Nervous?

If the heart and lungs of an automobile are the engine and drive train, then the wiring is the nervous system. It makes sure signals are passed to the various parts of the vehicle so the correct things happen at the correct time in the correct order.

Today we continued hooking up the nervous system in this 1950 Chevy truck. It’s not hard work, but it is tedious. Just as it would be unfortunate to slap yourself in the face every time you tried to blink your eyes, you don’t want the horn honking every time you stepped on the brakes. So care must be taken to ensure that all the wires are run to their proper places. It would really stink to have to pull the wires out after you have run them to the wrong place.

We use only American Autowire harnesses at JMC AutoworX because I have never once had a problem with one of their kits. This truck is getting a harness from the modified restoration series of harness. The modified restoration harnesses are designed to replace and update the harnesses in these older vehicles, providing additional circuits for modern amenities such as power windows and locks, air conditioning, modern stereos and other more recent developments.

New paint, new motor, new interior … and now new wiring. Why, this 1950 Chevy isn’t an old truck at all. It’s, well, new.

Cool truck

Yesterday Murphy Rod & Custom dropped off the 1950 Chevy truck after installing the air conditioner. Originally I had intended to do the install myself but I had too many projects and not enough time. So Murphy Rod & Custom once again bailed me out of a tight spot by taking the truck and doing the hard part of the air conditioning install for me.

As you can see, it is the typical Murphy Rod & Custom work, first rate and very tidy. Except for the fact that nearly everyone knows that air conditioning wasn’t an option in 1950, it could pass as a factory job.

While the truck was at Kelly’s shop, he also fabricated up a radiator cover to clean that area up a little by covering the gap that is there on a stock truck. A little body filler to clean up the machining marks and bit of paint to match it to the rest of the truck will make this an interesting bit of custom work. You can see the cover in the last two photos.

Now that the air conditioning is installed, I can begin wiring the truck to get not only the air conditioning working, but the instruments, lights and all the other bits required by the state of North Carolina for a street legal car as well.

After all, what fun would it be to have a truck this nice if you couldn’t drive it?

Wire we doing this?

The wiring harness for the 1950 Chevy truck, from American Autowire, has arrived and today I cracked open the box to see what was inside.

I exclusively use American Autowire kits because, quite frankly, they just work. I never have trouble from their kits, and their kits are so clearly labeled that you don’t have a degree in electrical engineering to install it. Which I don’t.

This kit is their Classic Update kit, which provides wiring for things that weren’t even a twinkle in Charles Wilson’s eye in 1950, like power windows and air conditioning. Advanced stuff for 1950, but in a truck? Not likely.

Most people look at me funny when I tell them I enjoy wiring a car. For some reason I find it rather rewarding stringing all the wires and bringing the car to life.

And if it doesn’t burst into flames the first time power is applied … well … then the experience is very  rewarding.

Contact!

Yesterday, in a fit of optimism, I hooked the battery up on the Mustang and … I was so relieved that nothing burst into flames that I completely forgot to take pictures of the result. Not that there was much to see. Just a bunch of working headlights, taillights and interior lights, which don’t show up very well in photos anyway.

Actually there was very little doubt that most, if not all, of the systems would work the first time. I use American Autowire wiring harnesses for all my builds because they are, in my opinion, the best harnesses available. I never have trouble with them and each wire is clearly labeled all the way down the length of the wire which makes installation a snap.

The only problem we had was one of the taillights had a weak ground and a door jamb switch was faulty, neither of which was a problem with the harness, and both are now fixed. I would have liked to tick the engine over, but the engine hasn’t yet been primed with oil, so I had to settle for listening to the fuel pump turn on.

I crack wise about the car bursting into flames, but even still I always hold my breath on the first test of the wiring. Not because I think the car will catch fire, but because if there is a problem, it could be a pain in the lug nuts to find and fix. But that isn’t a worry on this build. Nope. Not a worry at all.

Progress

Every day brings a little more progress on the Mustang. The first picture shows some of the work that we have been doing in the engine compartments.

The MSD (Multiple Spark Discharge) ignition, basically electronic ignition for older cars, is installed. You can see the red control box in the lower right corner of the picture. The battery is in and most of the wiring is run, if not tidied up yet. We have also installed the radiator but haven’t hooked the hoses up yet.

The second picture shows more of the air conditioner install inside the car. I cut a holes in the dash and inserted factory style air conditioner outlets for a nice clean look rather than mounting the outlets below the dash.

All the little details, taking the time to install the factory style air conditioner outlets, neat and tidy wiring, just sweating the details, adds up to a more polished, professional looking job when the car is done.

Like wise men say, if you pay attention to the little things, the big things takes care of themselves.

In the home stretch now

The owners of this gorgeous Mustang are coming to see the car for the first time since, well, since it started looking like a car again. The last time Cassie and Karl saw their car it was painted but it had no fenders or doors … it was really nothing but a painted shell.

Since that time we have added the doors, wiring harness, sound deadening and, as a surprise, the fenders. I’m writing this Thursday evening, but I’m holding this post until Friday afternoon so to not give away the surprise of their seeing the car with the fenders on.

Today, Thursday, we attached the fenders as a test fit and alignment check. The fenders are only lightly attached and can be quickly removed if necessary for the engine install, but since the fenders were on, and the owners are coming to see the car tomorrow, Friday, I decided to leave them for now. From a low angle, like the third photo, the car looks all but complete.

The last two photos show the wiring harness in the car. Think about trying to untangle spaghetti and you have some idea of what it is like putting a wiring harness in a car. Of course there is still a lot of tidying up of the wire to do, but the bulk of the wires are run, more or less, to the right places.

We still have a ways to go, but that pounding sound you hear is this pony galloping for the finish line.