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  #1001  
Old 09-20-2018, 05:24 AM
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Gojeep Gojeep is offline
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Great to see it coming along Jack.
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  #1002  
Old 09-21-2018, 12:37 PM
snedboy snedboy is offline
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I don't post much Jack but the way you are combining old school customising with modern components is inspirational. Keep up the good work
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  #1003  
Old 09-23-2018, 08:28 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I've been laying out the CTS harness in the 49. Routing is pretty much the same as in the CTS but a few things needed to be changed. The service connectors for the electronic door latches and the connector for the door power harness had to be reversed because of the suicide doors on the 49.
The door latch connector originally ran to the back edge of the door where the CTS latch was mounted in the door jamb. The door latches are electronically activated, not mechanically. I needed to unlace the connector from the main harness and move it to the front of the door opening where the latch is now mounted.
The same needed to be done moving the door power harness (power windows, door latch switch, power mirror, etc.) from the front of the door opening to the rear.
There is a main harness running from front to rear on both sides of the car so the process is the same on both sides. I am not tying the harnesses down yet because there are a couple other similar modifications that will need to be done.
There is a receiver that was mounted on the CTS under the plastic rocker covers on both sides near the back edge of the doors. It receives the signal from the key fob and activates the door latch to open the door. It was mounted under the plastic because the signal would be unreliable if it had to pass through the sheet metal body. I will have to relocate that receiver. There is enough room to mount them under the speaker grills on each corner of the dash board. It will be hidden by the speaker grills and there is only the glass windshield that the signal will be passing through. Another result of switching to suicide doors.

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In the picture below, the circled item is a cable operated emergency escape lever. It mounts on the floor beside the seat. If, for whatever reason, the power fails while in the car, you can pull this lever and it actuates the door latch and opens the door.

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Moving back to the rear end of the harness, there are a couple wires that go from inside the car to the outside underneath. They are for the ABS sensors on the rear wheels and fuel management systems. these have large pass through insulated grommets on them where they seal to the trunk floor.
When you're doing wiring take all precautions. One screw up can cause nightmares and with as many wires as this car has, it would take forever to find a chafed wire causing phantom power drains or popping fuses with no predictable frequency.
OEM's pay crazy money to swarms of engineers to prevent that kind of crap. This simple insulated grommet is a prime example of that, so USE IT!
I'm using a 2 3/8" hole punch to open holes for the grommets. Then pull the wires through and snap the grommets into place.


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Same thing on the other side. Also on the right side are the battery cables and rear fuse box

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  #1004  
Old 09-24-2018, 02:18 AM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Your attention to detail is admirable sir!
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  #1005  
Old 09-24-2018, 04:41 AM
Larry4406 Larry4406 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Myres View Post
Your attention to detail is admirable sir!
I agree! This is a fantastic thread to follow!
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  #1006  
Old 09-28-2018, 08:31 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Wrapping up some small jobs still.I finished off the steering, I needed 2 feet of 3/4 double D steering shaft, two universal joints and one 3/4 spherical rod end with lock nuts. The rod end will support the shaft from moving around since the additional universal joint is needed.

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The output shaft on the rack is an oddball size so I cut the end off the original CTS rag joint and welded it to one of the new universal joints.

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From below

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From above. You can see the small pillow block that I made to mount the rod end. I used some 1" round tube and some 1/8" plate then welded a nut to the end of the tube.

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Next up, seats. The original mounts on the front ends of the seat tracks were just hooks that went into slots on the CTS floor. I don't like them, never did. I cut off the hooks and made some feet out of 1/8" plate and drilled some bolt holes in them.

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Moving on, I needed to fit up the A/C condenser. I knew I would need to modify one of the A/C lines, but I needed the condenser installed in order to see what I needed to do. It fits up nice and snug and the outlet line fits. I need to find some fittings and make the inlet line.

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  #1007  
Old 10-10-2018, 06:14 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I haven't forgotten about you, I've been working hit or miss when I have a couple hours. I've been working on the 49, closing up the pool and getting ready for the inevitable.
I got the cooling fan mounted and set the radiator in place to see what I'll need for radiator hoses. The upper will work but the lower will need to be replaced..

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Moving on to finish the seats. The CTS was hit hard in the rear and the driver's seat back had bent backward about 3" at the top.I removed the upholstery and found where the damage was. The upper half of the frame is 1" round tube. It is welded to a stamped steel lower frame. This area had failed on both left and right sides. It didn't break the welds but the stamped steel tore where the welds were. (circled). I ground out the welded areas, straightened the mess out, and rewelded them.
Also, at the bottom where the seat back pivots, some of the framework had bent so I also straightened those out and got it working smoothly.

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Looks right and functions properly. Reassemble and install it.

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Moving on. I had planned to use two linear actuators to open and close the deck lid. They are 12" stroke, reversible 12 volt DC with limit switches built in. I didn't need two to carry the weight, one is plenty strong. I wanted to use two because since this deck lid is so long and heavy, I was concerned that if I only used one actuator the deck lid might twist a little from its own weight and size.

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I installed both and tested them. I couldn't get the motors to run in sync. When one reached its limit, the other was about one inch behind. Too much difference and it was doing exactly what I was trying to avoid, putting a twist in the deck lid on the way up. After wasting a couple hours trying various things I decided to try it with just one actuator. It worked fine and there isn't any noticeable twist in the sheet metal, so its only getting one actuator.

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It works well. Opens and closes as it should. I still want to slot the upper bracket so that when closing, the ram is not trying to pull the deck lid down and possibly bending the deck lid frame. If I slot the upper bracket rather than having a drilled hole and pin, when the deck lid closes, there is no pulling if the actuator needs to be 1/4" lower to hit the limit switch.


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Last edited by Jack 1957; 10-10-2018 at 06:30 PM.
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  #1008  
Old 10-10-2018, 09:54 PM
homanfab homanfab is offline
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This project is really cool. Are you using the factory service manuals for wiring? How long does it take for the trunk lid to cycle?
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  #1009  
Old 10-10-2018, 10:31 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by homanfab View Post
This project is really cool. Are you using the factory service manuals for wiring? How long does it take for the trunk lid to cycle?
No manuals necessary, I've been doing this kind of work most of my life. 90% of this is just plugging the original harness into the original components. The other 10% is deletes, additional equipment tie-in, alterations, program edits, etc.. That stuff wouldn't be in a manual anyway. The deck lid is kind of slow, probably 30 seconds from full closed to full open.
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  #1010  
Old 10-13-2018, 09:49 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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I am going to be making the fender liners and engine closure panels out of ABS plastic. I am making the templates so I know how much plastic I need. The liners are pretty big so I'll make them in two pieces. ABS is that black plastic that you see all over the late model vehicles. It can be formed with heat, it will respond to some flanging with a tipping wheel, but it doesn't respond to E wheeling. It is also much quieter than steel or aluminum when driving.
The only difficulty will be getting a large area heated sufficiently to shape it. I've made smaller pieces with ABS and was able to do it with a heat gun. I would like to use an infra red heat lamp but I don't have access to one now that I'm not working. I would need a 2 or 3 bulb 4,000 or 6,000 watt light and they are far too expensive to buy one for just one job. I need to check with some friends that I think might have one. In the meantime, I can get the ABS ordered.

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