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1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

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CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Finally worked up some motivation to continue working on REDRUM. I started planning out the power distribution.

I didn't take a ton of pictures during the process, but here's what I have.

I measured the space between the battery and the vacuum ball on the passenger fender and bent up a plate of 18GA sheet metal. I then laid out my fuse holders and fuse/relay box and terminal strips.

got those attached and screwed down last night and made a cable to go from the battery to the ANL fuse for the Alternator.

I don't have the right size fuses yet, just the ones that came with the holders and a couple from a previous stereo install.

The bottom ANL fuse in the picture (200A) is the one for the 3G alternator, I'll be replacing that with a 150A.

The ANL fuse above that is for the bus bars at the top, the 250A fuse will be replaced with a ~100A.

The dual MAXI fuse holder in the center is what I am using to replace fusible links J and S.

The mini ANL fuse in the top left is for the stereo amplifier.

The relay box will have all the power feeds coming from the bus bar and the ground side of the bus bar will ground to the fender.

I finally got to test my new crimper (thanks for the suggestion Gary) this one will replace my Harbor Freight model.

I have to do a little trimming for the cable between the ANL fuse for the alternator and the battery post, it's a bit long right now and the welding cable is quite stiff. I also need to mount the panel to the fender to secure it.

Chris
1985 Ford F250 XLT SuperCab
ZF5-42 swapped 460 hot fuel, factory AC.
Part way through 4WD swap.

1988 Suzuki Samurai -- Daily Driver
1968 Dodge Dart -- Project car
1957 Chevy 4400 Flat Bed -- Collector Project

StraightSix

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Very nice. I have something similar planned for the next year or so. Eagerly awaiting progress.

1984 Bronco, mild built 300-6, Np435, 3.55 gears, 8.8 rear with Eaton TrueTrac, D44 TTB front, 31" tires, Duraspark II, Offy C, EFI manifolds, Holley 390, No AC, 3G alternator, front receiver

kramttocs

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

In reply to this post by CRittaler

Looking good!

Scott
'Camano' 1986 F250 Supercab XLT Lariat 460/C6
'Chanute' 1980 F350 C&C 400/NP 435 - Gin Pole

But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

Gsmblue

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Looks good!

Your timing is great as I am trying to get some cables made up and replaced in the same area. I hope to get mine done tomorrow.

Thanks for the inspiration.

1985.5 F-150 XL Explorer standard cab 5.0 EFI AOD 4x4
Daily Driver. We call her Eunice the Ute.

1982 Bronco XLT Lariat 351W AOD 4x4
Code name Esperanza, or Espy to her friends. Please see my Project thread for the blow by blow.

1984 F-350 XL Centurion crew cab 460 T19 4x4
"Eylza Dual-little"

Gary Lewis

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

In reply to this post by CRittaler

Looking good! Glad you like that little crimper. Seems to work well for me.

But if you are grounding to the fender, make sure the fender itself is well grounded. Many/most aren't. I added grounds like this one to ensure mine are. And I grounded the cab to the engine as well. (And plenty of other grounds.)

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

I'll look at adding grounds in those locations as well!

In the last picture of my post there is a 2AWG black cable on the left hand side, that is directly connected to the battery terminal.

Coming off the negative post of the battery, I have 1 2AWG that goes to the fender, and another 2AWG that runs down the frame and then a short chunk of 2AWG that goes from the frame to the engine in place of the factory ground cable that was cracked and falling apart.

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

In reply to this post by StraightSix

StraightSix wrote

Very nice. I have something similar planned for the next year or so. Eagerly awaiting progress.

I'm going to try and get some more work done on it tonight. We'll see if my motivation holds lol.

kramttocs wrote

Looking good!

Thanks! slowly making progress. I'm sure it'll speed up as the weather get warmer and we have more daylight.

Gsmblue wrote

Looks good!

Your timing is great as I am trying to get some cables made up and replaced in the same area. I hope to get mine done tomorrow.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Thanks! I find myself redoing wiring on a lot of projects so I decided to pick up a better crimper and I like the Flexoprene 2AWG welding cable as it's relatively flexible and it's standardized, unlike car audio cables that are more likely to be copper clad aluminum. I sacrifice some flexibility for the standardization, worth it in my opinion.

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Did a little bit more work on the wiring

Crimped a bunch of 2AWG cable for various connections.

What's not shown is I rewraped the factory harness under the plate, I extended the green/red-stripe wire for the alternator and removed fusible link S for my fuel pumps and extended the yellow wire up through the plate.

