect the switch is hard to get and expensive. I suppose it doesn't have to be this kind of switch. I would like to have a better idea of how it's supposed to act though.

Another question that comes to mind is what goes where with the headlights.

High-beam is easy; there's only two prongs on the bulb, but there's three on the low beam.

Dug out the original harness from the car:

High beam is light green. From the back, that goes to the RIGHT side of the low beam bulb.

Low beam is tan. That's the top of the bulb.

Ground is black, go figure, and it's on the remaining pin on the LEFT side of the bulb.

(I'd actually expected the top to be the ground - and if you treat it as ground, you do get light out of the bulb)

Also grabbed the original AC harness so I have the connectors for the stuff above.

So with the inner fenders in place, I can mount the battery.

With the battery mounted, I can apply power to the harness and start trying to figure things out.

Yeah, that didn't go so well.

There were a lot of wires that I identified what they were (remember - I've got a bunch of cut wires, torn wires, crushed connectors, etc.).

With power applied and all the fuses in place, the seatbelt warning lit up on the dashboard (but nothing else). When I turned off the key, I got the "key in ignition with door open" chime.

Then I didn't and I don't know what changed. I could trigger it if I removed the "I/P 2" maxifuse or the IGN relay.

Think I've decided to go ahead and start removing unneeded wires. Also I've decided that the radio wiring - beyond the switched and constant power leads - can also go. When I remove things, I'm going to de-pin them from whereever they were rather than just going nuts with wire cutters. Hopefully I won't remove something I need, but I should be able to re-add if I do. It'll be a lot less daunting without all the fluff.

Most wires will need lengthened, or shortened, or both.

I'd get frustrated and move on to something else, and get frustrated there too.

Apparently when I was putting the brake lines together I was afraid to tighten ANYTHING. Everything leaked. Still does, a little, at the T-fitting up front. Not like this though.

Even after tightening, this one leaks right there at the banjo bolt. New washers, tighter, looser, doesn't matter.

Maybe the bolt is bad. Maybe the hose is bad, or maybe the caliper. At least I already have a spare bolt here, although that seems the least likely reason.

Worked a little on the exhaust - opened up the 2 1/2" side of one of the 2 1/2->3" adapters so it can go on the collector. This will likely work out just fine. That really heavy tubing should weld pretty easy - not like I have to worry about burning through.

Also ran the rest of the fuel line. Hopefully it doesn't leak like the brake lines did.

It looks like I need a thin spacer up front to clear the Corvette calipers with the Soft 8 wheels.

Go back to the previous day (25 Apr 2020)

