Since the car was now pretty much cleaned up and ready to go, I decided to take it to one of the local car shows.  The show was held at the Adventure Park U.S.A, which is a small amusement park targeted at younger kids.  It has facilities for birthday parties, and my kids had several parties there when they were younger.  The car show is held in the parking lot, is open to all years, makes, and models, and is free to the general public.  I entered my car in the 1950 to 1969 stock class.  There were a number of other entries in that class, some of which were not what I would call stock.  The quality of most all the cars was high and the people were really friendly.

When I arrived I was directed to park my car near a really nice looking 1950 Oldsmobile.  I noticed it was parked near a very small island in the parking lot and the owner had set up camp there.  That was really smart thinking and I made a mental note to look for strategic parking locations at the next show I attend.  The owner of the car was an extremely nice gentleman in his 80’s who did all the work on the car by himself except for the body and paint work.  What really caught my attention was that the transmission, which was original to the car, was a 4 speed automatic.  For a modern car that is nothing special, but for a 1950’s vintage car I thought that was exceptional.  I spent quite a bit of time chatting with the owner and really enjoyed our conversation.

Here’s a picture of the 1950 Oldsmobile.

Another gentleman I met owned a 1960 Cadillac El Dorado.  He spent some time explaining the restoration process for that car, and informed me that just the interior alone had cost him $10,000.  I could believe it considering how much leather it must have taken to cover the huge front and back seats, along with the door panels and the rest of the interior trim panels.  That car was huge.  It had been updated with modern running gear, steering, and brakes.  I’m not sure how the car ended up in the stock class, but it was a really well done car.  It won both 1st in class as well as best in show.  Here’s a picture of the car.

The judging was done by the entrants themselves, where each entrant selected and voted for the car they felt was the best in each class.  Much to my surprise, my car won 3rd place in its’ class.  I had no expectations of winning a trophy, and there were at least three cars that I felt were better than mine.  As an added bonus I won a raffle for a bucket full of car care supplies.  That more than reimbursed me for my entrance fee.  All in all it was a really good day, and i can’t wait to attend another show.

The weather has been pretty warm this week and I had some time to work on the car between my honey do assignments.  I finished installing the few remaining pieces of weather strip and the wind lace for the headliner.  I ended up having to remove and reinstall one of the interior quarter trim panels as it wasn’t seated properly and wouldn’t permit the wind lace to be installed.  I’m not crazy about the headliner, but it will be something that I will just have to live with.  I also finished up a couple of easy jobs under the hood by installing the windshield washer and the fan shroud.  The car has never had a fan shroud in all of the time that I’ve owned it.  It hasn’t had an overheating problem, but I’ve been told it is supposed to have one.  So now it has one.  I also replaced the trunk weatherstrip with a new one that is softer and compresses more easily.  It seems to fit much better than the other one I had installed.

At this point the car is pretty much together minus some detailing that it needs.  I decided to reward myself by backing the car out into the driveway and washing it.  I haven’t applied any wax yet but it looks pretty good.  I also took a quick stab at cleaning all of the dust from the body shop out of the engine compartment.  It looks better but it is still very dusty.  I need to dedicate a whole afternoon just to get it cleaned up.  Maybe one day next week I can work on it some more.  I planned to go for a short ride, but before I left I snapped a few pictures.  Here they are.

After taking the pictures I went for a short 20 minute ride.  There were a few squeaks but they most likely came from the polyurethane bushings I put on the car years ago.  The engine ran smooth and had a fair bit of torque but I think it can do better.  I plan to advance the timing a few degrees and see how it likes it.  My biggest complaint was the rear view mirrors.  Both of the mirrors kept loosening up and losing their adjustment.  For the passenger side I could never get it to adjust so that I could actually see behind me.  Once I got back to my driveway I removed the mirrors and found a screw inside that I tightened up.  That kept the mirrors from coming loose.  I plan to work with that adjustment some more and I think I may actually be able to get the passenger side mirror to be useful.

