Re: IML: Stupid mistake

["Rob van der Es" <r.vdes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yep, John is right here!
It might sound stupid but I too think yesterday was your lucky day..

The car could easily have been destroyed by the fire!
And yes, with the speedometer and the instrument cluster removed you have
plenty of room to replace the burned wiring.

Good luck and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, cause I
have replaced quite a lot of wiring of my 60 Crown.
That was because the previous owner has messed around with a anti-theft
system :)

Robert


Op Do, 10 augustus, 2006 8:45 am, schreef john sadowski:
> Wow, you were lucky. You should be able to reach most everything with the
> 2
> pods removed. The rest should be accessible from under the dash. John
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donn Reese" <DReese@xxxxxxxx>
> To: "Imperial mailing list (E-mail)" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 9:30 PM
> Subject: IML: Stupid mistake
>
>
>
> ....nearly caused a casualty.
>
>
> I replaced the valve cover gaskets tonight along with the main vacuum
> hoses powering the power brake booster.  I started hurrying a little as
> the mild sprinkle I'd been subjected to was turning into full rain.
>
> I cinched everything up tight again and started the car to let it warm up
> a few minutes while I cleaned up, planning a little drive down the highway
>  after dinner.  I shut it all down, went inside and about ten minutes
> later our neighbor rang the doorbell saying the car was smoking.  Sure
> enough, there was an electrical fire under the dash, smoke pouring out,
> black marks on the inside of the windshield.  You could have fried bacon
> on top of the dash at that spot.  A couple of quick fire extinguisher
> squirts and it was out.  I disconnected the battery and everthing cleared
> out.
>
> It was after dinner during my damage inspection that I found the culprit.
>  The stupid human let the main wiring from the alternator get trapped
> under the right valve cover.  When I tightened it up, it must have cut
> through the insulation and the heat from the head did more damage.  Nearly
> all the insulation was melted off the alternator wire and several wires
> under the dash.  The ammeter is toast - literally.  So now I have several
> days of tracing wires and trying to match up gauge/color and such.  Ugh.
>
> The fortunate thing is a previous owner replaced the right hand
> instrument pod containing all the gauges with some cludged-together modern
> set of off-the-shelf gauges.  So at least I was saved burning up anything
> original. Bob H. has a replacement cluster ready to send, I just haven't
> gotten my money act together yet.  I guess I'll need to now.
>
> I'm sure others have had to rewire their cars, what am I getting into in
> rewiring the underdash stuff?  How much of the dash will I have to take
> apart?  This time it will be slow and methodical, which I usually am
> (stupid
> rain).
>
> -Feeling very foolish
>
>
> Donn Reese
> 1960 Custom 4dr HDTP
>
>
>
> -----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
> This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please
> reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared
> with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators
> should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to
> http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
> This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please
> reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared
> with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators
> should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to
> http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
>
>
>




-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm