Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

The stainless clamps came in today, but I didn't like where they positioned the wire run across the radiator support, so I used these.
 


There were some holes in the support where I needed them, but where there wasn't a hole I added them and put 5 of them across there.  Then I used two zip ties on each one, like this:




Then I moved on to making positive battery cables.  Here's the main battery with its #2 positive cable.  Other than clamping the battery down, that side is DONE!  And, the horn even works.  




And here's the aux battery with its #4 positive battery cable.  (Turns out the big yellow wire coming across the radiator support is a #4, and that is the same stuff I used to make this cable.)  Not that I have a Battery Tender attached to that battery.  A few minutes after this pic was taken I heard the smart isolator click and the red LED on it came on.  I watched as the voltage dropped from a bit above 13 volts to 12.9 as the charger struggled to bring the combined batteries up and hold the relay in.  And, I checked between the two positive posts and initially saw 4.2mv, but it drifted down to under 1.0mv after a minute or so.

[Sac79]

Looks professional to me...

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks!

I need to secure the batteries.  That'll be easy on the aux battery as I'll use the same system as before.  But the main battery will be a different story.  We shall see.

And while the electrical system is "hot", I need to work through the mess along the frame below the driver to see if I can find a problem in the Start circuit.  I think I'll pull the power lead to the starter and listen for the relay in the starter to click when I turn the key.  That way I can check everything but the starter itself w/o spinning the engine.

And at about that point I'll call the electrical system "done".  Yes, there's more to do like wire in the relay and switch for the OX locker, set up the LED and switch for the smart battery isolator, etc.  But those aren't needed for starting it.

[1986F150Six]

Sac79 wrote

Looks professional to me...

And neat!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, guys.  But I've run into a snag.  As discussed on the Warning Buzzer thread, Big Blue's warning buzzer comes on when I open the door, long before placing the key in the ignition tumbler.  In fact, apparently the column I installed doesn't even have the switch in the ignition tumbler.  But something is triggering the buzzer.

So, I've been doing a bit of sleuthing and have realized that I may have a problem.  It appears that an early column, meaning one w/o the key switch, an early C305A jumper for the speed control, and a 1985 wiring harness aren't fully compatible.  I say that because I found these pinouts for C305 in the 1981 EVTM on the left and the 1985 on the right.

The key-on buzzer circuit is 158 BK/PK, which shows on the '85 diagram, but not on the '81.  However, there are other changes as well.  So, I'm going to create a spreadsheet to compare the circuits.....  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Only you, Gary.  

Just keep being you.
It's precious. ❤️

[Gary Lewis]

As Dad would say, if that's a compliment then I thank you.  

Seriously though, I need to know what is connected to what with this mess, and I'll fall back on the tools I know to do that - a spreadsheet.

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I kinda sorta know what one problem is. But I don't yet have my head around what this means. Nor have I figured out the buzzer issue.

Think I'll give it a break, clean out the gutters on the house ahead of the deluge we are supposed to get, and post a bit. Perhaps it'll come to me, but if any of y'all have ideas please buzz in.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh, I forgot to tell you how I found that circuit.  I have an '85 EVTM in a searchable PDF, so I just searched for C305 and finally found that W/P wire.  But I didn't have an '81 EVTM in a PDF, much less one that had been OCR'd.  So, I created it.  Sure enough, I found the LB/R wire pretty quickly.  

[Gary Lewis]

Another few bits of the puzzle:

Early steering column >> early C305A jumper to speed control >> 1985 wiring harness.

At first I thought I needed to expand the spreadsheet to map through all three of those things.  But there shouldn't be an issue between the early steering column and the early C305A jumper, assuming there wasn't a change in the speed control amps as that jumper also connects to it and the horn relay.  So the issue should be as shown above.  I think.  

[kramttocs]

Interested to see what yours turns out being. Mine ended up being kind of expected - my steering column is no longer grounded due to all the powder coating. As soon as I provide a ground circuit to the column the buzzer goes off and on with the key being in or out.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, it'll be interesting to see.

I cleaned the gutters, we had dinner, talked with the grandkids, watched a movie, and THEN I got back to this.  As you'll see above in the spreadsheet, I've added the other two connectors in this lash-up.  It is: C305 male from the steering column>>C305A female to speed control>>C305 male toward truck>>C305 female into truck's harness.  I'm going to map the wire colors out across all four connectors and then I'll know what the problem is.  I think.

