Rats nest away

Well, since my last post, I have begun to remove more and more items.  Monday night, all the headlight assemblies came out and I started to clean up a spare distributor that I have.  I will give Chevy credit, they did not want the headlight buckets coming out of the fender!  8 screws per side.  wow.  Thankfully, all came out without too much grunting.

And tonight, the spare distributor was finished cleaning and was given a shot of black paint.  After it dries it will be reassembled and set on a shelf and wait for assembly down the road.  This dizzy is getting used because the one that is currently in the truck has a slight problem.  These units have a small screw with an off-center post.  This serves to advance or retard the points settings for easier gapping.  Well, this one has that screw sheared off.  So, while I am at it, and have a spare one that is the same part on the bench, well, you get the idea.

After that, I decided that there was no time like the present to begin Phase 2 of restoration.  Phase one was removing most of the non-essential items and performing R&R on them.  I'm about out of things to take off (wasn't much to start with).  Phase two consists of rebuilding a custom wiring harness to match the stock systems, and add some 21st century conveniences, such as turn signals, hi/lo headlights on relays, and the ability to add an electric fan to assist with cooling on those hot parade drives.  Also, a 2 channel amp to produce a little driving music, a reverse light option, and provisions for trailer wiring. 

Long story short, since all of the headlight/park wires were all rotted, torn, and basically destroyed, that entire portion of the harness was removed.  new wires will be added and routed to a junction block.  Once it is determined that the systems work, it will be placed in a loom, heat shrink added to the connectors, wrapped, labeled, and removed.  This process will be held for each segment of the harness. 

During reassembly, then the harness sections (A - Front Clip, headlights, park, turn, fog, electric fan; B - Engine start assembly; C - Underdash/cab harness; D - Rear light harness, Stop/Turn/Tail, clearance, reverse, etc.) can simply be "plug and play" ready.  I will start taking bets on how well this will work.  Ahhh, best laid plans.

Have a busy, non-truck-working weekend planned.  If I ever start a non-truck restoration blog, I will have to have a rant about #&%@! couples showers!  Anyway, till next time.