Rewire test, no fire or smoke! Thank you Thor!

Hooked up battery for first time after rewire. First issue, horn sounded immediately, needed new shorts! Dash and gauges all worked nicely. Brake lights work. No headlights or taillights. And it started right up. So have a few issues to track down. One lesson already, should have tested lights before install gauges for ease of access!

Feeling good about first hot test. Now lets see how long it takes to find the issues. Thanks for everyone's input along the way! Denis

 

I am skeptical of the design of the original horn circuit so I added a horn relay. The original has 6 volts (or maybe 12) going through the horn at all times and returning all the way to the horn switch inside the steering wheel. Putting a relay in the circuit eliminates the high current through horn switch. The relay I used was supplied by our host Horn Relay-Classic Chevy Truck Parts

Of course if you are doing a real restoration you wouldn't do this.

 

That is my issue. I have horn relay and it was getting hot so clearly wired wrong. The harness from our sponsor had two lines for horn in engine compartment. One horn button to horn and then other ammeter to horn. But the relay has three terminals?

How do you wire the relay? Denis

 

Ok no tail lights but brake lights worked. Traced all the wires, did voltage checks all good. Both new bulbs were bad! Should have tried that first.

Two open items, front lights and horn relay wiring. Denis

 

Horn fixd, it was shorting to firewall. One item left, front lights.

 

Parking lights fixed, burnt bulbs. Had 6v bulbs. So the issue is which dimmer switch do I have, type 1 or 2? I have type 1. No voltage to switch from headlight switch in dash. Need to get at the switch and check connections. really wish I had not installed speedometer. Oh well. Denis

 

Congratulations wiring/electrical in a vehicle can be a pain.
Had a really nice 67 Firebird that the battery would go dead after two days. Spent weeks chasing the problem. Never found it. One night walked into the shop it was dark just happened to look into the inside (before turning on shop lights) and saw a glow around the glove box door. The switch was faulty.

 

It was a great project, still need to fix headlights but feel confident about getting that done. Denis

 

Congrats on a successful smoke test.

 

Thanks, ordered a new light switch and that should finish the job. Just in time to put it to bed before we fly south for the winter. Denis