Conference napalm::musclecars

    
    Does anyone know of a machine shop in the southern NH/Boston MA
    area that does distributor work?  I'm looking to have mine spun up to
    check the advance curve, and rebuilt if necessary.
    
    Any ideas?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Tom

    Accurate Seedometer has the technology/means to do it!
    
    Right off 93 towards boston, by Duff Spring!
    
    anyone know better directions?
    
    chet

    I'm going to mount the battery in the trunk of the 76 Camaro.  A kit at
    NE Speed I passed on for $50 had ground connected to the rear subframe.
    Sounds kind of shaky to me.  I'd rather get a kit having a battery box
    and 2 cables running to the front of the car.  Suggestions?  Hints? 
    Prices?  Matt

    I used the Summit remote battery kit for the Vega.  It also had a short
    negative cable.  I went down to the local Western Auto store and bought
    a 72" cable which I connected to the tailshaft of the transmission. 
    The Summit kit was $34.95.
    
    Mark

    Since someday I hope to have a high compression BB chevy under the
    hood, I went with dual lengths of double-0 gauge cable.  From Sexton on
    Rt. 20 in Shrewsbury, the new Delco cables set me back about a buck.
    Matt

    I've never had a problem with the short ground strap mounted to the
    rear frame. I figure the whole body 'must' conduct at least as well as
    a 1/2" cable.
    
    Stan

    My starting is working good.  In a camaro, with the rubber mounting of
    the engine and tranny, and the rubber mounting of the front subframe to
    the body I think the ground path would be poor.  I'm going to run
    a small gauge wire from the + terminal to the radio, because even as
    is, on cold mornings, the voltage drop at the starter is enough to
    clear the clock and station presets on the radio.  
    Matt

    Hi y'all,
    
    I'm not much of an electrical wiz so, here goes.
    
    My Z28 had been acting up lately, sputtering (missing) and stuff.
    I noticed my tach (electric) bouncing wildly between 2000 - 5000 rpm
    while at a constant speed on the freeway.  I had accidentally slammed
    a gear (I have a ratchet shifter) a little to hard, and I noticed
    the ignition key became stuck in the ignition.  I figured it was just
    a lot of little glitches.
    
    Well, on night I brought my car out and I really started having
    problems.  My cars electrical system became decharged and I went
    home on the hook (a common occurance).  To my surprise, I noticed
    I could then remove the key from the ignition (lightbulb!).  I looked
    at the battery and the positive terminal was melted.  I went and
    got a new battery which I began to hook up.  Negative first and then
    I touched the positive cable to the positive terminal and it sparked
    like crazy. 
    
    Couple questions:
    What the heck happened :')  (sounds like I may have a short somewhere)
    Where you you look first or how would you troubleshoot this situation? 
    
    Regards,
    
    Mike

    I'm not sure if your two problems are related or not, but I had a
    similar ignition switch problem when changing the transmission in my 
    Camaro. I'll assume that your car is an automatic with a floor shifter.
    There is a rod from the steering column to the shift linkage that
    prevents the shifter from moving when the ignition is off. There's a
    good chance  that this needs adjusted or is loose, especially since you
    said you slammed a gear. I can't remember off the top of my head which
    way to adjust it though, but it's in the Chilton's.
    
    Tim

    I received a catalog from the "Classic Motorbooks" company last week.
    Amongst the hundreds of great books listed is "How to Do Electrical
    Systems" by Skip Readio.  "Back by popular demand" it says.  Gees,
    Skip, when others said you wrote the book on electrical systems, I
    didn't realize you actually "wrote the book" on electrical systems.
    I'll have to buy a copy and get you to autograph it.  By the way,
    who are the two babes on the front cover?
    
    If anybody is interested in this catalog, the tel# is: 800-826-6600.
    They have some really good books that you won't find in any bookstores.
    Wayne

>    I'll have to buy a copy and get you to autograph it.  By the way,
>    who are the two babes on the front cover?

