The Colony Park is in Michigan!

[packman]

I like the shot that you chose for POTM, but.......I like this shot a little better because it captures more of the mean stance and attitude that your wagon has.

http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/577920

Packman

[1987cp]

me too; I mentioned that to FatNasty when he PM'd me, so I guess we shall wait and see if he wants to change it.

[1987cp]

Coming soon: Heat!!!

Okay, after spending a couple hours poking through a huge pile of old wires and a couple more hours experimenting, I finally have a schematic to use for my heater-fan setup. Especially since my original fan speed switch is shot, the plan is to reuse factory components (fan, resistor block) with aftermarket switches and wiring. It appears that all I need is one 2-pole on/off switch, one 3-pole on/off/on switch, several female space connectors, and a bunch of wire (probably no smaller than 14 or 16 gauge). I'm thinking I can control the temp-control door with my old choke cable left over from the 1404-to-1403 conversion, so that just leaves the vacuum motors to deal with. But this'll get heat in the car, and I can mess with that later.

[packman]

Very nice with the POTM picture!!!!!


Packman

[1987cp]

Yeah, I agree - that's one of my better shots of the car. Funny that you thought the same thing as I did.

[Mr. Land Yacht]

great pics Mike...SuperMotors page is set up nicely.

I agree with Nate...sure like the wide tires on it.

[1987cp]

great pics Mike...SuperMotors page is set up nicely.

I agree with Nate...sure like the wide tires on it.

Thanks! Yeah, I was starting to be bugged how I didn't really have anything on my SuperMotors registry, so it was nice that I ended up with a set of pics that worked out well to post there.

Have I mentioned that I'm nearly decided that if I ever drive enough to wear these tires out, I'm probably going to go with 245/60s and 295/50s? The rear sidewall really could be shorter, and the slightly wider footprint should look awfully cool. Too bad the darn things are so expensive, I'd do it now .... :p

[1987cp]

Update: I have heat!!!!

First, I determined that a readily-available potentiometer from Radio Shack was not up to the task of handling the current from this car's blower motor - it kind of turned red, and then the resistance went a little kooky. So remembering some of Gadget's talk about the resistor block in the HVAC plenum under the hood, I retrieved said resistor block from the cut-off part of my old plenum and the serious head scratching began.

I soon concluded that my best resource was the nasty pile of old wires I'd taken out of the car a while back. It took me a while, but I was able to identify the plugs for the motor, the resistors, and the speed switch, and drew up a schematic of how they're connected. Initial testing with scrap wire showed fan function only in Low and High; I'd clean forgotten the switch had gone bad a while back! So I harvested an On-Off-On switch from headlight duty (not sure why I hadn't had a regular toggle under there anyway) and hooked that in place of the factory speed switch. Funny thing, turns out that with nothing going through the speed switch the fan runs on low speed, and the other positions just subtract resistance until the High position bypasses the resistors entirely. Since I now had only three switch positions instead of four, I eliminated the second-to-lowest speed setting for the time being and hooked up the test circuit again. This time the whole thing was successful, so long story short, I went out and got some more wire and wired it up the way you see it here.

As you can see in the first picture, the resistor block was relocated to the plenum area inside the cabin by way of a die grinder and some RTV, because while the air going through there will be heated a lot of the time, it'll still see airflow whenever the fan is running and I'm hoping it will be enough to save the 20-year-old resistance coils from a meltdown.

Second picture shows the current control array - on/off switch on the left (on the ground side in this case), on/off/on speed control switch, and the plunger end of my old manual-choke cable.

Third picture is obviously the back of the switches. I have a bad habit of making nasty, gangley "Y" connections that have a way of looking messy and unreliable, so I bought two different sizes of female spade connectors and just like at the resistor block, tried to make this presentable as well.

And finally, there's the business end of the old choke cable. I just made a little bracket to hold the housing stationary and clipped the wire into the clip on the heat-control door lever. I need to replace one of the fasteners used in the installation (self-tapping screws don't hold securely anymore once they get crooked coming out), but I now have control over the heater temperature as well.

Next up in HVAC: vacuum motor control and/or ductwork. Wish me luck!

[gabegt90]

nice work glad your good with wiring mike

[1987cp]

hehe ... not really, but I try.

And here are a couple of sneak-preview pics of the preliminary dash mockup. The metal part I made quite a while back, just messing around with the gauges. and I put it on this piece of OSB a little while later. Trimming the OSB so it comes close to fitting where I need it is a new development. I'm still not sure about the shape underneath the cluster, but I can easily do it differently when I do it for real.

[Nathan in MI]

Oooohhh, purdy!

[torquelover]

Cool. What are the lights for? I imagine turn signals and high-beams, but the others?

[gabegt90]

you going to cut out vents for heat mike?

[1987cp]

Cool. What are the lights for? I imagine turn signals and high-beams, but the others?

Yep. I actually tested them for a while prior to the wiring work, and they do OK. Not sure yet what the two LEDs at the bottom will do..... I also have a blue lightbulb for an alternator light (also tested that before, but field circuit is currently completed by a loop of wire going under the dash). I'll have to think, maybe there's another warning light that would be both useful and not too troublesome to hook up (factory-style Check Engine, perhaps?).

you going to cut out vents for heat mike?

Yeah, that's in the plans. I'll probably reinstall the stock defrost vent, and then see what I can do with the dash vents. I wouldn't mind going to flexible ducts so I have more flexibility (no pun intended :p), but I'll have to work out how to attach such pieces to the plenum.

[torquelover]

you going to cut out vents for heat mike?

I would guess not, as the heat usually comes out of the bottom of the plenum. Unless he goes A/C or likes heat in the face, he'll probably not need them. I hear VW Phaeton's have retactable wood veneer dash vents that only retract when needed. Now that would be cool on the CP.

Edit: Found them!