57 356 A mild resto

[merbesfield]

Whoa, Mark that's a lot of questions! Various solutions are available. Which ones are most pertinent to the stage you are at?

Yea I know I got a little over excited

[merbesfield]

Site is acting wired and will not take my complete post. Let me try this. Apologize for all the multiple posts. Justin you assistance is needed in the cleaning department.

Yea I know I got a little over excited.

Yea I know I got a little over excited. Sorry about that. I guess the most important thing or things would be anything I should attend to BEFORE I install the pan and lose access. And anything I may have not mentioned that should be done. So....

Wire harness
Acceleration rod bushings
Any cables that should or need to be installed now
Fiber Optic cable for the Drive by Wire System JK

Thanks for the help.

[Don C]

Mark,
Are you sure that's a 741 transmission? By the view of the underside of the tunnel it doesn't look like a 741 shift linkage.

[merbesfield]

Mark,
Are you sure that's a 741 transmission? By the view of the underside of the tunnel it doesn't look like a 741 shift linkage.

It is stamped 741. That is part of my question. I don't know what part is correct but someone who knows more than me said it was mixed and matched linkage. For clarification, car is early 57 T1, engine is 69 912 and transmission is 741.

[roy mawbey]

Mark,

Its possible?? after hitting submit for the thread entry you are not waiting for enough time for the upload to take place. Sometimes for me it might take a few minutes. If you keep hitting submit too early then it keeps eventually putting more than one posting on the thread.

By the way removing and refitting the wiring loom is quite a job. If the fabric covering is worn as I could see has in places why not recover it with tape in situ. Not easy I realise to tape up in the tunnel but taking into account that there is probably more wear and damage to the actual wiring itself at its connection ends might it not be easier to actually buy a new loom? I would think about that maybe before pulling it out.

Thats a lot of work you are doing !!

Roy

[JTR70]

Mark, From what I have seen your harness it looks pretty good save for the usual breaches in the cloth from age or being man handled. Unless you're planning on replacing it I'd leave that sleeping dog lay. Removal (& re-install)is very hard on it as it has to make a couple of sharp corners which will completely destroy what's left of the sheathing.


You'll either have to rewrap it old fashioned black electrical tape or a hockey stick type cloth tape or section it in shrink tubing; Or a combo of all like I had done years ago on my original harness above. A freak'in mess.

I was seriously looking at this really nice nylon sheathing that's out on the market but all the various branches of the harness won't really allow me to cleanly re-sheath the main section of it. A lot more trouble than its worth in my final estimation. Now if you leave the main portion in I think this stuff would work great for "end" repairs like recovering the headlight runs in the trunk area or the tail light run in the engine compartment.

85% of the harness has to pass through that metal shroud that's welded to the bottom of the trunk floor.(green arrow) It would be so much nicer and easier on everyone including and especially the harness if the factory just would have made that piece removable. Most of the harness has to be fed in there first for install or pulled out like one long root from the mouth of that shroud for removal. I suppose you could pull it out from the top but you'll of course have to remove the fuse block. At the time I was to scared to do that. Now that I am installing a new harness I may feed it in from the bottom of the sheath as the distance is shorter but not sure if that would be easier or not. Be interested in Jack's or Bruce's opinion on that. What's particularly hard on the wires especially as the thicker parts snake through is making the sharp corner at the base of this shroud down under where the floor boards would be. Also too while your pulling the harness out of the tunnel the old metal holding tabs just love to snare the loom as it passes by. It can be a total PIA if I haven't relayed that clearly already.

As for the heater leads those are not crimps but rather just slide on reusable collars. Easily transferable to your new leads.
Justin

[merbesfield]

Mark, From what I have seen your harness it looks pretty good save for the usual breaches in the cloth from age or being man handled. Unless you're planning on replacing it I'd leave that sleeping dog lay. Removal (& re-install)is very hard on it as it has to make a couple of sharp corners which will completely destroy what's left of the sheathing.


You'll either have to rewrap it old fashioned black electrical tape or a hockey stick type cloth tape or section it in shrink tubing; Or a combo of all like I had done years ago on my original harness above. A freak'in mess.

I was seriously looking at this really nice nylon sheathing that's out on the market but all the various branches of the harness won't really allow me to cleanly re-sheath the main section of it. A lot more trouble than its worth in my final estimation. Now if you leave the main portion in I think this stuff would work great for "end" repairs like recovering the headlight runs in the trunk area or the tail light run in the engine compartment.

85% of the harness has to pass through that metal shroud that's welded to the bottom of the trunk floor.(green arrow) It would be so much nicer and easier on everyone including and especially the harness if the factory just would have made that piece removable. Most of the harness has to be fed in there first for install or pulled out like one long root from the mouth of that shroud for removal. I suppose you could pull it out from the top but you'll of course have to remove the fuse block. At the time I was to scared to do that. Now that I am installing a new harness I may feed it in from the bottom of the sheath as the distance is shorter but not sure if that would be easier or not. Be interested in Jack's or Bruce's opinion on that. What's particularly hard on the wires especially as the thicker parts snake through is making the sharp corner at the base of this shroud down under where the floor boards would be. Also too while your pulling the harness out of the tunnel the old metal holding tabs just love to snare the loom as it passes by. It can be a total PIA if I haven't relayed that clearly already.

