Buicknutty Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Nice to hear of your progress. Seats can be tough to get, but try to hang in and get an original,(my opinion, of course) hopefully you will get lucky enough and find what you need at an affordable price.Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 Some pictures: - cleaned-up valve cover. - "this engine contains hydraulic lifters" decal location. - closer-up of remains of decal. - cleaned-up distributor cap, new coil & bracket, new plug wires. (an original distributor cap has the cylinder numbers right next to each plug wire, so it's easy to get the order right!) - engine left side - new freeze plugs & intake manifold rings. - LH door with the up-stops and sweep bracket from DVAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 Here's some pictures from DVAP: - Ok, this is a 40-series, but it shows details of where the headlight wires, horn, brake light, and neutral switch break out from the harness. - Detail of coil orientation. + on top, - on the bottom. - where the defroster fan wire crosses from firewall to fender. - camera can get where my eye can't - defroster fan wire under the defroster core housing. - turn the camera around - defroster fan wire on the fender. - don't recall why I took this, but man, that little camera (on the "phone") takes good pictures... - 2-door hardtop being picked apart... - another 2-door hardtop... (and the door part I got from - yet another a 2-door hardtop with a door!) - the '53 Cadillac Camperado... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 10, 2015 Author Share Posted May 10, 2015 Found a NOS starter relay. Got that installed. Got a few more things from Bob's to get things together - manifold gasket and engine mounts were the big ones. I noticed (from looking at these photos I posted!) that the engine was off to one side by about an inch or so. That's not good. So took the radiator hoses loose and put some blocks on the jack to get it up between the suspension & steering linkage. That lifted the front of the engine until the valve cover was touching the firewall. Took the valve cover loose and slid it forwards a little. That let the front of the engine go up enough to swap out the mounts. On lowering it back down, I got a tire iron on the frame and a couple of wood blocks between the tire iron & front of the engine to lever the engine back to center. However, given the condition of the engine mounts, I'm fairly sure the trans mount will be in about the same condition. Got the intake/exhaust manifold on. Cleaned up the carb - bought a rebuild kit for it, but it was really clean inside, and some of the parts looked like they were from a rebuild kit. So I only replaced the accelerator pump, since the leather on it was dried up. - old mounts. Yep, these are shot. - new mount in, right side. - new mount in, left side. - manifold gasket. - manifold & carb. - manifold & carb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 A few things this week - tried starting. Determined that the lead I had connected from the ignition key to the neutral switch is not hot when the key is on, so I either id'd the wrong wire to reconnect (remember ALL firewall-forward wires were chopped off at the firewall in this car), or there's something else going on. Put a temporary jumper over the top of the starter relay on the firewall from the left-most terminal (always hot) to the right-most terminal (wire from the carb switch). This let me activate the relay. The NOS relay that I found definitely works. The pull-in / hold-in coils on the starter solenoid work, and the starter spins if I jump across the big terminals on the solenoid with a screwdriver, but the starter doesn't turn from the solenoid alone. So I held 2 things at once - the jumper wire across the starter relay (to activate the pull-in / hold-in on the starter solenoid), and the screwdriver across the big terminals on the solenoid to turn the starter - this turned the engine over, slowly. Much slower than on the 41D. I know these are different starters - anyone know if the "big engine" starter turns slower? Or is this starter just weak, or is making the connection via a screwdriver just so poor that it can't pull enough power to turn the engine well. Carb side - did all of the above with no fuel to check that the starter would turn it over and move oil around. Added fuel to the carb & tried again. Not even a hint of a spark. Checked that the coil is hot when the key is on, but I'm not going too far with getting the spark at the moment because carb & starter / starter circuit are still not there. So pulled the carb off and saw where the leaks were. I tightened one thing, replaced a gasket, and cleaned the pump jet bore until the little check valve would move really easy (could get the pump jets to squirt when moving the throttle). Also adjusted the pump height per the book. Pulled the starter. Might have a local shop take a look, or check into the rebuild/replace options with Bob's / Cars / Kanter, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 More today - pulled gas tank. Top of tank has holes, and bottom is