Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Gary the three mystery plugs, what did that harness come from? Could the middle have been light green with red? If so it is the alternator light to alternator. The right hand one is probably a dirty red and is possibly the starter control. The left hand one if it could be red and light green with black is the canister purge control (called a vapor management valve) it was used on the 460 CA spec vehicles instead of the plain solenoid valve.

Bill - It is a '96 CA-spec harness, the one Mark/Dyn Blin found in Sonoma.

Yep, that's the purge solenoid connector, C171.

And, the middle one does appear to be C139, which the EVTM says is a 4-pin connector. So I'll bet you are right - it is the charge indicator light.

But, I don't know what you mean by "The right hand one is probably a dirty red and is possibly the starter control." Do you mean the red/light blue that pulls in the starter relay? It isn't that as I also have that.

Thanks!

 

[85lebaront2]

Bill - It is a '96 CA-spec harness, the one Mark/Dyn Blin found in Sonoma.

Yep, that's the purge solenoid connector, C171.

And, the middle one does appear to be C139, which the EVTM says is a 4-pin connector. So I'll bet you are right - it is the charge indicator light.

But, I don't know what you mean by "The right hand one is probably a dirty red and is possibly the starter control." Do you mean the red/light blue that pulls in the starter relay? It isn't that as I also have that.

Thanks!

Could it be red with yellow? That would be C106 and is the AC cycling switch connection to the harness, it will go across to C101 (42 way engine connector near PDC) and to the high pressure cutout switch on the compressor. When it goes through C101 it becomes black with yellow. I can look at Darth tomorrow for you if it isn't raining.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Could it be red with yellow? That would be C106 and is the AC cycling switch connection to the harness, it will go across to C101 (42 way engine connector near PDC) and to the high pressure cutout switch on the compressor. When it goes through C101 it becomes black with yellow. I can look at Darth tomorrow for you if it isn't raining.

Bill! You did it! It really does look like it is red/yellow and C106 is said to be black 4-pin connector. Exactly what this one is.

It ties the A/C Clutch Cycling Pressure Switch to the A/C High Pressure Cutout Switch, and they collectively tie the A/C on/off switch on the dash to the clutch. But since I'm going to use the 85's controls I don't need that one either.

Given all that, the only wires that need to cross the radiator support are the large yellow wire that ultimately will tie the two PDBs together, and the wires from the passenger's side to the driver's side headlights. Yippee! That simplifies things a bunch. THANKS!

 

[85lebaront2]

Bill! You did it! It really does look like it is red/yellow and C106 is said to be black 4-pin connector. Exactly what this one is.

It ties the A/C Clutch Cycling Pressure Switch to the A/C High Pressure Cutout Switch, and they collectively tie the A/C on/off switch on the dash to the clutch. But since I'm going to use the 85's controls I don't need that one either.

Given all that, the only wires that need to cross the radiator support are the large yellow wire that ultimately will tie the two PDBs together, and the wires from the passenger's side to the driver's side headlights. Yippee! That simplifies things a bunch. THANKS!

You may eventually need it, the wire from there also goes to the EEC so it knows the AC compressor is running. The VMV, if Adam can turn it off completely (on Darth he originally had the purge valve). The 1996/7 CA spec EEC-V and evaporative emission is unique in the fact that it is not a sealed system like Blue Jeans uses. It still uses atmospheric vents at the tanks, but does have a nice evaporative system, still has the dual cannisters, but instead of a 3/16" line from the tanks, uses a 3/8" line probably due to the heating of the fuel being returned to the active tank.

I know that before I converted Darth to EFI if I filled both tanks in hot weather I needed to run on the front tank first, or at least long enough to pull some fuel out of it. If I didn't, the tank would "burp" some fuel out of the filler neck. Since I went to EFI and added the plumbing for the larger evaporative system it hasn't happened.

[Gary Lewis]

You may eventually need it, the wire from there also goes to the EEC so it knows the AC compressor is running. The VMV, if Adam can turn it off completely (on Darth he originally had the purge valve). The 1996/7 CA spec EEC-V and evaporative emission is unique in the fact that it is not a sealed system like Blue Jeans uses. It still uses atmospheric vents at the tanks, but does have a nice evaporative system, still has the dual cannisters, but instead of a 3/16" line from the tanks, uses a 3/8" line probably due to the heating of the fuel being returned to the active tank.

I know that before I converted Darth to EFI if I filled both tanks in hot weather I needed to run on the front tank first, or at least long enough to pull some fuel out of it. If I didn't, the tank would "burp" some fuel out of the filler neck. Since I went to EFI and added the plumbing for the larger evaporative system it hasn't happened.

I had something about this typed in last night, but decided to keep the response simple so deleted it.

In the EVTM there's a pink/light blue wire going from the compressor itself back to the ECU. My guess is that it is in the engine harness along with the injector wiring given the location of the compressor. But I'll check in a bit to make sure.

On the evap system, I'm not running canisters. And I think that is turned off, but I don't remember for sure. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to include that wire in the harness going across the radiator support in case I decide to add canisters later.

[Gary Lewis]

I had something about this typed in last night, but decided to keep the response simple so deleted it.

In the EVTM there's a pink/light blue wire going from the compressor itself back to the ECU. My guess is that it is in the engine harness along with the injector wiring given the location of the compressor. But I'll check in a bit to make sure.