They're from Idaho. One of Tex Smith's nieces and her friend if I 
remember correctly.

>								  Gees,
>    Skip, when others said you wrote the book on electrical systems, I
>    didn't realize you actually "wrote the book" on electrical systems.
>    I'll have to buy a copy and get you to autograph it.

CUT IT OUT, WAYNE!

Listen, guy. *Skip* knows he knows, and *we* know he knows, but it just won't do
to encourage him like this. There'll be no living with the guy for weeks to
come. :-)

SHEESH!

Bruce :-)

    All ya gotta do is get transferred half way across the country, sell
    Skip a nice old Mopar for cheap bucks just before you leave (since you
    won't need a winter rat in warm country), have someone invite him to
    your surprise going away party during a blizzard, let him see how you
    behave when you're totally $h!tf@ced, and then he'll give you a signed,
    autographed copy of his book. :-) :-) :-)
    
    Harry, holder of such a gem, complete with the publisher-induced errors
    

What was that part about the "nice old Mopar"?

AHEM. :-)

Bruce

    Bruce, remember the eye of the beholder and all that. ;-) Skip swears
    that thing would lay rubber after he did a valve job on it. His
    daughter drove it for nearly 3 years after that. Not bad for a $150
    car!!! :-)
    
    Harry
    

    		I just picked up a new Mallory Unilite and ProMaster
    	coil from a guy for a song.  This has never been installed
    	but has been through a few hands.  Needless to say, the 	
    	instruction sheets are long gone.  I figure that it is
    	a straight-forward installation as there are only three
    	wires from the distributor...one red, one green, and one
    	black.
    		My question is, does anyone know which wire is
    	for what?  I am changing the engine in my chevy truck
    	this weekend and would like to install the distributor
    	along with it.  The truck is a '70 if that matters any.
    
    	Thanks in advance.
    
    	Tim

    Tim,
    
    I just traced out my Z28 which has a Mallory HyFire.
    Looking at the unit on the firewall, the order of the wires is
    Black, Red, Green.
    I have an HEI distributor.
    Black is the ground wire and goes to a ground
    Red I assume is the hot wire and it makes its way to the distributor
    and is plugged into the terminal that says BATtery.  Green, as best
    I can tell (since mine goes into a connector and then comes out as 
    a different color wire) makes its way back to the distributor
    somewhere.  I'll try and dig out the instructions for it during lunch.

    re: .16
    
    Tim,
    
    I have a Mallory Unilite conversion unit in a GM points style
    distributor.  It has three wires: brown, green, and red.
    The the three wires go to a connector, and the mating harness has 
    black, green, and red.  The green wires mate and the red wires mate, 
    but the brown wire mates to the black wire of the harness.
    
    The red wire is connected to ignition (+12v), the black wire is
    connected to ground on the engine, and the green wire is connected to the 
    coil (-) terminal.  Since my car is a '75, the factory ignition wire 
    wasn't a resistor wire, and provides +12v when the ignition switch is in
    the run position.  There is an aftermarket ballast resistor connected
    between the factory ignition wire and the (+) terminal of the coil.
    
    I'm pretty sure the the factory ignition wire on a '70 GM truck is a 
    resistor wire, so you probably should run the red wire directly to the 
    ignition terminal on the ignition switch.  Leave the factory resistor
    wire connected to the (+) terminal of the coil, connect the green wire
    to the (-) terminal of the coil, the black wire to ground, and you should 
    be all set.  
    
    Tom
    

    
    	re:last couple
    
    	Thanks much for the information.  Hopefully I can have
    	it all running this weekend.
    
    	Tim

    Well, I've gotten my, er, situation together finally and was able
    to go down into my garage and have a peek at my Z28. In continuance of
    .8, 
    
    I traced the heavy guage wire from the + on my battery terminal to the
    starter, or is that the solenoid on top of the starter, and sure enough
    the wire is, shall we say, destroyed.
    