smashed in pretty good. I thought the Tanks, Inc. tank worked well on the 41D, so I'll probably do that. I haven't seen what the level sender looks like. Figured out the power to the neutral switch (in the start circuit). I had connected to the wrong wire at the firewall, so fixed that. Determined the neutral switch was broken, so found a NOS one on ebay from someone I'd bought from before. Checked the starter switch on the carb - that's working correctly. Got the car leveled on rims & dollies under the back axle, and jack stands in front. Swept out underneath the car, and pulled out some crusty/crumbly heater hoses from underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Some pics to go with the above: - just set the air cleaner on to see what it all looks like. - bottom side of trunk floor - looks pretty good. - tank out - doesn't look too bad in this view, but there's pin-holes all over. - rear axle is on the rims & dollies. Front is on jack stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Loving these updates,, and hoping to see her come back to life. The chain for the oil fill cap is unique although, if it were me, I'd be getting that away from the fan and water pump before spinning the engine over. Just a personal quirk that I'm overly cautious around any fans turning at 500 RPM or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 So I don't forget what I'm doing - since last post, was out of town for 8 days. Might have found a front seat that will work. It's way too far away, but the seller might be able to get it to me on Greyhound with the backs pulled off. Need to just go for it and order a starter. Pulled the spark plugs & cleaned & gapped those. Got the NOS neutral switch cleaned up and installed. It had a little surface rust, and I couldn't get it adjusted to allow start to as far to the "D" side of "N" as the manual said, but it should still start in "N". (Not actually trying starts now, as the battery & starter are out, but I was checking the neutral switch with an ohm meter with the shift lever in various positions.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buicknutty Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Never seen a chain on an oil filler cap before. Odd, but maybe a previous owner lost one once, and didn't want it happen again? We'll never know. Glad to hear of your progress, hope you get the seat and it works out. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 FedEx Ground visited today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 Sometimes the stuff on ebay is as good as it looks. Sometimes it's even better. This is a part that the rest of the car now has to live up to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smartin Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Love a shiny new bumper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buicknutty Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 That sure is a nice piece you have there. Great score!Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 Another little win. Better condition than some I've seen for a lot more, but still nowhere near "cheap". Been looking for this for a while... '48-'52 320 plug wire cover... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Twice in the same day I have used the word envious, but it fits here. NICE. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheelnut Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Ohoh, now you've done it. A shiny bumper needs a shiny grill which needs a... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Got the starter shipped off for rebuild. While waiting for that, decided to make some progress on the headlight wiring. Pulled one of the bulbs out to look at the socket. Socket is ok, but the wires are no good. Looked online, but couldn't tell what socket goes on the bulb. Took the bulb to the local parts store. The guy put in "1951 Buick" on the computer. Nothing. No bulb, no socket. I asked him to try 1955 Buick because that's 12V. Still no bulb, no socket. I asked him to try 1979 Dodge Aspen. There you go, 7" 12V sealed beam, #6024 bulb. He had one of those on the shelf, so I held the 6V bulb up to it, and the terminals look the same. He brought up a replacement socket for that one, and they had 2 of them on the shelf for about $3 each. I took the socket out of the package and it fit on the 6V bulb. The guy was surprised that I pulled that 1979 Dodge Aspen out of nowhere to find a 12V 7" sealed-beam headlight... I mean, who remembers those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Some pics of headlight wiring. Leads are 28" long. I estimated this from what was left + the service loop at the terminal strip end on the 41D. I don't have the ring terminal for the ground lead yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Thank God you could not turn those headlights on. That coated wire is truly scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Yes, the car sat without headlights for many years, so the wire near the connectors was exposed. The section of wire inside the fender was just fine. I'm not re-using any of the original