On the evap system, I'm not running canisters. And I think that is turned off, but I don't remember for sure. Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to include that wire in the harness going across the radiator support in case I decide to add canisters later.

Made some progress today. Got all of the connections within the PDB made. And, along the way I found an error in the wiring plan and corrected it.

Then I fired up the lab power supply, connected the test light, and put it through its paces. It passed with blinking lights.

And tomorrow I start installing it on the truck.

So, here's the wiring diagram. Note the fuse sizing. What are your thoughts?

And here are shots of the fuses and relays installed as well as the wiring. The 30a breaker is for the low beams. Yes, 30 amps is overkill, but I wanted to use the breaker, so....

[kramttocs]

Made some progress today. Got all of the connections within the PDB made. And, along the way I found an error in the wiring plan and corrected it.

Then I fired up the lab power supply, connected the test light, and put it through its paces. It passed with blinking lights.

And tomorrow I start installing it on the truck.

So, here's the wiring diagram. Note the fuse sizing. What are your thoughts?

And here are shots of the fuses and relays installed as well as the wiring. The 30a breaker is for the low beams. Yes, 30 amps is overkill, but I wanted to use the breaker, so....

Nice work!

I would drop F2 (I am using a 1A there) since all it's doing is the voltmeter. Otherwise looks great. The fuselink to fuse values sound right for the research I did the other day when this was brought up in the other thread.

[Gary Lewis]

Nice work!

I would drop F2 (I am using a 1A there) since all it's doing is the voltmeter. Otherwise looks great. The fuselink to fuse values sound right for the research I did the other day when this was brought up in the other thread.

Good point. I don't think I have any 1A mini fuses, but I'll get some.

I'm anxious to get started tomorrow.

[Gary Lewis]

Good point. I don't think I have any 1A mini fuses, but I'll get some.

I'm anxious to get started tomorrow.

I ordered 3A fuses today. Thought that would be more useful than 1A and the wiring is plenty heavy enough to handle that.

Another thing I did today was to strip the tape off several harnii so I could get to wires to splice or strip out unneeded wires. Man, that is no fun. Somehow I always seem to be working on the tape that's under another layer.

And I got the alternator installed, the PDB mounted temporarily, the charge cable installed, and fuse links L & M cut out and replacement wires spliced in. You can see all of that here, with the splices shown on the right in the big yellow and black/orange wires.

Speaking of the big yellow wires, I discovered that there are at least two different sizes of them in our trucks. I have a harness out of 1985 F150 that had a 351W, A/C, power windows and locks, etc. So I pulled it out and thought I'd snag the yellow wire from Ckt 37. But it was smaller than the one in Big Blue. So I moved on to the harness out of Brownie, the 1982 F150 w/a 351 2bbl, A/C, but no power windows or locks. And it had the right size wire.

Here's a shot of the two, with the wire from from the '85 on top - it is a #12 wire. And the wire from the '82 is on the bottom and it is a #10. Also, note that the bottom wire is tarnished. That appears to be from being very close the fuse link. I cut farther down the wire and it wasn't tarnished. Apparently the fuse link got hot.

And then I found this:

As for how I did the splicing, and not to re-open the crimp vs solder debate, I did both.

I find that wrapping #10 wires over themselves to create a splice is hard to do and it makes a big lump in the wiring. But I have #10-12 butt crimps, so I stripped the plastic insulation off them, tinned the wires, put them in, crimped them with my HD ratcheting crimpers, then soldered them and put the adhesive-lined heat shrink on them.

Here's a shot of a crimped butt connector:

Here's the soldered crimp:

And here's the heat-shrink applied:

[85lebaront2]

I ordered 3A fuses today. Thought that would be more useful than 1A and the wiring is plenty heavy enough to handle that.

Another thing I did today was to strip the tape off several harnii so I could get to wires to splice or strip out unneeded wires. Man, that is no fun. Somehow I always seem to be working on the tape that's under another layer.

And I got the alternator installed, the PDB mounted temporarily, the charge cable installed, and fuse links L & M cut out and replacement wires spliced in. You can see all of that here, with the splices shown on the right in the big yellow and black/orange wires.

Speaking of the big yellow wires, I discovered that there are at least two different sizes of them in our trucks. I have a harness out of 1985 F150 that had a 351W, A/C, power windows and locks, etc. So I pulled it out and thought I'd snag the yellow wire from Ckt 37. But it was smaller than the one in Big Blue. So I moved on to the harness out of Brownie, the 1982 F150 w/a 351 2bbl, A/C, but no power windows or locks. And it had the right size wire.

Here's a shot of the two, with the wire from from the '85 on top - it is a #12 wire. And the wire from the '82 is on the bottom and it is a #10. Also, note that the bottom wire is tarnished. That appears to be from being very close the fuse link. I cut farther down the wire and it wasn't tarnished. Apparently the fuse link got hot.

And then I found this:

As for how I did the splicing, and not to re-open the crimp vs solder debate, I did both.

I find that wrapping #10 wires over themselves to create a splice is hard to do and it makes a big lump in the wiring. But I have #10-12 butt crimps, so I stripped the plastic insulation off them, tinned the wires, put them in, crimped them with my HD ratcheting crimpers, then soldered them and put the adhesive-lined heat shrink on them.

Here's a shot of a crimped butt connector:

Here's the soldered crimp:

And here's the heat-shrink applied:

Looks good sir! I have done the same thing with larger wires, seems to work well.