Once again, a mere mortal (web assisted) has conquered the Prince of
Darkness.
Well, as it turns out, all the burnt / melted wires in the boot of my 75 B
and the inoperable brake lights were completely unrelated events. After I
finished rewiring the entire harness across the back of the boot - 3 green,
2 red, and 2 black wires - the lights worked almost exactly as they had
before; still no brake lights. One light didn't work, that was the left
license plate light. It looks like the red power wire had come in contact
with the black ground wire inside the left license plate light housing and
caused the red wire to overheat. It's the red wire that powers the left rear
running lights from the second fuse in the fuse block. The 20 amp fuse in
it was still intact. Amazing how everything melted without blowing the fuse
- the red wire melted out of its protective coating, out of the harness
tape, out of the rubber shroud around the two wires going out the back of
the boot to the license plate light, two connectors, and several other
wires. I literally had about two feet of exposed wires in the boot, a
combination of about 6 different wires. Also amazing that they weren't
shorting each other and sparking.
The brake light problem was the adjustment of the switch at the back of the
master cylinder, something I would have looked at first if I hadn't found
all those burned wires in the boot.
I've put 10 amp fuses in the light circuits for now just in case. The book
says 17 running and 35 amps blow rating, but I now know from experience that
the 20 amp fuses I had in the light circuits are enough to really do some
damage. Are 35 amp fuses really recommended ? I've got 30's in the bottom
two fuse slots.
My reward was a drive tonight with my lovely wife on a beautiful New Jersey
summer evening. Something very satisfying about getting the once crippled
motor carriage back on the road again. It just doesn't get any better than
that !!
Thanks again for all the help. I reread all the answer posts and visited
several suggested web sites before challenging the Prince this morning.
Armed with the knowledge and experience of many, the Prince was humbled.
Safety Fast,
Rick Huber
75 V8 B
65 B undergoing lengthy restoration
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