46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Alxj64]

I almost sold my kit and went after the Isis kit (now called InfinityBOX). It's a bus based system like modern cars use. Actually a lot less wiring to do and way more flexible, but holy crap the price! It would make some of the stuff I'm doing a lot more simple, but I just couldn't justify the cost difference.

Now that right there is just cool... but yea thats a lot of coin just for some simple mechanical things... I did see they have crazy cool vintage air controls too though, that way you can use whatever knobs you want and it has built in potentiometers and stuff I guess.

[Desoto61]

Yes, the wiring can be a little strange if you're not clear on how it works, but the end result is much simpler and WAY more flexible, but the basic kit is just that, enough to do what my Painless kit does just at 3-times the price, then you still need to add others, plus the rear module isn't as convenient in a truck as it would be in your vehicle.

Speaking of Vintage Air controls, check out Dakota Digital, I learned too late that they have an add-on control for VA systems that is more modern and automated. It's too late for me to use, not enough room either, but it honestly wasn't much more than the billet control panel from Vintage I used. I still need to buy one of their retained accessory modules eventually for the Power Wagon.

[Alxj64]

Uggh, my wallet hates you at the moment as I believe I may end up going down the route of that infinity box... it just fits the bill with my electronic controlled engine, grid heaters and timers, etc.

I will be hawking your build for more cool ideas! So get to it! ha ha.

[Desoto61]

Sometime knowledge is painful HA! I feel your pain though, I'm often missing pieces I need because I just don't have the money to drop on them yet. Gauges being the biggest, have them all picked out, just don't have the cash to drop on them yet, and then it's still a 3-4 week turnaround.

I'll be jealous if you do. I keep finding myself wanting to wire things like that system with central relays for most of my loads, less for power handling and more for ease of control. If I put the linear motors on my windshield and cowl on relays I can trigger the relay from just about anything, including that little computer. Be easy to have it open the windshield for some ventilation on a hot day for instance.

Well that's one of the reasons I post, so people can figure out what not to do!

As an aside I was learning up on welding the stainless and like you've already figured back purging seems to be a necessity if you want it to last, so guess I will need to see about borrowing your regulator when the time comes. It will be a week or two though, while the wiring is nice because I can do it for an hour or two each night, the exhaust is really more of a weekend thing where you just need to be able to hack at it all day, and my weekends are tied up for a while.

[Desoto61]

Spent some time in the garage with my dad and had him help me till and bleed the brakes and clutch. Good news was very few leaks, most of which went away just tightening up the offending joint. Bad news is I think my clutch has stuck from sitting so long. Not sure how to get it loose.
Won't be able to tell how the brakes will feel and react till I have the booster running.

[Desoto61]

Not a lot of work on the truck, still playing with the wiring, which is nice because it supports an hour here and there better than some jobs, and wiring is not very photogenic, just a mess of wires that changes into a different mess of even more wires as I get parts of the electrical system worked out.

I picked up some waterproof LED strip lights to install. They're cheap, bright and flexible. Plan is to install some under the dash wired to the interior lights and some under the seats wired to the parking lights so that you have a little cab lighting under all conditions.

I had been running wires to items that aren't part of the harness, like the fan controller and speed sensor, but determined that the generic auto store wire isn't really that good compared to the GXL wire used in the Painless harness. Found packs of the wire at Wirehut for decent prices, so I'll have to remove that wire and re-run any of my external wiring at minimum with the new stuff when it comes.

I had also started running the wire harness that came with the fog lights I installed, being LED the wire is really light 20-ga. After thinking it over I decided I didn't want to do that either since if I ever want to replace them with something that has more power draw I'll have to run new wire. So I'll scrap their harness and just wire up my own with some heavier gauge to support any possible future use.

[Desoto61]

Playing with the wiring over the long weekend and it's starting to hurt my head. I have too many accessories and some of them just don't want to play nicely together.

Dakota Digital makes a nifty convenience module that provides some modern features like dome light controls, automatic headlights, and retained power (accessories stay on till door is opened).

Problem is it operates all the relays by sinking them to ground. While the alarm module and the headlight relay module work by feeding them 12V, so I need a relay to operate the relay, which is really annoying and redundant for such a small load. Need to find a compact way to swap the polarity, maybe a mosfet or some sort of compact solid state relay since it only needs to handle a few hundred mA. It's getting hard to find space for all these relays.

