I don’t remember what inspired the next project, but it turned out to be improving the headlight wiring with relays. After reading a large number of nicely done threads on the topic, I found myself still lacking details of which wire went to which relay terminal. And many of the schematics were for completely different vehicles. So I printed out everything I could find and started filling in the gaps with the all the overlapping information. Ultimately I drew up a simple relay diagram primarily for my own clarity and convenience. After the work was completed on the truck and functioned correctly, the information was posted on the following link to hopefully save someone else starting from scratch:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=387693
During all this it never occurred to me I didn’t include any photos of the relay installation. So here they are exposed and covered. I also edited them into the thread above. The small relay nearest the radiator is for the fog lamps. The other two are for the low and high beam circuits.
The location hides everything, is easily accessible, and offers good weather protection. The headlight relays are mounted on an ABS panel for ease of attaching or removing the connectors.
Looking back through photos a reproduction Sunpro Tach head update became the next project. Much earlier I had installed an Autometer/Moon tach head in a Sun cup as shown in posts #38 & 47. I talked myself into being happy with it. It looked okay, was very accurate, easy to read, and had the Moon eyes printed on the face, which I thought was cool. Other than the eyes and different markings on the face, it was a standard Autometer tach. Subsequently Moon dropped Autometer and aligned with Classic Instruments. It turns out the Moon tach I had is now somewhat rare. Mine stayed in the family, one of my sons is going to put it in his 1960 Galaxie eventually.
Soon after attending a local Goodguys show, the Goodguys Gazette showed up. Inside I discovered a new advertisement for the Sunpro FZ88R retro tach.
The advertising hype is mostly bogus. It isn’t the same tach as the original. It doesn’t work the same, it doesn’t look the same, and the original company Sun Electric Corporation isn’t producing it. In spite of these drawbacks, I thought it might be worth trying - primarily because years or searching for an original FZ88 Sun tach, established that I would never be able to afford one.
Whereas the Moon/Autometer took some engineering and brackets to fit in the case, the new FZ88R head bolts into an original cup perfectly, because the new retro cups are dimensionally identical to the originals.
The one screwed to my dash however is the longer version of the same cup (which I prefer). No problem. At the time I had a trashed original FZ88 for parts. I pulled the extension spacers from the original and screwed them to the back of the mounting posts on the new head, and if fit perfectly in the long cup. For purely cosmetic reasons I also pulled the Bakelite zero adjuster off the original FZ88 and attached it to the face of the new FZ88R. Excuse the poor quality photo. Around the time this was taken I had a hard drive crash and lost 6 months worth of progress photos that weren't backed up properly:
Although I would still have preferred an original 1960’s version because the face looks better, the FZ88R has proven to be an adequate substitute. It works well, and with nothing nearby for close up comparison most people assume it’s an original. Unless the money tree starts blooming in the backyard it will remain a permanent feature.
I put together a thread on the topic to share both the installation and as much as I can remember about the popularity and timeline of vintage Sun Tachometers:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=392461
With progress on all these trinkets I believe it was another forum member’s truck that sparked me into thinking about spotlights again. I grew up with dual Unity spotlights on my parents 1948 Oldsmobile, and have had them on a variety of cars over the years. Once I discovered that custom mounting brackets for the 60-63 cab existed, a frenzied search ensued. Over the course of several months I was very fortunate to obtain the rare inside and outside brackets for both sides of the truck.
Here are shots showing the outside and inside:
And the truck with both installed:
Many more details of the installation and information on how to repair these lamps can be found on these threads:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=401449
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=403869
More to follow.