MTFCA Forum

One day we were out driving and my daughter said "I smell electrical." We were pulling into the driveway and sure enough the horn connection under the hood was melted. Upon further inspection we found that the area where the wires go through the firewall were also melted. It was time to rewire the car. We had the gauges redone as well by Instrument Specialties. Well fast forward (2 years Ouch!) we are now putting it all together.

Here is the dash being done. Yes we used my wife's sewing room. Ha!!
Angie got real good at tracing wires in the shop manual.

We also got the heater controls redone. these usually have the paint worn off.
Then she connected the defroster vents.
Next we will put the gauges in. I have to hurry she got another scholarship from the Air Force to study Japanese at a summer school so she leaves in a week.

Great job!

If you lose your small-hands helper and have to work under the dash yourself, here are two ways to make it easier and less painful.

1. Bite the bullet and remove the front seat first so that you can lay flat on the floor and look up into the dash. The benefit of this method is that you'll find all sorts of loose change and other things that have dropped under the seat over the years.

2. Open the door and lay an ironing board or wood plank onto the door sill, prop up the outside end of the board with a wood box, then lie on the ironing board or plank. This keeps the door sill from digging into your back while you twist it into a pretzel.

Even these two methods won't help if you have old eyes like I do and the stuff under the dash won't come into focus no matter if you take your glasses off or leave them on.

Oh yes I've removed the seat before. She thought it was fun to get under the dash. LOL I'll have to try the plank over the door sill. Great idea!

Well we got it all in and everything worked except the horn. That's where it melted the first time. I can hear the horn relay go off so I'm going to take a working horn from my 67 Charger and see if the horns got fried as well. Even the clock works now!
Way too happy to be under the dash.

A strong advantage to age (lack of) is size (lack of bulk), flexibility, and
eyes that can focus on objects that close !

Burger in Spokane wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 10, 2024 1:12 am

A strong advantage to age (lack of) is size (lack of bulk), flexibility, and
eyes that can focus on objects that close !

So true. She had fun getting into position.

Well it started!! That's a good sign.

Having quality time with your kids doing something you enjoy is priceless. My oldest & youngest & I raced IKF karts & the middle Daughter
competed in Hunter-Jumper ( equestrian ) events. Then my 14 year old Granddaughter came to me & said Gramps can we build me a old
truck? That became a new chapter in life. WE disassembled a complete 66 Chevy down to the bare frame & piece by piece put it back together. Without interfering with school grades or sports. The truck became the litmus test for prospective boy friends. She was the only kid in her
school that had built a V8 @15years old, we spent weekends & summers on that truck. Great times. Craig.

Cool truck.

Well the car runs and everything works except the radio. I need a new speaker. Then I replaced the 24 year old tires.