Next to make is a power cable for the dual maxi fuse block and I have to make the ground wire for the bus bar. Then I can start wiring the fuse block and relays.

Gary Lewis

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

I like it! Nice and clean!

But what is the thing in the middle of your plate with the two yellow wires?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Thats the dual maxifuse holder The heavy yellow wire is the cab power after removing the ammeter shunt. The thinner yellow wire is my fuel pumps after removng fuse link S

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Cleaned up the wiring, made a short length to connect the busbar to the maxifuse holder.

I also moved by ground connection from the fender to the negative bus bar and will be making another ground connection to go between the bus bar and the fender.

I connected everything up and I have cab power, no smoke thankfully.

Next up is to finish the alternator wiring and start the the headlight harness.

Gary Lewis

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

Looks excellent, Chris! Well done.

Have you thought about covering it with plexiglass when you are done? Most of it is well protected, but there are some hot spots peeking out, and I worry that a a dropped wrench would find them. (Trust me, this is the pot calling the kettle black as there are some SERIOUS places like that on Big Blue.)

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

I think the only real hot spot it the bus bar. If I manage to short that to the plate the 200A fuse should pop. Both the ANL fuses have clear covers snapped on them to protect the bolts. It's hard to see them in the pictures.

I have to order a smaller fuse to replace that 200A one. That just happens to be the smallest one I had on hand.

Gary Lewis

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

You are right, the fuse should protect the bus bar.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

In reply to this post by CRittaler

Finally carved out some time to work on the truck some more.

I have done a bit here and there over the last while, but not enough to make a post about until now.

I made up a new headlight harness and wired it into the fuse/relay box. I also made a new harness for the gauge power, electric choke, oil pressure and coolant temp sensors.

Dark blue is coolant temp, yellow is electric choke and the light blue in the back is oil pressure

I spent quite a while wiring everything up, but ended up with:

I also replaced the glass firestarter fuel filter with a wix

I spent some time in the cab and replaced the cluster lights, the headlight/wiper bulb and the floor lights with LEDs from Amazon. I went with ice blue for the illumination, and standard amber, red, green for the others.

I was also able to start the truck for first time in a year or so and it fired right up. This allowed me to verify that the 3G alternator was charging (14.4V) and let me notice a power steering leak.

It looks like the input to the steering box is weeping since I just replaced the pump last year and it's had maybe 4 hrs of run time while I was bleeding the air out. So, now I'm not sure if I want the expense of a blue top or to just get a reman.

I also dug into the trailer brake wiring, I have a different thread discussing that, but I did find more botched wiring associated with it so now I have some 10awg in a few colors on the way and some different circuit breakers since I only have 30A on hand.

kramttocs

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

Nice work! Very clean install

Scott
'Camano' 1986 F250 Supercab XLT Lariat 460/C6
'Chanute' 1980 F350 C&C 400/NP 435 - Gin Pole

But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Thanks!

Gary Lewis

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Administrator

In reply to this post by CRittaler

Well done! Neat installation.

On the power steering box, you might find that after driving the truck some that the leak goes away. Perhaps movement of the shaft will help.

But if not, I'd sure check out the Blue Top. It isn't a job I'd want to do very often, so I'd spend the extra money now rather than later. However, that's just my thinking.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

This post was updated on .

I'll give that a try and see if it deals up. It has been sitting for about a year.

I'm waiting on more bits and pieces to arrive before I dig into more things. So far my 10awg wire has arrived for the trailer harness, but I'm waiting on the breaker and some other wiring to get here.

I'm also going to replace all the fuel lines in the engine bay since they were quite stiff and swap the filter to a metal one and add a fuel pressure gauge.

I have 50ft of 3/8" fuel line on the way as well so I can yank out the nylon stuff that is all hacked up and just run regular fuel line. I'll at least be able to do up to the selector valves before I have to figure out how to drop the tanks to get the rest. At which point I'll be able to replace the sending units so that the gauge works.

CRittaler

Re: 1985F20 SuperCab "REDRUM"

Did some more work on the truck. Took some photos over the last couple days.

Added the breakers for the trailer brakes. Ran 10awg red down under the truck. 10 awg black for power to the brake controller.

Managed to disconnect the brake light switch and expose the crappy wiring job from the PO

Those wires still need to be fixed, but I found some others that I ended up fixing instead.

I was looking at the wiring harness from the duraspark module over to the engine and found the wires to the oil pressure switch were hacked up and the insulation on the wires to the distributor were cracked.

I didn't have people wire so I had to do the repair with blue.

I spent some time repairing the wires and rewraping the harness.

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