[Purcell69]

This past week I was not able to get much done. I spent the past three days out at Burns Flat, OK for LEDT (Law Enforcemnt Driver Training), lots of fast driving and burning brakes. Before I left, I picked up a Porter Cable jitterbug sander, since my roll around compressor doesn't do well with the sanders and my big compressor needs 220v run out to the tool room. The little jitterbug does well for $40.

While I was a Burns Flat, trying to get some sleep in the barracks, I began thinking about wiring issues. Years ago, I bought a harness kit from Ron Francis Wire Works. I'd never wired a truck before and this kit was well worth the money. I was able to install it and have everything working in one day. Later, when I ditched the carburetor in favor of EFI, I added a kit from Painless to handle fueling, with the Ron Francis kit.

The only thing I did not like about the Ron Francis kit is the wires come off all four sides of the fuse panel, which takes up a lot of space. I did have the panel installed on the driver's side of the firewall, under the dash, but with the wires going every which way, it looked a bit messy for my liking. This got me to thinking it might be better if I built an electrical center that I can attach to the rear cab wall.

I figure I can make a bracket to mount the panel off the back wall about 1/2", which would allow me to run the wires off the top of the panel, back underneath and down to a main harness, then out through the cab floor and under the cab to the engine compartment and up to the dash through the firewall. The battery is going to be mounted behind the passenger side step, so the power to the panel will be close. I can also mount the ABS computer near the fuse panel. All of this will be in the same area once occupied by the fuel tank, and can be hidden behind an upholstered panel with an access door, in the event of a fuse issue.

When I parted out the donor truck, I saved the pass through from the Dodge firewall, so I may be able to use this in the cab floor to run my harness out to the underside of the cab. The ECM and power distribution center from the Dodge will still be in the engine compartment, mounted on the passenger side firewall and inner fender. This should allow me to keep things looking a lot cleaner and still allow me to keep the modern goodies. I will need to make a small bulge to accommodate the Ron Francis panel, since it is 3" thick and the "gap" between the rear cab wall and a theoretical inner wall is only about half that. Since I will make the inner wall, I can make it as needed.

-Joe