[Desoto61]

Trying to get all my parts so I can finalize what all wires need to go where, there are a lot of them.

Got the distribution panel done and mounted to the cab. Will probably need a bigger circuit breaker for the pull up coil of the fuel cutoff solenoid, but the rest should be good. The panel will be fed from a 4 ga cable from a splitter between the battery and the starter.

Hardest thing so far is to cut a wire, but most of the wires under the hood are just about where they belong. So I left what slack I had near the bulkhead and started cutting the wires and installing them into the connector. Only downside of the bulkhead fitting is it's limited to 20a max, so the main feed wiring can't go through it. Ended up having to punch another hole for the larger wires to run through the bulkhead. Of course this was after I cut them, so they'll have to be spliced back together, but I wasn't going to be able to re-run them without a lot of trouble anyway.

Still need to get my gauges so I can make sure I have the right sensor wires running where they belong, and that's just a matter of $$$. Working on running wires for the alarm, convenience module and various miscellaneous components. Ironically there is a decent amount of free room behind the dash, but not lots of mounting space. Ended up having to build some new mounting spots. Not my best design, and really hard to drill the mounting holes, but should make a strong and convenient mounting point, plus help control some of the wiring.

[Desoto61]

Still chugging away at wiring. I've forced myself into needing a lot of it! Most of the components are where they belong and just about all the wires are run to those components. Last big component I need right now is the gauges, which is just a matter of placing the order once I know the bank account can take it.

It looks like a random mess but each wire does actually have a purpose. There's a lot going on, and I haven't really started connecting everything up yet. Still need to figure out where I want the power lock switch(s), and start wiring up the overhead console next.

[CSCameron]

That makes my head hurt just looking at it! LOL! Simplicity was one of the things that attracted me to Power Wagons. I applaud you, but I will keep my truck as simple as possible. Keep the updates coming! Thanks for posting.

[deicerman]

keep up the good work

the wiring is the fun part for me! the challenge is the finding the connectors and the crimp terminals to go with the different componets switches, relay baces so on. I like the resetable c/b if space alows
geat job so far fun to watch the progress

[TrackMagicWS6]

Nice build, you have awesome fab skills. Can I ask where you got your intercooler?

[Desoto61]

E-bay. Don't remember the name of the group off the top of my head but the prices are really good (mine was less than $200) even if the size isn't exactly what I was looking for. They seem to be very well made for the money, they offer a bunch of different styles/sizes. I could have gone a little wider, but not too much, the pipes are just about in the right spot. I really wanted to be a little thinner though, a 2" would have saved me having to slice into the grill for the condenser but they don't offer thinner that I could find, and custom was quite a bit more $$$ from the places I found originally.

If you do a search for it on e-bay you should turn them up easily. Also got all the aluminum piping from them as a kit as well.

[Desoto61]

the wiring is the fun part for me! the challenge is the finding the connectors and the crimp terminals to go with the different componets switches, relay baces so on. I like the resetable c/b if space alows
geat job so far fun to watch the progress

Yes, all those little bits are frustrating, and like you said finding connector blocks is way harder then it should be. Weatherpack stuff isn't too bad, but finding the larger amperage connectors is harder without having to order bulk from a supplier.

I don't mind the wiring, not too bad as long as you just break it down a bit at a time, but like I said not everything wants to play nice together so that's frustrating, that and trying to make sure I have everything run before I start cinching down all my zip ties and making everything clean and neat. I don't want to cut and connect anything till I know the wire is locked down and routed correctly, but don't want to just leave lots of excess wire all over either.

[Desoto61]

Lots going on, but still finding time to work on the truck. Wiring continues, but waiting on my gauges to arrive from Speedhut so I can route the last few wires in the cab and start connecting everything up.

In the interim I moved to a few other tasks. I ordered a replacement glove box from VPW, but it's way too deep for my setup with the heater box, so I had to cut it down and then form and weld on a new back. There are a couple of other mods to be done too.

Exhaust work continues. Had to make a little jog out around the transfer case to fit my muffler, which ended up being a little longer than expected, so rather than exit in front of the rear tire I will just have to turn it down after the muffler.