Unchewable, the D170

[kingcrunch]

Today was a good day. No effing around with the dash, just purely productive work.

First i picked up my passenger side SRT-10 spindle.
It came with the wheel bearing and i was able to confirm the measurements i took from a picture using a picture editing program.
Now all i have to do is align the spring properly... another "problem".


I continued with the wiring because i was "in the flow".

I hed the (to me) great idea to outline the cab on the shop floor with duct tape. So much easier to get a grasp of where everything goes.
Look for yourself, i got it pretty much layed out and ready for making all the ground connections and shortening/lengthening of wires.



The inside fuse box goes to the back of the cab.





Outside fusebox on the passenger fender, next to the ECU (not shown in pic).



The BCM will be mounted on a bracket riveted to the heater box. I started to like riveting stuff. So much less trouble in fastening stuff to other stuff, lol.
As you can see, i layed out pretty much everything i had, including the pedals (clutch and throttle) and the antenna-box (the "controller" for the key-fob-antennas).
This one will be installed (double sided tape?) on the heater box.



The next step is to throw the original wiring harness on top of that and graft them together...
I would really need the wiring diagrams for that though and Techauthority did not ship my order yet.

I really wanted to separate the high current power cables from the signal cables, just in case one fries...

[linkstar69]

Getting there

[kingcrunch]

Ha, best idea ever to do the above. Because look what was super easy to do yesterday:







I made a bracket for the BCM and riveted that bracket directly to the heater box. Mean but it works for now:







Then came the "pita but not hard"-part.
The engine room harness has to pass through a 2" hole in the cab.
It's 2" because i am re-using one of the OEM bushings and it was a pain because i had to make a metal sleeve so i could pass all the wiring through that bushing, which is essentially a bit too small for what i was asking it to do...

Remember to split the sleeve so you can remove it later:



Then use a bit of silicone spray...



... and needle nose pliers to do this:





Aaaand after doing it twice, because i had the bushing on the harness the wrong way and realized it after finishing the last connection, ta daaaa:



Now i can shoot that 2" hole in the cab and continue...

[kingcrunch]

So i bought the goddam Service Manual CD for 140 Dollarbucks AND IT DOES NOT INCLUDE THE WIRING DIAGRAMS. AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! F-WORD!

So i will have to make it a three or seven day thrash with an online subscription.
Gonna re-sell that service CD...

[kingcrunch]

So what i did is buy a 7-day subscription to Techauthorities online portal, which has the wiring diagrams.

And i got about 1/3rd of the wiring done by that in todays 6-hour shift ;D

I identified and re-established (read: plugged the wires back into the connectors) all lighting circuits.
All i have to do with these is run the wires to the bulkhead and connect them to the trucks wiring harness.
Well not really quite as easy, because i am who i am and i do what i do.

The Challenger has a circuit for every lamp, that means there is separate wires for each stop lamp, each headlamp, each park lamp, backups, etc.
The D150 does not, which means that the backups and park share one wire each. The brakes and the turn signals share the same wire, even the same filament in the bulb. Yay.
Aaaaand i am going to build a new frame wiring harness that will reflect all these circuits, actually it's not much more than a extension.
The backup lights will be rededicated to turn signals. Put an orange bulb in them and be done, some LED light "bar" will be the new backup light (i want BRIGHT backup lights).

What else?
Figure out:
- wiper motor connections (almost done)
- washer pump (easy)
- exhaust valve (the electronic exhaust tubing valves, maybe)
- dash? Lol.
- Test it.
Honestly i want to do that tomorrow. Even if it's jerry rigged, i want to see if the BCM runs all the stuff.

[kingcrunch]

As hard as i want to, i am so tired today that nothings gonna happen, except resting.

[kingcrunch]

But still, i can't stop fiddling:

I figured out how to drive the headlights over the BCM with the stock headlight switch, all i need is a rewire of the headlight connector and three resistors.
The Challengers headlight switch is basically a switched resistor array, providing fixed resistances on each switch position. I am duplicating that. Easy as pie.
Well not exactly easy as cake but easy as "calculating the proper values for each resistor and figuring out where they have to go".

So that's down. If you had the option of installing a light/rain sensor, to have automatic wipers and headlights, would you do that?

It's not overly complicated, provided i find a flat spot on the windshield to mount the sensor to. Route three wires to that spot, connect and be done.

[kingcrunch]

One down, several more to go:

https://youtu.be/y35Bg7FT2lM

https://youtu.be/1cTmGNY_wAs


I had to rebuild the wiper linkage... all bushings gone, replaced with washers and cotter pins...




The resistors for the headlight switch showed up.
I also ordered a pair of tail light lamps (LED modules, in fact) to destroy them.
I need to find out how they actually work to be able to make a module that can drive incandescent bulbs instead of LEDs.

And i ordered a used wiper motor to figure out how to drive the stock wiper motor... only to find that i had the sense wire in the wrong position of the connector on the BCM.
Yay...


And these are pretty much self explaining:

[kingcrunch]

Taking baby steps.

