Fitzy

Yeah, thanks Rick. I'm looking to make it a custom job so as to hide all the engine bay wiring and avoid unnecessary junctions as the wires pass through the car front to back. Also, it's a pretty bare bones vehicle so a generic factory harness copy will likely include plenty of extra wires that I won't need. I also intend making the entire job as neat as possible - something factory harnesses never do as it's all about keeping costs down, which is of course fair enough. I appreciate the suggestion and can I say I always loved El Caminos - they were what should have been available to Australians from the get go instead of the bland 6 cylinder workhorses we were forced to buy.

I see my name has been used in vain, again! I suppose I should be glad that I generate interest. What the guys say is all true, Ron. Authenticity is paramount if you're going concourse or you're a stickler for detail, but in the real world where 60+ year old cars have to mix it up with modern traffic, anything you can do to improve the experience is worth it. AND it's your car. The guys gave me the same spiel when I was dithering about some slight mods to my own car - in the end, it's yours and that's that.

Good thinking - thanks for the tip. Rather than just plunge in online and buy armfuls of wire, I'm going to get some advice from an auto electrician. Like everything else these days, the myriad choices are mind boggling. Not all automotive cables are equal - far, far from it. I'm going to test the resistance across a metre of the original wire and it's modern equivalent before I start removing miles of wire - you never know, I might save myself some unnecessary work. Stay tuned for rivetting insights.

Star Log, Saturday: I sprung out of bed this morning, smashed down a coffee & slice of toast and threw myself into the car. Removed the three gauges and cleaned up their faces with rust converter. Clock & ammeter will be purely cosmetic but fuel gauge is going to a specialist to get calibrated. Removed speedo and COMPLETELY dismantled- what a mess. The timber veneer that I replaced a coupla years ago is going to be replaced - I lacquered the first batch and they all curled up and never stuck properly, despite me clamping and forcing everything flat, so that meant removing the console as well plus I needed to get to Frosty's tach so it can be checked for proper function at the instrument place. Pics tell the story. Rest of interior is coming out so I can retrofit floor insulation - again, why didn't I do this properly the first time? Obviously the car won't be driven for a while which will stop me whingeing about how it runs! With the electrics overhauled and the interior finished to a better standard, I can charge more when I sell it. You can laugh now. To Gary: because there is no need to 'connect' engine bay to interior (the factory do it obviously for ease of manufacture) I plan to run complete wires through, thereby negating any possible issues completely. On Monday, I'm buying a labeller and some clear shrinkwrap so that each wire can be clearly identified as I go AND for future reference to the next poor soul who is under the dash trying to figure out what goes where. Again, to anyone out there facing the prospect of resurrecting some ancient dinosaur of a car, take your time and do it PROPERLY! The next step is to figure out how much wire and what wire gauges to buy.

Okay, I am now DEFINITELY hooking up the FMT! I woke up early this morning and was sick of laying in bed wondering how I'm even going to start what I have planned. One circuit at a time, I think. Car will be back on the road in 2050, when the last drop of gasoline has been burnt.

I hope you guys are happy - look what you made me do. I was never happy with the electrics in that car. By my own admission, I rushed through it and simply plugged everything back in after I had refurbed the interior so it's my fault that it's come to this. The pics are embarrassing but let this be a warning to new players: do it once and do it right. I saw an excellent YT clip on rewiring your car and whilst I mightn't go the whole hog, I will at the very least clean up the mess under the dash and add a bunch of relays AND a new firewall connection to negate those crappy 60 year old items. As per the YT suggestion, I made a list of what needs power and divided it between front of firewall, cabin and anything beyond the back seat. Once you make a list, it's surprising how sparse it is. My car is without aircon, power windows & seats and I will simply bypass the heater, cigarette lighter and any other useless items to keep it as simple as possible. I looked at regulator adjustment and there's a single spring loaded little screw in there. At the appropriate time, I will test alternator output and see what the reg is doing. This is a chance to get the fuel gauge calibrated correcly too and I can clean the faces of the speedo and instruments a lot better than I did the first time. I might even hook up the Frosty Memorial Tacho whilst I'm under the dash grunting & sweating. Yes, I'm having a beer. Why? It's hot, sticky and the mossies & bugs have decided that my face is a good place to hover close to whilst my three arms are busy trying to get something apart that was assembled when the Ark set sail. I genuinely appreciate everyone's input and you can be assured I am taking everything you say on board.

