Just When You Think You Have It Made..

[Dutchbird]

I've got something called "Start Lock" installed for a few years now, it works perfect!
I switch it totally off when she's in the garage at home (including the fuse) and when I'm at a meeting for a day/weekend I only turn off the knob.

Here's some specs of it:
This unique construction has been manufactured of a high-quality stainless alloy and has a perfect fit on the battery pole, also on Ford batteries (flat pole). With a simple turn on/off the whole electric circuit is eliminated, a further turn and the knob has been removed for an optimum guard. But the 16 amps cutout/fuse still give circuit to present clock, windows, radio, alarm installation, etc.

The advantages are:
* prevents discharge of the battery
* prevents electric fires
* slowing down/delay robbery attempts
* very fast interruption
* designed for 6, 12 and 24 volts (100 amp.)
* easy assembling by everyone

[Dan Leavens]

Ray good idea with the insurance compnay increasing the coverage. Another suggestion ( as we need it up here in Canada for additional covergage ) is to get a current appraisal done to capture the increased value of Yellowrose We had this discussions last year on the forum and found out that different countries / states had different rules of the policy with their insurance providers

[YellowRose]

Just When You Think You Have It Made..

Thanks Dan for the appraisal recommendation. Many of you know that Lou Paliani, President of VTCI, lives in the San Antonio area. I was planning on driving Rose to our monthly STTC meeting on Saturday to have Lou appaise her... and so they could see her. It has been about a year since the S&S that Bart and I drove her to in Castroville. A lot on her has changed since then. So I was going to show her off to our club members.

Unfortunately, she never made it to the meeting, but I did, and showed them pictures of what had happened. Lou has done a lot of appraisals over the years, including, I think, providing information when Kev's beloved J Bird went up in flames.

[Petrolhead]

Secondly, we might have a discussion about adding a master fuse to any of our cars. Where would it go and what amperage? I'll toss an opinion out that fuses are there to prevent so much current from flowing as to cause a fire. The old cars have exposed hot points in a number of places and serious current flow is a possibility.

I have a fire extinguisher too but I would rather have a fuse blow long before it's ever needed.

Thoughts??? JOhn

Ray, sorry to hear bout your wiring, at least it's being sorted out amicably

John, I'm certainly no electronics expert, your idea is great in theory but not sure how to do it. Problem is that various items have different current draws, so you would have to use a fuse with a sufficiently high rating to match the electrical item with the highest draw. Then, the low draw items such as the clock's wiring (1amp I think?) wouldn't benefit from a master fuse.

What I'm trying to say is that in my case for my two airbag compressor my master fuse is 75amp, so i would need a master fuse that would handle that high draw - which is useless because if the radio's circuit earthed out and melted, the 75amp master fuse wouldn't protect it.

That's why a car's fuse box has a multitude of fuses to protect each item, and why you have to use the right amperage fuses for the instrument lights, horn, heater etc.

Anyone else have any ideas/comments?

The master cut-off previously mentioned is a good idea, but won't help when the car's being driven.

I would have thought that if Ray's ballast resistor earthed out, a fuse for the ignition circuit should have melted?

[Howard Prout]

Ray, is Rose back up and running? I hope so.

[YellowRose]

Just When You Think You Have It Made..

I visited Rose in the hospital yesterday.. The doctors have declared her to be hale and hearty once more, as far as her wiring and her steering column/shift lever goes. They said that the accidental grounding of the bypass resistor only damaged a few wires, and did not take out the CVR unit, as I hoped it did not. The wiring has been completely redone, they tell me. All that mess having been straightened out, wiring put into wire looms, old, unused, wiring cut on both ends was pulled out, or wiring left bare was capped to prevent any arcing. Unfortunately, I did not get to take any pictures of what it looked like after they fixed everything there. I was out of pocket.

They claim that all my circuits have been checked and are working again, lights, turn signal, horn, brake lights, tail lights, radio, AC, power seats, power windows, windshield wipers, you name it. I am about to find out tomorrow, as I will probably be going to check it out thoroughly. They told me today, that they have footed the bill on the repair job, though my wiring was a mess. It was their mechanic who made the boo-boo and shorted some of the wiring out. Otherwise, though the wiring was not in very good shape under there, there wasn't any problems with it, until he accidentally shorted out some wiring.

Yesterday, they were replacing the gaskets on the exhaust manifolds, because both sides were leaking and some yahoo had put some of the bolts in wrong. So they were going to clean that up, pain the manifolds with the proper paint used for that area of the engine, put in new gaskets and fix that problem. That should be, unless they did not get things right in the wiring, the last things they have to do to this car of a mechanical nature. If it is, I can get on to getting the interior redone the way I want it, now that the weather has gotten up into the 80's range here.

Thanks for your concern. Rose should be back among the living again...

[Guest]

Ray,
Congratulation, Sounds like the old Bird is on her way to a full recovery. Rose will be flying high and proud once again. Have faith my friend!!! She's probably like my Bird (or like a woman) they have to have some attention now and then.

[Dan Leavens]

Ray glad to hear Yellowrose came threw the operation successfully and the doctors have given her a " clean bill of health" It is also encouraging that they " footed the bill " and gives you a little faith in their company. What are you doing with the interior??

