51 B3B build thread - after all these years

[bkahler]

10 years is just a drop in the bucket 😄

 

I probably went overboard because I used all lacquered wires throughout.   From when I bought the first batch of wire in 2008 until just recently,  the price has sky rocketed.  But it sure looks nice!

 

There wasn't much left of the original wiring and what was there was scary bad.

Edited 15 hours ago by bkahler

[Young Ed]

Mine has no original wiring left. Just a few random ones I added to make it run. However I'm going 12v for this one so I bought a generic harness which makes it slightly more complicated 

[bkahler]

15 hours ago, Young Ed said:

29y makes me feel much better about my truck project. I think I'm around the decade mark. I need to wrap my brain around the wiring and get that going. That and front brakes should make it a driver at least around the driveway. 

 

When I first started planning on how to tackle my wiring I ran across Dave Erb's description where Alan Parkhurst documented his new wiring harness.  If I remember the details correctly he bought a reproduction wiring harness and then took the time to meticulously document the harness with pictures and dimensions for each leg.  His truck was either a B1 or B2 so it was slightly different than my B3.  In 2008 I was transferred to Pasadena for a year and ended up with a lot of spare time on my hands.  So I took his sketches and laid out all the differences between his truck and mine and proceeded to develop my own sketches adding in any changes that I wanted such as blinkers front and rear and the right side tail light.  Once I had them done I built a wire wrapping stand and proceeded to start making my own harness.  In the end the harnesses actually turned out pretty good.

 

 

[Los_Control]

I think that is called cheating.  

Just not fun unless you build it on the truck one wire at a time.

 

I think the generic wire harness is a pretty good bargain for todays market and 12V systems.

They do have the correct automotive wiring, the one I bought the fuse box was extra cheesy ... just no way I could use it.

Although it would have done the job for a more modern vehicle.

The flasher relays were wired wrong to use for my vintage turn signal switch .... as hard as I tried, I could not de-pin the wires from the box to use them the way I wanted. ..... So I bought a aftermarket box and cut the wires off the generic box to use.

 

1/2 way through the wiring and I'm satisfied it was the right thing for me. I have a good box and plenty of color coded wires and it is fairly simple to just take one circuit at a time and start connecting things and build it the way I want it.

Instead of taking what they give me and making it work.

 

There sure is a lot of wires for a truck that is closer to a tractor then a automobile  🤔

[Young Ed]

17 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

I think that is called cheating.  

Just not fun unless you build it on the truck one wire at a time.

 

I think the generic wire harness is a pretty good bargain for todays market and 12V systems.

They do have the correct automotive wiring, the one I bought the fuse box was extra cheesy ... just no way I could use it.

  🤔

I hope I don't have the same one you had! Mine is an eBay special 

[Los_Control]

Just now, Young Ed said:

I hope I don't have the same one you had! Mine is an eBay special 

One big difference between yours and mine .... we talked before. Your wires are individually marked as to where they go.

Small printing on the outside of the sheath. .... Mine had nothing.

That alone, tells me yours was assembled with more quality then mine.

 

Another big item for me, the fuse box cover was embossed with lettering saying which each fuse/wire was for.

Then they put a sticker on the cover with a different diagram for what each fuse was for.

When you looked at the size of wires, it was impossible for them to match either diagram.

As if someone on assembly line just put wires in any available slot.

 

The box was full of fuses and sizes also did not match wire size .... when you pulled the fuses out, they were made so cheap they fell apart. The plastic came out and metal prongs stayed in the box.

 

They did not make the wire though, and wire is OK. The price I paid was recovered by saving the wire IMHO.

Mine came from Amazon.