Windsor Update

[Big John]

The Chrysler project got a little bigger then I figured it would and it doesn't look like my goal of having it running and driving for Labor Day weekend is gonna happen.

One of the issues with the car is the wiring. I expected to have to do something with it right away. The cloth covered wire has unraveled near the ends and its a giant short and fire waiting to happen. BTW, these cars have no fuses!






The good news is the wiring is pretty complete and not hacked up. The bad news is a new harness is over $600!!! (cough... cough... choke)

 

[Big John]

So... after deciding that patching up what is there would not make any sense, I decided to build my own.

I pulled out the old harness (this is the headlight harness)...




... and started cutting and soldering.



Here's a completed harness, this is for the generator to regulator. The tape is PVC with no adhesive, a little more modern material, but still similar in looks to what was on the car.



The wire is actually pretty high tech. Its conventional plastic covered wire with a cloth covering that looks just like the old stuff, but has all the qualities of the newer wire. Its not that much more expensive then regular wire either... maybe 30% more, so the look can be had without a lot of cost. I'm using heat shrink on the ends, so its no where near "show quality" but it will look a little more original then plastic wire.

 

[george68hemirr]

great job big john.....sounds like you will be rewiring everything

 

[jays69bird]

Most of the old cloth wiring on my 36 Hudson Terraplane has been replaced,a couple of years ago my oil pressure light went off,panicing I pulled the car over,after some checking I had oil pressure turns out the old cloth covered wire to the sender had rubbed through and shorted.Its could to see you working on this old girl,one of the old cars my dad had was a 53 Plymouth Cranbrook 2dr sedan,flat 6 3 on the tree,I used to like bombing around in that car,not fancy,not fast like the Hornet but a solid driving car.

 

[69hemibeep]

Looks nice John, where did you find the wire?

 

[Roadcuda]

Great idea John, there's always a way to get something new and save money doing it.

 

[moparchris]

Nicely done, I am impressed.

 

[Big John]

Looks nice John, where did you find the wire?

I bought the wire at Rhode Island Wiring. http://www.riwire.com/

As I'm most likely going to keep the 6 volt positive ground system, I have to be sure all the wiring is up to snuff. You have to use heavier wire with 6 volts too.

The interesting thing about this car is you start to appreciate being able to order just about anything online for a Roadrunner. The merchants for this stuff you have to call and then you get some cranky old guy that knows everything. Sometimes its OK, but being a cranky old guy myself, I usually don't enjoy the experience.

 

[John69RR]

The new harness looks great. I wonder when fuses in vehicles became standard?

 

[ACME A12]

Looks good, Big.

You planning on putting some fuses in there somewhere...???

 

[Basketcase]

my Father in Law had a '41 Chevy that had been sitting for about 10 years when I met him. I got it running for him pretty easy. It had a small fuse box , but this was the only experiance with something that old, so I don't know if it was added or not.
It was going to need rewired, and since there isn't all that much wiring to these old cars, I thought about making my own harness.

 

[solid gold]

Good work, Big John. Nice!

 

[roadrunnerh]

John, You are a patient man! Great job on the wiring....

 

[roadrunnerh]

I just had a thought. You know who has a ton of NOS for these old gals? Valley Vintage Auto in Ohio.
The owner, Al, is a really cool guy who I see every year up in Carlise. Over the years, I bought all of the NOS he had for my car - my cousin did the same for his '67 Signet.

Al has reasonable prices - sometimes cheap - and he's always willing to deal.
http://vvap.com/

 

[6R9Runner]

Nicely done, I am impressed.

X2

 

[Steve]

Nice work John

 

[Big John]

More Windsor Work

You gotta pick your battles in life and when dealing with old cars.

While my Windsor is pretty solid, just like any other old car, there's always some rust somewhere. The underside has a very thick coat of tar/rubber undercoating but there's some places where it didn't help. Here's the spare tire well. It's rust came from the rags and plastic that were stored under the tire, holding moisture against the steel for years. The drains were also corked up... with actual corks!



There was a spot behind the front headlight, but only on the left side.



If I was doing a 100 point resto, I go a different route... actually I'd start with a different car, but I'm building a driver. The best way would be to find NOS or rust free used stuff and replace the panels. The next best would be to patch it all in with new sheet metal and I considered that. The tire well would be tough to do, and honestly that hole in the fender is where it will never be seen except if the headlight is out and you'll only see the tire well if the spare is out. Neither one is integral to the structure either. I decided to try another method.

 

[Big John]

I've fiberglassed rusted floors in some old beater cars before with good results. A stop at a POR 15 dealer at Carlisle showed me a twist on that.

First I cut some fiberglass mat to fit over the holes.





I painted the spots with POR 15 paint. Sorry... I didn't take any pics of this because I didn't want to get POR 15 on my camera.... Then I put the mat in place and used more POR 15 like I would fiberglass resin.



The tire well got a second piece over the thin area.





Both areas will get a liberal coating of rubberized undercoating and will be pretty much invisible.

 

[ACME A12]

Pretty Slick!

Great fix for a driver... :yesnod:

 

[Roadcuda]

For what your doing with the car John that is a great solution! Believe it or not when you said you were using a different method, fiberglass came to mind. I couldn't believe it when I read that's what you were going to do!!