E-lectricity!

Hi everyone,

An update… with pictures even!  Talk about Shock -n Awe!   🙂

Sean @ Top Gear called me up and said that he was getting pretty close to completion on the engine work but what was remaining to be done requires the electrical side to now be finished.  I knew this was coming.  The Good News?   There is an awesome electrician in the same commercial complex as Sean!   Casey Murphy @ BuyWiring.com!   He runs a retail / web storefront for selling high-end electrical goods (OEM-quality electrical connectors, etc.) but he also does real wiring jobs.  We rolled the Chevelle down to Casey and had him take a look at the Chevelle, to assess where we were and what needs to happen next.   Here’s two quick pictures to give you an idea of what we gave Casey to work with…

Yeah…  go figure.  Nothing easy on THIS project!

Casey is a very talented guy and extremely professional in his approach to projects like this.  Since he has access to OEM quality (or better!) connectors we made a plan to essentially re-wire the entire car.  He is gong to keep the American AutoWire wiring kit I had installed years ago but Casey will re-terminate every connector using higher quality items.  Everything will be isolated.  If I want to unplug an entire harness, each connector will have a weatherpak pig-tail that I simply disconnect.  He has some awesome ideas on how to isolate the items that usually give troubles to muscle cars (c’mon… who’s been in a 40-year old car whose headlights dim when the brake pedal is pressed!)

Anyway…  Casey is focusing on the basic wiring harness to allow Sean to get back to completing the engine install.  Once the basic harness is done Sean really has just the exhaust system to hang and then the final tune on the ECM… everything else is just about finished!   In the end Casey will also wire all of my Dakota Digital hardware into the system, plus the wiring stubs for my complete upgrade to electric windows, the connectors for my full power front bucket seats, the speaker wiring terminated where I want my speakers, etc.  OH, and he will also completely wire and install my entire Viper alarm / GPS / SmartPhone Remote start system.

I’ll give you a few more pictures to flip through while you’re digesting all of that.  🙂

And some glamour shots of the Dakota Digital hardware.

SO there you have it… progress is being made.   I will be updating my Supporters page to include Casey’s contact information.  If you need electrical components hit him up at BuyWiring.com, or go see him at his storefront in Mesa, AZ!

Until next time…

Quick Update

So the Chevelle is still at M&M with John…  Tony was scheduled to drop by yesterday to install the last chrome bits and the trunk lid lock setup.  I haven’t had the chance to go visit her lately for pictures, as I’m down with the cruddy flu bug that’s going around Phoenix these days.  😦

Oh, and a guy from Chandler has bought the frame/engine/transmission I had for sale!   He’s a car guy with a couple of projects so the ZZ4/700R4 combination will work great for him.   That was the last piece of my “grand strategy” to get my original High School Chevelle restored.  (And once the new owner drops by this weekend with a trailer to haul it home, it will mean our garage is actually usable for OTHER things besides holding Chevelle parts!)

Hope everyone is doing well… I’m planning to snap some pictures next week but they probably won’t be too exciting… we’re talking wiring kits and brake lines.  🙂