    I'll describe the wire, make a couple of assumptions and then ask
    for a 2nd - 20th opinion.
    
    The wire is frayed extremely bad right in front of the ringlet that
    screws onto the solenoid.  There are about 15 wires that make up the
    cable and about 4 of them are still intact, the rest were mangled big
    time.  It's almost like the cable was chewed by an animal.  The
    insulation was obviously melted very badly.  I've removed the cable
    and I'm still gawking at it.  Working on my machine solo was always
    a pain in my ass, but I'm getting my confidence back.
    
    I'm wondering if an animal did chew through the cable, causing it to
    massivly short out (thus causing the massive failure of the wire), or
    is there sufficient current to cause such bad damage to the wire?
    The wire was securly tie wrapped away from my headers, but there is
    an extremely tight fit.  Could, over time, the insulation have melted
    even if the wire was 2 inches away from the closest primary tube, then
    causing the failure?  Could I have a problem with my starter or the
    solenoid which would have caused the wire to burn up like that?  Could
    there be a problem elsewhere in the car which would have caused the
    wire to burn up?  Judging from the condition of this wire (cable, you
    have to see it to believe it), could I have damaged anything electrical
    in the car eleswhere?  I never blew any fuses, and I'm curious as to
    why something like this didn't trip a fuse before possibly burning my
    car up.
    
    I'll listen for your advice.  The current game plan is to recharge
    the battery and replace the cable.  Theoretically, my car should fire
    up and run fine (I hope).  Then I'll blow the cob webs out of it and keep 
    an eye on the cable to see if any damage is re-occuring.  FWIW: When
    this deal happened to my car, it was parked in a car port.  Now my
    car is garaged, so if an animal did get at it, it shouldn't happen
    again.  I hope this is a straight forward deal.
    
    MadMike

    Mike, the cable running to the starter is not fused.  It is designed to 
    handle a high amount of current for only a short period of time.  It
    would require a pretty big fuse to not blow everytime you cranked the
    motor.  Assuming that your starter motor is in good shape,  I suspect
    that your cable became frayed over time.  Once a number of wire strands
    fractured, then the rest of the intact strands were trying to pass more
    current than they were designed to handle.  So they heated up and
    melted your insulation.  By all means replace the cable with a new one
    and make sure your starter motor is in good working order.  And keep
    the battery cables clean so they don't self-destruct over time.  This
    is especially true for the braid style ground strap that often runs
    from the engine block to the frame.  They corrode real bad over time.
    Wayne
    

Wired that are subject to flexing should not have soldered-on terminals 
because the strands will fracture at the point where they enter the 
terminal (or where the solder bond ends)

Wires that are subject to flexing should have a crimp-on terminal, instead.

When a crimp terminal is installed on the end of a wire it should extend 
over the insulation as well.  A soldered terminal will not extend over the 
insulation.


The barrel of the crimp extends over the wire (or cable) insulation so that 
the insulation provides a strain relief, thus spreading the flex over a 
wider area.

The initial installation of your battery cable was one where the cable was 
allowed to flex as the engine rocked back and forth.  The heat from the 
exhaust melted away the insulation and the flex was concentrated at the 
base of the terminal.  Eventually the wires broke at the terminal.

The proper methods to repair this damage are:

1. Clamp the cable to the starter solenoid and solder a new terminal onto 
the end of the cable.  

		Procedure:  You'll probably need a small propane torch to 
generate enough heat.  Heat the terminal, puddle the solder down in along 
the side.   As more solder fills the well in the terminal, the heat will be 
transferred into the strands of the wire and eventually the whole end of 
the wire will be filled with solder.  The strands of wire will have to be 
absolutely clean before you start or the solder won't stick to them.  
Wash off all the accumulated grease and oil, spread the strands and sand or 
wire brush the oxidation off the individual wires.  they'll be pretty 
blackened from the excessive heat that's been generated from trying to 
operate the starter on only a few strands of wire.

