Custom Dash For My Fairmont Squire

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by Stormin' Norman, May 14, 2008.

  1. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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    "Solfering pencil".....you sure you need 5 more joints Norm??:p:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:
     
  2. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    A typo. :oops:mg: :rofl2:

    Solfering joints... :rofl2: Not the weedy types. :rofl2:
     
  3. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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  4. ProTouring442

    ProTouring442 New Member

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    Get a Wall/Lenk LG400C... best soldering gun out there! I've had mine for over 15 years!

    http://tinyurl.com/kick-ass-soldering-gun

    Shiny Side Up!
    Bill
     
  5. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Thanks. I'll check around here. I think I know where too.
     
  6. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Ammeter Mystery Ending

    Tedy, there's just nothing like pulling all the stops.

    I spent hours running back and forth to the Ford EVTM (Wiring diags) and the car's underhood harness, checking and thinking about electrical theory, and all the sites I looked at, and BINGO!, the light went on!

    The Ammeter needs a shunt, a length of non-fuse-linked wire (1.1 ohms) to get the power demand (load) passing through the gauge. Actually, it's about 18 inches of 10 gauge wire (thicker yellow one goes into the fusebox).

    The regular idiot light system joins them all up on the starter relay, with the Battery Positive cable on the same post, like below:
    jun1609ammeter04_620843.jpg jun1609ammeter06_988519.jpg

    The trick is to cut the yellow wire inside the harness, after the Fuse Link junction (there's an 18 gauge Yellow/White hash wire that goes to the Voltage Regulator at the taped up junction. Just cut passed that (towards the firewall) Solder the Red/Yellow wire to the Fuse link piece with one end of the 18" shunt (#10 yellow - circuit no. 37) and the other end to the yellow wire running back to the firewall.

    Now, for some reason - CRS probably - I reinstalled a junction block when I did the resto, but I couldn't recall why it was there. :oops: That's where the battery Positive, this new Ammeter connection (R/Y and Fuse-link Yellow with green link tab) and the rear deicer wire go. All the others, plus an extension of the Battery Positive go to the Starter Relay. Like it says here:
    jun1609ammeter05_786047.jpg

    That way, the Ammeter gets its necessary LOAD to show on the gauge.

    The Voltmeter Positive goes to that junction too. The negative side of the Voltmeter goes to the ground bar inside the dash.

    The light just connects to the common dashlight positve (LT BLUE/Red Stripe), to run on the dimmer.

    On the 1979 harness, the Brown/Orange Striped wire going into the car, actually gets split inside the car, not under the hood. It feeds all the stuff that normally runs with the KEY-OFF circuit. The Yellow is the KEY-ON circuit.

    Later models have colour changes and circuit number changes for the newer models.

    What threw me for a loop is that I merged my 1979 circuit with the 1978 Donor car, so I didn't have a pure 1979 harness to start with.

    Glad I installed that Junction block - I'll take a picture and post later. I kept staring at it, then your pictures, than back again, and then I moved the lugs back and forth, compared to the EVTM, and then! The rest is history! :thumbs2:

    Should wrap up the underhood stuff today and the vacuum gauge hose routing, then the door speakers and 2 new grounds under the dash. :whew:

    Rain-farts stop the process. I think my brain gelled and dried up. The sparks are hitting on a couple more cylinders now. :biglaugh:
     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2009
  7. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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    Good to hear it's all coming together Norm(y). I hope you don't need pics of the emitions air pump (and all the hook up) from me....the bearing went and it sounded like babys in a blender so I ripped all that crap out, there goes 1985 origonal. It always ran good, but it seems to run a bit better with out the garbage.
     
  8. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Tedy. Nope the donor didn't have the pump, and since the car is Pre-1985 (proposed testing age vintage in MB), it's not likely it ever will.

    I just need the 2 gauge-based senders (Temp and Oil Pressure) to finish under the hood. Likely tomorrow.

    Door speakers are in and door panels have new stock rectangular grilles.

    Under the dash wiring today.

    This stuff takes a long time, especially double-checking the diagrams. :whew:
     
  9. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    I've seen complete new wiring harnesses for sale on the WWW. The prices freaked me out. If you had to replace one for a trailer queen (thanks Tedy), you'd drop about $1,200 with taxes and shipping, and still have to install it.

