It was pretty dusty even with the sheets over the seats. I used the shop-vac and got everything i could see.
The front cleaned up nice, but it real old and faded. Still lots of dust IN the seats.
The rear is equally nice, and equally dusty. The rear floor has some brown carpet. that will go soon.
The headliner is in pretty rough shape.. The Dash, as well as all the window trip has been spray painted gold.
Notice the 5 pedals on the floor. Far left, Headlight dimmer, then Clutch, Brake, Gas, and the one on the right is the Starter button.
OK.. I got the inside vacuumed... Time to start on the lights.
Now, normally, I can figure out almost any car electrical system. This 1940 Chevy has been re-wired. RED. YES. EVERY wire that was replaced was replaced with a RED wire. Oh JOY... I can hardly wait to figure this out.
Starting out. The Left Front Parking is VERY bright. The right front is normal bright. The rear lights, well, let's not talk about those yet.
Pulled the front lamp, and yep, Parking light wire is connected to the turn filament. Cut wires, and swap them. Easy fix. OOPS.. ground wire broke. ( The ground wire (RED) was just stripped and wrapped around a screw head under the fender. No wonder it broke. Cut ground, add crimp terminal and screw to inner fender.. That should last a little longer.
Check ground on Right side.. YEP.. needs the same treatment.
OK.. Inside.. WHY don't the turn signals work? Dad pulls apart the flasher and takes in inside to clean the contacts. Brings it back out, and.. NOPE, it don't work.. The heater element is burned out. Jump on bike and run up to parts store. i ask for a 6 volt turn signal flasher. After 20 questions that i don't want to answer, he says, "Our book doesn't go back that far!" Question to self, "Self, Why don't parts men know that 6 volt flashers are 6 volt flashers?" Never guess the next statement from the parts guy.. Yep.. "We don't have it in stock, but we can have it here tomorrow."
Back to the car. Start looking at rear lights.. OK.. this really doesn't make sense. The car came with 2 filament tail lights. One for parking lamps, and one for brakes. in 1940, cars didn't come with turn signals. Fortunately for us. Turn signals were added sometime in the past. What was added was a Signalstat 900. This is a 7 wire unit. When this was added, someone added a second buld to the tail light housing. NO, it didn't FIT inside..
WHY would someone add a separate wire from the front to the rear to add a second buld that doesn't fit, and won't over power the brake lights. I can't answer this question.
What did I do? I disconnected the extra bulb, cut the original (RED) wires at the dash and connected them to the correct color wire on the turn signal switch. I also cut the brake light wire under the dash and connected it to the turn signal switch. Now, if you have the turn signals on, and you hit the brakes, One lamp flashes and the other lamp is constant. This is how tail light should work.
Next was dash lights. Now here was a rats nest. Seems when you install new wiring (RED), you cut all the old wires and tape them together under the dash. I did find ONE dash light that had power. This was a good start. I connected the other 2 dash light to this source. Oh rats.. That source does NOT dim. Not a huge problem, just something I noticed.
Next was the dome light. I pulled down the light to check the bulb. Yep, bulb was bad.. Installed a new bulb.. NO light.. Oh, Look.. the wire is disconnected. Reconnect wire.. NO light.. Switch all rusty.. Clean and lube switch. clean contacts. NO light...
Crawl back under the dash.. There a 4 wires that run up the left body post to the roof. These are real ORIGINAL cloth and lacquered wires.. GOOD sign. I traced one.. goes to the Fuel Gauge. (See note).
A second goes into a bundle of taped wires.. (Not pretty)
The other two are just hanging there. I guess GM put them in for future use?
I go back to the trunk. Yep, a bundle or 4 wires, cut off and taped just above the inside of the left rear fender. (Not a good sign.)
Back under the dash. Un-tape the bundle. NO RED WIRES. Well, the one that went INTO that bundle is cut off.
I grab a jumper wirer and clip one end to 6 volts. I then clip the other end to each of the 3 remaining wires coming down the post. NO light..
Wait.. Crawl out from under the dash, Turn ON the dome light switch. crawl back under the dash and use the jumper wire to connect to each of the 3 wires.. WE HAVE LIGHT.
Now, Find a power source for this... HEY, the headlights should be on when you need the dome light? sure.. and right there.. that green wire (not RED) has power ONLY when the headlights are on.
On crimp connector later, we have a dome light when the head lights are on.. Great.. WAIT a minute.. Why does the dome light dim when I turn the know? Hey, I found the power for the dash lights.. We will save the swapping of those wires for another day.. I am tired, and it's hot..
MORE later...
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