Thread: This is fun - well almost

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I'm finally starting to do some wiring on my car - this rat's nest is only for the dash with several more tangles on my bench waiting their turn. At least I can do this assembly in the "luxury' of my computer room/office

Dash looks nice.

What's with the PVC looking pieces?

Are those screw-on pieces for retaining the instruments?

Looks easier than wrestling with the #10 nuts on the S-Ws.

Along these same lines . . . to an extent anyway.

How difficult was it to get the cowl 'eyebrow' piece that goes under the windshield in place?

Mine's a bitch and more than likely I'll install it then paint it.
No use painting it and then scratching heck out of everything else trying to get it in.

And . . . if I'm missing a trick here I'd be happy to hear how you did it.

Originally Posted by C9x

Along these same lines . . . to an extent anyway.

How difficult was it to get the cowl 'eyebrow' piece that goes under the windshield in place?

Mine's a bitch and more than likely I'll install it then paint it.
No use painting it and then scratching heck out of everything else trying to get it in.

And . . . if I'm missing a trick here I'd be happy to hear how you did it.

Ya got me with 2 today:

The PVC looking pieces are indeed the gauge retainers and one of the reasons I chose the small diameter VDO gauges over a couple of the others. That 'U' shaped bracket, lock washers and the little bitty nuts installed while standing on my head, legs over the back of the seat, while wrapped around the shifter, pedals and steering column several times was too much. They work very nicely

That eyebrow piece is a bit#h. I had to pry mine off with big screw drivers after I had to cut a stripped and jammed bolt (of course, the middle one!!) - which also had pulled the cage nut loose. What I finally did was take a big file to the inner edge that meets the dash and dress it down by about .062+/- so that it now fits fairly easily. Another thing that I had to do was reshape that piece. The flat where the windshield seal meets was about 1.38 on one side while the other was about 1".

And another - you probably forgot how the cowl clamps are installed as I did. I emailed Brookville and asked for a photo - I had not a clue!!!!

You guys are right about that eyebrow piece, it is almost impossible to get on and then remove. We snapped the two parts together on the body we are building, then had a hard time getting them back apart. We are going to grind some of the lip off of the top part and squeeze the inner part tighter so they have more clearance between them.

Even at that, we have decided to put it all together then paint the car because we know we would be scratching the h*** out of stuff if we tried to assemble some parts after paint.

Your dash looks good IC2, smart way to wire it off of the car. Love that color too.

Don

Thanks for the info.

It'll help.

I wonder if it would be advantageous - he asks after having not crawled under the dash for a long while - to remove the threaded piece and use a bolt & nut to pull the cowl eyebrow in.

I need to get back to working on the 31, but right now am making an oil baffle goody for the 32 using the 31s engine for a pattern.
Dawned on me a while back that I could do that instead of tearing the 32 down for a week or so.

Make the goody on the 31 and have the 32 down for only an afternoon for the install.

I think too that I've figured out an improvement with the Buicks one piece sheet metal intake manifold gasket/bathtub that keeps oil off the intake bottom and assists in keeping flying oil droplets under control.

Dang late model Buicks - 430, 455 - have the valley open at the bottom so most of the cam is exposed.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

You guys are right about that eyebrow piece, it is almost impossible to get on and then remove. We snapped the two parts together on the body we are building, then had a hard time getting them back apart. We are going to grind some of the lip off of the top part and squeeze the inner part tighter so they have more clearance between them.

Even at that, we have decided to put it all together then paint the car because we know we would be scratching the h*** out of stuff if we tried to assemble some parts after paint.

Your dash looks good IC2, smart way to wire it off of the car. Love that color too.

Don

Don - once you have that eyebrow piece off and ground you should have no problem getting it back on - I use light stick masking tape JIC tho for protection. No way can I paint with it fully assembled - it's an air conditioned roadster....yeah, I know, roadster. A/C- an oxymoron. But that's another tale for another day.

I'm having "fun" wiring - I'm color blind some shades and light gray, light green and pink..... and my wife is working. It wont be finalized until she gives the stamp of approval.

I've finally gotten used to my glow-in-the dark '08 Mustang GT color. It was a shocker the first few times I went to the shop as my vehicles have always been pretty subdued colorwise.

I like the color as well, and I'm strange because I like to do the wiring........LOL
BradC

Dave you help me even on the cowl clamps i had put a few pieces in a basket and when i just seen them i was asking w t h is this again .

It's all fun!!!! Some parts of a build are just a lot more fun then others!!!!!

The dash wiring went together just fine. The American Autowire kit has a really good set of instructions and schematics to follow - almost too much information. So far, the only problems have been mine, not theirs. Pictures will follow later of the completed dash wiring for those who are "looking forward" to doing theirs

Bobby - I looked at those @#$% clamps 20 times and couldn't figure how they mounted and had to give in and ask Brookville.

Back to more fun later - and I am enjoying doing this, but still would prefer getting my hands dirty in a greasy engine or transmission

I'd much rather wire in those few circuits than try and trace out one bad circuit on any late model truck or car for that matter. Hank

I dug out my battery cables to see what, if anything I need - holy cow - I ended up with Taylor 1ga wire. This is only an 8.5cr 5.0 Ford, not a honkin' diesel!! There's more then enough red (+) but not enough black (-) so it might be an interesting color scheme if I can't find a 3-4 foot length to use. My intent is to lug (ground) to the frame then continue to the engine in a virtually continuous run.

Interesting commentary on the eyebrow. All three of you have the 30/31 style body. Last night I had occasion to remove the eyebrow on the 28/9 B'ville body I've got here and it was a very nice fit both on and off, though one of the captive "nuts" was off just a scosch creating a very slight bind. Dave, I haven't gotten to the body work/paint prep phase yet, but a lot of the issues you've had with your body don't appear to be such on this one. I wonder if they did the 30/1 first so it's tooling is older, more used and thus producing a more "tired" end result? Or, maybe they learned from doing the later body first and dialed in some improvements on the 28/9?

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Interesting commentary on the eyebrow. All three of you have the 30/31 style body. Last night I had occasion to remove the eyebrow on the 28/9 B'ville body I've got here and it was a very nice fit both on and off, though one of the captive "nuts" was off just a scosch creating a very slight bind. Dave, I haven't gotten to the body work/paint prep phase yet, but a lot of the issues you've had with your body don't appear to be such on this one. I wonder if they did the 30/1 first so it's tooling is older, more used and thus producing a more "tired" end result? Or, maybe they learned from doing the later body first and dialed in some improvements on the 28/9?

Bob,
I have a gut feel that Brookville spent more time perfecting the '28 -'29 as it has been a more 'desirable' body style for most to plunk on a '32 chassis. I too would have preferred it as well - but it was just that much smaller for my 6'4" bod that I either had to do a '31 or suck up my losses and build a '32. StylinZ has had almost as many problem as I have and I think C9 is starting to find some of the same on his as well. Don has had a few, but he/his son purchased theirs disassembled, so a lot can be fixed during assembly. The eyebrow problem can be fixed - it just takes a couple hours of file work and fitup along with a few salty words.

Finished the dash wiring - now, just hope everything works - but I'll bet the rest of the car wont be as easy