82*-28*

 That's the temperature range the past two days...a 54* swing in less than 24 hours! 

Yesterday I was wearing a tee-shirt and sweating profusely in a summer-like 82F while testing electrical circuits under the hood.  Last night we had high winds and ,75" of rain. This morning it was 28F with a cold NW wind, and tomorrow the forecast is for freezing rain and temps remaining below freezing all day. Such is the nature of North Texas weather.

Yesterday was a big day for the old Plymouth. I've owned the car for about 12 years and it's the first time it has had a battery installed and power applied. So far, I've hooked up only the main power circuits and verified that all the buss connections were working properly. 

The first fuses I installed were for the lighting circuits, and immediately ran into a problem. No lights! First things I found were two mis-wired relays in the modified headlight circuit. When I was laying out the wiring diagram, I made a simple drafting error, and the electricity didn't like that a bit! 

After I fixed that problem, I discovered 2 to 5 volts in the console where I should have had 12 volts. It didn't take long to find a ground problem, but it was time to quit for the day, and now winter has set in again, so I doubt I'll be spending much time in the garage until the weather warms up again. Looks like that will happen early next week.

Meanwhile, I spent part of today repairing a section of privacy fence the wind took out during the storm last night. I've been trying get a fence company to replace the sections with the post problems, but they are so busy I had to make an appointment three weeks in advance, just to get an estimate! Who knows when they will be able to do the job!

Electrical and Exhaust

 The wiring job is finally nearing an end, and none too soon as it's been far more difficult than expected. I still have a few things to finish, but they can wait until continuity and isolation tests are complete so I can apply power to most of the car. We have a couple of nice days in the forecast next week, so maybe I'll be able to accomplish that without too much smoke and fire! 

I discovered a rather big problem with the exhaust system. The left side muffler and tail pipe are tucked up close and clamped and it looks like it will everything will clear okay, but the right side is a different story. The tailpipes are stock Fury configuration, but the gas tank is not, and the two parts collide near the right front corner of the tank. Looks like the car will eventually have to make a trip to the muffler shop for a tailpipe modification.

There will also be problem where the exhaust pipes cross the transmission mount crossmember. I knew the crossmember would have to be notched to clear the pipes but wasn't sure exactly where and how much needed to be removed. After spending much of yesterday under the car on cold concrete, my old body is not looking forward to that notching job!

For what it's worth, I know a few of my blog visitors have read my novel, so I'll just say that I was informed that the inspiration for the female character in the story passed away last week. She was a wonderful person and will be missed by all who knew her. Also lost a couple of childhood friends last month.  Getting old sucks.