> 1. Disconnect the neg. side of the battery. ALWAYS do this before you
start
> playing with any of the wiring. It's too easy to let a hot lead touch
> something that is ground and start blowing fuses, or burning up wiring
> harnesses.
This reminds me of a piece of advice for everyone:
Do NOT drive your car with the dash removed and all the wires and gauges
just hanging this way and that!
I found this out (You'd think I would know better) last week when I left
work at 11:00 PM ... I've had the plastic dash out of my '71 to use as a
template for a nice new cherry one (It's in and looks great) ... so I got
stuck taking the Spit to work and when I went to leave, I put the key in the
ignition and started the car, it started as normal, but then as I was
undoing the latches to put the top down, I realized that there was this
SMOKE everywhere, and an electrical-fire smell. Not good!
So I thought for a second... Okay, the engine is running fine... but I'd
better turn the ignition off, since that's obviously the problem - OUCH!
The keys were red hot! And there was a wire stuck to them!
WHat had happened, I found out later, was that a P.O. had wired his
Mickey-Mouse replacement washer pump off of the line to the oil pressure
warning light/brake pressure warning light. This circuit IS NOT FUSED and
I'd shorted it by touching the dangling wire (Which HAD led to the
mickey-mouse momentary switch which he'd wood-screwed to the dash) and just
COOKED this wire, which runs right to the back of the ignition switch.
SO.... I've opened up the harness and replaced any questionable wires (UGH!)
and rewired some more stuff to go with the custom dash (Imagine - VISIBLE
gauges!) ... if anyone wants some pointers on making your signal indicator
into TWO directional indicators, it's EASY...
Has anyone else tried making their own wood dash? It's easy, and kinda fun
if you're not too concerned with originality.
Luke
'71 spit - "fireball"
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