Dolly's Electrical Cleanup

OGMB2K

As I continue to make repairs to the now B2200 I acquired, I will be cleaning up the electrical messes I find along the way.
I began with removing unnecessary and redundant ground cables 1/0 that were added to this motor unnecessarily. Even if the previous owner thought they car needed additional grounding to avoid noise in the stereo, their are better ways to go about it than dropping a total of 10ft 1/0 ga cable all over the engine bay. So while I change my water pump and fix my cooling system, I began gutting this rat's next. Next up, and where I will begin to document here is the removal of the ECU related to the emission system the truck had in order to cleanup the engine bay as may others have done. So sit back and get ready to see the cleaning on an engine bay and the return of a properly functioning electrical system.

In this pile of gutted garbage from my day one repairs is where you will see the grounding cables used under the hood. I'll never understand why it was done in this way. I'll continue this rant one day in the audio system section where I will sneak in some pics of the last custom stereo set up I built to help others achieve their electrical goals.

OGMB2K

OK this is becoming comical .. I pulled the trucks DS tailight in order to begin working on my custom tail light project, (Post coming soon), but of course I found this. A butchered electrical system and half the screws missing both on the lens and the ones hold the tail light on. So my streak continues with having to touch and repair EVERY SINGLE THING on this truck.
No electrical connectors and one bare stripped wire, with one bulb that I have never seen before.

So if you feel the same way regarding the used truck you just bought, I AM YOUR LEADER, be calm and one project at a time .. lol

That reminds me, I know these lights and their design are old school, have any of you found a replacement bulb set, LED or otherwise that does a better job of diffusing the light within the lens?

Thanks

OGMB2K

OK once again, this is a judgement free zone, as what you are about to see is both alarming and disturbing and not suitable for children .. lol

So today I tried to find the wiring for the marker and turn signals. I am armed with my Haynes manual, which has been somewhat helpful.

I was able to find the turn signal and parking light harnesses. On the 87, the while plug currently not connected is my turn signal. Note, how kind the past owner was to splice into the parking lights in order to light amazon cheesy LED's.

Now that I have identified them and have to repair the wiring on both sides, I wanted to try something. I want to flip the functions. Both lights, the marker and turn signal have two wires going to the bulbs indicating that only voltage and the double filament bulbs differentiates the two. Therefore I am going to to turn the turn signals down by the bumper into parking lights and the parking lights in turn signals, making the truck safer IMO as it lifts the indicator up near the headlight and this truck is lowered. Anyone try this? (Future Post in the making)

Next came the bane of my existence, the 4ft 0ga wire that goes from the battery to the alternator. After looking at my wiring diagram, (1) cable goes from the battery to the fuse box next to it (10ga i believe), this wire then travels to the battery. WTF did this guy decide to bypass that safety and add this useless enormous 0ga? I have built many a high power multiple battery stereo systems and NEVER have I done this. So yay, after learning how the stock system works I removed it finally .. YAY me!!!

This though created another question that I am still locating an answer for. The pic below shows the monster battery cable that is gone now, it also shows the wrapped black cable that exits the current 80A fuse and goes to the alternator. What is this third cable with a plug end? Currently it is what is plugged into my carburetor as the 12V hot for the electric choke, I don't think that is right, more homework.

Lastly because of age and abuse I want to remove and replace that fuse bx with this ..

As soon as I find out where the other two cable go and what their function is, I believe it will help me clean up my engine bay and solidify the power distribution. I just have to use a piece of black ABS plastic and make a mounting plate so it mounts using the factory setting.

Mrcrowley

OGMB2K is that replacing those 30amp fuses on passenger side fire wall?

OGMB2K

Mrcrowley I would, I can replace the (2) 30A and the 80A fuse as well to clean it up and modernize it a little.

Mrcrowley

OGMB2K so the box is replacing the black box on inner fender correct?

OGMB2K

Mrcrowley Yes, the fuse box in the picture is a new leftover from when I built another car. It will be replacing the OEM one on the fender next to the battery. I may even use the left over slots for other power requirements if necessary.
It would be easy to just build a platform for this new fuse box, match the fuses with the corresponding amperage, and have a nicer fuse holder with fuses that are more readily available and more cost efficient mounted in the OE location. Current doesn't care what the fuse looks like so long as it is the same rating.

I could use it to feed future amplifiers or capacitors if necessary.

Mrcrowley

OGMB2K ok thanks I thought bout doin somethin similar but wasn't sure