Where in Oz did they visit, Ringo? Damn place is stupidly expensive now - hope they gots plenty spondoolies.

Love it! Too late to turn back now. Like being in a leaky rowboat where you can see the shore but the fish are still biting. Just a couple more fish and we'll get back to shore...maybe. Or, just sink and swim back with your life intact and your boat gone. Deep thoughts. Thanks TwoLane. Everyone is trying to buoy my spirits and encourage me to keep going. I shall put in as much effort as I can, as I also want to keep the car but selling it would be the easy cowardly horrendously expensive way out. Stay tuned for how my life is unravelling.

Yeah, whatever. Come on over. Once the beers come out, we'll just sit around poking fun at the car. So today I thought I'd at least start it up because I haven't done anything since changing the leads. Took it around the block and it was faultless. Plenty of power, no carry on. I then whipped out the multimeter and checked a few things. Power to coil with ignition 'on' but engine not running is only 5V!!! It should be 12. With engine running it's 7.7V, which is about right due to resistance wire feeding the points. Battery voltage with engine off is 12.4. Engine running: 12.3. Yes, I know that's not enough. Tested fuse box with key to acc: 12.2. With switch 'on:' only 11.7. So i'm now thinking there's an issue with the voltage coming out of the ignition switch which shits me because I've checked coil voltage in the past and it was 12V, so something has mysteriously changed. Also an obvious voltage drop between ignition 'on' and 'acc' position. Whilst I was under the hood getting cranky, I pulled the 2 firewall plugs that feed through it into the footwell. What a mess! 60 years of crap and rust in there. The pics are the 'before' shots. If you're thinking "why doesn't he get rid of the surface rust on the booster & master cylinder," it's because the master will one day be changed to dual circuit and whilst the booster is out, I can clean it up and paint it then. Whilst they were apart, I checked for voltage going in and it was 11.46. I checked for resistance between outer terminals and inner ones - zero. Checked for resistance across all battery terminals and their various connections, the isolaters and all the earth straps and the main earth lead - all zero Ohms. So...I THINK I'm going to run fresh decent gauge wires from the correct terminals on the back of the ignition switch. The car's original resistance wire seems to be working okay but I wonder if a fresh 12V to the coil via a ballast resistor might be the better way to go? Of course if I had a Corolla, I could just jump in and go somewhere. 😁 Thanks to Kiwi and Gary for their help and words of inspiration. I shall sally forth and see what happens. That reminds me: those useless Blue Streak leads are never going back on, so if someone wants them, let me know. You can have them for nothing - about what they're worth. I am NOT adjusting the reg. I'll take the car to a sparky and they can test the alternator and fiddle with the reg if they feel the need. I'm likely to make the car burst into flames if I touch either. I forgot to mention: as car was idling I turned on headlights, then indicators then brake lights. The voltmeter swung abruptly into 10V territory each time I activated something. What's going on there? And Kiwi suggested checking alternator output. I don't know how. There's a substantial wire coming out of the back and a smaller 2 prong connector which I assume goes to the idiot light and something else. How do I check output?

