Wobstang II

[drum]

You're on a journey with this 'stang. There will be difficulties along the way, but keep the destination in mind. It will be fabulous when you get there, all the more so for those tough moments when you felt like giving up.

[Mally]

The price he charged was a bargain. He obviously doesn't want to get involved any further though.

You can see his point of view, there is a fault that blew the link which needs finding.

I'd try separating the burnt wiring if possible to try to find the one causing the overheating.

It's likely only one circuit, or one item at fault.

Don't worry about interior lights at the moment, always take the bulbs out for MOT 

There is a fuse in now though, instead of the link, so if it blows again you can change it.

 

You could maybe fit a lower main fuse temporarily, so that when checking the wires it blows rather than doing more damage to the wiring.

But if you forget and operate the starter a smaller main fuse would blow instantly.

[DodgeRover]

Jo just disconnect the battery negative lead when you aren't using it or pull the bulb from the interior light but check if there is still any drain from the battery with it out.

Bad earths are probably the root cause of the electrical issues.

Title I would think is fine or it wouldn't have been shipped and the shippers will have had experience of this before, he either sold it to someone and it fell through or made a mistake, he could well have put the shippers as the new owner for example and had to change it. I've sent tippexd log books to the dvla before.

 

Edit What Mally said too.

[richardthestag]

oh dear re the autospark

 

did he show you where the burnt sections were or advise what circuits they were on?

 

replacing burnt sections of loom is not the tricky bit, working out why it burnt is where investigation is needed. Knowing what circuits are burnt will help with that diagnosis. if the root cause is not obvious however missing rubber grommets through bulkheads etc can cause metal body to chaff through the loom, so you need to find where the loom goes through the car and check for damage. also rodent damage is a bastard, they seem to like insulation and nipple on the stuff. tricky to find and would need a thorough investigation of the toothy little fuckers work.

 

new loom is always one option but almost always not the only option. have heart. this is far from a disaster

 

good news is that old chod like this has primitive and easy to work with components. 

 

On UK stuff of this era the loom is typically broken down into chunks. engine loom, dash loom, body loom to the rear etc.  big chunky plastic multiconnectors join stuff up and normally the same colour wire carries on through the connector. makes diagnosing etc a piece of piss.

 

Re the burnt section. if a wire gets hot because of a short or high resistance (bad earth) it can affect the entire length of that wire. heat in one wire within the loom could also melt insulation on other wires bundled tightly within the loom which can escalate etc. fuses normally stop stuff getting critical. this is possibly why autospark is nervous of what he uncovers and how much that might cost to fix. more his time than materials though.

 

sooooo if you know where the burnt section is, aside from the fusible link, and can identify that it has big chunky connector to join it up with the rest of the loom the easiest option might just be to search US ebay for someone breaking a car of this year and get them to ship the section over.

 

if that doesnt work then unwrapping the loom to find the extent of the heat damage and splicing new wires in before rewrapping the loom up could work. can be done inside the car or on the kitchen worktop.

 

I find that breaking problems like this down into manageable bitsized chunks helps maintain enthusiasm and spirit

 

 

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

 I'd see the burnt wiring as a bit of a boon in this instance since it gives you a starting point to get trouble shooting.  Chop out and replace the burnt bit you know about and see what's what next.  Badly rooted wires (engine swaps, etc, are a common cause for this it seems) can mean a bit of loom touches something too hot and gets burned/worn as a result.

 

There's some top notch sparky sorts on here, don't panic.  Help will be along just as soon as you show folks where the damage is and stick up some wiring diagrams if you have them.

[JeeExEll]

Yep, Joloke, don't worry, can all be fixed. I found a diag for the 75 model Shitestang on the net when looking for some other stuff to do with the fuselink problem a few weeks ago.

 

It's posted as 2 separated diagrams, 'view' & zoom in.

 

 

[vulgalour]

Oh look, there's one of those top notch sparky sorts I was talking about.  I think they smell the burning wire or have hearing specifically tuned to the frustrated grumbles of us non-sparky sorts.  They're like Superman, but way more useful.

[JeeExEll]

 

Jo, can you do pics of damaged wiring, and also of the 'modifications' at the steering column when you have time plz.