Spring is right around the corner, at which time I plan to finish up my post paint reassembly.  I did find a warm day here and there, so I was able to accomplish a few small tasks.  Within the next few weeks I hope to be able to wrap up most of the remaining items.

I found some time to look at the rear quarter window that wouldn’t move.  I had to take apart some of the interior panels that I had refinished and installed, but it was a pretty small job.  The plastic rollers had crumbled and disintegrated, so I ordered a new pair.  The parts are here for when I get an opportunity to install them.

I managed to get the trunk lid and lower door weatherstripping glued into place.  I’m not happy with the trunk lid fit now.  Before it would shut with one finger.  After installing the weatherstrip I needed to slam it shut.  I’ve been leaving it to see if the weatherstrip will compress some.  But I may need to remove it and try again.  But the door bottom weatherstrip appears to fit fairly well.  I went ahead and installed the sound deadener inside the doors, the window lower stops, watershields, door panels, arm rest pads, door handles, and window cranks.  The doors are now pretty well buttoned up.

Next I went back to work on the trunk.  I installed the rest of the sound deadener and insulation.  I had purchased a carpet kit to install in place of the factory trunk mat.   I spent quiet a bit of time attempting to wrestle all of the pieces into place.  It’s OK for now, but I need to go back and adjust the fit a little bit more after the weather warms up.  I think I may also have a few more pieces of insulation I can install in the trunk as well.

I also decided to purchase a molded headliner to use in place of the original moonskin fabric style.  That took a lot of wrestling and poking of holes to get installed.  I haven’t finished it yet, and I’m not completely happy with the fit.  It is just a tiny bit too short to reach the front and rear windshield weather strip which is used to hold the headliner in place.  I have a plan to hold it up that should work fine and not be very visible.  I’ll post more along woth some pictures once I have completed the installation.

Over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, I plan to finish up the rear quarter window, interior, and trunk.  That leaves a few items under the hood like the front weatherstripping and windshield washer.  I also have the wheel well moldings to install.  My vintage license plates are back from the restorer and ready to install as well.I most likely have a few other trim parts to install, which I will inventory as soon as I go back through my parts list and parts bin.  But the end is pretty close and I can enjoy the upcoming car cruise and show season.

More to come, hopefully soon.

I haven’t posted anything for close to a month.  The main reason is that I haven’t accomplished much on the car due to the cold weather.  Maybe i need to get a garage heater.  But I haven’t been completely idle.  It’s been a sort of one step forward one step backward type of project right now.

I went to install the license plates and license plate frames on the car.  I found the plates to be straight and unbent, but the paint on them was in pretty sad shape.  I also discovered that the rubber bumpers on the front splash guard are missing and the back ones have been painted over.  I had a license plate installation kit to replace the fasteners, but I will need to order the rubber bumpers. Not a big issue and I can work without them for now

I made a trip to the local Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) and returned home with a pair of new historic tags which I put on the car.  I also sent a pair of 1967 plates I had to be restored.  That process will most likely take 2 or 3 months.  Once I receive those tags back I can license them under Maryland’s Year of Manufacture (YOM) regulations so that I can display those tags on the car.  I will post pictures of the restored tags once I get them back.

While I wasn’t ready to tackle any of the glued in weatherstripping, I started tackling the belt line weather strip and upper door opening weatherstrip.  To install the belt line weatherstrip I needed to remove the window lower stops so that I could drop the window down into the door for access.  One of the stops came right out but the other one crumbled and fell apart.  I have since ordered two new stops but haven’t installed them yet.  I was able to get the belt line weather strip installed OK.  After I installed the rear quarter belt line weather strip I found that the passenger side quarter window wouldn’t roll up and down anymore.  I need to take that part of the interior back apart and fix the window once the weather gets a bit warmer.

