Waiting Again

Once again, I’m awed by the number of things it takes to essentially build a car from scratch. With temperatures remaining near the 100*F mark again, my days in the shop are short, so instead of attacking bigger and more visible jobs, I’m taking care of many little things that have been put off at various points. There are wire bundles to re-tie, screws to install or replace, paint to touch up, clamps to install, etc.

My recent effort was to finish all the under-dash wiring. By the time I was 90% complete, I found myself with a tangled and ugly mess in the area above the steering column. Too many individual crimped-disconnects to keep the bundle looking neat, so I decided to stop and replace the disconnects with a couple of multi-pin connectors to terminate wires from the steering column outward.

I first tried to locate mating connectors from my stock of salvaged parts from other cars, but nothing really worked out well, so I ordered a set of Delphi Weather Pack connectors that use the same contacts and tooling as the new bulkhead connector. They won’t arrive until next week, but I think the wait will be worth it.

The wait for parts will give me time to revise and update my hookup block diagrams in the cool of the house. Once again, I’m having to make wiring changes to accommodate integration of stock OEM switches, additional new equipment, and modernized circuits.

And just to add annoyance to my life, my truck decided it didn’t want to start. I was going to back it out of the garage so the door will open far enough for me to crawl behind the dash to verify some color code differences in the main bundle. My truck is a ’73, while the column I transplanted into the Plymouth is from a ’77 or ’78. The new ignition switch I installed is common to both columns, but is wired differently and I can’t check the differences until I pull the truck far enough out of the garage to see the connections.

In this hot Texas weather, if a car sits more than a day or two, all the fuel in the carb evaporates and the engine must crank until the carb is pumped full. The truck has been sitting for about two weeks, so I didn’t think too much about it not starting immediately, but I finally realized that apparently no fuel was getting to the carb. A shot of starter fluid made it fire off to verify the ignition is fine, so now I have to pull the fuel line to see if it’s pumping. To do that, I have to move some junk from in front of the truck so I can crawl into the engine bay to reach the lines. Everything I've done lately seems dependent upon doing something else first!

Even though the fuel pump was replaced when I rebuilt the engine about 2,000 miles ago, I’m guessing it died. It came from Rockauto, so is probably another quality part from China.