headlight wiring, but it does give confidence that under the dash and wires to the rear lights are ok (but I'll check all that as well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krinkov58 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 You are making some awesome progress; keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Thanks - I went through a couple of days ago and made up the order for what might be the rest of the firewall-forward wiring. That might show up tomorrow. Took a look at getting the front marker/turn housings off in order to do the wiring in those. Decided that pulling the bumper might be easier. Those marker/turn housings have 5 bolts each, and 2 of the bolts on each one are buried between the bumper and the strip of body-colored metal between the bumper and fenders. Looks like the bumper itself is 6 bolts total, and that would drop the grille and the marker/turn housings. Got the center 2 bumper bolts off, and have the PB Blaster working on the other 2. The other 2 bolts are on the sides of the marker/turn housings, and I got one of these to come out pretty easily. Didn't check the other one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Finished up the headlight wiring. Got the bumper pulled. Pulled out and cleaned up the light buckets. Made up new leads for those and wrapped them w/ vinyl tape. Got the bumper reinstalled and the leads back on the terminal strips. Need to get some bulbs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Finished up the headlight wiring. Got the bumper pulled. Pulled out and cleaned up the light buckets. Made up new leads for those and wrapped them w/ vinyl tape. Got the bumper reinstalled and the leads back on the terminal strips. Need to get some bulbs.If you are going to stay with 6v and have trouble finding some, I have some to give away.Willie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Thanks, Willie. I hadn't even started looking for these bulbs. Got a box full of wire to work through... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 The wire looks good. Can you get new terminal blocks? Do you need new ones? Those look like they'll result in a lot of resistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 I believe Bob's or Cars sells those terminal blocks. Should conduct fine if I take off the screws on both sides of one contact, releasing the metal bar across the screws. Clean the side of the metal bar that is tight against the new terminals, and they'll work. Trying not to get too much into restoration mode - want to see it run/drive first. Here's some more from today - finished the leads to the other side of the headlight / marker / signal blocks, the horns / horn relay, and the high/low beam switch. On the high beam output, the original harness has a joint in the line to split off a smaller wire for the dashboard high beam indicator. That would have saved maybe a foot of wire per car. Since I'm not worried about a foot of wire, I just added a 2nd lead off the high-beam output to run back to the dashboard light. I have the harness positioned with twist ties right now. I'm going to pull it back out to wrap it up. Main thing to go now is joining the new wires to the existing at the firewall (actually will be behind the firewall / under the dash when I'm done). Also need a bullet terminal for the horn wire off the steering column. Other circuit that I have parts for but still need to do is the defroster fan in the air tube on the inner right fender. I did find the 1154 bulbs at the FLAPS. Put those in and tested the turn/markers. The attachments to the post appear in a different order than I expect, so if you want to see these photos in logical progression, the file names end in a number that indicates the order. (As soon as I say that, they'll show up in the order I expect...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buicknutty Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Very nice progress, Eric.Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Thanks! Here's the firewall end straightened up. Why so many more wires with the blue tape tags identifying what they are? Shouldn't this be enough? Brake lights, reverse light switch, defroster fan lead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Had a few minutes this morning to start looking at what's next for the electrical wiring: With the few wires remaining to be reconnected at the firewall, I was able to positively identify the brake light in/out and the reverse light in/out from the color codes on the wires. Connected 6V transformer and "powered up" the car (easier than moving the battery from the other car, and for lower-power things like these light switches, it works). Turn on ignition key switch. See the fuel gauge jump from empty to full, and can see the charge/discharge gauge move a little. With a meter, can see 4 1/2-ish V on both the brake light hot and reverse light hot wires. (Checked that transformer is putting in ~6.5V.) Before running any new wires, I cleaned off the cut-off ends of these leads (brake in/out, reverse in/out). Touch the brake in/out together to see if I can get