A Wiring Riddle
This is a tough one to write about because it's clear someone had put time and effort into a clean and tidy wiring job. It was nearly complete. They had gone to lengths to hide much of it - which is totally legitimate in the car/truck building world. Much of it was covered in an old-school asphalt coated fabric loom. Nice.
Sure, there were a few wires to nowhere. There were some sections covered in plastic, convoluted tubing (not a fan). There were some wires routed through random un-grommeted holes in the firewall and a few other issues that leave one scratching their head.
When we went to pull the front clip for better access to the frame and engine we found no connectors or terminal blocks - no way to remove the clip without cutting the harness (which was hidden under the fender, by the way). So that's what we did.
That's also when we learned the parking brake (e-brake) pedal assembly was missing. Part of that assembly is a large bracket that bolts to the cowl down low. The inner fender of the front clip is supposed to bolt to that for support.
The main harness was routed through a hole in the floor that's supposed to be used for the parking brake pedal. That's fine if you don't want a parking brake, or plan to use an aftermarket parking brake, or don't mind a large bundle of visible wires disappearing through the floor inside the cab, or your feet interfering with it. You get the idea.
So, it was removed, for now, along with the original gauge cluster which were mostly non-functional or broken anyway. We have plans to address that later. The only thing that remains is the new, aftermarket A/C system and controls.
There's a radio delete plate that needs to be painted to match. It fills the large upper hole in the middle of the dash. (There's also windshield and side glass trim to be painted). We have a new stainless center speaker grille, ash try, glove box door, and other bits. And, we'll talk about the 'why and how' of a new gauge cluster in a future post, so stay tuned!