Can of rusty worms

[Glenwood]

Went through the dash harness which took much of the day. It's in good shape, so each wire terminal except the cluster and steering column connectors were removed, cleaned and greased.

Here's the high beam switch connector which has seen lots of moisture in 53 years.

The door light switches cleaned up pretty good.

The infamous black wire that carries current for lights and the start relay was starting to melt the plastic bulkhead port. It was stuck to it, making it tough to remove but was in relatively good shape after a cleanup.

 

[Glenwood]

The fuse panel was dismantled and each fuse holder cleaned and re-installed. The fuse for the lighting system must have been over fused or 'tin-foiled' during a short circuit as it cooked the plastic pretty good. I moved the holders over one to avoid the bad area.

 

[Glenwood]

testing

 

[JimKueneman]

Oh yea seeing something work is exciting and keeps the motivation up!

 

[moparnation74]

testing
View attachment 438127

Good job on the harness! There is another set of high beams I preferbut those look good!

Man I love that color on your car Glen

 

[ckessel]

While you are at it, add some extra grounds.

 

[Glenwood]

While you are at it, add some extra grounds.

I agree Carl! I was thinking to run a 12awg white from a common connection post (jumped to the battery) to the: tailight housings, headlight terminal on the rad support, to each control device on the firewall, to the heater fan, transmission, hydraulic pump, and a small terminal strip under the dash for the cluster, radio, etc. The engine will be connected to the battery gnd as per usual. I have to check that the starter is properly grounded with fresh engine paint. A bonding strap from the engine to the firewall is probably unnecessary at that point, but I'll run some tests and evaluate it once the extra wiring is done.

Did I leave anything out?

 

[Glenwood]

I like how the big block fills the engine compartment. Tightening up the motor mounts was a treat. I had to silicone the washer to the nut in order to squeeze two fingers in there to get the nut started. Then I went through several u-joints to fit a socket in there to tighten them up... damn engineers!

 

[Glenwood]

I need some trim clips to put the trim back on as many are missing. A PO used clear silicon to help secure the trim. I have been trying to order some clips from R/T Specialties, but their website continues to show an error when attempting to complete an order. So I called them and managed to get them on order. Chatted with the guy for a bit and mentioned his website issues. He had no idea as he relies on host to look after it. I wonder how many orders he's losing?
Thought I'd freshen up the trim paint before installing. The old paint was chipped and flaking, so I used paint stripper and steel wool to clean it all up.

Fitted the bumper back on, which was a treat. Heavy and awkward. Need shims on one side to get the gaps right.

 

[Glenwood]

Discovered that the early neutral safety switch's do not have contacts in them. I kept bench testing them and thought I should see continuity between the post and the connector body when pressing the switch, but the center of the switch is connected to the post and actually grounds to the shift lever when in neutral. Learn something new every day!
Found a little problem however...
To adjust the shift cable, I pulled to the pan to understand how it all moves.
The shift lever does not contact the original neutral switch as it is too short and it has two points of contact?

The lever from the sb is longer due to it being push button. I was about to swap the rooster combs when I realized how the switches work and I had another switch that is longer.

After some reading, I think the bigblock 727 core I have must have been a console shifted set up, which explains the different levers. The console type needs two contact points for the NSS when in park or in neutral. I swapped the switches and adjusted the cable.

cleaned up the push buttons and lubed with dry silicon spray.

 

[Glenwood]

Next was the park cable. The park lever would not travel up all the way and the lock was not engaging the tail shaft. Just sort of ratcheting when I turned it by hand.
I loosened the cable down below and adjusted the park lever. The cable was not sliding enough towards the transmission to allow the lock to engage. Popping off the cable and checking the full stroke helped me to figure it out. It need a tiny bit more travel to work and I couldn't seem to get enough at the transmission end, so a slight bend inward of the cable holding bracket at the shift lever did the trick!

 

[Glenwood]

anyone know what the proper depth of the dipstick into the pan is? I'm wondering if this looks right? Is the sb the same length as the bb? The two tubes (1-bb & 1-sb) I have are slightly different lengths.

 

[threewood]

Looking good!

I had flashbacks after seeing the picture of the three pronged high beam switch. Make sure the connections are clean and tight. And if you have thought about it, do the headlight relay install and ammeter bypass. Melty wires are no bueno. I just did it to my car and what a difference and no more worrying about something getting hot and burning. I even have extra relays and fusible link I could send you to use

 

[Glenwood]

Looking good!

I had flashbacks after seeing the picture of the three pronged high beam switch. Make sure the connections are clean and tight. And if you have thought about it, do the headlight relay install and ammeter bypass. Melty wires are no bueno. I just did it to my car and what a difference and no more worrying about something getting hot and burning. I even have extra relays and fusible link I could send you to use

I'll take 'em! Finding a fusible link up here is a bit challenging like so many other things it seems. I managed to get Napa to order some OEM style locking female wire terminals and proper fitting rad hoses.
I bent up some transmission lines and started thinking about a trans cooler, so I may pick one up. Looking at the aluminum rad through the grill, I'd like to paint it. I read guys are using black ice epoxy or other rad paints, but I can't find a distributor up here! I guess the environmental nazis do not permit shipment of chemicals across the border .
Soon time for breaking in the cam. I may have to do it with open exhaust manifolds as I'll have to trailer the car to the exhaust and alignment place and I'd like to get it running first. I was thinking about ordering a TTI exhaust system, but seems like a big hassle to get it shipped here. The cost is nearly the same as having someone local install a custom system by the time you apply the exchange rate and duty fees.

 

[khryslerkid]

anyone know what the proper depth of the dipstick into the pan is?

The tube is 17-1/2" inches long from the trans bracket to the top on my BB '62.

Dip stick is 18" to the washer.

 

[threewood]

Glen, here is a video of my driver side pivot in operation. Just so you may be able to eliminate the wiper linkage. They park below and to the outside of the pivot.

 

[Glenwood]

Thanks Mark. That is what I was expecting mine to do, but it doesn't!
The motor was never disassembled, just cleaned up, nor were the wires removed from their connector bodies, so they shouldn't be wrong, but I'll check them again to verify.

It's weird. I've installed and tested the entire electrical system. I took the added precaution to install ground wiring from the headlight, to the dash area, to the tail lights, so grounding is ruled out as a possible cause.

Basically, the wipers are parking roughly 180* out with the fixed motor arm being 180* out. It is not removable, so I couldn't have changed it accidentally. The intermediate arm and extensions were disassembled but should be fine. Even with these disconnected, the wiper motor arm still parks 180* out. This one has me stumped and I may have to take the motor apart to understand how the motor circuit works to rotate clockwise while operating in both speeds, then reverse and park in the same repeatable but wrong position.

Before: correct park position

now...180* out

 

[Glenwood]

well, I got my wiper pivots orientated properly. went through the linkage & cams used for the final parking position, thinking I assembled them wrong, but even if I had they still wouldn't pivot enough to move the wipers all the way down to the bottom of the windshield. So I cracked open the wiper gearbox thinking there was something quirky with the switch or trip mechanism but all was intact and working properly. Since it only trips the stop position contact while rotating backwards, the only thing left was the gear, so I rotated the gear 180*. I must have popped it out when I cleaned up these parts and completely forgot about it...I have no recollection of it at all! lol
The gear can only fit onto the arm/shaft two ways, so that's where my mistake was. What a pain.

Here's a few pics.

 

[Glenwood]

parking cams...

 

[JimKueneman]

Well I didn't put anything together incorrectly on my Coronet what is your problem.....