Progress Thread Father Time: High-$ anti-dent defense system

[FastDriver]

New billet door switches and panels. Not sure I like them, yet. I'm considering painting the panels mat black. I think I'd prefer it if the panels weren't screaming for attention. But, I like that they're thicker and won't wrinkle like the stockers:

I reassembled the dash, but I think I need to put the painted brace back in the car first so I can route all of the wiring more neatly before the plastic follows it. The contrast here was a nice sight. It really looks a lot cleaner painted:

The LMR Dash pad leaves a bit to be desired. You can see the fit isn't perfect, and I didn't get a close up picture, but in the full dash pic you can see the gap on the right-hand side is also too wide. But... It still looks clean, and it's still better than most originals, now. This gap cinched down more when I tightened it, and then the vents covered it well.

It's ready for install, now.

 

[FastDriver]

Guys, gotta admit, as an electrical Noob, I feel overwhelmed with tackling the dash electrical cluster f*&%.

Anyway, I'm just trying to work a little at a time. My goal is to identify the wires and electrical components behind the dash, and to eliminate anything I no longer use. With that in mind, I'd appreciate it if anyone can help me ID these boxes to start off with:

Driver's side door-well above the kick panel area:

A box hanging loose above the pedals:

More towards the center console:

Behind/ maybe above the stereo-ish area:

 

[FastDriver]

These mount on the brace between the door frame and the steering column bolts

 

[RaggedGT]

Pretty sure the blue box behind the radio is the airbag module- other than that, I got nothin’ lol

 

[FastDriver]

Sweet! You sure about that? That's got a ton of wires to cut out, and I have no need of an airbag with a 5 point harness.

 

[General karthief]

I think I would invest in a assembly manuel with wiring diagrams before I start this stage of your project.
why are you eliminating wires?

 

[FastDriver]

Because the electrical work back there is bothering me.

And...

 

[TOOLOW91]

Blue is deff air bag module my friend !! I’ve unplugged quite a few to get that beeping to stop and no more light on dash lol

Should be door chime circled in red

I’m loving how nice you’re finally making the interior . I really need to re do my quarter plastics again because they chipped bad an prepped them like hell . Just to much material . I also need door panels bad . Mine just always look dirty no matter what i do .

 

[FastDriver]

Awesome! I kinda thought that's what it was. It's weak as hell anyways - I can barely hear it, and I don't need a chime to tell me if my door is open, Do you know if unplugging and completely removing the wiring for either of those will cause any secondary issues? i.e. are any of the circuits run together with other circuits? I'll try and trace them on my wiring diagrams, and I'll definitely do a functions check on everything before I start removing stuff and retesting one at a time.

 

[TOOLOW91]

Awesome! I kinda thought that's what it was. It's weak as hell anyways - I can barely hear it, and I don't need a chime to tell me if my door is open, Do you know if unplugging and completely removing the wiring for either of those will cause any secondary issues? i.e. are any of the circuits run together with other circuits? I'll try and trace them on my wiring diagrams, and I'll definitely do a functions check on everything before I start removing stuff and retesting one at a time.

No sir . My buddy who I helped with his 2j fox stripped his to the bare essentials . No issues

 

[Saleen0679]

"Driver's side door-well above the kick panel area" - 9D843 - Cruise Control Module
"A box hanging loose above the pedals" - Rear Window Defrost Control Relay - Should have 18C641 on it somewhere.
"These mount on the brace between the door frame and the steering column bolts" - The olive box with ears is the Wiper Interval Governor. The white box should be 6c625 - Low Oil Warning Relay.

For easier response/reference you should number the pics and/or put down any numbers you see on the components.

 

[FastDriver]

Badass! Thanks so much!

I'm going to get rid of rear defrost... so that's gone. I don't drive the car in those conditions anymore.

I'm going back and forth on the cruise control. I think I'll keep the electronics and decide on that later.

Gotta keep the wiper controller.

The low oil warning can't even do anything, anymore. I don't have the stock gauge cluster. So that's gone.

Wilco on the pic numbering in the future. Thanks again for the help.

 

[FastDriver]

No update on the dash stuff. I've kinda climbed into my own shell trying to muster the motivation to do my thesis.


However, this new shiny overflow tank came in today. I think it's much better than the vertical canton tank that was there before:

Before:

After:

 

[90sickfox]

I really like that overflow tank

 

[a91what]

That is really nice, where did you procure that from?

 

[FastDriver]

Ron Davis

 

[jrichker]

Please post the wire colors with the solid color and stripe color along with the model year of your car. They help identify the circuit and its function. Do not depend on a photograph to do the job, since the camera and then the device the photo is viewed on can alter the color presentation. Clean the wires with some solvent before trying to identify them.

The wiring color codes are a clue to the wire function. A list of the colors is helpful along with the pin to color assignment. The connector shells always have a letter or number on the shell for each pin.
Example:
connector pin A= blue/white
connector pin B = red/green

Ford Factory wiring diagrams have a wire color to function table in the first few pages. The table is generic and is for all Ford products, not just Mustangs. For that reason, you need to think about what sort of options and equipment are in your car.
For example: If the table says wire color is for a power seat, you are looking at the wrong wire color/item type. Fox body Mustangs didn't come with power seats, so you know that isn't what you want.

Ford changed the color for some wires in 91, so that's why the year model is important.

Also show an extra picture of the mating face side of the connector so that we can see the connector shape and how many pins are in the connector. That helps identify the circuit function since most of the connector shapes are unique to the circuit they serve.

The plug shapes on the Ford OEM diagrams match the plug shapes on the actual plug. The diagram is divided up by the layout of the car. The first diagram is for the very front of the car, and it works its way to the rear of the car page by page.

 

[FastDriver]

Will do. Thank you, man.

 

[FastDriver]

I lost the motivation to make progress on this car. I dropped it off with Manir Karim at Our Dream Auto in Charlotte, today. He's going to clean up the interior for me and give it a paint job.

I need to pick a color. I've been thinking about a 'Cobra tribute', where I run the best aspects of Cobras over the years. I love the 93 Cobra spoiler and front bumper/fascia. I love the heat extractor hood of the '03 Cobras. I love the Mystic paint of the 90s SN95s, and the MysticChrome of the '03 Cobras.

Manir has about talked me out of the Mystic paints. He said they're $10k/gal. I haven't seen another fox with that paint, though.

I love Kona Blue on Travis Bowles' hatch, from the 2022 foxtoberfest thread. Another option is just go back to black, which would be considerably cheapest.

Does anyone have recommendations on color choice?

 

[General karthief]

Blue, any shade.
But then, there's one on every corner.
Well maybe not Kona blue, ok, it's settled, Kona blue it is
See? Not so hard