I got lucky and ended up with a little time for Rusty this past Sunday. Now that I have the gas tank, I would like to roll her out of the garage to remove the bed and to make easier working conditions. Also, with the front-end back together, I would like to put the new steering wheel on for ease of maneuvering. So - I would like to get the new dash cluster installed so I don't have to work around the steering wheel. Basically, I want to complete a couple of steps before I start on the gas tank project.
Dash Wiring Harness & Accessory Junction Block
It has been a while since I ran the "dash harness" and labeled everything. Also, I never quite finished the "accessory junction block" add-on, so the wiring was not as neat as it should have been. I had also added an "alternator conversion" wiring harness, which meant that I had to identify the connections that would be replaced or not used. I had marked those, but decided to double-check everything before wiring up the dash gauges. I spent a good amount of time reviewing my labels and the diagrams.
After my review, I was satisfied with the way the light switch was wired to the main dash harness and the junction block. I had never connected the dash harness to the ignition switch, and now I remember it was because the harness had a plastic molded connector on it that didn't match the switch pattern. I removed the individual wires and hooked them onto the ignition switch after triple-checking the harness diagram and color codes against the factory wiring guide (in the Factory Assembly Guide manual).
At this point, there is still one wire that goes from the junction block to the ignition switch "ACC" terminal. The wire seems a little short to make it without interfering with the gauge cluster. Luckily, I work for a cable manufacturer, so I am going to go and cut some proper gauge wire, of the same color, and then replace the connector ends. I should easily be able to remove the tape from the existing harness and rewrap it all. I will do all this before securing the gauge cluster to the dash.
New Gauge Cluster
With the above out of the way, I only had to make one more modification to the dash harness and that was to remove the ammeter "red" wire and replace it using the one that came with the alternator conversion harness. If you remember, the gauge cluster is one area where I am not staying stock. I purchased a Custom Billet Gauge Cluster set that contains AutoMeter gauges. The only wiring difference that I can find is that each gauge has a GROUND and the lights have a GROUND as well. Again, luckily I work for a cable shop, so I will be adding some length of black 20 AWG wire to my shopping cart.
However, I did hook up the pieces I was sure of. First I hooked in the stock speedo cable. I was able to hook up the sender and ignition lines for the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge. This left the oil gauge (which I have no idea on) and the ammeter gauge. The wording for this harness is a little confusing - almost like you switch the poles between the battery and the gauge. I'm going to have to look into this a little more.
While I was looking into the ammeter problem, Sarah rang the dinner bell so I stopped for the evening.
October 18, 2004
Over the last two weeks, I have primarily worked on hooking up the gauge cluster. I decided to call the wiring harness mfg. (M&H Electrical) to confirm the setup I had with the ammeter gauge. I should point out that I had 3 red wires without a home - one I knew would get removed because of the "alternator conversion" harness, one would go to the ammeter gauge, and the other looked as if it went to the ammeter gauge as well? Also, don't forget that I was confused by the fact the red wire was a "-" and the black wire was go connect to the "+". Spoke to M&H and they confirmed which red wire was to be removed, and that the other 2 red wires BOTH go to the ammeter "-" connector. After this, I looked at the original gauge cluster, and sure enough, there is a way to mount 2 connectors...duh!
So, at this point, I have created "ground" wires for all the dash lights, signal lights, hi-beam indicator, and gauges that did not have a corresponding "ground" from the wiring harness. The AutoMeter gauges came with 22AWG on the lights, and the harness uses either 16AWG or 18AWG. Then it was just a matter of taping off the one red wire, and hooking the black wire to the ammeter gauge "sender" post, and the the 2 red wires to the "ground" post (I replaced one of the connectors with a "ring terminal" and secured it using the screw that held the "spade" post in place.) I also had to add length to the wire from the Accessory Junction Block to the Ignition Switch, and from the main wiring harness where it connects from the Accessory post on the Ignition Switch to the Fuel Gauge ignition post. These both use 16AWG wire.
Now, the Dash Gauge Cluster, Ignition Switch, and Headlight Switch are all wired up. For something fun, I installed the Ignition key tumbler before attaching the Ignition Switch to the dash. So, all that remains to be wired is the cigarette lighter, the heater motor, glove box light, and dome lamp. This is no biggie, just need to make up a couple of wires and make a connection from the dome lamp assembly to the dome lamp wires that were pre-run before putting in the head-liner.
Next, I pushed Rusty out into the driveway and removed the bed to expose the rear frame. I also covered her with at tarp to keep the elements off her while I start the gas tank project.
The first step in getting the gas tank installed is to remove the rear cross-member. I was able to remove the 4 rivots on the topside, but then ran out of daylight. Also, my grinder could use a new disk. I was a little worried about this step, but I seem to be going through it without much hassle.
More to come...
October 25, 2004
Didn't get a chance to work on this until Saturday, and it was raining off and on all day. However, I got enough of a break to remove the rear cross-member and also had enough time to trim the frame rail. Note: I'm adding a couple pictures of the bed plywood that I never included last year.
Cross-Member Notes: Grinding off the heads to the rivets, you can access, is a snap. For some reason, just removing one head of a rivet was not enough to "punch" out the rivet. I figured out that by using the Dremel, I could cut an "X" into the harder to reach heads and then used a hammer and chisel to knock off the head. Once that was done, I still couldn't get the rivets out, so I hollowed them out, using the drill, and then they came out easily with the punch. All-in-all, I would say that I averaged about an hour per rivet, eight rivets total and only hit my knuckles a couple of times.
Frame Rail Trimming: If you have removed the bed of your truck, you will notice that the frame rail is narrower, by about 1 inch, from the rear cross-member to the end. The Mustang tank slides nicely until the frame rail gets wider. It is necessary to trim off about 7 inches of the bottom frame rail in order to get the tank all the way in. I "scored" the frame rail using the Dremel, following the narrow line of the rear portion all the way up to the "shock mount" cross-member, tapering it over in a "arc" pattern. Next, I used a cutting disk on my 4" grinder and cut the pattern out. Put the grinding disk back on and smoothed it out. About 30 minutes to complete both sides. Also note, that you only trim off metal on the bottom of the rail, not the top since the tank slides in between the rails.
Next in this project will be to paint the exposed portions of the frame and then trial fit the tank a few times to make sure everything is level and lines up. The instructions call for moving the rear cross-member to the end of the frame rails, so I will have to drill some holes to put it back in. So far so good!
That's it for October, let's move on to the next chapter...
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