    Well, after yesterday, that doesn't seem like such a bad price, if I could get one. The Ford Premium Sound amplifier to Radio wiring was a mess. It came out of a 1984 Mustang with the AMP, and the AM/FM/MPX/Cassette Radio came from a 1984 Cougar. Wiring codes match. :whew:

    Like most Mustangs, people like to modify, upgrade and tinker. In one of its past lives, the guy must have added an aftermarket radio and amp, and then reinstalled the original chopped wires by just twisting them and taping them up. The car had a moon roof. The wires beneath the tape got oxidized. Had to strip and solder some 25 X 2 ended wires. I got lucky though, because I kept the old Donor car's wires and matched the wiring code, especially the plug-in connector ends.

    Got those done yesterday, but I still have a couple connections to the vacuum guage LED light instrument (another pet peeve) and the hookups under the dash for the clock (5 wires). The voltmeter is all wired.

    This vacuum gauge was made in China, where English is a rare mineral.

    3 wires:

    Black is Ground
    White is 12 Volts Positive
    Orange is Dimmer connection

    Fairmonts have a Dimmer connection for the headlights!
    Fairmonts have an Intrument Panel dimmer rheostat, but why the 12 volt wire?

    I wanted to twist them together (Orange and White) and connect it to the Instrument dimmer, but I have to add a small wire to a 12-volt connection.

    Reminds me of Chicken Fly Lice.:rofl2:
     
  10. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    I still have to locate the wires in behind and connect up the various harnesses. All the soldering is done. It's just reassembly. But I figured out the easier reinstallation:

    Make sure the steering column is resting on the seat!

    Each A-pillar has a pivot bolt for the dash frame. They get hand-threaded enough to hold it up:

    Driver's side:.........................Passenger:
    jul-709dash05.jpg jul-709dash04.jpg

    Then slip in the defroster/vent ducts and reinstall all the fasteners (screws and defroster hold-down clips) before you push it up to fasten at the windshield.

    There's only 4 machine threaded screws at the windshield firewall - just insert the middle one loosely. Then fight with the sheetmetal hold-down above the steering column to secure the dash frame. Finish off the other 3 firewall screws at the top. Screw the defroster duct to the center plenum. The rest is placing the harness and radio, controls installation. Took me 2 hours by myself, this time :thumbs2: - used to be 4 hours. :oops::
    jul-709dash02.jpg


    NOW, the good stuff! :yahoo:

    Here's the passenger fascia with the Vacuum and Voltmeter gauges and the clock, in various stages:

    Back in the dash frame with the duct still loose, all connections have been soldered and all have Ford wire connectors to make it easy to remove them, change lightbulbs, etc.
    jul-709dash01.jpg


    Just enough clearance between the gauge hookups and the duct:
    jul-709dash03.jpg

    And the face view:
    jul-709dash07.jpg

    The two connectors that have to be updated to use a Mustang cluster:
    jul-709dash06.jpg

    I just placed the main cluster to see how it looked:
    jul-709dash08.jpg

    Another couple of hours in the morning and I'm on the road again! :yahoo:
     
  11. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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    :mischeif:...I saw your pics before you posted. :162:

    Way to go Norm:2_thumbs_up_-_anima!! If it was a model car, what you have done would be called "kit bashing". That is a nice face on the dash, I'll use the same when I interiour swap. I'm guessing weather coperated for you today, I took the day off and it poured.:rofl:. 2 hours to put it back in with all your mods, your my hero. Looking fore ward to pics of %100....and I bet you are too:biglaugh:
     
  12. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, you saw them in your own backyard... :evilsmile:

    Believe it or not, I read the shop manual first, rather than follow my own logic, and the book had some good instructions, for once. Imagine if women came with a "partner's manual", especially the wiring section. :evilsmile::biglaugh: Of course they'd say the same about men. :biglaugh:

    Well, I'll have breaky and wrap it up.
     
  13. Fat Tedy

    Fat Tedy Island Red Neck

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    No Norm, I clicked some thing in the gallery and your latest pics were there(but not here yet) along with a Chrystler...go figure. I watched for you to update this thread and low and behold you did.
     
  14. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Go figure. I was prepping the post for about 6 minutes (for slow readers :rofl2:).

    Anyway, the reno grant inspector came by twice today, so I didn't get all done. And Mother Nature decided to 'dew' me tonight. :evilsmile:

    Rain tomorrow, starting at 3:00 AM. Only another hour or so and I'm done. :taz:
     
  15. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    What a storm! We both woke up at 3:30 AM. from the lightning and thunder and the rain! Like a machine gun on the south windows.

    Supposed to clear up this afternoon, for a few hours. Should be enough to wrap up the wiring hookups and crank her up.

    My igloo took the beating though.:)
     

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