Antarctic IDI Build

[Thewespaul]

Today I pulled the orfice tube and found metal bits, going to flush the system and swap the compressor from our 88 on and see how long we can make it last before we replace the whole system.

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Moved on to working on the exterior rear exterior lighting and adding the trailer brake plug into the harness. Got turn signals working as they should, but dont have any power to reverse lights or the backup alarm. Need to trace it back but hopefully not an mlps issue.

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Put the power wire from the brake controller through some protective tubing and routed it properly through the frame rails to the rear of the truck

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[Jason1377]

Ive been curious about your build since this started off as a ambulance did you have to take all the decals off,and if not I've been looking into a old one but don't know if it's easy to take decals off or can they be left on since I'm sure it's registered out of service. Sorry for long post

 

[Thewespaul]

Stickers were off when it came to me, old stickers usually come off easy with a heat gun

 

[Bart F-350]

Yep, but are mostly unusable after, due to shredded to pieces...
but if needed, I've seen that they still are for sale new, you've to look at those ambulance suppliers (also on the net)

@Thewespaul, what was done with the original ambulance seats?
When I came back wen I registered mine, (500mile single trip) That was the first thing I threw out!

 

[no mufflers]

those rear lift blocks still scare me.

 

[Thewespaul]

Yep, but are mostly unusable after, due to shredded to pieces...
but if needed, I've seen that they still are for sale new, you've to look at those ambulance suppliers (also on the net)

@Thewespaul, what was done with the original ambulance seats?
When I came back wen I registered mine, (500mile single trip) That was the first thing I threw out!

They were removed before it came to me, the f150 seats are a nice upgrade

those rear lift blocks still scare me.

Yeah they aren’t ideal, we made a plan and I think some f250 blocks will find their way in there. May not happen right away because the springs could really use rearching

 

[Thewespaul]

Wired in the rear lights, backup alarm and trailer plug.Need to pick up some loom holders to attach it to the frame so it cant get caught on brush driving up trails.

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Dealt with the slow/intermittent wipers. Had a hunch it was the wiper motor, but checked voltage at the plug and what do ya know, only 9v getting there. Checked again with the wipers off and 5v still there, so found at least one of the parasitic draws. pulled the wiper switch out and put in one from our 90 f250 and wipers work perfectly now.

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[Thewespaul]

Dome light ended up being a parasitic draw as well, the two side lights are wired to have power all the time, and the center dome light is only supossed to have power when a door is open or the interior lights are manually turned on. The harness was hooked up backwards, which meant the dome light had power all the time, flipped the harness around and no more issues. Installed the lens cover after massaging it with the file to get it to fit flush.

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[Thewespaul]

And heres the stumper that I ended on tonight. Turn signals are a mess, and Ive narrowed it down to the light green wire (wire 511 which is the output on the normally open brake switch) has 1.9v all the time- yet another parasitic draw, seeing a pattern yet? I have disconnected the harness at the trans, abs, and rear lights. Still have 1.9v. This only leaves the mfs connected to wire 511. The mfs recieves power from wire 298 and 383, which feed the the turn flasher and the hazard flasher. I pulled the turn flasher, no change, pulled the hazard flasher beside the glovebox, no change. The only wire still connected to the mfs at this point is the outputs going to the front turn signals, which I checked and have no voltage. So in my mind this narrows it down to a harness issue where it is getting unwanted power from a separate circuit, wire 511 is pretty short, but the point were it spreads out into the different outputs (splice 240) is buried in the dash, and not accessible without completely pulling the dash from what I can tell.

Im gonna sleep on this, but I think I am going to run a new wire from the brake switch to c219 and see if that fixes my turn signal issues, if it does ill proceed to extend it down to the trans and abs. Id like to hear yalls thoughts on this, but I think thats the way Im gonna go about it. Heres the diagram so yall can follow the corresponding wire codes.

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[Thewespaul]

New turn signal switch is on the way, going to see what that does for the electrical. Shop got hit by lightening so lost power for good part of yesterday, router and modem are fried, yay....

Got started on the exhaust, my 8ft of 4” mild steel finally came in. Started by taking a 3” 90* manderal bend, cutting it in half and flipping it to get some more air space from the trans, and to help tuck the exhaust up higher

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Rest of the exhaust was pretty simple, welded in the 3” to 4” adapter and the resonator. Gave the whole thing a nice coating of extra high temp paint to help make the mild steel last. Just need to make some hangers and it’s done.

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[Danielle]

Jesus hit by lightening!! Glad no one hurt.

 

[Thewespaul]

Jesus hit by lightening!! Glad no one hurt.

Just me in the shop, no damage other than electrical, but was loud as hell.

 

[79jasper]

I bet it was. Lol especially the reverb in a metal building.
So... for the rears having constant power. I can't say what year it started, but seems they came that way. Very low voltage.
I first noticed/learned about it when I was swapping beds, at the same time added led taillights. Well, the suckers stayed on real dim. Key on/off didn't matter.
This was with my 94 PSD. But Iirc, others with OBS trucks have seen it as well.
Now, actually, maybe I did "fix" it. At some point I did fix the wires on the BOO switch. They had shorted together. (Like you saw)
But I can't say if that actually stoped it or not. I added more lights and 2 of the oval push through incandescent lights.

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[Thewespaul]

I have noticed that as well with the obs trucks, my 93 had the third brake light stay on when I swapped in an led. I compared the readings to some other bricknose trucks in the shop and I dont have any voltage on that side of the circuit, but those trucks are all manuals, so not sure if the mlps would introduce 2v to that side of the circuit or not but since the mlps is disconnected that shouldnt be the cause.... Electrical sucks. Talked with the owner and lights worked previous to the cluster being removed and the new column installed. So I'm thinking the turn signal switch may be shorted from the distress it received from being thrown out a window.

 

[Thewespaul]

Updating a few days behind, been a struggle with the new internet but seems to have uploaded all the pictures this time.

New gear indicator installed and adjusted so it aligns in every gear. Cluster cleaned up and installed with the new leds.

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Inner bezel cleaned up, looks like one of the old bulbs got pretty hot at some time

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And here it is all installed, turned some of the indicator lights on just for the pic. Not very dark out so can’t see it very well, but looks much better.

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