Pilgrim's Progress

[Howard2x4x4]

Well, I do believe the Q has an A. The far left yllow arrow hole is for a seat position memory button and the middle red arrow is to adjust gas pedal position.

 

[bronkenn]

Look at you figuring all that tech stuff out...I believe you are the Pupa around here.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Moving right along here, it might be a good time to talk about..... Evolution! Yes, evolution, as in how, when you're as slow as I am, it's possible to morph and adapt and adjust in order to improve ideas that may have been a bit sketchy early on. Speaking of early on, in post #287, I found a switch that could work for the heated seats I didn't want, but got anyway. Started with a little trimming 'cause of my tendency to wreck stuff first, build stuff second. But what if it doesn't fit nice? Well, then just hack off another little bit. Yeah, that's more gooder.... Yeah, like my dad used to say, "Good enuff for the girls Junior knows".

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Sometimes I wish someone would tell me what I'm doing. But not very often.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

It's only crazy if it doesn't work.....

...and it's heavy into the 'Howmi gonna do this" category and also fits in with evolving. I've been working on getting NSS and back-up light wiring to the Mustang Jr. shifter for the C4 and somehow within the console picked up in post #287. Seems like an awful lot of balls in the air at one time, but it can be done if you let all of the balls except one just fall on the floor. The ball currently in the air is mounting the shifter and this is sort of a pictorial of just how it evolved. That there bent metal plate and threaded rod gizmo was made to hold the shifter and console in position relative to each other. The wooden blocks were designed to hold the front shifter mounts in place for my booger welding.
Kinda like this. And then the knee bone gets connected to the thigh bone And then I end up pretty much where I wanted to be except for seat position relative to shifter and console placement and height.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Come to find out, there are too many pics in the pictorial, who knew. Maybe I should have called it an album. Anyhow, one final pic and a Q for the Gurus, Wizards, Poobahs and Ken's Pupas to A. Is the console and shifter too low? I have the ability to drop it another inch lower, which I would like to do do to get more space for the radio. Is the console already too low, Y / N? Howard, uncertain in beautiful West Michigan

 

[Yeller]

I would think the height of the console is good but we ain’t normal Howard. If we were normal we’d all be watching life happen from an apartment and taking mass transit to the grocery store. Instead we choose to not take the easy road and do stuff the hard way

Keep up the great work, looking great!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

we ain’t normal Howard.

Keep up the great work, looking great!

Yuppers Dennis, you pretty much nailed it there, and thanks!. Sorta makes me glad about the dropped-on-my-head-as-a-baby thing, at least I have an excuse!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Oh, and a bonus pic for absolutely no good reason whatsoever, other than to say, "Too many pics, whaddya mean, too many pics?"

 

[bronkenn]

How high were you dropped from Howard? My decent was from 5 feet right on the back of my head. You may be able to notice the impact area from the picture.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Well Ken, that's truly a sad tale, and, believe me, I know how ya feel. Ma was about a five footer, I mean five foot tall, not that she had five feet, but she did have eleven toes. I recken you and I bounced from 'bout the same altitude. She did try to protect me, tho. She'd often put a plastic bag over my noggin, tied 'bout at the neck, said it was to soften the blow. She was kinda nice that way. As I grew older though, it became harder to hide my flat head, but I did win a bunch 'o' head standing contests. Once, on a date with a sorority from the Borculo College of Vacuous Knowledge, I wore a hat made of a watermelon to hide the flat spot, and because I heard that watermelon made girls 'frisky' Turns out, the 'frisky' part, not so much, but ya can't blame a guy for tryin'. And I did learn a good lesson that day - my flat head was not so visible if I covered my flat spot with fruits and vegetables. So I took doin' just that, even if I was only out walkin' the pups. So, all in all, I ain't got it so bad, even with the things that make me special'. I guess the part I like the most about my 'flat top' is I don't hafta worry about bumpin' the noggin on the rollbar. So, life goes on, and if we're really lucky and if we really pay attention, we'll see that each one of us is 'special' in their own special way and if yur lookin' for someone to connubial with, don't put your head in a watermelon.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Can't hardly believe it's been eleven days since I've been here, must be time flies when you're confused and don't know much. And speaking of being confused, first thing I gotta do is back up - in post #428, I inadvertenly called Yeller Dennis instead of Steve, his actual name. Dennis is hiding out here as Forfan. Both guys are aces and have helped me (and others) bunches, so, sorry about that.....

