69 Notch Barracuda - Rebirth
Seats are both in. The head rests/restraints still need to be refurbished and stabbed into the seats.
The real drama came where least expected.. the Grant steering wheel. I know better now, since it seems many people have issues with the horn on the Grant wheels.
The second I bolted it in, according to Grant’s specs, and cranked down my negative battery terminal switch, my horn started whaling intermittently every time I gripped and/or rotated the steering wheel.
Remember that I recently installed a new signal switch from SlantSixDan?
Dan’s switch is excellent. The Grant steering wheel, however, is NOT so “Universal.” Granted (no pun intended), it is about as “universal” as anybody should reasonably expect, however.
After hours of testing, researching, installing, turning, and pulling... disconnecting the horns for the more tolerable sound of the relay triggering, I finally noticed a “nick” mark on the signal cancel “finger” of the Grant adaptor (it’s really hard to see under the hub where the contact might be occurring)... and the wheel trails making their way further and further to the center of the ring... until finally the wheel just fell over the copper edge and into the inner hub itself. There was also a lot of grinding snd clicking sounds. Of course, it made sense that the horn was beeping every time the finger nicked the spring loaded contact “wheel” on Dan’s new switch, or touched the inner hub, since this created a premature grounding of the horn circuit to the steering post as the adaptor/hub rotated. So, obviously, I took the dremel to the finger at the wheel contact point on the finger :rolleyes: The problem wasn’t fixed. It took more testing, into finally I realized from the wheel paths on the contact surface, that the spring/wheel was simply bending more and more toward the axel post. So, I tried various shims to raise the hub and lessen the downward force onto the switch contact wheel, but the more I raised the hub/adaptor, the less the cancel cam finger was doing its job to cancel the signals (the reason I tore into the column in the first place)! finally I modified the spring/wheel... well.. okay... I poked in my beefy wire cutter and snipped off the contact wheel, bypassing it all together. I then snipped the black power source wire leading to the wheel contact and added a few inches of new wire, then exposed the last inch of wire and threaded it up through the spring on the switch (where the wheel used to sit). I really wanted my wooden Grant wheel, so this was the best option at the time. I snipped the wheel off thinking I could fab a homegrown brush mechanism to maintain constant contact in its place (a throwback idea from my Yamaha RD350 spring loaded brushes that carry current from the generator’s rotating surface into the wires leading to the dual coils!) to carry the current up to and through the copper surface (using the natural spring of the wires themselves) into the horn button wire. Though shotty, and hastily executed, my theory worked perfectly! No more intermittent grounding/beeping, yet I still have the horn when I want it via the Grant button :drama:! I can make this a more permanent solution anytime in the future, so not worried about the longevity right now.
Seats are both in. The head rests/restraints still need to be refurbished and stabbed into the seats.
The real drama came where least expected.. the Grant steering wheel. I know better now, since it seems many people have issues with the horn on the Grant wheels.
The second I bolted it in, according to Grant’s specs, and cranked down my negative battery terminal switch, my horn started whaling intermittently every time I gripped and/or rotated the steering wheel.
Remember that I recently installed a new signal switch from SlantSixDan?
Dan’s switch is excellent. The Grant steering wheel, however, is NOT so “Universal.” Granted (no pun intended), it is about as “universal” as anybody should reasonably expect, however.
After hours of testing, researching, installing, turning, and pulling... disconnecting the horns for the more tolerable sound of the relay triggering, I finally noticed a “nick” mark on the signal cancel “finger” of the Grant adaptor (it’s really hard to see under the hub where the contact might be occurring)... and the wheel trails making their way further and further to the center of the ring... until finally the wheel just fell over the copper edge and into the inner hub itself. There was also a lot of grinding snd clicking sounds. Of course, it made sense that the horn was beeping every time the finger nicked the spring loaded contact “wheel” on Dan’s new switch, or touched the inner hub, since this created a premature grounding of the horn circuit to the steering post as the adaptor/hub rotated. So, obviously, I took the dremel to the finger at the wheel contact point on the finger :rolleyes: The problem wasn’t fixed. It took more testing, into finally I realized from the wheel paths on the contact surface, that the spring/wheel was simply bending more and more toward the axel post. So, I tried various shims to raise the hub and lessen the downward force onto the switch contact wheel, but the more I raised the hub/adaptor, the less the cancel cam finger was doing its job to cancel the signals (the reason I tore into the column in the first place)! finally I modified the spring/wheel... well.. okay... I poked in my beefy wire cutter and snipped off the contact wheel, bypassing it all together. I then snipped the black power source wire leading to the wheel contact and added a few inches of new wire, then exposed the last inch of wire and threaded it up through the spring on the switch (where the wheel used to sit). I really wanted my wooden Grant wheel, so this was the best option at the time. I snipped the wheel off thinking I could fab a homegrown brush mechanism to maintain constant contact in its place (a throwback idea from my Yamaha RD350 spring loaded brushes that carry current from the generator’s rotating surface into the wires leading to the dual coils!) to carry the current up to and through the copper surface (using the natural spring of the wires themselves) into the horn button wire. Though shotty, and hastily executed, my theory worked perfectly! No more intermittent grounding/beeping, yet I still have the horn when I want it via the Grant button :drama:! I can make this a more permanent solution anytime in the future, so not worried about the longevity right now.
