If it ain't one thing....
HOW DOES the "buzz" work?
Answer: "Beats the hell outta me!" (LOL)
But seriously, every system I've touched on this car has needed work, and every time I think I've got something fixed, something else goes to....crap. I realize this sounds negative, or that it seems I've lost my enthusiasm for this project, but this car....She's a good "20 footer", you know? (I have a good friend who taught me a saying about some people being "all hat and no cattle", and if this car was a person....).
Anyway, she was starting just fine, and then...."bzzzzz"....and then.....nothing. Dead. (And I can't tell you where the "bzzz" came from, as my head was inside the car, and since all of the carpet and sound deadener was removed the other day (see further down), the sound just echo'd, if you will, from "somewhere up front".)
Having previously torn-out, repaired, and then replaced the engine, I'm well aware of the condition of the wiring at the starter and solenoid. And it's Not Good. But since the starter was working (initially, or until today), I let it all pass, as I had (
have!) plenty of other things to keep me busy.
But then today: In a nutshell, all of the terminal ends on the solenoid were either loose or severely corroded, the 3/8 thread (?) post for the battery wire was loose (someone was using the lock nut for the cable hold-down), the fusible link going up to the dash was burned, brittle, and had only 4 wire strands holding it together, the ground for the starter solenoid wasn''t "making" (infinite resistance), and the wiring diagram I have is a complete POS (a copy of a copy, at best).
So I re-terminated everything, found another nut for the solenoid, replaced the fusible link (as well as a 20A circuit breaker someone added for "something" at some time in the past), and messed around with (wiggled) the neutral safety plug/pigtail, as I knew it was brittle as well (I changed the tranny filter when the engine was out and found this). Sure enough, the pigtail wouldn't stay on the switch any longer, so I threw-in the towel, ordered-up another one, and left the solenoid "ground jumper" in-place.
Yesterday I took-out the back seat and removed "The Mother of All Mouse Nests", but today I think I may have found "The Mother of All Wiring Nests" under the hood and dash of this thing....while I was tracing circuits....sans wiring diagram....so in my opinion, it's a damn miracle that it even runs!
When I first started this project I was giving serious consideration into entering it into the Power Cruise for next year, as I know Bazza (the owner) would get a thrill out of it, not to mention the fact that not many people have seen what is essentially a RH drive Dodge Dart from Oz.
But now? I dunno. This thing keeps pushing my buttons, and I really don't know that it's all that reliable.