The Camano Experience

salans7 wrote

It has been a long time since I touched that assembly, but I believe it was something I had laying around from an old lawn mower.

Even that right there is helpful to file away for later use. Never would have thought to look on an old mower for throttle cable pieces or whatnot.
If you find those photos I think a how to would be great.
From the photos it looks like you have a really good jy selection.
.

It's a compliment for me no doubt

Worst case on the cb, I guess I could always make a sticker from the photo and reapply.

On the brake controller, you are correct. It has maybe a 30" lead on a dial and indicator light. You can see them in the bottom left corner of the cubby here when I was making sure they'd reach.

I like that plan.  You can pull the instrument bezel and then disconnect the controller to remove the bezel.

kramttocs wrote

From the photos it looks like you have a really good jy selection.

Those were taken ten years ago, all of those trucks are long gone and that junkyard has no bullnose trucks left. I didn't realize then just how spoiled I was. I practically built my F150 from that yard. All of my trim pieces, transmission and transfer case, front driveshaft, seat, wheels, radio, etc came from that same yard. I miss those days.

Been awhile since I posted here and haven't had a ton of time to work on the truck but most of it has been installing and routing factory wiring harnesses.

The plan is to get everything back as it was and then start adding the improvements.

I did a lot of reading up on relay/fuse options and would recommend anyone interested to read this: http://www.bodenzord.com/archives/473
The author is extremely thorough.

I was going to do a similar build but wanted something with fewer exposed 'internal use' wires and more relays (for future use).
In addition to the relay box I need several larger fused circuits and wanted to avoid a bunch of individual holders.
I then strongly considered the Littlefuse HWB60-AL and the mega-flex/midi-flex fuse holders. This was a slight improvement in that they would all interlock but still not quite what I was looking for.

That's when i came across the Littelfuse 880089 and the EATON's Bussmann Series 31S-000-0 ssVEC Power Distribution Module

The two of these fit what I was looking for although it all got unexpectedly pricey after adding in the Metri-pack connectors/terminals since you buy in bulk from Waytek.

The Littelfuse is the same as the Blue Sea Safetyhub 150. Blue Sea has great support but I went with the Littelfuse purely for aesthetic reasons as I like the black cover over the see through

I picked up two of the fuse blocks and one relay block. Each battery (dual battery setup) will get its own fuse block and will feed one leg of the relay block. To maintain a somewhat factory look I am installing the shelf (not sure what it's really called) from a diesel truck on the passenger inner fender.

The primary battery fuse block and the relay block will be mounted on it. I haven't decided on the drivers side fuse block as I need to first get the aux battery bracket and washer tank installed to see how much room is available. The shelf will also get some spacers to sit a little higher in order to allow more cable routing underneath.

I am using some battery terminals that provide (2) 1/0 and (2) 8 awg outs. If you are looking for a different type of battery terminals than you currently have I would check out the zcase terminals to see if they will fit your needs. Never used them but I like the idea.

Some photos:





Here is a rough simplified sketch of the wiring. If/when the fender starter solenoid goes out I may move things around to simplify it some but I would also need to account for the hot fuel hookup.
This wiring leaves out the grounds, trigger wires, and some other items but I just needed something to show the major components.



If there are any suggestions/improvements that can be made, happy to hear them.

I've always used military lug terminals when I need a bunch of stuff at the battery.
What type of ferrules do you use on the cables that go under those setscrews?

I like the Eaton relay box.
How do circuits connect to each of those colored sockets?

Using the shelf to mount all this is an ingenious approach.

Hey Jim. Yeah, I am not really sold on those terminals. I had picked them up awhile back before even considering making these kind of wiring modifications only because the truck came with a version of them and I wanted a matching set for both batteries. I've read mention about the military style in some forums but will do some research on them as they may be a better fit. With these changes I really only need one out from the battery though. I was going to use both 1/0 outs just because they were there.

The Eaton has connectors for each of the 4 different sockets. One example: https://www.waytekwire.com/item/75784/Power-Distribution-Connector/

They take metri-pack 280 female terminals.

Thanks - I am hoping the shelf will work out and give me enough room to route the cables.

Since you got me thinking about it - I need the cables to come down the sides of the battery in order to go to the fuse box, a set of top post to side post adapters is what I really need.

Well, that's neat!
You'll be able to pop that box out easily if you ever need to, and the 280's should handle a decent wire gauge.

My little PDC is packed into the corner and everything is hardwired.
But I'm hoping it doesn't really need any attention.
I'm glad mine uses the same fuses and cube relays as the rest of my truck.

Thanks, Scott!  I'll read up on all of this later - or maybe even tomorrow watching "the game".  But this may be what I'm looking for.

However, Jim's comment about relays has me .  The relays in the Eaton are not a Bosch style?

I assume it's just a size difference as these are micros? I don't know what the later trucks use though.

