Share your best electrical projects

[actconstruction]

Hello, everybody. I have just ripped every wire out of my 72 c10. The PO had an electrical fire. So, I'm just beginning a from scratch rewire, and that got me thinking, as usual, about the fine people over at the Chevy forums. So I'm starting this thread so that everybody can share their coolest electrical projects that they're most proud of. Please, share freely, and let us all admire your ingenuity.

[actconstruction]

Here's a starter from Shadetree:

Originally Posted by shadetree

Act, thanks for asking. I wanted to learn every circuit in the truck, and I wanted every wire to be a larger gauge wire than stock. I also was obsessed with walnut (wood) so I drew up plans, and fabbed a fuse box that was made from a solid hunk of walnut. It was in the same location as the stock box (this was a HUGE mistake), and every wire was strung by yours truly.

The stock location was under the dash, on the left (driver)side, right in the path of water seepage from the windshield, open door, window, etc. The walnut warped, and some short circuiting occured (moisture in the wood causing weak current seepage). Live and learn. If I had it to do over, I would have used a much more stable medium (bakolite is perfect) to construct the fuse box from. Also I would park the thing under the hood, near a fender, for easy access.

One item I did do right was install LED lights under each fuse. In practice, this light would not burn when the fuse was good (the fuse being a much better conductor), but it would light up good when that fuse blew. That made fuse replacement easy, even if it was dark out (hell, even if it was DRUNK out).

Parts sourcement? NAPA for wire & solder ends, terminals & LEDs from Radio Shack, junkyard for most everything else. I fabricated anything I couldn't buy, or afford.

The wire schematic followed "stock" except I used my own wire color code. Oh, I used relays for the headlights, too. That made the headlights noticably brighter, and is 'sposed to help them last longer. Another hot rodded item was the power windows. I used window motors from Chrysler products (they are cheaper, more plentiful, and they are made by GM {GM held the patents on gear drive power windows}). I used relays on them too, trying to keep the high amprege needed away from those fragile window switches.

Another deviation from stock was the sound system. Again relays were used for the high amprege items like the amplifiers (3). The crossovers (2), and the equalizer were built into the system from the begining. I designed and constructed a box to fit behind the seat which housed a 12" dual voice coil sub woofer, two 8" woofers, and four tweeters. The top of the box mounted the 3 amplifiers, and the crossovers. The equalizer was under the seat on long wires, so I could tune the system while driving. I had 2 6" x 9" triaxials in each door, and 2 4" midrange speakers top center of the dash. I had 4 tweeters hidden inside the dash, exiting the A/C outlets. Did I mention that I like music? You should have heard Led Zepplin on that crazy system!

I couldn't afford that sound deadening stuff (Dynomat?) so I hot-rodded a substitute. I bought several cases of that expanding foam stuff from a failing hardware store colse out sale. I had every hollow space in that cab filled with that stuff! I could rock and roll, and not upset the neighbors (un like our "ricer" cousins). My sons used to fight each other to get to ride with me in that truck!


I release this reply to you, you can use it in the forums if you want. If there is any interest, I will try to add to the knowlege base with anything I can contribute. I love and strongly believe in this truck forum, I wish I had more time now to invest in it. Shadetree

[actconstruction]

Really? Nobody has a major electrical project they're proud enough of to share??? Nobody?

[Ackattack]

I've done quite a bit of wiring on trucks.

Re-wired my old 72 GMC with a Painless kit, then later installed a TPI 350 and hooked that up with a painless kit also (came with the engine)

On my 68 I'm currently working on, I used an EZ wiring harness for the main truck part. I took a stock '04 silverado wiring harness and modified it by removing all of the junk that I didn't need. I then used a LSx fuse panel from current performance to hook all of that up.

I also hooked up cruise control to my engine. It being a drive by wire engine it was fairly easy, but took some relays to make it work. Here's a write up I did:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ght=dbw+cruise

[sneakysnake]

Im using the steering column out of a 96 geo metro with all the controls so I used the wiring harness because of all the relays. I cut out all the EFI stuff and kept the rest I needed or may need plus all the stuff ill add like pwr windows,openers,air ride,fan.

[Murphy IRE]

My 2nd battery install. It was start to finish and top quality all the way. There is a separate thread with pics. Some other little minor fixes and installs but nothing like the second battery job!

[cparman]

I replaced a fuse in a 63 Impala today and it did not blow!!!!
Wiring IMO is a skill that requires a bunch of patience, I have done some, and the ones that I enjoyed, were the ones that were a challenge. I pulled the dash out of a 57 TBird, and rewired the whole car. There are 4, yes 4 inline fuses in the whole car. Everything worked when I was done, had no fasteners left over, looked like someone else had done it. The owner still speaks to me. ALL GOOD. IMO you need to have thought about it for a while before digging in, and MARK EVERYTHING YOU REMOVE , in some way so when you forget something you have a cheat sheet. Most of the wiring harnesses offered by AAW or M&H are plug and play, until you get to your mods. Brain on Beer down, and enjoy!

[sshockr]

I modded an entire caprice harness to run a 4l60e in my truck and then built what I like to call my flux capacitor. I have a rubber mad tub encasing a ford remote starter solenoid and a 150 amp circuit breaker so that only the 15 inches of wire from the battery box in the bed to the tub next to it, are unprotected. (electrically speaking.)

- Brian

[mclairmo]

Wired my buddies' Harley from scratch on a dare. Took me several nights and a few cases of beer. No pre-made harness was available for it. Had to swap it to a different style starter solenoid to get it to all work right. Used a Painless kit for my 67 Camaro and the kit was good, instructions sucked. Their tech support was ok. My 68C10 seems to be ok for now on the wiring front. I plan to add a cargo light with red LEDs added to it and wire it all so the cargo light still works as normal but the red LEDs go on with the brakes. Plan to add the headlight relays, too.