[YellowRose]

Just When You Think You Have It Made..

Hi Dan,

I am gonna go see if the doctor is ready to discharge the patient shortly, and see if I can drive her back home without any further incidents! You asked what I am going to do with the interior. It is the standard black with white seats and backs, black dash padding, center console, etc... I am thinking of re-doing it to match the exterior Casino Cream color, using Casino Cream for the black panels. I have a few other thoughts about it also.

[YellowRose]

Just When You Think You Have It Made..

Several of you have asked me privately or in email what the status of Rose is... After getting the burnt wiring fixed, and wire loomed, looking nice, and the Start Lock installed, someone made the comment on a post, after seeing the rubber gas line running across my engine, that it was a fire hazard...

Sooo, while they had the car, I bought the Edlebrock steel line that hooks onto the carb and had them run a steel line from it to the fuel pump, leaving my vacuum gauge in the line. That was completed last week, and I was about to bring her back home.

They took her out on a test drive, and barely made it back to the shop because she was out of gas, but they got her back. We put several gallons of gas in her and I headed to the house, with one of the mechanics driving my van. I stopped to fill up the tank on the way home. When I got home, I noticed that the gas gauge was still pretty much on empty, and the tank was completely full. The temperature gauge was working though.

So we went back to the shop and the mechanic started checking the fuel system out. He pulled the sending unit from the tank and with it grounded, ran it through its range while watching the meter. It went back and forth through the range normally, showing empty and full and everything in between. He and I were watching the gauge movement, when all of a sudden, the temperature gauge went to below the C for cold... and stayed there. It had been showing mid range, on the left leg of the M in Temp.

It looks like, for whatever reason, that the CVR unit blew. At that point I went home to order a new one. In the meantime, the mechanic says he found that the CVR unit was good, but I am not sure it is. He claims it was, and that the gauge blew. So, without my permission and with instructions from his manager NOT to mess with the gauge, because if it is bad, I can get it rebuilt, HE decides he is going to fix it... I wont go into the rest of the story, but suffice it to say, that the now destroyed gauge came up missing, and they are buying me a rebuilt gauge from Bird Nest... The mechanic left, after being confronted by his management regarding his lack of following instructions... And the mysterious loss of the gauge which I could have sent in for repair and saved on a core charge. I am waiting for Griff at Bird Nest to rebuilt what is left of my gauge. The back plate, the face plate and not much more. The gauge and needles are gone..

So there you have more of the continuing sage of poor Rose...

[tarps3]

that is SOOOO frustrating Ray.

If the fuel gauge and temp gauge were both acting up, it most likely was that voltage regulator.

Stories like this is why I try to do most of my own work - within my capabilities anyway. Nothing's worse than trusting your baby to someone who then just makes the problem worse!

Look at it this way - once the gauges and voltage regulator are replaced, it should last almost forever!

hang in there!
It's worth it in the end!

[RustyNCa]

that is SOOOO frustrating Ray.

If the fuel gauge and temp gauge were both acting up, it most likely was that voltage regulator.

Stories like this is why I try to do most of my own work - within my capabilities anyway. Nothing's worse than trusting your baby to someone who then just makes the problem worse!

Look at it this way - once the gauges and voltage regulator are replaced, it should last almost forever!

hang in there!
It's worth it in the end!

I agree 100%, the only problem I have is that the mechanic seems really slow at getting anything done

[JohnG]

the guages often appear on Ebay for dirt cheap so its not a bad idea to have spares for such occasions.

The voltage converter behind the dash is very easy to check. It's goal is to reduce 12v down to 6v which is needed by the Fuel and Temp gauge. It does this by turning on and off, repeatedly. You put your multimeter on it and you see it go 12 - 0 - 12 - 0 . . . , averaging out to 6V. Then it's OK. If you see 12V constantly, it is bad and will fry your gauges. If 0, then will not work obviously.

Ray, you may need to calibrate it when you get it. Since it works in conjunction with the sending unit in your trunk, the details may be off. Alexander posted instructions on how to calibrate it. You want E when you only have a little gas left, for example, and F when you have just filled it up. You can simulate this by removing the Sending Unit from the tank (inside the trunk), grounding it out and moving the arm back and forth as the gas does. As you do this watch the action on the gauge and procede accordingly.

Good electrical connections are a must for both gauges, all the way to the Grounds because not much current is flowing here. Cleanliness is key. Both the ground on the intake manifold for the Temp sending unit and the one in the trunk are worth checking out and doing whatever it takes to get a really good ground.

John

[YellowRose]

Just When You Think You Have It Made..

Thanks, John, for the information. I understand how the CVR unit works. It was a working unit until something happened. I don't know if he shorted it out, or if something else shorted it out behind the console. All of a sudden, something went.

I know the procedures for calibrating the gauges. The two gauges were pretty well calibrated before they went south. We had gone through that calibration process that Alexander gave us and I was pretty happy with the way they were reading.

I might do some looking for more gauges on eBay. It would be good to have a spare or two. Thanks for the tips!

[JohnG]

do you have a pic? Where do you get one?? Has potential!

thanks!
john