The Del Ray, now known as "Cherrybomb", is back to life. finally got half the wire harness done, went over all the things done and i waited for the turning over of it untill i got all the other stuff checked. "turnsignals, check, parking lights, check, horn........hor-ARRRRUUUUUUUNNNN.....ok yeah check." turn the key, and by golly she turned over, never wired a car in my life, hell, doing a lot of things i've never done in my 19 years of life. and she turned over, with no carb attached, no plug wires, exaust or belts.....yeah its not going to run, but now that i know it WILL, i just need to get a new intake so i can put my holly on it. (BTW, if anyone have a edelbrok, or regular duel-plane intake?) now ill put all the stuff on the engine it needs, get my head lights and turn signal wires all trimmed, then the front of the car is DONE. then i get the guadges grounded, and the headlight switch and dimmer, interiors DONE, then hook up the brake lights & rear turns, REARS DONE! then its just replacing the one brake line up front to make it duel line, instaling the rear brake components, driveshaft & pitman arm. then other for exaust...that sum-A-na ***** will be road worthy. its amazing how much you get done when sleep deprived.
thanks, if i said i didnt giggle like a little school girl id be lying. gotta get the shifter installed too. and i feel down right awful about the floor, it was brand new pans when i got the car now the rear footwells are covered in a thick sludge of rust because my broke *** cant afford POR15, so a towel keeps it from worsening. at least the importaint parts are not stored outside.
Sweet, I'm happy for you. Wanna comeover my house and help me wire my car? I'm only a 1/2 hour away, lol.
tewkes, i'd take you up on that offer. i know how ****ty wiring is, took me a week and a half for me to get the balls to tackel it. BigVin, 'm gonna try that. that ****s stinking up the inside and you better belive i have something down when im working. last time i got the **** on my hands i had orange nails on one hand for 2 days.
my only concern, let see if its valid. since i have NO plugs that work for every wired object, either the plug was bad, old, warped or i just broke it, so i've been hard wiring, or male/female spade conector with a wrap of tape, any problems i should be expecting?
I wouldnt recommend tape...shrink wrap is awesome, will keep the water out... plugs for what? headlights and such? new ones are in the help isle of your auto zoo....aint spensive either....wiring is one of those things you want to do right or else you end up catching your car on fire in the drive-through with your hot-*** girlfriend in the front seat......trust me.....hot *** girlfriends dont like it when the underside of the dash is on fire.... personally I solder/shrink wrap everything....no connections to vibrate loose....takes longer yes.....more reliable, deffinatly
i'll be shrink w****** everything like the headlights, turn signals, brake lights and such, all the things exposed constantly. well i need the smaller headlight plugs, about half as tall as regular ones. bu really im missing plugs like for the heater control, i broke the ignitions switch one now they are all just spade conectors. dimmer switch, only one still ok are the headlight switch and the plugs for the dash lights. everythings going to be ok, the truck had a m*** of wires that looked like a pitdhfork full of hay, no problems, plus im making sure nothing touches, crosses or anything. my baby is not getting toasted. im ghetto rigging the bulb sockets however. i have absolutely NO pigtails to plug into all 4 tail light sockets and only one still in the front parking/turn signal, now, since i have the buckets already in there and the bulbs will still hold in place, and the wires that run for the harness to the front and back are longer then the car, im leaving a bit of slack for replacement and sodering the wires to the contacts on the bulbs then covering them in liquid electrical tape, i already have the wires ran through each socket. i know its not the best idea, but im making sure it wont fail or anything befor i even heat up the gun, marking which contact does what and so on so forth. when i can afford the pigtails, ill buy them.
short lived fun though, now im kinda screwed with the headlight switch, dimmer wired up fine, but the wires for the headlight switch in the harness dont match color wise to the original wires. So im kinda screwed for lights.
I too wired my car myself. No kit. A guy gave me the schematics and I went for it. I know in the end, you'll never forget this feeling. Now, you've got a problem. Whatever you do, DO NOT THROW IN THE TOWEL! Take a look at what you have. Take a long hard look at it and figure it out. Look at what you have and understand WHY it works, not just how. You'll get it, man. Just take your time and figure it out.
hell yes, i mean i've done pretty much every other thing mechanical with old cars, but wiring, never untill this. Doesnt matter im digging copper pieces out of my fingertips, i love it. im never throwing in the towel, not again, i did on the truck and sold it to get the 58', i kick my *** everychance i get for that. i mean, im using my better judgement, yellow wire comming off the dimer switch, yellow wire off of the light switch, both the same guage, ok theres that, red wire off the very back, probally the power, purple wire off the parking light, purple wire off of the light switch, connect them, turn the car on, pull the switch.....Bupkiss. now im thinkingonly having one parking light wired, no tail lights of such, should be throwing it off. gonna focus on the other minor things right now, shifter, rear brakes and front brake line. i dont like to work pissed, and everytime i drag the front seat out to start wiring it up, i get angry.
relized what would be more simple and effective. just get a new damn switch, besides, i have to pull really damn hard to get the switch to pull out and pretty much punch it to get it back it. and after testing, i think its just shot. if i wouldnt of been up in au gres all damn weekend i would of wired the thing up and been done with that noise.
oh yes. and another has just been solved. busted the old, heat-baked headlight plug off and took the switch halfway appart by taking out the lever and shoving PB blaster in it, then some brake cleaner to dry it, now it move's relitivly more free. then, simply hardwiring the switch with spade connetors, no plug, and plug-n-test wires till i got the right combo, i now have headlight power, turn signal power, dash lights, the whole light shabang. once i get the headlights in, and some turn signal bulbs, ill snap some pics and share the madness. other then the add on Sunpro guages, and replacing the fuel guage dash light, the whole inside is done. then im running the wires to the back, getting them knocked out, cars wired. then we are on to mechanics, then road. will i ever wire a car again...no. will i get rid of the 58' within the next ten years...no.
Call me weird, but I find wiring a car very relaxing and enjoyable. The end really justifies the means. Glad to hear you didn't let the smoke out.
haha, you'd think wouldnt you. most simple, clean, instructed part of building a car. yet picking the copper shards out of my fingers. halfway tearing off my fingernail. going through half of my connectors. dealing with the company that made the wire harness inconvinient hours. and really getting agravated at the need to not use and original plug or connector because of melted, frayed or cracked,or missing pieces. yeah im just kinda going to finish this wiring and never do it again unless its a harness made for the car rather then just GM. only thing im doing after the harness is done is putting the original fuse block on the cowl with wires running to fake places to fill a giant empty spot. HAMB tag is going on the other side.
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