I believe that the issue is that the earlier C305A jumper expects power in for the cruise control on the pin that the '85 harness has the buzzer circuit on.  And the cruise amp isn't presenting enough of a ground on that circuit for it to show up on my DVM - unless maybe if I put it on a high resistance range?  (I had it on a low range today.)  But there's just enough drain to cause that buzzer to growl.

Anyway, I think mapping it will help me understand what the problem is and what to do about it.  But, doing is probably going to entail swapping pins in one of the C305's and I haven't figured out how to get the red plastic retainer out.  Anyone know?

[kramttocs]

I always use a HF straight pick and poke at the red part that is visible on the side and push up. There is just a small lip on the red part that has to get past the grey. I think on those there is one on each side so just alternate.

[Gary Lewis]

Scott - Thanks.  I'll give that a try - once I figure out what needs to be changed.

And, for an update: Just got a call from Roger @ Jet-Hot.  The headers are ready.  But I have no business going down to pick them up, so he's going to ship them.  Don't have a ship much less delivery date, but it shouldn't be too long.

Which means I need to get the wiring along the frame cleaned up while I still have easy access.  But, things might be starting to come together!  

[1986F150Six]

Gary Lewis wrote

And, for an update: Just got a call from Roger @ Jet-Hot.  The headers are ready.  But I have no business going down to pick them up, so he's going to ship them.  Don't have a ship much less delivery date, but it shouldn't be too long.

Which means I need to get the wiring along the frame cleaned up while I still have easy access.  But, things might be starting to come together! 

When you are hot, you're hot!

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I'm not sure "hot" applies, but progress is being made.

Anyway, I think I got to the bottom of things on the wiring. I think I did. But at one point today I was about to pull the column and C305A harness and go back with the originals. But that would take fixing the probably-broken tilt column awa swapping out the lower bearing, and certainly take repairing the C305A harness that was hacked.

I've put the spreadsheet here for discussion purposes, although it automagically is updated in the previous post. But I modified it to show the 4 versions of C305(A) and the wire colors in each.

At first I was quite concerned about all of the differences in colors in the middle of the s/s, but then I thought that perhaps the differences were in the darkness of colors, like the blues, the vendors chose and decided to just test the circuits. Sure enough, all of the stop/turn/hazard circuits work, so I colored those cells green.

That let me focus on the two rows top and bottom, and I soon realized that the buzzer issue is on the top row, what I'm calling Pin 1 of the C305 connectors. (I haven't found any illustrations with official pin numbering, so I made my own.) What is happening is that the wire that is supposed to provide power to the speed control, the white/purple wire, is getting connected to the buzzer's input, and the speed control provides just enough "sink" to turn the buzzer on. I proved that by pulling the connector off the speed control itself and the buzzer doesn't sound.

And there's also the potential issue of the instrument illumination wiring, the last row with the blue/red wire. The gauges on the dash light up, but I've not checked anything else. Will do tomorrow.

As for fixing the power feed issue to the speed control, I think I must have missed something in the last C305 connector's wires. Surely that power feed is there, but just in the wrong spot. If so I can move the pin in the 3rd connector to that position and the speed control should be happy. But, I won't have any key-in-ignition warning when the door is opened as this column doesn't have that feature in it. However, I think I can live with that.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks like there was another change 'twixt 1981 and 1985.  In '81 the PRNDL indicator was illuminated, and it doesn't appear to have been in '85.  

The '81 schematic on the left shows the C305 connectors and the bulb, but the '85 schematic on the right doesn't.  So there's no problem with the last row of the spreadsheet.  Now to figure out the first row......

[salans7]

Why is there a bulb shown for Defrost Control AND Heater/AC control on the 85 schematic? Or is that for Broncos for the rear defrost switch?

[kramttocs]

Yes - Bronco.
The 86 shows it correctly

http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/instrument-illumination1.html

[Gary Lewis]

Good question, Shaun.  Good explanation, Scott.  

And note that even the '86 doesn't show the PRNDL indicator as being lit.  However, in spite of the '81 EVTM showing it the 1981 Owner's Guide does not list a shift indicator in the Light Bulb Spec's - unless I'm missing it.

So, is this one of those things that was meant to be but didn't happen?