Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Only you, Gary.

Just keep being you.

It's precious. ❤️

As Dad would say, if that's a compliment then I thank you.

Seriously though, I need to know what is connected to what with this mess, and I'll fall back on the tools I know to do that - a spreadsheet.

[Gary Lewis]

As Dad would say, if that's a compliment then I thank you. :nabble_smiley_wink:Seriously though, I need to know what is connected to what with this mess, and I'll fall back on the tools I know to do that - a spreadsheet.

Well, I kinda sorta know what one problem is. But I don't yet have my head around what this means. Nor have I figured out the buzzer issue.

 

Think I'll give it a break, clean out the gutters on the house ahead of the deluge we are supposed to get, and post a bit. Perhaps it'll come to me, but if any of y'all have ideas please buzz in.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I kinda sorta know what one problem is. But I don't yet have my head around what this means. Nor have I figured out the buzzer issue.

 

Think I'll give it a break, clean out the gutters on the house ahead of the deluge we are supposed to get, and post a bit. Perhaps it'll come to me, but if any of y'all have ideas please buzz in.

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you how I found that circuit. I have an '85 EVTM in a searchable PDF, so I just searched for C305 and finally found that W/P wire. But I didn't have an '81 EVTM in a PDF, much less one that had been OCR'd. So, I created it. Sure enough, I found the LB/R wire pretty quickly.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh, I forgot to tell you how I found that circuit. I have an '85 EVTM in a searchable PDF, so I just searched for C305 and finally found that W/P wire. But I didn't have an '81 EVTM in a PDF, much less one that had been OCR'd. So, I created it. Sure enough, I found the LB/R wire pretty quickly.

Another few bits of the puzzle:

Early steering column >> early C305A jumper to speed control >> 1985 wiring harness.

At first I thought I needed to expand the spreadsheet to map through all three of those things. But there shouldn't be an issue between the early steering column and the early C305A jumper, assuming there wasn't a change in the speed control amps as that jumper also connects to it and the horn relay. So the issue should be as shown above. I think.

[kramttocs]

Another few bits of the puzzle:

Early steering column >> early C305A jumper to speed control >> 1985 wiring harness.

At first I thought I needed to expand the spreadsheet to map through all three of those things. But there shouldn't be an issue between the early steering column and the early C305A jumper, assuming there wasn't a change in the speed control amps as that jumper also connects to it and the horn relay. So the issue should be as shown above. I think.

Interested to see what yours turns out being. Mine ended up being kind of expected - my steering column is no longer grounded due to all the powder coating. As soon as I provide a ground circuit to the column the buzzer goes off and on with the key being in or out.

[Gary Lewis]

Interested to see what yours turns out being. Mine ended up being kind of expected - my steering column is no longer grounded due to all the powder coating. As soon as I provide a ground circuit to the column the buzzer goes off and on with the key being in or out.

Yes, it'll be interesting to see.

I cleaned the gutters, we had dinner, talked with the grandkids, watched a movie, and THEN I got back to this. As you'll see above in the spreadsheet, I've added the other two connectors in this lash-up. It is: C305 male from the steering column>>C305A female to speed control>>C305 male toward truck>>C305 female into truck's harness. I'm going to map the wire colors out across all four connectors and then I'll know what the problem is. I think.

I believe that the issue is that the earlier C305A jumper expects power in for the cruise control on the pin that the '85 harness has the buzzer circuit on. And the cruise amp isn't presenting enough of a ground on that circuit for it to show up on my DVM - unless maybe if I put it on a high resistance range? (I had it on a low range today.) But there's just enough drain to cause that buzzer to growl.

Anyway, I think mapping it will help me understand what the problem is and what to do about it. But, doing is probably going to entail swapping pins in one of the C305's and I haven't figured out how to get the red plastic retainer out. Anyone know?

[kramttocs]

Yes, it'll be interesting to see.

