Time for an update. Been working on the car in short intervals. I try to do at least something,...one thing minimum, every day,..even if it's just ordering fuse holders or something small like that,..one less thing.
I found one complete whole day recently and took the opportunity to sort the wiring. It turned out to be better than what I expected. Mostly intact, with just a few puzzlers. What I did was take the schematic I got from Charlie White and had it blown up to the largest size that Staples would do, poster size. Then I had them laminate it. I took the poster, a grease pencil, an ohm meter, a 18ft piece of wire with alligator clips on each end, a flashlight, and a HUGE pillow, into the car shell and went to town. I traced every single wire, and labeled each at the fuse junction, and at the end where it connects to the part it powers. It took all day, but in the end there were really no big surprises. Only problem was that it seems there was a short at some point from the ignition to the light switch, (where ignition gets its power, it uses the light switch as a bus bar) That short length of wire insulation showed evidence of melting. That got replaced, and I ordered a 10 pack of inline fuses. Yes, I am going non original and putting a fuse in the ignition circuit,..and in many other places for that matter. I can drift to the side of the road and figure something out far more easily than dive for the shoulder to get the fire extinguisher, haha. The headlights are getting relays, as well as the fog lights. Starter too. I didn't go with the (nicely made I am told) kits that are available. I just ordered individual relays from Mouser Electronics for 8 bucks each.
Got a few other things done like the passenger window glass and chrome frame. I never took the lower frame L brackets out after dry fit adjustment before painting so the reinstall was a snap. Got the outer chrome trim and wind deflector on too. It's starting to look like a car now.
Small kitchen table projects done thus far:
Reassemble headlights after chroming.
Reassemble fog lights after chroming.
Started on the quarter window reassembly....read on:
I searched and found the seminal forum thread about quarter window reassembly and the outlook was not good. There was a fellow there who said he'd rather take a beating than doing that again after he did his and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree. Man what a bitch. I got the boy to bed around 9:30 last night and went to the shop to "check things out" Well, one thing led to another and I staggered back in the house at 3:35 AM. One quarter window assembled. Whew!,...what a marathon pitched battle. I tried everything, but not wanting to do the ultimate trick of having 1/16 of an inch ground off the perimiter of the glass, (didn't want to risk orginal glass, and also it has a cool old PCA sticker on it.) Plus, I'm stubborn as a mule when I decide something IS going together,...tonight. I just wrestled and wrestled. I've got a woodworkers vice with stop pegs, etc. What I ultimately did,..the final solution, was a messy one. What I did was take the dremmell tool chucked up with a cut off wheel, and
ground downthe inside channel of the seal! Did it take a few minutes?,..yes, Was it messy?,...you betcha,..did it work? Hell yea! Now I have to ask,....since this project is always known to be such a bear,..why hasn't anybody simply made a seal that is (even ever so slightly) smaller/thinner than the ones available? (I got mine from IM) Seems a simple solution.
The only downside is that I scuffed the new chrome on the exterior of the frame with all the attempts. Not a big deal, but if you look hard you can see it. Oh well,...thems the breaks, at least I didn't crack the glass.
I also was lucky enough to score some original NOS rubber for the outer channell. Nothing like having the real thing!