As for the heater leads those are not crimps but rather just slide on reusable collars. Easily transferable to your new leads.
Justin

Justin, this is exactly the info I needed to convince me to NOT pull it. I have a friend who is helping me some days. He likes to take stuff apart, but he is not the one who has to deal with putting it back together. He is a good friend and a good helper, but I have to keep him in check sometimes. This helps. Also, thanks for letting me know about the reusable wire keepers. Of course I did not throw them away, so one less think I have to buy.


Too bad the don't make shrink wrap with a zipper, LOL. My wires are pliable so I will def. let that sleeping dog sleep.

[Jack Staggs]

Mark, your wiring loom looks pretty good in the tunnel. Removal of the loom would likely ruin it, as it is extremely difficult even to feed a new one through the chassis with new flexible wires and jackets. Be sure to look very closely at the sides of the tunnel for nails that were used to hold the carpet in place. I have seen T1 examples where nails were used there and punctured the loom causing difficult to diagnose intermittent short circuits. Address the frayed outer cloth jackets that are worn with friction tape. This type of tape was used throughout the production of 356, so it will not look out of place on casual inspection. Use a small black zip tie on either end to prevent unravelling. I'm assuming that ALL of your wires are vinyl covered. Otherwise, you are toast.

[merbesfield]

Mark, your wiring loom looks pretty good in the tunnel. Removal of the loom would likely ruin it, as it is extremely difficult even to feed a new one through the chassis with new flexible wires and jackets. Be sure to look very closely at the sides of the tunnel for nails that were used to hold the carpet in place. I have seen T1 examples where nails were used there and punctured the loom causing difficult to diagnose intermittent short circuits. Address the frayed outer cloth jackets that are worn with friction tape. This type of tape was used throughout the production of 356, so it will not look out of place on casual inspection. Use a small black zip tie on either end to prevent unravelling. I'm assuming that ALL of your wires are vinyl covered. Otherwise, you are toast.

My harness is in fact really nice except for the ends around the tail lights and engine area. As for the frayed cover, it is more of a disentgration of the cloth than anything else. So best to leave it for the next person. As mentioned, I don't think there is enough slack in there to actuall get a tape roll around it. I will see about small lengths of tape for short runs of coverage using the cloth electircal tape as I agree it is better looking.

Should any of the cables be run now, BEFORE, welding the pan? Or are they subject to damage from the heat and best left for AFTER welding?

[merbesfield]

Just bought this tape. Looks good.





http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00EH6IZ6Y/ref=sklp/186-7287210-3974332

[bbspdstr]

Mark,
Are you sure that's a 741 transmission? By the view of the underside of the tunnel it doesn't look like a 741 shift linkage.

It is stamped 741. That is part of my question. I don't know what part is correct but someone who knows more than me said it was mixed and matched linkage. For clarification, car is early 57 T1, engine is 69 912 and transmission is 741.

Most likely, it is a 741 with a 644 'nose' and selector that then works with the earlier shift linkage. T-1 torsion bar tubes have a solid center that precludes the formed dent in the center bottom for shifter clearance of the B/C cars. T-2 A cars have a hollow center that allows the top 'dent' to be replicated from underneath once a window is made for access. Heat-n-beat with a rounded air-hammer head and use all 741 shifter compontents to get rid of the 'monkey-motion' early shifting. Some just exit the trans and support the shift tube above the tunnel, but that's 'racer stuff.'

-Bruce

[merbesfield]

I actually looked at my car today. Hey baby steps. I need to order a Tachometer cable. Where is the best place to get? Mine is original and has what looks like foam covering. I see cheap ones and expensive ones listed. What's best? Also, can the cable be installed after my floor pan is installed or does it need to go in prior to floor welding. I also need to order heater cables. I have the emergency brake cables and clutch cable.

[merbesfield]

When reinstalling the cables do I fill the tubes with grease? If so what grease is recommended and is there a trick to getting it into the tubes?

[JTR70]

I think its promising that you're at least beginning to "look" in your old projects direction again Mark. The tachometer cable definitely goes in after the floor installation. As for the best cable?? Like most of these new parts its realistically down to about 1 maybe 2 actual manufacturers of the part itself. Then all the various 356 parts distributors put their decal or bag over it.
Hope to see some progress soon.
Justin

[merbesfield]

Justin, I am a bit confused, which is not surprising given the length in time since work. I "thought" I needed to install all my cables etc prior to installing the floor pan. Obviously they were designed to be installed after for serviceability, but would be easier now. This is what I was going with. Does the tach cable have its own conduit? So do the other cables also get installed later? The main harness is still in the car and I was not planning on removing it. Thanks for helping me get my car and mind back on track. Mark