Tag: wiring

Week 6 – Cable and Starter Finished!!

http://www.batterycablesusa.com

I’ve been solving problems with getting the engine running one bite at a time. The first step was to get the ignition system checked out.

It turns out new battery cables were needed. On the surface it would seem like a minor job, the challenge is all of the clamps and getting reassembled in a tight space.

The cables were from Battery USA. They do a great job and turn around with super fast. If you’re doing a rebuild, there’s no reason to go with the cheap cabling from a local auto parts store, go with the best insulation you can buy and 1/0 gauge cable.

Because the ground wire is on the starter, I needed to remove the starter to get the cable loose. Since I had the starter out of the car, I had it tested to confirm it works well.

The next step is exciting, get a battery and see if the engine will turn over. If it will, I’ll do compression checks to see if a rebuild his needed or the engine may be fine as is.

And….. on to the next step in troubleshooting. Today I installed the battery, the lights turned on, the front turn signals work, the horn works, but the engine would not turn over. The headlights would not dim when turning the ignition switch, I suspect the solenoid yet don’t know how to diagnose if it is bad.

Week 3


This week starts the electrical system with rewiring the truck.  Folks on the H.A.M.B. suggested the EZWire kit and after research I ordered the EZ Wiring 21 Universal Harness.  The 21 lead set is $15 more yet if ever wanting to add items like AC or interior lighting there will be spare leads to use 

With the starting point for wiring looking like something a shade tree mechanic did after an all night bender…. I’m afraid I have my work cut out for me


Opening the box with the EZ wiring kit was overwhelmed finding the harness weight nearly 20 lbs, and seeing the magnitude of work.

rather than start on the wiring harness and redoing the entire system, I just decided to start at the battery as the cables there need the most attention. If I could power up the vehicle, I could find out what kind of shape the entire wiring system is in, this became my strategy for the weekend.

The starter relay looks to be in good shape, but the ground wires we’re losing the insulation. I was able to get a few wires free, but ran into real challenges trying to get the starter motor loose.

Like any good project, I wanted to keep making progress and switched gears and purchased a new tool chest. On the surface it doesn’t make much sense, but the challenge I was running into was having a workspace, and also where to store all the tools I’ve acquired. In a few short weeks I’ve had to purchase an impact wrench, impact sockets, screw extractors, all things that are needed but require storage space. So here you have the solution, a great unit from Lowe’s that give storage on multiple sides