2. install a crimp connector, making sure to crimp the wire over the 
insulation as well.  Securing the free end of the cable is optional.  Again
, the grease and oil should be removed first, oxidation isn't as big a 
problem as you'll be compressing the wired into a homogeneous mass and the 
oxidation will get scraped around a bit.  If you want to take the time to 
clean the strands, the job will be better, electrically.

3. Install a screw-on terminal, making sure the insulation extends into the 
collet so that it gets crimped at the back end of the collet.  Securing the 
free end of the cable is optional.  Same cautions as 2.  

3. replace the cable with a new one from a parts store.  Securing the free 
end of the cable is optional.  Simplest and fastest route, since the others 
will require removal of the cable, anyways (to do the job correctly)

Since you have a header clearance problem, I'd secure the cable more for 
reasons of preventing it from contacting the hot exhaust than to prevent 
the end from fraying in the last three options.


BTW, if the end of the cable is as bad as you say, there's probably been 
some serious overheating of the plastic cap on the solenoid as well.  You 
may end up breaking the plastic end when you try and remove the battery 
cable or when you give it that last grunt to make sure it's tight.

Consider replacing the solenoid cap.  I Believe NAPA sells the cap alone.

    Now that I have my electrical problem "fixed" (I hope), I took
    my car out for a little spin today.  Everything appeared relativly
    normal until about 7 miles from my house.  I noticed the voltmeter
    drop down to about 8 - 9 volts, just in front of the red (warning)
    section.  I turned around and headed back home, and noticed a high
    pitched squeeling (which could have been my imagination, or the bearing
    in my alternator).  The voltmeter then swung back up to 13 or so
    volts.
    
    Why did the guage drop?  Is there something I should check.  I just
    had the alternator tested to see if it was damaged when I shorted
    my car out, and it tested fine.  Is this a non-event?
    
    MadMike, call me paranoid.                           

How's the belt tension?  Are there any large + wires loose anyplace?

Maybe the problem is trying to stuff that overgrown big block into that little
engine compartment.  ;-)

Matt

    I'll proof read the wiring.  I did have a major electrical short
    a while back.  I just never noticed this occur before. 
    
    The belt tension, etc.. may be an issue.  I need to shim up the
    alternator, since when I eyeball it, it looks to be around 1/4"
    out of alignment.  That's probably why it'll toss the belt if I 
    push the engine over 4500 rpm.
    
    It's the little things, but I'm taking it day by day and don't let
    the little glitches and stuff eat at me.  I'm actually having fun
    doing this again (at the moment).  :^)  Even got a few "looks"
    yesterday.
    
    MadMike   

    Wow, one year ago... and I just got around to fixin it.
    
    I replaced my alternator with an identical 65amp deal.  I bought a
    new battery.  I hooked up all the wires, made sure the belt is tight
    and tightened all the bolts.  The car fired rather easily, warmed up 
    quickly and idled after about 1 minute.
    
    My volt meter is reading 8 volts.  The car is not charging.  Where
    should I look knowing the battery/alternator are new?  Do I have
    a wire that's broken?  Could my gauge be broken?
    
    MadMike  

      Try putting a Volt meter across the battery terminals. You should read
    between 14V - 15V with the car running if the charging system is
    working correctly.This will also let you know if the gauge is faulty.
    
     Is the voltage regulator built into the alternator? If not, this could
     be a possibility.
    
    
                            Rich
    

    Mike,
    
    Look for a "fuseable" link somewhere in the engine compartment. Also,
    the way "I" test a cahrging system is to pull the (+) lead off of the
    battery once the enigine is started. It should be able to run all of
    the electrical stuff with no battery.
    
    	CB

    CB,
    
    Clarify.  Fire up the car, and take the positive lead off.  I assume
    I should wrap it in something just to be safe.  What am I going to
    see?  Is my volt meter going to change, or will it still read "8 volts"
    meaning "eventually when you shut off your car, I'm gonna be dead
    again".  I recall once barely making it home when my voltage regulator
    was dead.  Just to fire the plugs was enough to kill it eventually.
    
