Thread: Electricals - phew

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IC2, I have an electrical soldering "gun" but when I try to solder wires there is not enough heat, probably due to the length of the wire. I also have a smaller electrical iron that I used for circuit boards in my lab but it is intended to be low heat for protection of solid state chips so it is certainly not hot enough. I am surprised that the soldering gun will not solder the wires. What are you using? I bought a second heater for the garage, but this morning it was 26 F in the garage and even with two radiative heaters I decided to do some other clerical work today rather than plug on with my one-wire-per-day plan. Although there was the first frost of the winter this morning I hope to put on both heaters tomorrow and maybe in an hour or two I can get get some work done on the wiring.

Don shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

IC2, I have an electrical soldering "gun" but when I try to solder wires there is not enough heat, probably due to the length of the wire. I also have a smaller electrical iron that I used for circuit boards in my lab but it is intended to be low heat for protection of solid state chips so it is certainly not hot enough. I am surprised that the soldering gun will not solder the wires. What are you using? I bought a second heater for the garage, but this morning it was 26 F in the garage and even with two radiative heaters I decided to do some other clerical work today rather than plug on with my one-wire-per-day plan. Although there was the first frost of the winter this morning I hope to put on both heaters tomorrow and maybe in an hour or two I can get get some work done on the wiring.

Don shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
I have several soldering irons from the little electronics pencil size, a heavy duty gun and a 60 year old GE clunk that must weigh 2 pounds and makes the electric meter spin up when I plug it in. As far as the electronic board, I need to know where the missing green wire goes before I attempt any repairs. There is no wiring diagram for the innards of this module and since there was never a wire, no indication on any of the empty terminals. The two switches - those will be worked on later this morning, What a PITA!!!

I think VA was colder then here on Wed morning according to the weather map. We were at ~28*, but my garage was at 42*. By the time I ran a couple of errands and leaving both heaters on for about an hour, it was ~64* - (flannel) shirtsleeves temp. I shut one heater down and the other held 62* though the afternoon.

I have to poor boy everything, have never had a boughten harness or kit. I take a lot of wiring and connectors from parts cars so I have a good variety of colors and the good weather-pac connectors. I have never been very good at soldering so I like to use the un-insulated crimp connectors and terminals with heat shrink tubing and find it very suitable. I do use an old Thomas and Betts crimper that does a much better job than the combo striper/crimpers. I also design my own systems and use a NAPA application guide to find the component that does just what I want.
I personally like to use wire loom for my wires to run inside of, It makes a lot more factory looking job. The rubber lined metal holders are good. I also use the factory style plastic ones that snap in. I don't know where I got them but I had some zip ties with a mounting hole in the end too.
Zip ties vary greatly in quality and those cheap Allied ones from Sam/s or Costco are junk. If you can find 3M ones they are the best. Here is an item that you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by willowbilly3

I have to poor boy everything, have never had a boughten harness or kit. I take a lot of wiring and connectors from parts cars so I have a good variety of colors and the good weather-pac connectors. I have never been very good at soldering so I like to use the un-insulated crimp connectors and terminals with heat shrink tubing and find it very suitable. I do use an old Thomas and Betts crimper that does a much better job than the combo striper/crimpers. I also design my own systems and use a NAPA application guide to find the component that does just what I want.
I personally like to use wire loom for my wires to run inside of, It makes a lot more factory looking job. The rubber lined metal holders are good. I also use the factory style plastic ones that snap in. I don't know where I got them but I had some zip ties with a mounting hole in the end too.
Zip ties vary greatly in quality and those cheap Allied ones from Sam/s or Costco are junk. If you can find 3M ones they are the best. Here is an item that you get what you pay for.

No problem with doing it that way - my biggest problem is the lack of good donor cars. I can't have them on my property. Then the local salvage yards with one exception don't allow people in the back - the old "insurance" BS. The one that will - he and I have chosen to no longer like each other, regardless of the fact that we were friends outside. He, a couple of times quoted a price, then when I pulled the part conveniently forgot how much and it went way up. The first time I paid, the second, I dropped the item in the yard and left - forever.

The AC wiring problems I have are Vintage Air quality problems on supplied pieces of their Gen ll Mini heat/cool control unit and will probably cost me ~$75 including shipping to fix if I can't convince them that they had shipped defective items

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Update ~1:30PM. I talked to Vintage Air. OOPS, they supplied the wrong wiring diagram with the original "kit" and for mine, there is no green wire - it's for defrost, which I don't have. They will be supplying 2 new switches for the control panel though I did temporarily solder my terminals back solidly together for check out

IC2, Just reporting in with some progress. The weather was pretty good today and it was 66 F in the garage so I did get some wiring done. The wire to the electric choke only required adding a push on clip and then I worked on adding ground wires to the tailights which are mounted on the fiberglass fenders. Threading in the tailight wires was a worry because the rear tires are big and I don't want to get into a situation where the tires rub the wires. Fortunately Henry Ford figured that out in 1929 by providing a back plate for the tailights (I got repro plates from Brattons in Md.) with a large bulging ridge in it for the wires so, if at all, the tires will rub on the smooth steel backing plate. I had to take the rear wheels off to drill a small hole through the side of the quarter panels for the wires but it was reassuring to find that the width of the 8" Maverick rear places the tires out away from the inner part of the body so that if the tire hits at all it will hit the protective steel backing plate instead of the wires. I might not have known about this except for my use of the original Ford manual for the Model A which shows the protective plate which was certainly needed for the 21" wheels on the original 1929 A. For once trying to follow the "restorod" trail was actually helpful. However I now realize why many roadsters have the tailights in the base of the body and not on the fender where large tires can rub the wires! Hey this was a "three wire day"! (I have been using "crimp only" connections so far; hope I don't regret that.)

Don Shillady
Retired SCeintistteen rodder

Hi Don - sounds like an early spring day yesterday in VA - we were here in the frozen tundra of the Upstate NY area had only mid fifties - but nice. Today isn't!!

Sounds like at least some progress. Never in my life did I anticipate that my wiring would take so long. It is a long and involved process, then factor in some "unforseens" and some part failures it just gets longer and longer. At least I don't have the 'glass body to contend with. I'm still waiting on the replacement switches from Vintage Air noted in my last post here, but in essence have my wiring 95% done with only the cowl lamps and under dash and trunk light left. I did add a 'power point' after you mentioned your addition

I've seen those backing plates that Bratton's sells - they do a good job of protecting and turning the wires. I'm using Pontiac LED repro's bolted through the lower body panel below the trunk lid so I don't have those kinds of problems. I originally started out with '32 lights that mount on the ends of the spreader bar - but on a '31, even with the '32 gas tank really didn't look right.

Heating your garage - take a look here: http://www.mrheater.com/productdetai...catid=42&id=21

I have 2 of these and one will move the temp in my 24x30 garage to the mid fifties on a 25* day, two, mid 60's in about an hour. I have my garage again partitioned off (yesterday's accomplishment beyond my honey-do's) and based on last year will move the 12X30 bay easily into the 60's. I do have a CO monitor for safety's sake.