any V at the light sockets in back. Transformer trips. Short in that line. Reset the transformer. Touch the reverse in/out together. Transformer trips again. Short in both of these. Will need to track down where that short is before reconnecting these to the reverse and brake light switches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Pulled every fuse in the panel and the short is still there. Turned off the radio in the garage. Power on - could hear a buzz from behind the instrument panel. Got down on the floor to look up under there. Switch on ignition and traced the buzz to the Mother of the Electrical System (in this car) - the headlight switch. Ok, so that might be the problem. There's a couple of these on eBay right now. The RH park light was intermittent. Turns out it was bad ground, but I replaced one of the wires at the bulb end just in case. Here's how that goes:- Drill/grind out rivets to remove socket- Remake wire end for the in-socket terminal (no crimped-on part, it was fold the wires into a circle and load with solder)- Solder the new wire back to the harness- Rivet the socket back to the housing (used stainless rivets) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Most headlight switches have a circuit breaker that clicks on and off or buzzes when there is a short in one of the circuits. Don't condemn the switch until you remove the wires and then replace one at a time. Alternately check for grounded wires in each circuit.Willie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Thanks for the heads-up. I could see the bar that opens the circuit in the photos of the ones for sale. Same as I did with the fuse panel, I will open 1 circuit at a time until the short is isolated. There's about a dozen leads that come through that switch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Busted through what was making the power supply trip. Turns out not a short. I'm using a model railroad power supply for testing. It's variable up to 12V, 2.5A, with built-in protection. I set it at ~6V. Problem was that it would trip while I was testing these light circuits. I put an extension cord inside the car so I could unplug the power supply when I hear it trip. Got some blankets and even a foam pad on the floor (inside the car) so I can put eyeballs on the headlight switch and ignition switch behind the dash. Also put a little flexible plug-in light under there. Plug in the power. Turn on the ignition. Buzzing like it has been, and after 20-30 seconds, the power supply trips. Decided to isolate / remove the power window circuit. It's not on the main diagram, but I followed the wires out from the door, up under the dash, and there's one connector to the ignition switch. (Not sure how or even if this is fused, but not worrying about that now.) Disconnected that from the ignition switch. Powered on. Something still buzzes, and the power supply trips. Not the power windows, but good to leave them isolated for now anyway. Next thing to pull - the feed to the fuse panel. I had pulled all the fuses already anyway, but the way this is made, there's a line direct to the fuel gauge that isn't fused. Power on. No more buzz - so the fuel gauge was what's buzzing, but power supply STILL trips. Headlight switch is off, so I didn't see purpose in checking that - may still be a short to a lamp somewhere, but with the switch off, short or not should still be isolated. What the heck is left on the ignition switch? Line to the starter solenoid, but that's through the neutral switch AND the carb switch, and the solenoid is NOS and the neutral switch is NOS, and the carb switch isn't even connected. So what else is there? The ignition COIL! Coil is new, and line to it is new (from firewall forward) - but if that's drawing more than what the power supply can handle - there it is! Pulled the wire off the coil. That's it! Power supply stays on indefinitely. So with that discovery made, worked on the wire for the brake light switch. Power doesn't get out to the light sockets, so there's something open in the long harness from the dashboard to the back, but I'll get to that later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Oh, I got to it. Actually, a rat did. Found the major discontinuity in the harness to the back. I had to identify which of the 2 bundles that go down the firewall, under the front passenger's feet, along the right side of the seat, along the back edge of the front seat to the driveshaft hump in the floor, to a tunnel under the front edge of the back seat, over to the left side, then back into the trunk - which one is for the power windows vs. for the rear lights. Got that figured out because there's a branch just in front of the front seat for the power seat. I assumed that one continues for the power windows (since the power window and power seat switches all go to the hydroelectric system). I cut a little section of the outer braid off the other harness at the side of the front seat. I found the right quantity of wires inside for that to be the rear lighting harness (also includes the dome light & fuel gauge). I was able to identify nearly all of these