Chapter 12:
Wires, Fumes, and Turlock
Chapter 12: Wires, Fumes, and Turlock
The new firewall liner, more or less installed. The original one completely disintegrated when I tried to remove it. 16 January 2000 January has been a month of significant improvements. On this particular date the electrical system was switched out. It took all day, but it took only one day.
The old, stiff, corroded, heavily spliced wiring harness came out, piece by piece, and was replaced by the neat new harnesses. It really was rather easy. The end result is a lot of ad hoc spliced-in features are gone. For instance, the turn signal harness was just superimposed onto the lighting system , so that when the brake pedal is pressed the door-mounted taillight would brighten but that's it. Now, the brakes flash all three rear lights. The front marker lights work, and the freshly installed stock dome light works like a real dome light. Not only that, but the integral turn signals in the instrument cluster light up, which I'm sure they never, ever did before.
Getting underneath the truck, I was surprised by the sheer amout of crap wiring under there. The taillight wires were completely improvised, and had splices all over them for the trailer hitch harness, which was completely disconnected anyway. The old man was a lineman for PG&E; He knew about things electrical. It's surprising.
The original patchcocked heater fan wire. 2 splices, a fuse, and a toggle switch that was mounted on the lip of the dash. It allowed the blower to work while detouring the original control lever. About the only thing I thought was wrong with the new electrical system is when the headlights are on the front parking lights go off. A quick call to Chevy Duty solved the problem: there is no problem. Trucks of 50s vintage just did that. News to me...
22 January 2000 The Deluxe heater, which I pulled off the Beast sometime last Summer, has been sitting fully rebuilt in a box in the garage waiting for it's moment of glory. That moment came this evening, when I re-installed it.
It was slightly tricky to get the control cables hooked up, but aside from that it went pretty well. It works spectacularly. Well, it heats up the inside of the truck. A bonus effect is that it seems to draw an appreciable amout of heat off the engine.
The stock taillights, flashing in a merry way. During a shakedown drive, I noted not a small amount of noxious fumes coming from-- hell, I had no idea. I had done so many different fixes to the body and ventilation system I couldn't quite nail where it was coming from. For instance, I got the kickpanel ventilators working properly again-- The old man simply covered the frozen dampers with a piece of paper. It's either: 1) a breach in the cowl ventilation system; 2) engine fumes coming through the bad hood seal and into the cowl vent; 3) outgassing from the neoprene pad attached to the defroster damper (it was formerly a mousepad, and it might not be able to take the heat from the core); tailpipe exhaust coming through the bad cargo door seal.
Whatever it is, I have to get it fixed before brain damage occurs.
25 January 2000 Removed the headliner panel and the top dashboard trim strip to get them ready for painting. I want to try out my rather ameteur bodywork skills on small inside stuff first. The headliner panel-- which wraps around above both doors and above the windshield-- had a nasty crease in it , and the old man mounted an ersatz dome light into it, making many unsightly holes. These will be fixed.
An extreme close-up of the original ignition accessory harness.. The copper connectors have turned bright green from corrosion. Pretty. 29 January 2000 Visited the Antique Car and Truck Swap Meet in Turlock, CA. For those unfamiliar with California geography, Turlock is a market town situated on U.S. 99 just south of semi-world-famous Modesto, where George Lucas grew up, drag-raced, wrapped his car around a walnut tree, then decided to go to college. I can't think of anything particularly interesting happening in Turlock proper, but it seemed like a pleasant enough Central Valley town, a place where the real work is done. Work involving mostly walnuts, by my guess.
The swap meet was immense! Old cars, vendors of polish, parts and speed equipment, chili stands, and people selling boxes of twisted, rusty antique car parts completely covered the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. Oddly enough, I found nothing. This is not a bad thing, bacause I wasn't looking for anything I particularly needed, just stuff I wanted. I did pick up some coveralls for dirt cheap and some really cool-looking vintage indicator lamps. A decent pair of fog lamps of the right vintage could not be found.
Afterward, I visited my dear old Grammy in Stockton and watched some home movies.