So, for eleven days now, I've been trying to unscramble the wiring - 1970 Bronco, originally 170, three speed, now 351W, C4. That would seem to be fairly straight forward, but the plot thickens - all custom gauges from Classic Instruments and mostly custom lights and blinkers from most anything I could find that might work. Harness from American Autowire.

Well, I reckon AA makes a mighty fine harness, and that the instructions are fine in a stock application, BUT. my horse ain't stock, the gauges ain't stock and I sure ain't Thomas Saliva Edison. So I putzed and dawdled and asked and searched the weboverse for how to's. Found some got some from the fine chaps here, but still something was not coming together. So I called American Autowire.

The tech and I had a bit of struggle at first, until he learned I had a Duraspark distibutor. "Ah", he said, "do you have the the Duraspark kit for your harness?" In my mind I muttered "Now ya tell me...." And some explitives. Why couldn't there be a note in the instructions alluding to sumpin' like that? Anyhow, sent for the Duraspark kit, got it a couple days ago, and installed it for the first time today. Maybe also the last time, but I sorta doubt it.

Here's how the trudge began. And a few pics of the crime scene I can't even say that I'm 'cautiously optimistic' that it'll work Best I can do is 'hopefull' Biggest concern is probably all the cutting and splicing I did due to custom gauges and lights. Plus my inexperience. Guess it'll either work or not. If it's not, I'll just keep finigalin' as best I can until it does. Howard in beautiful but confusing west Michigan

 

[Speedrdr]

I feel your pain! I got the AA harness for my 77 and was told that I had to either buy a MSD ready to run distributor OR buy a harness to run my duraspark. Being as I’m getting cheaper in my advancing years, I bought the harness for the duraspark as it was a heap of $$$ cheaper than a new dizzy.

Randy

 

[Howard2x4x4]

(Note: This is not a bitch, though it may appear to be. It's simply a comment.) Yeah, it pretty much seems that, if it's goin' good and workin', ya left sumpin out.

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Sure hope that last post didn't jinx me because today it was workin' and goin' good. The wiring on the passenger side may be set +/-, so today I tackled the drivers side. Started out with a big ole bunchof wires and set about tryin' to tame them. The goal was to to get them sorta bundled together, sorta neat and tidy. See that bottle at the back there, sittin' on the HB bracket? That was a big help getting the wires into the shrink tube. No, it's not vodka, it's wire lubricant. Helped a lot. Got a couple of pieces of shrink tube on and the joint cleaned up pretty nice. Then it was just a matter of running the shrink tubed wire down the firewall toward the back end. Heck, the dasterdly ten file limit again. Dangit, no wonder it's takin' me so long to get 'er done....

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Well, as I was sayin' down the firewall, behind the front fender and toward the rear. Next stop, the gas gauge wire.

 

[fordfan]

Keep on it , Howard! Springtime is coming!

Hey..... Are you going to pen a shop manual on this one so the next owner can care for and maintain the masterpiece?

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Ya know Dennis, I sorta started one yesterday - not for the next owner, for me! I have changed and altered and modified so much that it may just be easier to start over than to repair. Yesterday I started writing down some notes about the wiring, mostly because my memory is pretty much limited to the most recent five minutes. Btw, I was really pleased to see Rattler make it to the 2024 calender. The specs about Clevend and toploader made me drool! You're a lucky man!

 

[Howard2x4x4]

Well, I made it to the gas gauge wiring! And the fuel pump. Tiny bit of actual progress, but significant motivational boost, because I also secured the wiring from the gas tank forward. While rolling around down there, I realized that my office window view was pretty much the last view a woodland creature that wandered onto the roadway in front of me would have just before becoming road kill. Thought to myself that a critter sure could have worse last visions.

 

[sprdv1]

Gettin so much closer man Looking good