If you need more relays, there is a 16 unit available
Some other configs can be had as well.
https://www.waytekwire.com/products?pSearch=ssvec

Make sure to check out the technical drawing on the pages - good info there.

For the trigger wires I ordered some 16awg glx striped wires from ebay and for the load I am using 10awg txl. Both are larger than really needed and according to the bodenzord article for 10awg, the thin walled txl is needed with the metri-pack 280's.

*Thought I posted first thing this morning but looks like I never hit the button*

Haven't updated this thread much lately as life, work, and weather have prevented much progress from being done but wiring and getting the 460 ready to fire up are the primary goals.

I have previously mentioned using the diesel passenger fender platform to hold my add on fuse boxes but that turned out to not be ideal.
So in comes this aluminum plate I cut, drilled, and tapped to hold my two 'boxes'. It mounts to the fender using some stainless steel stand-offs to allow wiring to pass underneath.

I used 1/4 to accommodate tapping it. At 1/4 it's definitely got some heft to it so it's a trade-off between 1/4 tapped or 1/8 bolted.



Hoping to get that installed this evening.

Here is my modified (simplified?) alternator harness. The fuse will have a weather proof cap over it and that circuit is only for the voltmeter now. The little yellow is ground (also for voltmeter) and the thick yellow goes to the fuse block for cab power. I don't recall if I've mentioned it before but I am going to a 150amp 1 wire which is why the harness is no longer having direct alternator contact. I have kept the unmodified 2g harness so in a pinch I can easily swap back if that is a necessity.

Looking good, Scott!  

Weather was nice today and had some time off so got a lot of things taken care of (and even some on the truck).

Got the electrical platform installed and hooked up battery power to the truck for the first time in a year. So far so good - everything that is hooked up works with no sparks or loss of magic smoke. Can't say that's a lot (fan, interior lights, dash lights, wiper) but it did feel good to see 'life'.



This was awhile ago but I found out quickly that using magnalugs takes up a lot of space, thickness wise. Since I had a few things grounding at the engine block I had to find an alternative to the factory bolt. Turns out ARP makes a stepped bolt that is exactly what is needed. Allen's Fasteners had to special order it for me from ARP and I was planning to put the part number on here but looks like their site is down so I can't look up the order at the moment. But it allowed me to add the various grounds (source, frame, starter and alternator) plus the transmission cooler line bracket with plenty of space left.



Additionally I got the pmgr starter hooked up so only a couple things left before I can start it up.
I also need to secure the cables going to the starter as they are just zip tied together for now.

I took a quick look and made a diagram of the headlight setup as it came on the truck so need to figure out exactly what is going on there. I'll add the diagram and a photo of an unknown piece later this evening to get all your thoughts. There are 4 relays  (2 each side) and a bridge between some pins and the adjacent relay that I haven't quite identified the purpose of yet.

The setup looks good, and the fact that you didn't lose any smoke is wonderful!  I'll bet it feels good to have power in it.  (I can't wait!)

That stud looks interesting.  Looking forward to the part number and more info on it.

On the headlight relays, did they put a pair on each side?

Yeah, a pair on each side.
Here is one side after I took off the pigtail that went to the actual headlight.
Still working on a rough diagram.
It's the 85 - 86 jumper with the barrel that I am curious about.

That's a diode and it absorbs the electrical surge when the field in the coil collapses when you turn the relay off.  Not really necessary unless you have a computer.  And some Bosch relays have them built in.

Thanks Gary. That makes sense and takes all the mystery out of it. Did some research and learned some new stuff.
No need for a diagram now

Was looking last night for a good Hot In Run ONLY circuit for an add on (GVOD). There are a few locations for Hot In Run AND Start but I am only seeing two circuits for Hot In Run.

These Hot In Run circuits are with Fuses 5 and 9. These are Turn/Stop/Hazard/Backup and Heater respectively.

That information is enough to allow one to use fuse taps which will work just fine.

Have mentioned this in this thread previously but in my add on wiring I am taking the approach of making jumpers between factory connectors and splicing the add on wiring to this jumper. This is made easier by the location of the factory connector and as few terminals in the connector as possible.

For the two options above, Fuse 5 is limiting because it goes through the flasher for most of it and if you look at the backup light circuit the only connector easily available has 8 terminals in it (below the brake booster). Straight splicing 7 in the jumper is a lot of overhead to just have one wire that I need to branch off of.

Fuse 9 has a good option and the one I'll likely go with. To the left of the HVAC controls there is a single terminal connector (C606).

Normally I would be hesitant to add any load to that circuit but since I just did the Blower Relay Mod, I am less concerned.
The GVOD has a 3amp fuse in it so it won't be drawing much but I may still run it through a relay. Will have to ponder that.

I think you have a good plan.  It appears to be correct, and the way you are doing it can be put back if needed.