Wiring Harness install and dash restoration

[jikelly]

Howdy guys welcome to the next thrilling instalment of "I Have No Idea What I Am Doing but I'm Gonna Do It Anyway"

Well I am trying to get everything together to put in a new wiring harness. I got the E-Z Wiring 21 circuit color harness almost 20 lbs worth of wires to run. Woo Whoo

Anyway I figure while I am at it I should go ahead and restore my dash. My mustang is a 73 and originally was painted blue glow, so the first question I should ask you guys is what color should I paint the dash. And if it is suppose to be the same color as the exterior of my stang? If that is the case where do I get the paint?

I would like to add some accessories like power locks, intermediate winshield wiper control, automatic headlight switch (the ones with the light sensor that turn on the lights when it gets dark) and eventually cruise control and power windows.

The only one of those addons I am not sure of is the winshield wipper switch. Is there a company that sells the intermidiate switch that I need or do I need to fabricate some type of motor controller? How does it work anyway I assume that the switch works using an RC circuit to time the wiper sweeps but that is just a guess.

I will be sure and take a bunch of pictures so that I can add the story of my wiring harness install and dash resto to my 73 website. Sometimes I think that there is more info on the mustang IIs out there than on the 71-73s. Orphans?

 

[68GEETEE]

I cant answer most of your questions, but I do know that Metro Mustang sells interior paint and dye. I purchased from them blue paint for my '68 interior panels and it was an exact match. www.metromustang.com

Hope this helps.

 

[jikelly]

Anybody have any ideas about the winshield wiper motor controler?

 

[jikelly]

So I finally started pulling out my old wiring harness today. Boy is that a chore. To get at all the wires I had to pull the face of the dash out along with all the air ducting.

Speaking of the air ducting; all the foam that was used to seal the ductings joints is desetagrating along with all the insalation on the cowl and firewall.

Do you guys know what I need to replace that stuff with, and where I can find it?

 

[gp001]

I came across a company that sells intermittant wiper controls for older cars when I was buying parts for my electrical project. I'll look through my bookmarks to see if I can find it. For power windows and doorlocks I went with http://a1electric.com/. I haven't seen a photoelectric sensing headlight control, just ignition on (daytime running lights) controller. Make sure you use relays and fusible links when adding these accessories

 

[jikelly]

Any Ideas? Would it be ok to use that heater insulation stuff that you can get from the hardware store?

 

[mtpony]

I just finished a complete rewire in my 66 and what a job that was.

no matter how clean you try to make it your going to end up with what you think is a hack job.

I had to jumper several wires off the light switch to other portions of the car just like ford did when it was new. so it looks crapy but it works.

have fun,

mike

 

[jikelly]

no matter how clean you try to make it your going to end up with what you think is a hack job.

You're right about that. I will also have to run wires across for the lights as well as create separate harnesses for the windshield wiper switch and heater/AC control box.

It's pretty sad, it took me a whole day to figure out how the wires should be connected to my column and ignition switch, and I had a wiring diagram that someone on the forum was nice enough to send me. Really most of that was due to the fact that I don't want to screw something up, so I spent a lot of time searching the web for information about exactly where the wires went. It's surprising I have an electronic technician’s certification, and I still didn't trust my ability to follow a wiring diagram.