The biggest issue here is that I was never prepared to undertake the complete teardown and resoration of an old car. The back story is that I always drove 25+ years old cars, so to me they were 'old' cars. The GP is almost 60 and although in pretty good shape, it deserves a total rebuild. When I bought the car, I had been out of the game for over 20 years and was well distanced from the rise in value of old cars. Once upon a time, you could buy an old clunker and with a few repairs, it'd trundle about quite nicely. Rather naively, I thought that was going to be the case with this one. I am now stuck with something that DESERVES proper attention but after plunging many tens of thousands into it, I am reluctant to keep pouring money into the black hole. So, I can either soldier on and spend an extra few thousand, or pull the pin. I haven't begun any advertising yet, so am obviously still considering what path to take. When I bought it, I thought "great - carby & distributor - nice and simple." In retrospect, I think Kiwi Russell did the only sensible thing and retro fitted his with a modern fuel injected Chev & trans. Anyway, I have another 5 days off so will either have another look at it or get out the petrol & matches. The welding cable idea makes sense. I read that welding cable however isn't up to the rigours of vibration, but as far as conductivity goes, it's unparallelled. The saga continues.

Hi Gary- thanks for your response. Strangely, battery reads 12.7V with engine idling, increases very slightly as revs increase. Battery reading with engine off is about 12.4V, so it doesn't seem to be discharging. Alternator AND regulator are both new. I suppose regulator is adjustable- I would have thought it should be correct as tested at the factory. I replaced both components because old alt & reg did exactly the same, which tells me there's an electrical issue with the car. I fitted a modern aftermarket fuse box in the driver's footwell to replace the rusty decrepid original one, but I never bothered to replace the wires that run through the firewall. Apparently, old style firewall connectors were never up to the task in the first place, and mine are 60 years old. Clearly, the car could benefit from a total rewire. The momentary slow crank starting issue only happens after a run and the engine is warm. It always starts easily, but is disarming to listen to for the first 2 seconds. As far as HT leads go, I have retro fitted my 7mm solid core (rat chewed but only cosmetically) ones but have not bothered to progress any further. I also had a similar thought to you re Blue Streak leads and HEI. That system would generate enough oomph to negate any potential resistance issue, whereas my points & condenser set up may struggle. FYI, both sets of leads are barely used from brand new, just like every other goddam component on the car! I'm sick of scratching my head and trying to figure out the endless idiosyncrasies this car has. I've had dozens of old carb & distributor cars that were faultless long distance cruisers that you could drive anywhere. I can't even go around the block with this thing stumbling & carrying on, even though almost EVERY SINGLE THING has been replaced. I'm over it. I'll take a massive hit but it's going. I now have to endure the horror of opening a Facebook account and advertising the car there- it's the way to go these days I'm told. Grumble, grumble..

Sorry about the late response. I flew home this morning and am still in Ga Ga Land through lack of sleep...and beer. My contract ran out as a Warehouse Officer and so I have gone back to driving a coach on Groote Eylandt. I haven't even looked at the car since I mucked around with the leads. I am about to throw in the towel and sell it. So if anyone wants a very well priced 65 GP which is practically mechanically rebuilt and is 100% rust free, let me know.

Well yes - less resistance is obviously better, but why does the resistance drop once the spark plug is snapped into one end of the lead? More to the point, the actual resistance of the spark plugs was in kilo Ohms - a significant amount. I'm buying a Corolla. That way it won't matter how many Ohms do what - it'll just start up and run perfectly...forever. Visit my new site: Corolla Forever.

Got sick of walking past my car and not driving it so thought I'd take her for a short run. Started off nicely, then when I went to turn around I thought I was imagining some stumbling (misfiring.) As it turns out, if actually was. It got progressively worse (does this sound familiar) and whilst once on the highway it cruised almost perfectly, once I slowed down to use the smaller road back to my place, it really started to play up. Parked it and whilst manouevring into position, I had to keep a little gas going in to stop it from stalling. Before shutting it off, I idled it for about 10 seconds and it was rough. What is it now? I closed the hood and walked away from it, thoroughly pissed off with it. Today, I thought I can't just leave it floundering - it has to be fixed. This is going to be a slow steady process. Started with spark plugs & HT leads. Took each plug and it's lead off in sequence and inspected the (new) NGK plugs. Checked the gap, inspected the electrodes & insulator and reinstalled them. But, before reinstallation I thought I'd check the resistance of all leads & plugs. The fancy pants Blue Streak ones from Rockauto look the business, but their resistance was off the scale, compared to my original rat chewed solid core ones that showed almost nil resistance. Strangely, after attaching a spark plug to one end and retesting resistance, all the leads came up with about the same value. What's happening there? The pics tell the story. Any ideas why a lead's resistance should drop once a spark plug is snapped into place? I repeated the exercise with all leads multiple times and wriggled and played with them whilst watching the multimeter. No difference. I have decided to reinstall my old solid core leads and haven't had time to start the car yet.