by the color-coded tracer threads. Brake is solid white, no tracers. So I gradually shaved away the insulation until I could just see the copper. Then started working with the power. Initial power up, almost no voltage at the new brake light switch wire out front. Checked at the fuse panel ~6V. Cycled the connector at the fuse panel - got voltage down the wire. Connected that wire to the brake light output wire with a temporary clamp. Checked at the spot I'd opened in the under-seat harness. Showed ~-.5V. Not a short, but not right either. Decided to inspect the harness in the trunk area again. Found the right tail light harness has been cut inside the trunk. Not quite in the style of the vandalism under the hood, but just 6" of wires removed - the rest was there. So I trimmed off stray strands in case those were connecting something together. Found another spot like this for a lead that exits the harness right under the trunk latch. Not sure what that one is for, as I can see the wires for the reverse lights and fuel gauge are there. Anyway, trimmed more loose strands. Could see continuous harness to the LH tail light, up forwards along the left side of the trunk. Inside the car, could see the harness down behind the rear seat back and along the floor - though along the floor, the outer sheath and color-coded cotton weave was gone. This got me thinking - I had removed a lot of rat debris at the very left end of the tunnel that is below the front edge of the back seat. I put a light & mirror at the end of the tunnel and looked up in there - more rat debris. I moved the wire harness where it exits that tunnel just right of center (where it goes from rear seat to front seat), and it moved - like it's not connected. So I pulled out the rear piece of harness from inside the tunnel - and it pulled right out, dragging some more rat debris with it. Laid this harness out on the outside of the tunnel, and I could see the break was very close to the just-right-of-center hole where the harness goes forwards. Pulled that end of the harness out and it's a ball of stray strands. Must have tasted good to the rats. Cut off the stray strands until I could see the separate wires. Turned on the power supply again. Checked the spot I'd opened at the side of the front seat: 6V! Ok, now reconnect this break in the harness and see if I can get some of those rear lights working... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Was out of town, so no work on the car this past weekend. Today, pulled the wire cover off the floor to see the whole run between front & back seats. To check that the connections are correct, will identify what I can, then temporarily join (twist together) the existing wires to check with power before soldering in replacement lengths of wire. That shouldn't be too bad - some of the color-coded over-braid exists on both sides of what needs to be repaired. Need to clean out the tunnel/channel along the front edge of the back seat before pulling the repaired harness through there. Plan to do that with a smaller diameter hose on the shop vac. Also found 3" defroster hose at a local store for the 41D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 (edited) In the last few days, I've had the brake wire clipped together near the fuse panel, bypassing the brake light switch, so it's hot when the key is on. Using that, I checked the wire harness at the break at the front of the back seat (picture previously posted). Checked LH and RH turn, marker, brake, reverse, and fuel gauge for shorts. Got shorts on reverse and brake. Put a bulb in the LH fixture - that's the marker light in the picture. For reverse & brake, I cut these wires at 2 points in the trunk to narrow down where the short is. Reverse short is very close to where the leads from the bumper sockets join in. So will add a new segment of wire there (about 1 foot). Brake is shorted a little farther up, possibly in the LH socket. This seems most likely because the harness in the trunk is in fairly good condition, but I'll check more into that one. Edited July 31, 2015 by Eric W (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 Ended up also having a short in LH turn. Got the RH socket reconnected. Got bulbs for all the sockets. Got the new wires put in for LH turn, brake, and started on reverse. With a test lead, found that the license plate light works, and one of the reverse lights needed a bulb. Need to get reverse & license plate light reconnected to the harness, then make it all neat, then the trunk end is done. Then back to splicing all of these leads at the front edge of the back seat. Starter came back from rebuild, so it's just as well I was stopped on the engine to get the electrical into much better shape. Picture - marker lights, both sockets working... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric W Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 Got the 3 middle lights connected. Did an initial clean-up of the wire routing. Photo with the marker lights - license light also working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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