I looked at it today, and there is a wire missing. There is a green, yellow, and brown hooked up, and the 4th terminal is empty. Is there a wire that's supposed to be there, or is it missing because its an non OEM part? Also, on the back of the speedo there was this thing with one red wire that lead to nothing. Has a quick connecter sort of end, not just frayed wires.
Nice project. Friend's in NZ have one the same color. One owner. They bought it new. Still running strong. 6 banger 3OTT. RHD. You need to see the linkage for the shifter. Multiple bell cranks and rods to make it work. Great old car.
RED wire should come from the fuse box or battery and be hot all the time. YELLOW wires (factory wiring diagram shows two on same terminal) are for the ignition. One goes to fuse box, the other to the coil. The BROWN wire is for accessories and goes to the fuse box. The fourth terminal is for auto trans only, would be a GREEN wire going to the neutral safety switch. That thing in the second pic is a light. Lights up the control lever on that side of the dash. You should be able to find a socket to plug it into. If not, there is one on the opposite side in the same location (or should be). Splice into that wire. The wire you're looking for to plug it into is orange also.
schpud -- you can find wiring diagrams at www.tocmp.com. PDF files, easy to print and read! The next thing you really need to do is get a TSM (Technical Service Manual -- the factory repair manual) for it though. You can find them for under $50 on e-bay, sometimes under $30. Faxon also has them for around $40-50, IIRC. It will easily save you many times that amount, plus time also!
Been busy so hadn't had a chance to look at it lately. Got a shop manual in the mail the other day so I checked it out today. The wiring harness is pretty toast, the wires that melted cooked the wrap for the harness and melted some of the other wires around it. Think that the best thing to do would be to rewire the whole thing. The harness that's melted on the firewall only looks like 8 or so wires, so it shouldn't be too hard. Will just have to run the new wires along the old harness, and then once everything is replaced take the old one out. The old casing on the harness is so dried out though that it will be a PITA to remove though. Just to get a look at 3 or so inches it took like 20 minutes to get all the casing off, as its melted too. It looks like it was just the red wire off the ignition that melted, the others look good. The green wire off the switch looks good, but the green one in the harness is toast, but that might just because it was next to the red one that burned up. There is 4 wires coming off the switch. The red one just had the rubber melted off. The yellow and the brown are both attached at the same point. I'm guessing what happened is when moving stuff around under the dash the terminal with nothing on it came in contact with the dash, or another terminal. Just hoping it's not something else, I spend hours redoing the wiring, and burn it all again on the first turn of the key. Oh well, don't really have the money to pay a shop to rewire it for me.
You might want to look at an inexpensive universal hot-rod harness and fuse box to re-wire with. The Rambler is pretty simple -- a 8 circuit kit will likely be all you need to wire like the original, but I'd use a 10-12 circuit kit to do a better job. In the original wiring things like the radio had a separate fuse and was just wired either off the switch or a single un-fused tap off the original circuit board. If you don't want to re-wire the back of the car you can just unplug the big connector at the driver's side kick panel and wire to there -- cut the connector off the "front" and leave enough to splice the new wiring to it. I think I'd replace it all at that point though. The kits are $100 or so ($109 + S&H here: http://stores.ez2wire.com/-strse-37785/E12--dsh--12-Circuit/Detail.bok), but they are well marked and therefore pretty easy to install. You can cut off your old connectors and use them where needed (like the headlight connectors), or buy new at the local parts store. The Painless kits and other big names are twice as much (or more!) than the EZ2Wire kits! Note that the cheap kit has NO connectors -- just wire, fuse panel, and relays. The 8 circuit kit with most new connectors (only two headlight connectors) is $189.
Hmm, that seems like that might be the solution. Was thinking I might as well re-wire the whole thing if I'm doing half of it anyway. Lot of the wires seem old and pretty brittle. $109 seems pretty damn good. Would be nice to simplify things a bit too, some of the stuff that looks like it was done by the PO seems a little iffy. Like other wires randomly running through the engine bay and such. Would give me a chance to fix the high beam and horn issues too. Also have an issue where the shifter is real picky about where you put it in park to start. Sometimes it won't start, jiggle the shifter, starts fine. Can go through and fix all these in one shot.
The shifter issue is an easy fix. I'm ***uming you have the 63 AMC TSM now. Page 5 of the "Shifting" section tells how to adjust the shifter and the neutral safety switch. I bet the grommets in the shift linkage (ends of the lever holes on trans and shifter) are worn out though. I'm not sure if Galvin's (www.ramblerparts.com) has those or not. You should be able to find a rubber grommet made for putting wires and hoses through sheet metal that will fit good enough. Once you find one get a piece of steel brake line that the end of the shift rod will fit into. Cut about a 5/16" long piece and put that in the grommet hole, then put the rod in that. Otherwise the grommet will wear out fast. The shift levers are thick enough not to cut into the grommet for quite a while. Once the grommets are fixed you can go easier putting it in gear so they last longer. With the factory wiring diagram you can cut the instrument panel connector off with 3-4" of wire left on and wire it into the new harness. On things like that I'd get some shrink tubing and solder the wires, don't use crimp on **** connectors. You can, but they could cause problems later. Get a cheap soldering iron or use a mini butane torch. The torch works good for the shrink tubing, but don't get it too hot and melt it. Melted on isn't quite the same as shrunk on!
I'm thinking of going with this kit: http://stores.ez2wire.com/-strse-37775/Muscle-Car-Mustang-GTO/Detail.bok Because it seems more heavy duty, and has all the connectors and stuff included. But it says that the connectors are for GM products. Is that compatible or no luck?
