I suppose it was inevitable. After all it's half British so an
electrical problem was bound to take it out sooner or later. But wait,
all the Lucas stuff seems to be working. Something got to be wrong
here!
As I was pulling into to my driveway after running a few lunch hour
errands, I noticed a sudden increase in the whine of the radiator fan
motor. I thought it might be my imagination but decided it would be
prudent to take a look anyway. Maybe the fan blade was loose and the
motor was racing under little or no load. But the blade seemed to be
rotating normally and didn't appear to be loose on the shaft. Figuring
everything was okay I shut off the engine and ran into the house to take
care of a couple items before going back to work. That done, I jumped
into the snake and turned the key. Absolutely nothing. Even the big
red generator light in the dash was dark. I tried the horn. That
worked. A miracle considering it had only been a week since it
spontaneously started working again after being silent for several
months. Well that's standard form for the Prince of Darkness. I didn't
give it a second thought.
I gave the gauges a quick scan. Everything was dead; the SW ammeter in
particular. None of the rest of electrics worked; not the heater fan,
the lights, or even the Lucas radiator fan. This sounded like a classic
case of a bad battery connection; sort of. Let see what could have
cause the speed up in the fan just before everything died. Hmmm. The
ballast resistor shorting out causing an increase in voltage to the fan
motor? No that's only to the coil primary. But wait a moment. I had
re-wired the the fan directly to a toggle switch when the water line
mounted thermal switch had crapped out. The hot side of the switch was
wired to the ignition switch. Maybe I had connected it to the wrong
terminal. This still didn't quite make since, considering the "death"
of most everything else, but what the hell, it was easier to fix then to
check. I popped the hood and jumpered the starter solenoid. With much
sparking, the engine turned over brusquely. At least the battery
connections were sound; but nary a cough from the engine, which usually
catches right off. Wait! I had forgotten to turn the ignition switch
on. I flicked it on. For the heck of it I tried the windshield wipers.
I hadn't tried them yet. Completely dead. The generator light was
still out too. I wasn't too encouraged. Needless to say the car still
wouldn't start.
Even thought I couldn't come up with one plausible reason why it would
help, I decided to replace the combination starter solenoid/ballast
relay. After all, I had an extra and it only took 5 minutes to change.
I can't say I was surprised when this didn't make any difference. At
this point I decided to flick it in for the time being. I grabbed a
cold can of Snapple from the fridge and walked back to work. In spite
of the hot weather, the walk was probably cooler than the drive would
have been. It gets mighty hot in a snake's cockpit during the summer.
It's hard to believe that almost every fuse had blown simultaneously.
Besides, checking the fuse box in a Cobra is a monumental pain in the
butt; changing one is even more of one. Anyway, the only thing that
really makes sense and what had really been in the back of my mind all
along was that the ignition/starter switch had died. I really didn't
want to believe this at first because 1) I don't have another switch on
hand or know where to get one on short notice, and 2) I don't have a
wiring diagram, which would greatly simplify checking this theory out.
The wiring diagram wasn't included in my manual for some mysterious
reason and I had been trying to get a copy of one for several years. As
it turned out this was wasted effort because there was only one manual
printed for the Mark I and Mark II Cobras and the wiring diagram was
only for the Mark I, which had mostly Lucas electricals. The Mark II
(which is what I have) had mostly Ford stuff. Since the Mark I/II
manual has been out of print for a number of years, I finally ordered a
Mark III (427 Cobra) manual on the off chance it might contain useful
crossover information for my car. These manuals are in plentiful and
are dirt cheap. Interestingly enough, this manual turned out to be
about 75% identical to the Mark I/II manual. For this I'm grateful
because I was able to replace many of the badly tattered pages in my 30
year old oil stained original. Not only that, it contained a lot of
info on the HiPo 289 engine which was not included in the Mk I/II
manual. The reason for this is because Mark III Cobras destine for the
European market (AC 289s) were powered by this engine. Keep in mind
that the manuals for all Cobras were published by AC Cars, not Shelby
American.
I seemed to have digressed from my story but the point I was trying to
make was that (as far as I know) neither AC nor Shelby American ever
made an accurate Mark II electrical diagram available to the owners of
these cars. I do have most of a '65 Ford shop manual. Between that,
the Mark III wiring diagram and my DMM, I should be able to pinpoint the
problem. It's just that I'm going to have to squeeze into the very
limited space between the seat and the steering wheel, on my back,
upside down, with absolutely no working space under the dash. I've done
this before and it ain't much fun.
I can live with hot wiring for a while but the question is: where can I
get a new ignition switch in a reasonable period of time for a
reasonable price. Most Mark II dash switches were of early '60s Ford
Galaxies origin but I think the ignition switch was from a '62 or '63
Falcon.
Roland
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