    Which brings me to the fusable link.  Where would it be?  Where do
    I start looking. 
    
    I have the 2 heavy wires to the battery and starter.  Those are
    ok.  There's the medium guage red wire to the back of the alternator, and
    then there's 2 wires that plug into the top of the alternator.
    What do those 3 wires do specifically?  Would the fusable link
    be on one of those 3?  Near the fire wall?  (All three wires are
    wrapped in plastic sleave).  If there's a problem it's probably
    with one of those 3 wires.   I don't think it's the alternator because
    it's brand new, but you never know, and I haven't tested it yet...
    
    so it's probably one of those 3 above mentioned wires, or a combination
    of them.  Give me a head start.  The car is a Camaro.  The wires
    have been installed/removed at least 410 times so I'm sure that over
    the years they *could* very well be damaged.  How does the alternator
    put a charge back into the battery?  Let me guess, it's one of the
    3 wires I need to check. The medium guage one?   
    
    Thanks for your suggestions.  
    
    MadMike

    The moral of the story is I got sold a dead alternator.  I didn't
    panic, and I didn't rush to tear into the wireing.  I unbolted the
    alternator and brought it back to (vendor) and they tested it.
    Yup... it's dead.  New new one puts out 16 volts.  Hopefully it'll put
    out 16 volts when I start this pig up this afternoon after work.
    
    I guess the rule here is DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.
      
    I guess today the test is to make sure the alternator stays put and
    doesn't slip.  I may have to lock-tight the bolts that hold it, and
    use a 10# hammer to, er, "adjust" the braket a tad.  I'm also going to
    order a deep groove pully for the alternator so I stop tossing the
    belt off at very inconvinient times.
    
    MadMike

    
      Has anyone heard of a company called "Painless Wiring"?  They
    sell wiring harness kits that are supposed to be "easy" to install.
    
      My brother has a 67 Firebird that has a butchered wiring harness,
    and he is considering buying the complete harness that "Painless
    Wiring" offers.  
    
      Any experience with this company?  Good experiences can be posted
    here, bad please send to FORTY5::SHUEY.  
    
      Thanks,
    
    Tom
    
    

Painless (Dennis Overholtzer) makes a decent harness.  It's a GM-style 
fusebox with groups of wires that run to the engine, the front lighting, 
the instruments, the rear lighting/fuel tank, etc.

Centech makes an identical wiring kit.

The difference between the two is that Centech labels EVERY wire with it's 
destination.  With the Painless kit you need to read the destructions, 
first to figure out which wire goes to the left blinker, which goes to the 
right blinker, etc.

Both kits are relatively easy to install, however, 6 years later  -   when 
something goes bad  --  the Centech kit is easier to troubleshoot because 
all of the wires are labeled.

Now, if I were doing this job, I'd spring for an OEM harness or go for an 
after-market harness that's custom made for the vehicle.

Most Camabird and Chevelle harnesses are available from places like Year One 
and the like.

The benefit derived from using those harnesses is that they, quite simply, 
plug in.  You *don't* have to Mickey Mouse the connections to the fuel 
gauge, the dome light, the turn signals, the headlights, the dash lights 
(printed circuit board)

I've used all three methods and, quite frankly, for a post-'48 car nothing 
beats a factory or factory-repro harness.

The Centech, Painless, Ron Francis, RAC, etc are for race cars or street 
rods, not late models.  In a late model, they're often messier looking than 
what three teenager previous-owners could accomplish under the dash.

    
      Thanks Skip,
    
    That's the kind of information I was looking for.  This car isn't 
    going to be restored to factory original.  Ease of installation is
    the most important thing, since my brother is going to do the 
    installation, and he isn't great with wires, and doesn't want to have
    to mickey mouse the connections.  I'll relay the information to him.
    
    Tom