 

PhilA has 'the skilz' to make these diagrams easier for you to follow, (see Vulg's Princess thread).

[Mally]

I like the burnt wire that's turned green.

Only because it discloses an obvious fault.

Find out where it goes to at both ends, disconnect it, replace with new similar gauge wire.

Try to find out what it actually is for and check those things function correctly. 

[JeeExEll]

^^ If that damaged wire is yellow/white it 'could' be one which goes to the alternator (1st diagram top left). A guess only, maybe same part of the loom.

Not necessarily anything to worry too much about ATM and easy to make-good damaged bits.

 

It's good that the interior light problem has been fixed, often something really simple.

[vulgalour]

I had this with a Princess inertia reel.  A good shake and wiggle of the reel end freed off whatever is inside (I'm guessing a spring and a weight?) and it worked fine afterwards.  If they're sat at the wrong angle on the car they can lock up like that too, it's pretty annoying.  Perservere.  If it's working off the car, see if you can get it sat at the same angle when you bolt it in the car.  Also, a bit of furniture polish on the belt itself can help reduce the friction and help it to reel in properly.

[JeeExEll]

^ There may be a location-tag on the back of the reel which goes into an indent / little hole in the inner sill to position the reel at the correct angle. I seem to remember something about this from a long time ago but not which car it was on, something I had from the 70s or early 80s.

Very easy to just sit the reel in place and tighten the bolt up and not notice the 'sticky-out' tag. At the wrong angle the belt will then either lock up when it's not meant to or not really lock at all, even if there's nothing wrong with the reel itself.

 

It's all designed to be factory bolt-on without having to precisely set up the reel angle to make it work properly. And designed to stay there permanently.

[PhilA]

Yes, the orientation of the reel determines if/if not it works right.

[JeeExEll]

See what tomorrow brings!

[captain_70s]

In all my years of driving my Doloshite 1300 I've never managed to get the driver's seat belt to lock, it's yet to be mentioned by the MOT boffins...

[PhilA]

What color wires are connected to the round thing? Got a picture of the back of it?

 

The disconnected wire with the random bit of tape looks fairly heavy gauge. Is it black with orange or brown with orange?

 

Ditto the connector to the big metal box? What color wires go into it?

 

 

On the burned wiring, it appears to be the lighter gauge yellow wire that's been burned- can you unravel any more of it and see if it is yellow + a color stripe?

 

 

--Phil

[Guest Hooli]

swAp for brokEn xBox?

[Guest Hooli]

More seriously, a bit of heat shrink & soldering should get those burnt bits fixed up without much hassle.

 

The indicator stalk looks like the multiplug fell apart or they bodged the wrong one at some point in it's past.

[PhilA]

That's entirely possible, yellow/white is the feed from the alternator to the regulator on the diagram.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Makes sense.

 

I would still pull the loom apart and carefully remove the burned wire and check for damage..

 

Forgot to mention the copper doojit would be for the radio, probably not needed now but having it won't hurt. Previously the burned wire would have been carrying 3-phase AC which gives that noisy whine on a lot of radios, all the way into the cabin to the regulator. Now it's contained within the alternator and the only output is (moderately smooth) DC. The rest of the noise suppression should be taken up by the battery.

 

 

Didn't realize it had aftermarket carb on it! That makes sense now. Yes, that can be routed and tidied up better than they did.

 

Phil

[JeeExEll]

Making progress on your own there Jo

 

As said above, make-good at that burnt cable and tidy the rest without disturbing it too much, -even just a few little cable-ties would help. Make sure all existing connections are good tho, not just twisted and taped. Fold-over and tape any chopped off redundant wires.

Once this ropy bit is fixed you can forget about it. Hopefully.

 

(We still don't know how the damage occurred in the first place).

 

The jumbly mess at the steering column doesn't look too bad to re-route to the way it should be. There's a chance that brittle connectors may fall to bits with you when you unplug them but it has to be done. Discon battery.

Maybe best leave that till the switch-cam gubbins arrives?

Plenty to do.

 

A bit of trial & error with seat belt reel angle may solve that problem too.

