Prior to this, work has been ridiculously busy (the hours spent in the office), so this project moves way down the list as a result. However, I took some time off and have now managed to get a bulk of the wiring/electrical work done.
- Installing the Electric-Life window actuators.
- Install electric door locks and associated vehicle alarm and keyless remote entry systems.
- Run all door wiring neatly into the cabin.
- Locate and mount the engine ECU, CDI Ignition, Alarm, Electric Water Pump controller modules.
- Locate and mount the master power Circuit-Breaker, Fuses, Relays, Kill-Switches.
- Run all blinker wiring to the steering column.
- Graft a late model falcon windscreen wiper switch into the skinny 1966 Mustang steering column.
- Route wiring for all of the above (including Dome Light control via doors and Car Alarm).
- Run brake light switch from the brake-biasing valve.
Put into a list like that, it does show I got quite a bit done (and all mandatory items too). As usual though, it's the pictures that I know most folk are interest in - so here they are.
There is probably no point just taking a photo of the electric window and door lock actuators - as they are a simple "bolt-in", it is at the console where it all comes together. So here are some shots of the wiring being bundled/organised in that area.
The electric door lock actuators had me puzzled for a few hours..... They need a full +12v to lock and a full -12 volts to unlock. Theoretically that's a 24volt difference from a 0 to 12v battery. The car alarm system did output this voltage, but it didn't have the grunt to supply the wattage required. If directly connected to the vehicle remote entry control module, the actuators just "oscillated" slightly in either the lock or unlock direction and wouldn't travel the full distance needed. As usual, Mr Google helped me to find a "reverse polarity relay" wiring diagram and this did the trick. The two relays that perform this function are at the upper right of the group of relays shown. They work a treat too. Something else that may be of interest is the solid-state relay at the lower left. This powers my electric water pumps by varying the voltage given to them. It means the pumps don't thrash at 100% power when the engine is cold. Instead, they speed up to 100% gradually as coolant temp rises. I do the same thing for my electric fuel pumps - but based on a PWM signal from the ECU (the PWM is an output that I can elect to track in sync with engine load).
Blinkers. I have not yet had a problem with my early blinker/brake switch combo unit myself, but I read lots of articles about interesting problems that these units cause as they age. I've hopefully avoided such issues by only using the blinker switch for the blinkers and horn, and by activating the brake lights via the pressure switch on the biasing valve. It all seems to work well for now. I could then cut back the brake wiring from the blinker/brake/horn switch by removing the brake wires and then I added the wiring from the newly grafted wiper switch. Just as these photos show.
The wiper stalk is relatively subtle. So I'm quite happy with what I've done here as it seems to be nice and neat and unobtrusive. For those of you who haven't seen an earlier post on this, the late model Falcon wiper switch and motor gives me intermittent, low and high speed wipers (and washer pump) all controlled from the left side of the steering column. I've also moved the wiper motor from inside the cabin to be "inside the cavity formed within the upper and lower cowl panels". Not a small job, but this approach frees up room under the dash and removes all that wiper motor noise from inside the cabin. My upper cowl panel is also now removable so I can service the wiper motor if ever required and properly protect the inside of the cowl from rust.
Now for the miscellaneous.....
I had a weeping head gasket - dam it! The tiniest of occasional drips occurred at the rear corner of one head after I switched the engine off after a run (when it had maximum heat soak). It must have been from the "water jacket to the outside of the engine", as there was no water in the oil or combustion chamber. This forced me rip out the motor again to fix, so while the engine was out, I did the following - which I had always wanted to do but never had the block of time available:
- Change the head gaskets, after cleaning up the block and head faces, but this time using Permatex copper head gasket sealant on both sides of the (Felpro 1028) head gaskets.
- Re-contour the bracing at the top of the firewall to give me another inch of room in the engine bay at the back of the motor (to free up more space for induction).
- Re-contour the inside-top-edge of the shock towers to give me more room where the rocker covers get closest to them.
- Bite the "financial" bullet and replace the (probably ok) 351C Falcon clutch with a (definitely ok) Centerforce DYAD clutch.
- Adjust the external dry-sump reservoir to separate the single oil outlet fitting that supplies both the oil level sight tube and the pre-start oil pressure priming pump.
Here are the relevant photos for all these various tasks........
First the head gasket fix. All I have done is make sure everything is hospital clean again - but this time add the coating of Permatex.
Now for the engine bay mod's. I didn't have to do these changes, but it give me more room.
And now the DYAD clutch addition (dummy fitting stage). I must say, it's an impressive piece and well put together.
The DYAD flywheel is interesting as it has removed a heap of mass from the outside edge of the flywheel. Just look at those CNC machined cut-outs towards the outer edge. This should let the engine spin up much faster (accelerate faster) seeing the original flywheel was a heavy piece with the bulk of its weight on the outer edge. That was a lot of mass "out wide" to rev' up.
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