Builds The Clustertruck Rides Again - Refurbishing a 1975 Chevota (1 Viewer)

[Cdaniel]

Isn't P.O. crime solving fun? I had plenty of these to deal with on mine when I first got it.

My sand rail had similar issues too. Among many other P.O. treachery.

 

[Stumpalama]

Welcome back... glad to see you haven't given up!

 

[Stumpalama]

Do yourself a favor and invest in some of these:

...one of these:

...and these:

...and some of this:

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Do yourself a favor and invest in some of these:

...one of these:

...and these:

...and some of this:

The first is on the christmas list, the second I have, not sure what those metal things are - solder tubes? and the last is heat shrink...I think? Working on sourcing those.

 

[Stumpalama]

Crimp butt splices. There are 2 camps: The solderers and the butt splicers.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Crimp butt splices. There are 2 camps: The solderers and the butt splicers.

Hmm, not sure I want to be in camp of butt splicers...but sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the things we love...

 

[71FJnick]

I used to be in the solder camp, now I'm in the splicer camp. I found some water tight splice connectors from a marine supply company (west marine http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ancor-marine--waterproof-butt-connectors--P009_275_004_003 ) they simply crimp on, then use a heat gun to shrink the ends. There is an adhesive that flows around the wire making the connection water tight. In some cases, I went ahead and put black shrink wrap over it too for added protection. I figured, if it's good enough for boats...

 

[Stumpalama]

Splices are less prone to separating as a result of vibration and take less skill to do properly, than soldering. There are many who will argue that soldering is better than crimping and in some cases they are correct, but considering the currents and environments we are dealing with a good crimp will outlast the average solder job.

 

[Vae Victus]

I used to be in the solder camp, now I'm in the splicer camp. I found some water tight splice connectors from a marine supply company (west marine http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ancor-marine--waterproof-butt-connectors--P009_275_004_003 ) they simply crimp on, then use a heat gun to shrink the ends. There is an adhesive that flows around the wire making the connection water tight. In some cases, I went ahead and put black shrink wrap over it too for added protection. I figured, if it's good enough for boats...

Jimminy Christmas those are expensive.

 

[Stumpalama]

Jimminy Christmas those are expensive.

Yeah, I'll stick with my uninsulated crimps and shrink wrap.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

So, just an update. I posted a thread called "School me in Wiring" and BJ40green (Rudi) did exactly that. I also confirmed that my old 63 Amp, GM 10dn externally regulated alternator, at some point in the last 2 years, screwed the pooch. I had it bench tested yesterday and received a maximum voltage output of 1.25 volts. Quite honestly, I have no idea how the truck's battery hasn't died (maybe just because it's brand new/healthy) but I'm still getting a solid 12 volts across the terminal.

As usual, what was supposed to be a simple headlight upgrade has become something completely altogether different - a complete rewire of the charging system.

The new plan - upgrade to a more modern, internally regulated 12si alternator, and rewire the charging system to accommodate. This will include an alternator harness with a diode to bypass the need for a resistor/charging light, a new alternator cable running straight to the battery (bypassing the Ammeter), and further isolating the main harness from the increased amperage of the 12si.

The downside - my ammeter will no longer detect "charging" current, just drain on the main harness. Upside? I'll have 100amps at my disposal for future accessories, including the halogen light upgrade.

In the process - I'll be fixing a number of major fire-hazzard issues in the wiring harness (one main ground, complete lack of fusible links) so that I don't end up pulling a @Vae Victus.

Once I have the wiring back to a safe state, I'll be able to move forward with the original plan - installing the IPF harness/headlights.

I'll report back once my entire new arsenal of wiring equipment shows up, and I get cracking.

In the meantime, an MS-paint layout of what I've got planned:

 

[Vae Victus]

Glad to know I'm a Verb now. "Don't Vae Victus me Bro!"

Rainman said you had a wreck - was he remembering correctly?

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Glad to know I'm a Verb now. "Don't Vae Victus me Bro!"

Rainman said you had a wreck - was he remembering correctly?

He was indeed - it was very minor, virtually no damage to either car, or occupants. Unfortunately, the guy I hit decided to report it anyway, and I had to shell out to repaint his bumper (there was a pencil eraser sized scratch). Everyone's OK, and it was in the Mazda, not the 40 - so no major skin off my back, just some money out of the cruiser fund.

 

[Vae Victus]

So are you still nursing your neck or what - get back to work already!

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

So are you still nursing your neck or what - get back to work already!

Funny you should say that - completely unrelated to the "accident," and I put it in quotes due to how minor it was...I actually did manage to pull a muscle in my neck that has kept me out of commission this week. It's on the mend, should be 100% by Monday.

Other than that, there is a long list of excuses:

• A long, heated debate on this forum as to which alternator setup to run, wiring gauges/routing, connectors/terminals to run, etc.
• Finally ordering said parts, the last of which arrived yesterday (GM 12SI, 94A Alternator)
  
• New job at a small start-up - hired to be marketing, now I'm marketing/sales/procurement/R&D...so, longer hours, lower pay!
• My Electrical Engineer buddy teaching my how to wire is in San Francisco
• It has been 10 freakin' degrees all January

To top it all off - I've been roped into wedding planning, and decided to try and buy a foreclosed house, just to further complicate things. In short, life is just getting in the way lately. The good coming out of all this is - I may soon have a permanent garage to keep the 40 in, and I won't have to drive an hour to work on it! Inspections are this Monday, if all goes well, closing at the end of January.

