Thank you, guys, for the reassuring words. I've started looking at the various vendors who sell steel parts. CCOT seems to have good marks, as well as Real Steel. Maybe this is the time and place where I finally learn to weld. It'd be a big project for a guy like me, but growth comes from challenging yourself to try things out of one's comfort zone. Lemons in, lemonade out, right?
Back to my other, current obsession, the wiring up front. I've ordered new battery cables from
@Fourrunner and I
think I've identified all of the wires at the positive terminal. As with so many electrical questions, answers are often found in threads where Rudi (
@bj40green ) and Tom (
@lostmarbles ) participate, but with the HJ47 there is also
@Henry James the 47th , and
his reply to a question about the EDIC relay confirmed something that I suspected, but seemed to be contradicted by the wiring diagram: that the final, black wire, that I could not identify coming off of my B+ terminal is what is powering the EDIC motor. And, as I looked over my pictures, I believe that it is being protected by the original Green fusible link wire. So I think that my current wiring is mostly safe, just ugly (I'm still not convinced that putting two x 1mm² fusible link wires in parallel is equal to a 2mm² fusible link, but based on the other things I've seen I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the auto electrician who worked on this for the PO).
To address the ugliness aspect of this, I went ahead and ordered a
fusible link for an HJ75 (part # 90982-08236), which features blue, black, and green fusible link wires (2.0, 1.25, and 0.5mm², respectively). I'm convinced that the HJ47 with super glow originally had only the three fusible link wires, and that I've been letting the diagram confuse me because I keep forgetting that the one diagram is representing the wiring for all of the BJ4x, FJ4x, and HJ4x vehicles, not just my HJ47.
Hopefully the next update will be less academic and more pictures.