 

Edited

[PhilA]

Gen light might still be hooked to the old regulator can. Bulb might also be blown. Check with Vulgalour or use shakable magic 8-ball for suitable answer.

 

Alt is charging so the field windings are being energised somehow, so that's a good start. May have an internal ground with output for light. You might be right on the border of internal regulated alternator so the new one may look the same but be all internal. Old regulator may have gone short somehow and melted the wires.

Sadly it doesn't take burned wires long to go green, so that's hard to tell.

 

Pull the plug off the regulator and see what happens to the voltage...

[Guest Hooli]

Not sure on the alternator yet? Must go out an look Ive got up in one of those "Do I have to go outside moods" today.

 

Its warm in hre and i have hot tea and my Jim Jams dont want to leave me right now LOL!

 

Regarding the connector I am ordering another one of those too you can get the socket part with wires so just incase

 

Truth be known I think it all just needs renewing,steering column cotains Turn signal Can and Ignition Switch no point taking it apart and just doing one.

 

Will replace headlight switch to as that seems intermittant.

 

Not looking forward to dashboard theres only one light that illuminates,The seat belt light LOL!

 

Gen Light,Main Beam,Directions all dead

 

Its high time I went in search of the fusebox too lets hope thats ok?

 

Do the headlights switch dipped/main via the indicator stalk as in most cars?

 

Your intermittent fault could be down to the stalk again if so. Normally the feed goes from the headlight switch to the dipped/main switch & then off to the lights, so a fault there could take out both parts of the headlight circuit.

[PhilA]

Okay no, that's an external regulated alternator.

 

The big black wire on BAT is what the original yellow/white one should have been; that will have gone to the distribution point in the footwell.

Likely they just jumped it to the nearest battery+ (acceptable). That connector has been in there a while, that is aged damage.

Regulator in footwell still doing things, don't sack it off!

 

Phil

[JeeExEll]

YOWZAAA, that's a carb

 

It's a 600cfm too.

 

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/sum-m08600vs/overview/

(Read the reviews, mojo-boost).

 

That was worth getting out of bed for. Result.

[danthecapriman]

From the looks of it Jo your alternator set up is more or less identical to that on my big block. They are indeed as Phil said, external regulated.

If you need it I might be able to compare how mines wired V’s yours.

 

I had to replace my alternator and voltage regulator when I got my car, both were toast! Both parts are still available new. I’ve even got a new alternator ‘in stock’ at home somewhere!

 

Love that carb btw! She’s huge!! Someone’s spent a bit on this car before.

[Guest Hooli]

Oh ripsnorting noises when you fiddle the loud peddle now that's a result!

[PhilA]

So you reckon the other end of the chared wire goes to the footwell?

Im guessing the Earth cable doesnt matter as the Alternator is grounded throuht the bracket to the block and back to the frame?

Bit confused so the Batt Connection should have the yellow wire on? Do I need to move things around?

Was talking to Sam about it and we come to the conclusion if that circuit was iffy now it would be making smoke signals so if its not now I guess it shouldnt if we replace it with new shiny wire?

 

Ground goes through engine and ground strap back to the body yes.

 

Burned yellow/white wire on diagram goes from BAT terminal of alternator to a junction with the solid yellow near the regulator. Likely what they did was jump that black wire straight to the battery + (which is fine). Go see if you can find where it goes, it may be connected at the starter relay or thereabouts.

As the original is toast the black wire replaced it. This is good and also why you get 14 volts when it's running.

 

I would say just pick through the loom and check for heat damage where the original yellow/white wire burned.

 

Phil

[Christine]

Marvellous

[Yoss]

So!!!I contact the seller,ask him about that wiring,"its not needed he says its got a new aftermarket carb doesnt need that" When it first arrived here I could see shiny carbage under the airbox but never investigated further................

I thought itll be a rebuild Motorcraft 5100 model of much wheezyness

When he said Aftermarket my heart fluttered and though maybe the upgrade Holley 2 Barrel ?

Well I will just leave these pictures here whist I go change my underwear......................

Should move well dont you think? 

 

 

Don't really know what I'm looking at but it's shiny so I like.