	Ran the rear brake line.
Also the nutsert/rivnut tool arrived, so I was able to mount the emergency brake cables. This worked pretty well.
	Finished cleaning up the inner fenderwells, epoxy primer time.
Think I'd mentioned that the shocks didn't want to fit in the lower control arm holes.
	The internet suggested opening up the holes a little, so I did. The J-nuts took up a lot of the space I just added...
... and didn't survive me trying to actually screw things into them.
	Plan B: Pull the suspension apart again, weld 5/16" nuts to the LCAs at the holes. Helpful hint: The round spacers are not so you can get an extra quarter inch of drop; they're so the bolt-heads don't bounce off the shock body. On the other side, I opened up the holes a little and offset the nuts outboard a little, that worked better. No pic of the welds, because I'm still an abysmal welder. With this, the front and rear suspensions are both complete.
I found the washer bottle bracket I mentioned repeatedly over the past few weeks! It's right where it should be. Conveniently, that's right in the way of one of the fuse boxes.
	Went ahead and cut apart that old exhaust to make it work. No wonder it's so heavy - that's 1/8" thick tubing!
Routing of the parking brake cable things.
	After putting the shorter transmission mount in, the tie rod end still hit the oil pan -- by a lot less, but it still hit. I loosened the bolts for the driver's motor mount and jacked up the car by the back of the pan. With .105 of a gap there at the engine mount, the tie rod clears by .070.. so I put some .070 washers under the motor mount.
Now I can get this sort of steering angle.
	Also just to be sure, I took a die grinder and cleaned up the top of the tie rods just a little bit.
I made some temporary mounts for the spare dashboard, just so when I applied power I'd have a thing for output. Fun thing I hadn't noticed: this is a Canadian dashboard - it's in kilometers and liters and furlongs and such.
	Painted the inner fenders inside and out with that Tractor Supply implement paint. Shiny!
And then I mounted them, because that's what you do.
	The Chevette hoses arrived. I am not convinced that these aren't too long; a little worried about this position here, tight turn and maybe heavy bumps?
I got some radiator bushing things. They're "Nolathane", they're nice enough but when they ask if it's big block or small block int this case, there's an actual difference. These fit two of the four locations. I also ordered an aluminum radiator because the internet told me to.
	Next up is wiring. I'm using mostly the 4th gen F-body harness, but I want to use the 60s headlight switch and AC controls. Shared my notes on the headlight switch in a previous update (here's a link again), time to start trying to figure out the AC controls.
My switch is crusty, and probably original. Initial testing only found the wiring used for med 1, med 2, and high.
	With the aid of trial and error, and various places on the internet (no link because I didn't get enough info in one place to link it), here's the first pass of detail. There's a different style switch that I found information for (see the right side) but that's not what I have. My switch - as mentioned - is crusty; the low and off positions were intermittent at best. Hopefully spraying it with electronics cleaner and cycling repeatedly will improve it.
The way it does the AC compressor is strange. The top lever turns on the compressor in Max, Norm, and Heat. This switch - that doesn't actually work on mine - is only connected if the AC door is open (at least that's how it seems like it should work). Here too, hopefully cleaning will help. I suspect the switch is hard to get and expensive. I suppose it doesn't have to be this kind of switch. I would like to have a better idea of how it's supposed to act though.
	Another question that comes to mind is what goes where with the headlights. High-beam is easy; there's only two prongs on the bulb, but there's three on the low beam. Dug out the original harness from the car: High beam is light green. From the back, that goes to the RIGHT side of the low beam bulb. Low beam is tan. That's the top of the bulb. Ground is black, go figure, and it's on the remaining pin on the LEFT side of the bulb. (I'd actually expected the top to be the ground - and if you treat it as ground, you do get light out of the bulb) Also grabbed the original AC harness so I have the connectors for the stuff above.
So with the inner fenders in place, I can mount the battery. With the battery mounted, I can apply power to the harness and start trying to figure things out. Yeah, that didn't go so well. There were a lot of wires that I identified what they were (remember - I've got a bunch of cut wires, torn wires, crushed connectors, etc.). With power applied and all the fuses in place, the seatbelt warning lit up on the dashboard (but nothing else). When I turned off the key, I got the "key in ignition with door open" chime. Then I didn't and I don't know what changed. I could trigger it if I removed the "I/P 2" maxifuse or the IGN relay. Think I've decided to go ahead and start removing unneeded wires. Also I've decided that the radio wiring - beyond the switched and constant power leads - can also go. When I remove things, I'm going to de-pin them from whereever they were rather than just going nuts with wire cutters. Hopefully I won't remove something I need, but I should be able to re-add if I do. It'll be a lot less daunting without all the fluff. Most wires will need lengthened, or shortened, or both.
	I'd get frustrated and move on to something else, and get frustrated there too. Apparently when I was putting the brake lines together I was afraid to tighten ANYTHING. Everything leaked. Still does, a little, at the T-fitting up front. Not like this though. Even after tightening, this one leaks right there at the banjo bolt. New washers, tighter, looser, doesn't matter. Maybe the bolt is bad. Maybe the hose is bad, or maybe the caliper. At least I already have a spare bolt here, although that seems the least likely reason.