Really looking forward to getting back at it, and making progress. I'm hoping to tackle the alternator/wiring (or at least get started) sometime next week.

I've also been slowly and quietly collecting all of the pieces necessary to reinstall my V8 conversion properly, along with a couple other side projects that will come along with pulling the drivetrain. To be completely honest, I may be a full year or more away from being able to swing that financially, as there are a lot of projects I'll need to outsource to the pros, but the parts are slowly collecting in a box in the basement.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

I also got a compression tester for Christmas - the plan is to use to to figure out how much life is left in the old 283. What I find will be a major determining factor in whether I keep it, and go through the effort of resealing it (not rebuilding it) or just dump it and find a 350 to drop in. Part of my wants to go to more modern (post 75) emissions controls and throttle body injection - so that this thing might legitimately pass inspection someday. Another part of me loves the simplicity of a carbureted, un-smogged, computer-free engine.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Took care of the easy stuff tonight, in advance of a buddy coming in and helping me with the hard stuff (cutting/crimping/splicing). Hopefully that will get tackled this weekend.

For now, OUT WITH THE OLD:

I traced the brown wire that was running from my voltage regulator back to a switched ignition source. Idiotically, I checked the ignition switch first. Looks brand new, but no splice:

Turns out it was down in the rat's nest under the dash:

Under the tape was what I have grown to consider the "standard" in PO wiring - the twist-splice:

Now, the new "Field" wire on the 12SI alternator I'm upgrading to needs a switched ignition source as well. However, I believe the blue/red wire is for the windshield wiper circuit (according to wiring diagrams, it runs to the windshield wipe fuse, I think). This would be active when the key is in "Accessory" as opposed to "On" so I'm not sure if I can use the PO's splice point.

On that note: How are you actually SUPPOSED to splice in a "T" in a wire? Is there a special connector for that?

The old:

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Since I'm now bypassing the ammeter, I had to cut the alternator wire where it met up with the original harness wire, that served the same purpose:

After:

The blue/white wire will be electrically isolated/taped to prevent a future short.

With all the old stuff out of the way, I started installing the new stuff:

First, the new milspec battery terminals, along with the new starter cable (beefy, and the correct color). I also roughed in @Coolerman's fusible link. I had requested a little extra length on the wire, due to the hacked up nature of my harness. It's going to work perfectly. I just need to chop off the busted connector on the other side, and install the new one that he provided. Thanks Coolerman! This will get run with the other wires, behind the brace on the apron.

Over on the driver's side, the new 12SI was test-fit. I also installed the cool "pigtail" connector I bought from Speedway Motors. The "taped" section you see is a diode, which takes the place of the idiot light typically found on the GM cars this was all designed for. Without an idiot light to add resistance, the field sensor doesn't work correctly, and the alternator won't charge. The diode circumvents this by "faking" the idiot light resistance.

The red "Sense" wire on the pigtail is designed to by used as a "jumper" to the alternator battery terminal. This effectively bypasses the voltage sensing altogether. This makes for a clean setup, but also causes your alternator to not properly account for voltage drop. Since I'm running about 12 feet of wire over to the battery, there will be significant drop, so I'll be extending the sense wire over to the battery along with the primary alternator BAT cable.

Unfortunately, I've created a new problem for myself. This alternator has a SLIGHTLY smaller pulley than the last one. I did the math, and determined that I'm not at risk of exceeding the 16,000-18,000 RPM that the alternator can handle, so that is not a concern. However, with the smaller pulley, the V-belt that turns it is now too long, and I am maxed out on the alternator's adjustment arm. There are 3 solutions, and honestly, I'm not sure which is best:

1. Longer alternator adjustment arm (and probably better looking, too)
2. Larger Pulley - probably the least effective, as this would make charging worse at idle, and, even with the 3 inch pulley on the last alternator, the belt was BARELY tight enough
3. Smaller belt

The issue with the smaller belt is, because of the valve cover, I don't have a whole heck of a lot of room to play with, adjusting in the other direction either. The alternator will bottom out on the valve cover. So the belt would probably have to be within 1 inch of the current belt. Something of a conundrum.

 

[handcannon]

Do you have room on the outboard side of the alt? I don't remember reading if you know how to weld, or if you have a friend that welds. But if so, add some length to that arm. Use some flat metal bar and add some length, maybe 2". Add to the mounting end, leaving the current bolt hole, and drill a new bolt hole. that way in the future if you need to you can go back to the original position. This will allow you to keep your current belt.

Don

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

I don't weld, yet, but I have friends who do. I actually started work on a longer bracket to make room for taller valve covers at one point (they were free). Don't remember what state it's in but might be worth digging out of whatever pile it ended up in.

Seems like it would almost be easier just to get a new belt. As I said my only issue is I have very little room to adjust toward the valve covers either on the current setup.

The 283 originally had a (much narrower) generator so I think that this is part of the problem.