Your car looks about the same as mine was when it was deposited in my driveway. The rear window aperture always seems to rust on these big hardtops and the trunk floor and weatherstrip channel simply weren't there in mine. If the previous owner had simply draped a tarp over the car before parking it and giving up on it, it would have saved me lotsa dollars. Whatever - it's rust free and fully repaired now, but the place where my wallet once was is now a desolate and lonely pocket in my shorts.

I have the Ames catalogue on my tablet, so that I can empty my wallet any hour of the day, 7 days a week. With my GP, the headlining was missing when the car was shipped from the US. Probably part of the asbestos removal requirement. It also had new non asbestos brake shoes fitted. Anyway, the headlining bows (the sprung metal pieces that go across the roof) were thoughtfully put in the trunk but only a couple fitted properly. I had to laboriously measure them and then have a little piece inserted to bring them to their correct length. Hours of fun. You'll need to make sure your sun visors are going to match the new material and don't forget the sailboards. Oh, and don't look at YT for this one - get an upholsterer to install the headlining! Little stars - love 'em.

No - I was actually quite academic...and horny, being a teenage boy and all. You'll find this hard to believe but I was often top of the class and everyone held such high hopes for me. Then, back in the 70s when I was 14 my father snuck me into the cinema to watch the original Mad Max (then R rated.) I sat there and was enthralled by all the cars and Max's Falcon coupe. It made me the tragic I am today, instead of a dentist or something. I probably dodged a bullet! I had a really sexy French teacher. Does that count?

I also found an original tag stuffed inside my rear seat. It listed a number of option codes, so it was obviously something to do with that car's particular build. Frosty was good enough to decode it for me and when I checked the car's option codes on it's ID plate, they concurred. This was back when humans built cars and they had to write things down. In contrast, I think a new VW Golf rolls out the door every 36 seconds or something.

Yeah - the needle will point to 'Trees Saved Per Minute.'

Don't you worry- the FMT will be torn from it's mounting as the flames lick my face.

There's some gold there! I like this one in particular. All that useless crap I learnt in school has done nothing. Yes, I can read, write and add up but I also remember that the Battle Of Hastings happened in 1066. Who gives a f#$k? What they SHOULD be teaching kids is how to manage money, why you shouldn't beat up your wife, how taxes & loans work (hello compound interest) and how to properly control a car with all the wizardry turned off. What do you mean Bitter Old Man???

Yes Frosty, never waste a good barbecuing opportunity. You can be sure I'll be chargrilling something as the Poncho burns to the ground. It'd work out cheaper for me to let it burn.

Sounds like very similar condition to my 65 GP when it was trucked to my place. Yep - lots of talented & knowledgeable peeps here, so ask away. And as Ringo sez - lotsa pics please.

Yo Bro, it's headed directly for Townsville which is almost 400km south so looks like we got lucky this time. Might get some more rain though.

Got back home late last night after a week of excruciating temperatures and humidity. My contract finished yesterday so I am now officially unemployed. Yay! Thanks for input re electrics. I don't have the energy (pun intended) to even think about that damn thing right now - other more important things to attend to...whilst having a beer, of course. Will post something at the appropriate time, like when I short some wires under the dash and it ignites.