69 Satellite

[donm]

Quick fit to see what it looks like, 20° in the garage so no need to make any progress today. Need to change out the chrome valve covers with black ones. Will start work on fuel lines and wiring into the painless harness later this week. FiTech now sends a dual relay/fuse box for the system so i dont need wire up separate fuel pump relay now. They have also made some changes on the system from the older models that caused problems.

 

[ckessel]

Those look like a nice set of crimpers. Are they similar to weatherpack/metri(open barrel style) in the way they close down? I am using deutsch connectors for the rewire.

Maybe. They do a nice job of curling the tangs around correctly for the crimp. I have a multi die crimper unit from Pertronix that does several different styles. It's not bad but unless you pre curl the tangs on the connector, our connectors are like GM, it has a tendency to crush the terminal. If I do end up needing some for the weatherpack or Deutsch terminals, I'll purchase a set that does just those. The multi style ones are like a fax/copy/scan/photo/print machine. Does ok on many tasks but not perfect. I have a crimper for Molex style too as thats what my ECM, from AEM, uses. I did find a company who makes commercial crimpers, tools, supplies, terminals etc, Tyco, and they have a specific one for our style/GM terminals. But it was like $2k. I don't do enough to warrant one of those so the Autowire units are just fine.

 

[donm]

Got the garage up to 40°, so was able to make some progress. Temporarily mounted the fuse block. Ill build a glove box later on. Didn't take a start picture, but since its a universal harness the connections are bundled in common areas where the would typically be routed. Front and rear were fine. I reworked the middle section and changed most of the wires. I plan consolidate all the relays at the glovebox along power blocks, sonce the battery is in the trunk. I will need to make the lighting circuits for interior also the wiper circuit as niether one of these are provided in full. Still tons left, but a good start. Oh decided to clear of a table and just work inside for the rest of the dash wire up.

View attachment 1766696

 

[donm]

Six hours at it today, made some progress, doesnt look much like it. Wiper switch finished, reverse, NSS, engine sending sensors, instrument panel(with the exception of the ebrake warning) and floor dimmer. Working on the turn signal and emergency flash switch, those will need some splices/couple jumpers.

 

[ckessel]

When I wired my friend John's C20 with the Painless package, it was almost 3 weeks to do. Some days at least 6 hours, others 1-3 or so. Routing, looming, adding grounds, securing, soldering, heat shrink etc takes time to have it look nice plus not have any issues. On the 50 F1 Ford that was essentially the truck body grafted to an 04 Ford Explorer chassis, that took 2+ months at 8 hours a day. I had to retain the CANBUS system from the 04. Many days of reading wiring diagrams to see what I could not use and delete. Many days of extending, shortening, re-routing, mounting power distribution centers/fuse blocks. I had to retain the 04 instrument cluster as that was the CANBUS communication hub. Mounted that inside the trucks gas tank along with several other electronics units. The tank became the electronics locker. In case you're wondering, the tank for the 04 is what stayed as the fuel tank.