I cleaned the gutters, we had dinner, talked with the grandkids, watched a movie, and THEN I got back to this. As you'll see above in the spreadsheet, I've added the other two connectors in this lash-up. It is: C305 male from the steering column>>C305A female to speed control>>C305 male toward truck>>C305 female into truck's harness. I'm going to map the wire colors out across all four connectors and then I'll know what the problem is. I think.

I believe that the issue is that the earlier C305A jumper expects power in for the cruise control on the pin that the '85 harness has the buzzer circuit on. And the cruise amp isn't presenting enough of a ground on that circuit for it to show up on my DVM - unless maybe if I put it on a high resistance range? (I had it on a low range today.) But there's just enough drain to cause that buzzer to growl.

Anyway, I think mapping it will help me understand what the problem is and what to do about it. But, doing is probably going to entail swapping pins in one of the C305's and I haven't figured out how to get the red plastic retainer out. Anyone know?

I always use a HF straight pick and poke at the red part that is visible on the side and push up. There is just a small lip on the red part that has to get past the grey. I think on those there is one on each side so just alternate.

[Gary Lewis]

I always use a HF straight pick and poke at the red part that is visible on the side and push up. There is just a small lip on the red part that has to get past the grey. I think on those there is one on each side so just alternate.

Scott - Thanks. I'll give that a try - once I figure out what needs to be changed.

And, for an update: Just got a call from Roger @ Jet-Hot. The headers are ready. But I have no business going down to pick them up, so he's going to ship them. Don't have a ship much less delivery date, but it shouldn't be too long.

Which means I need to get the wiring along the frame cleaned up while I still have easy access. But, things might be starting to come together!

[1986F150Six]

And, for an update: Just got a call from Roger @ Jet-Hot. The headers are ready. But I have no business going down to pick them up, so he's going to ship them. Don't have a ship much less delivery date, but it shouldn't be too long.

Which means I need to get the wiring along the frame cleaned up while I still have easy access. But, things might be starting to come together!

When you are hot, you're hot!

 

[Gary Lewis]

And, for an update: Just got a call from Roger @ Jet-Hot. The headers are ready. But I have no business going down to pick them up, so he's going to ship them. Don't have a ship much less delivery date, but it shouldn't be too long.Which means I need to get the wiring along the frame cleaned up while I still have easy access. But, things might be starting to come together!

When you are hot, you're hot!

Well, I'm not sure "hot" applies, but progress is being made.

 

Anyway, I think I got to the bottom of things on the wiring. I think I did. But at one point today I was about to pull the column and C305A harness and go back with the originals. But that would take fixing the probably-broken tilt column awa swapping out the lower bearing, and certainly take repairing the C305A harness that was hacked.

 

I've put the spreadsheet here for discussion purposes, although it automagically is updated in the previous post. But I modified it to show the 4 versions of C305(A) and the wire colors in each.

 

At first I was quite concerned about all of the differences in colors in the middle of the s/s, but then I thought that perhaps the differences were in the darkness of colors, like the blues, the vendors chose and decided to just test the circuits. Sure enough, all of the stop/turn/hazard circuits work, so I colored those cells green.

 

That let me focus on the two rows top and bottom, and I soon realized that the buzzer issue is on the top row, what I'm calling Pin 1 of the C305 connectors. (I haven't found any illustrations with official pin numbering, so I made my own.) What is happening is that the wire that is supposed to provide power to the speed control, the white/purple wire, is getting connected to the buzzer's input, and the speed control provides just enough "sink" to turn the buzzer on. I proved that by pulling the connector off the speed control itself and the buzzer doesn't sound.

 

And there's also the potential issue of the instrument illumination wiring, the last row with the blue/red wire. The gauges on the dash light up, but I've not checked anything else. Will do tomorrow.

 

As for fixing the power feed issue to the speed control, I think I must have missed something in the last C305 connector's wires. Surely that power feed is there, but just in the wrong spot. If so I can move the pin in the 3rd connector to that position and the speed control should be happy. But, I won't have any key-in-ignition warning when the door is opened as this column doesn't have that feature in it. However, I think I can live with that.