'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[vswingfield]

Pretty...

Great panel.

Originally Posted by bkahler

So I opted to use insulated terminal strips instead. Not necessary a plug/unplug arrangement but still better than the alternative. The instrument panel is now ready to install.

Brad

The stereo I put in my Excella is wired to terminal strips. One for power for the head and subwoofer amp, and a second strip for speaker connections. I agree, lots better than "wired direct." Or, god forbid, wire nuts.

I haven't been on in a while, but I always check on your Argosy project. Three cheers for the progress!

[german6563]

Hello Brad
can you post the home page Where you bought the Gauges`?
thanks
Herman

[martin300662]

You may not want to hear it Brad but you can get pluggable terminal blocks.....

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Clap, clap, clap...The quality of your work is remarkable!

Thanks guys! Being able to design the instrument panel and then order over the internet made life a whole lot easier. I can't wait to see it mounted in the dash

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Pretty...

Great panel.

The stereo I put in my Excella is wired to terminal strips. One for power for the head and subwoofer amp, and a second strip for speaker connections. I agree, lots better than "wired direct." Or, god forbid, wire nuts.

I haven't been on in a while, but I always check on your Argosy project. Three cheers for the progress!

I was thinking of using these same terminal strips for the stereo as well. I guess it depends on whether or not I'm tired of crimping and soldering when I get to that point

Thanks!

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by german6563

Hello Brad
can you post the home page Where you bought the Gauges`?
thanks
Herman

Herman,

Some of the gauges I got from the 345 that I dismantled. The rest of the gauges I purchased on ebay over a 3 year span. I don't know of any company that sells the gauges directly. They are Teleflex gauges and this style of gauge has been discontinued by the manufacturer.

Sorry I can't help more.

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

You may not want to hear it Brad but you can get pluggable terminal blocks.....

Martin, I ran across that style of terminal strip when I was trying to find something to use. Unfortunately they are not available from any sellers in the U.S. plus they cost about 4 times as much if I was to order from the UK

If I can figure out what to use as pins I have enough terminal strips to do the same thing. I just need to dig around my shop to see what I might have available. I'm thinking some 3/32" brazing rod might do the job. I'll keep you posted!

Brad

[martin300662]

How many do you need Brad?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

How many do you need Brad?

Well, my attempt at making pins was only semi successful. I was able to get the pins to work but they also caused an interference with the pins I've crimped and soldered to the wires on the other side of the terminal strip. I think it will just be easier to skip trying to make it plug and play and just live with having to unscrew 20 terminals to remove the instrument panel.

Besides with luck I won't ever need to remove the instrument panel so it would be the next owners problem not mine

Brad

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Well, my attempt at making pins was only semi successful. I was able to get the pins to work but they also caused an interference with the pins I've crimped and soldered to the wires on the other side of the terminal strip. I think it will just be easier to skip trying to make it plug and play and just live with having to unscrew 20 terminals to remove the instrument panel.

Besides with luck I won't ever need to remove the instrument panel so it would be the next owners problem not mine

Brad

Do you want me to order a couple for you to try Brad?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

Do you want me to order a couple for you to try Brad?

I think it would probably be just as easy to skip the plug-in feature. My concern is the flat pins that are soldered on the end of the wires. I think the round pins on the plug would interfere with the flat pins.

[bkahler]

I've been spending whatever spare time I've had lately on the chassis and dash wiring. So far in the last three weeks or so I've put in over 50 hours of nothing but running and connecting wires. I estimate that I'm about 75% done with the chassis wiring. The dash/firewall area is about 95% complete.

Part of what's taking so long is any place a ground wire would have been connected to the chassis somewhere I'm instead running the ground wire all the way back to a central grounding point under the dash. That pretty much doubles up the amount of wiring that has to be done and doubles the amount of time as well. But it should eliminate ground issues that are so common with these rigs.




The pictures make it look more cluttered that it really is. It's not as pretty as I would like but I don't have the budget to buy miles and miles of various colored wires of varying gauges.

I've also spent a ton of hours over the last few years developing point to point wiring diagrams with notes as to any color changes, etc. Once I'm done I'll redraw everything on 11x17 paper and then have the pages laminated and put in a book.

Whats left to connect is everything on the front side of the firewall which includes the radiator fans, wiper motors and lights. All the wires are in place, I just need to connect everything. There are now more than 20 fuses protecting everything. That's probably to many but it was easier than trying to daisy chain everything like GM did.

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

... There are now more than 20 fuses protecting everything. That's probably to many but it was easier than trying to daisy chain everything like GM did.

Brad

Brad, my new 2017 Chevy Work Van has at least 80 fuses. And thats not counting all the circuit boards. I had to find the trailer running light fuse, which I eventually found to be labeled TRL parking lights.
Excellent idea to make a hard copy diagram. In the last few years, I have used my little label printer, to keep track of changes and additions.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Brad, my new 2017 Chevy Work Van has at least 80 fuses. And thats not counting all the circuit boards. I had to find the trailer running light fuse, which I eventually found to be labeled TRL parking lights.
Excellent idea to make a hard copy diagram. In the last few years, I have used my little label printer, to keep track of changes and additions.

Maybe I should buy stock in companies that make fuses! Probably the biggest problem is there is little or no room for fuse blocks, junction blocks, etc. Finding room for the PCM was a real challenge but it's in and I'm not looking back

I was going to use a label maker on the wires but with good wiring and connection diagrams I think I'll be ok. Also, using a wire labeler would have added even more time to the job.

If things go like I'm hoping I should be doing a smoke test next weekend.

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

***Exclusive footage***
Last night I slipped by Tommie the donkey and took these exclusive pictures of Brads dash. Don't be fooled by fake news, this is real

[rmkrum]

So wrong on so many levels and ways....

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by peterh-airstreamer

***exclusive footage***
last night i slipped by tommie the donkey and took these exclusive pictures of brads dash. Don't be fooled by fake news, this is real

It seems no secret is safe anymore

So, after hearing the disturbing news that Tommy wasn't doing his job last night I started looking into the matter. Apparently he's been s busy checking out the ladies that he's too tired at night to do anything but sleep.



So, Tommy has now been demoted and I've made Ceeby head of security on the ranch. Ceeby is very observant.....


....however I think I'm going to have to work on his habit of taking breaks whenever he feels like it.....


With luck there will be no more breaches of security and i can now rest easy....

[mayco]

So hard to get good help these days

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

So hard to get good help these days

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

...

With luck there will be no more breaches of security and i can now rest easy....

I have to admit, this picture of Ceeby just terrified me. I think you succeeded.
Wishing everyone a happy 4th