Also, would anyone recommend getting a new ignition switch? The one there has barely any clearance on the sides, which is what makes me think it shorted out on the side of the speedo or inside of the dash. It's a really fat switch. Looking at some universal ones online it seems like you can get a thinner one, that would hopefully prevent this from happening again, ***uming that's what caused the short. This looks like the one I have now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Univers...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item1c23d267b5 even my keys say Cole Herse on them too. As you can see, the wires connect right at the sides of it, which combined with the low clearance seems like it would be a problem. You can see on the stock one it goes way back before the wires connect, where there would be more space around it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1963-19...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item1e69fc3667 But I would like to get one with a new set of keys, and none of the NOS ones seem to have keys.
You would need the NOS switch and a key cylinder. You might just want to pull your current switch and wrap it good with tape after the connections are made, then put it back in. That or see if you can find a universal with a longer shaft. The GM connectors won't help you a lot. The headlight connectors will be the same, but the steering column and such will all have to be cut from the original or you'll need the other side of the GM connectors too. That's one reason I mentioned just the basic harness. You can get most of the connectors (like the headlight connectors) from the local parts store if you can't or don't want to use the old ones.
Is there a noticeable difference in wire size and quality, if you happen to know? Have you used one of their kits before? I've been reading mixed reviews on the web. Some people say their great and as good as the more expensive kits, others say they're junk.
As far as I know wire size and quality are about the same as others. I've seen a couple installed, not used one myself. The EZ kits require a bit of work yourself, unless you're working on a GM car and get the kit with all the connectors. You have to expect that with a Rambler! That will be the case with any kit you buy, unless you find someone who still makes a replacement harness. I don't know of any company who does. Most just make replacements for popular cars, universal kits that require a little work for everything else. The wires are color coded and I think they are labeled as well (would have to look at the specs again, but unless you're color blind it shouldn't matter about labeling). I 've not decided if I'm going to replace all the wiring in the Jeep J-10 I'm building or not, but if I do I will get the EZ universal kit. Will probably get the one with connectors since Jeep used a GM steering column and most of the connectors will fit.
So some progress the last week or so. I got the wiring kit, and today have been working at pulling out all the old wiring. Have most of the engine bay freed up, and all of the trunk. Trying to get the bolt off the starter solenoid I cracked the plastic on it, must have been stuck solid. But it's a cheap part they have in stock at the local NAPA so I'm not that bummed. Also, is there an easier way to get the outer headlight wires out without taking off the whole grill/bumper? It looks like that's the only way to get behind it, and I almost got there but the last bumper bolt was seized solid, some penetrating oil and still nothing. However, did find a lot more rust than I thought I had. Pulled up the trunk cover and under there was a fair amount of surface rust, and on the driver side back corner it is rusted clear through. Can flex the whole floor of the trunk over there. Kinda bummed, but I was wanting to learn to weld anyway. Behind the rear bumper is all pretty crummy too, and when I went to remove the wires off the reverse lights the housings just crumbled. Under the front of the car is still looking nice and solid, but a lot of behind the rear wheels will need to be fixed some day. I also got to look at it best I could and it really looks like around the heater is solid. But, some PO screwed a sheet metal patch to the floor where the firewall meets the floor pan, and that is all pretty crusty too. Must be where the water is coming from, because its been sitting for a few months, and been rained on, and the floor has stayed dry. Must be splashing up from when it was driving. Bought an angle grinder and plan to take care of that. So tomorrow plan to get my new solenoid, get the rest of the wiring out, maybe grind off the stupid patch panels, maybe start putting in the new wiring. Another thing, is there some sort of a loc***e product for crimp style connections? Not on the wires, but where the two crimps meet? Seems like some of them could vibrate loose over time, might just be over thinking it though.
I ve never seen a crimp coming loose, unless it is from start. Plastic tape may be enough to secure them if you have doubts.
I don't think you need to worry about crimp connections either. If a lot of power will be going through them SOLDER instead of crimp (or both -- solder a bare crimp connector). I've been using heat shrink tubing over soldered joints, look much neater than crimp connectors. I had problems with crimp connectors on my electric radiator fan connections. Every few years they would burn and I'd lose the fan. Finally soldered them -- no problems since. How firmly attached is that patch panel in the floor? If it's in good clean any rust around it inside and under the car. Use spray on rubberized undercoating underneath to seal it (both against water and further rusting). The undercoating dries pretty hard -- you could use it inside too. Carpet might eventually stick to it though. You might want to just fibergl*** over on the inside.
I got a new ignition switch because I figure if I'm taking everything out in going to replace what I can now, got one with a 15amp max. Couldn't find in the manual if it said how much it would need. Is 15 good?
15 should be good. What I'd do since you're rewiring the whole thing is run the power to the main fuse panel through a relay, not directly off the switch. Use the switch just to trip the relay. A standard 30A relay should work fine. If you decide you need to install an auxiliary fuse panel for more stuff later just add another relay activated off the same wire from the switch. I installed an auxiliary panel in my car through a relay. Replaced the panel in my motorcycle (1980 with gl*** tube fuses that would vibrate and break on the inside ends every few years!) with a new style six circuit blade panel and power it by a relay. Another benefit is that when the key is off nothing gets power -- no way for something to stay on and drain the battery. Make sure your radio b+ power is straight to the battery though (the power for the clock) through a separate fuse, and anything else you want to run even if the switch is off. You might want to install one of those little six circuit panels directly to the battery just for things like that if you have more than one or two. My Ranger truck has the cigarette lighter (power socket) wired to be on all the time. Comes in handy for charging my phone or MP3 player while I'm away from the truck. Might change the one in the Rambler to be on all the time...
The Jalopy Journal
