Tuesday, November 26, 2013

First New Part

So, during the course of disassembling my dash, I of course needed to remove the heater/AC control assembly. No big deal, just a few vacuum lines and a couple electrical connectors. So, I removed the vac lines no problem, as well as the smaller of the two connectors. It was the larger of the two that gave me some trouble. As anyone with one of these cars that has removed this assembly can attest to, the connectors on the back of the assembly don't really follow any sort of pattern that would make sense to a normal human being. The connectors are turned in all different directions. Well, I started pulling at it, and it wouldn't budge. I wiggled it around because I figured hey, this is a 50 year old car, oftentimes things that old have a habit of being a little stubborn, but still no luck. I could tell by this point that the board that all the connectors were attached to was starting to get a little strained from the pulling, but I needed this part to come off so I persisted. I decided to give it one last try and then...a crunch. the board broke and the connector came off with the harness. Turns out, that connector was rusted into the harness.

Needless to say, I was upset. I mean, these cars are old, and what is the likelihood of finding just that part. I knew there was no way. I looked up the cost of a new assembly, and was crestfallen when I saw the $175 pricetag, and that was for a refurbished one. So I decided to pick the brains of my fellow T-bird owners over at squarebirds.org. Seems many people find the little odds and ends they need on eBay, so I figured it couldn't hurt to at least look.

I assumed my search would turn up nothing, but I'll be damned if my search didn't turn up just the selector switch and housing with the connectors, and for only $40! He only had 2 left, so I snatched one straight away. I decided it was time to go ahead and get the rest of the manuals I would need to make this restore a success, so I got a copy of the shop manual, as well as the electrical assembly manual, the wiring diagram manual, and the FE390 assembly manual. The switch arrived earlier today, and the manuals should arrive tomorrow, so I'm excited to get some more work done over the holiday.

Since my last post, I've gotten all the emblems off the car, pulled the backseat, the fender mount turn indicators, and some more of the interior and exterior trim pieces. I'm hoping to drain the cooling system so I can get the heater core and the rest of the heater/AC plenum out so I can get down to the fuse box and the rest of the vac lines and wiring. I'll snap some pictures when I finally get that done. After all the wiring and vac lines are out, it's on to the brake system. I'm going to get the front disc brake kit from Larry's T-bird and pick up a dual master cylinder and dual booster for a '65-'66 to give the car a little more stopping power.

It's finally starting to move forward, and I'm more than excited to give this bird back her wings.

No comments:

Post a Comment