From now on i got's da control over da light and ole electrical darkness.

A couple of resistors, a few hours of fiddling and the ole light switch has been fitted with multiplex switching capabilities.

https://youtu.be/Ota7e4cpqfI

[kingcrunch]

I just ordered 690ft. of wire to continue building the body wiring harness, different colors and gauges of course.

[kingcrunch]

Small change in game plan:

I am going to close off the large square and awkward hole in the firewall that used to hold the original bulkhead connector.
It's not exactly easy to seal (no seal between connector housing and firewall) and awkward and i would have to source the exact spade connectors for it to rewire it.
Not gonna happen.

I have a few left over grommets from the Challengers wiring harness.
I am thinking about riveting (with liberal use of body sealer) a plate into the square hole, punch a round hole in there and make way for a regular rubber grommet.
Since none of the original wiring will be left in the truck, there is no need to re-use the original 31 year old bulkhead connector...

Aaaaand this leaves me with good spares for my all-original (except for the 4-spd auto transmission and engine side A/C bits, SD709 swap with all new home-crimped hoses) '85 W250.

[kingcrunch]

Small change in game plan:

I am going to close off the large square and awkward hole in the firewall that used to hold the original bulkhead connector.
It's not exactly easy to seal (no seal between connector housing and firewall) and awkward and i would have to source the exact spade connectors for it to rewire it.
Not gonna happen.

I have a few left over grommets from the Challengers wiring harness.
I am thinking about riveting (with liberal use of body sealer) a plate into the square hole, punch a round hole in there and make way for a regular rubber grommet.
Since none of the original wiring will be left in the truck, there is no need to re-use the original 31 year old bulkhead connector...

Aaaaand this leaves me with good spares for my all-original (except for the 4-spd auto transmission and engine side A/C bits, SD709 swap with all new home-crimped hoses) '85 W250.

[kingcrunch]

Cut six feet of superflous length from the cab wiring harness today, re-established the connections, finished some loose ends and i am looking forward to build the frame harness this weekend.

I am also doing some research about using late model Ram door latches as a replacement for the manual door latches on my truck.
The wiring diagrams indicate they have similar wiring compared to the Challengers door latches and they have the 3-bolt bolt pattern.
Unfortunately this pattern has been turned around so the single bolt is below the striker, compared to the '85 trucks doors...

It's all just sheet metal here, so i am not too scared about making it fit. I am not going through all the hassle without having power door locks in the end.

[JayinMI]

The newer Chrysler door latches have the door "pin switches" built in to them as well, so the truck will know what door is open. At least you aren't doing a Ford because (as usual) they do it backwards to everyone else. lol (Most vehicles throw a negative or positive when open...Newer Fords have a closed circuit that goes to open when the door is open.

Jay

[kingcrunch]

It's complicated enough the way i am doing it, lol.

For example:
I just learned that i need to make a bridge between the two wires for the "hood ajar" function of the BCM... or integrate a "hood ajar" switch somewhere into the core support.
I could find custom solutions for everything on this vehicle but i guess keeping it simple will let me complete it much earlier.

[JayinMI]

You don't have to do anything crazy for that.

You can buy BMW-style pin switches with rubber boots on them and just connect it to the "hood ajar" wire.

https://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Plated.../dp/B001TQPM6Q

Should be Purple/lt blue at the BCM in the black 24 pin plug, pin 11...unless you have an older Challenger computer. I looked at a '15.
It just needs to see a ground when the hood is open.

Jay

[kingcrunch]

Been off the project for 1 1/2 days this week, the job had priority.
Yesterday evening i began installing the chassis harness (basically just routing long wires and figuring out where to cut off the excess wires), the front end wiring (same thing).
I use AMP super seal (similar to Weatherpak) connectors. A while ago i bought a kit of them in different configurations.

I also began wrapping parts of the harness.
I am using black PVC tape to wrap up the parts that are behind the dash nice and tight and then put a thick padded tape on there with the wraps spread apart like 1-2" so i don't use as much tape.

[kingcrunch]

I had one of those "it might fit"-moments again. But i did not f it up this time - i think i really got a solution to get the turn signal / high beam stalk mounted.

See for yourself and judge :D









I know it's rough. That's why i'll do another one. I had to let one die to get the measurements and positioning right.
Here's the "real deal":



It sits a bit closer to the steering wheel and is clocked a bit closer to the 10pm position.
And i did not start on it because it was like 9pm and i got tired... been working on the truck for like eight hours today.

[kingcrunch]

And yes, that's the housing of a AT column. Why? Because i was thinking i could put a nice three-stage shift light where the gear indicator used to sit.

[kingcrunch]

More pics of more steering column hacking:







This is proto three, red in color. The color does not mean anything, i had it, it was painted by the PO, it got hacked up.
Now i have a solid solution to mount the stalk in the housing, feels good.

"All" that's left to do is build a turn signal return cam with an integrated horn contact ring. Yay.

For stuff like this, i could really use a milling machine...