I continued on with the weather strip and installed the channels in the door opening and the associated weather stripping.  That took a while but went in OK.  Then I finished up with the door post and rear quarter end seals.  I’m not 100% happy with the fit of those parts and may revisit them.  But for now I can work with what I’ve got.

The last piece of weather strip that I installed was the seal that goes at the rear of the hood.  It is held on by clips that press into the weather strip and then into the cowl at the back of the hood.  The clips were a pain to press into the weather strip because I had to make holes in the rubber for them.  That required some measuring using painter’s tape and some careful work to make sure the holes weren’t too big.  Otherwise the clips wouldn’t stay in the weather strip and just pull back out.  I spent quite a bit of time making sure I didn’t go overboard on making the holes.

I still had a bit of trim to install on the hood so I went to work on that next.  The hood has letters spelling FORD across the front edge.  They normally attach using letter with pins that go through holes in the leading edge of the hood.  My hood didn’t have the holes for the pins so I cut the pins off of the letters I had and used 3M emblem adhesive tape to attach the letters.  That required some very careful trimming of the tape to make it conform to the shape of the letters.  I found an article in Mustang Monthly that specified where the letters attach, marked my hood with painters tape, and pressed the letters on.  Once that was completed I attached my new hood lip molding.

My old drip rail moldings where fairly beat up so I did a but of work straightening them.  They didn’t come out great but I have been told that it is better to keep the old moldings rather than use the reproductions which apparently don’t fit very well.  The old moldings snapped right into place with no problems at all.  They still have a few dents and dings but you don’t see them until you look closely at the car.

After all this work the car is getting very close to being completed.  I began to worry about my insurance since it isn’t really designed for classic cars.  My coverage was for the actual cash value, which translates to the book value of the car less any depreciation.  A car as old as mine wouldn’t be worth very much using that valuation methodology.  But my insurance company is affiliated with a company that specializes in classic car insurance.  I contacted them and their policies are based on an agreed value for the car.  That means that the insurance company and i agree on the value of the car up front, and if anything happens to the car that is the value they will use when settling a claim.  They have some restrictions on how the car is used, how many miles a year it is driven, and it must be parked in a locked garage at my home when not in use.  I sent them some pictures of the car and the valued it at $24,000.  The premium was less than I am currently paying as well, so I made the switch to the classic car insurance on the spot.

I keep watching the weather forecast for some warm days, but there don’t appear to be any coming within the next week.  I’ll continue to chip away at the car during the next few weeks or even months.  If I get anything accomplished I’ll post a new blog entry.  But it may not be anytime soon depending on the weather.  Up next I want to finish with the weather stripping and then finish up the interior by fixing the rear quarter window and installing the headliner.

We had another nice weather day and I had some free “away from family” time.  I decided that I could get the most “bang for the buck” by working on the trim for the front of the car.  The car’s “mouth” looked pretty lonely without a grill or trim.  I had already refurbished most of the parts and purchased  new mounting hardware so I was able to just jump right in.

First up was the wide trim that is installed in front of the grill.  I still had some original Ford pieces that I had repainted.  The plasticized chrome portions were a bit scratched  but overall they looked OK.  They went on fairly easily and I was ready for the next pieces of trim in no time.

Next up was the narrow chrome strips that cover up the screws for the wide trim.  My old trim was pretty bent up so I had purchased new trim and mounting clips.  I was very careful to position the mounting clips so that the chrome strips lined up with the wide trim and the headlight buckets.  Unfortunately several of the new mounting clips broke during that process.  Luckily I was able to salvage enough used clips on the old trim I was discarding to make up for any that broke.  Other than the broken clips there were no issues installing this trim and I was now ready to move on to installing the grill.

I took the old grill that I had repainted down off the shelf in my garage where it had been sitting for about 15 years or so  I brushed off the cobwebs and carefully dropped it down into place.  After that it was a simple job to bolt it into place.  The pony and corral and fog lights were the next parts to come down off the shelf.  They had even more dust and cobwebs on them but they looked OK for 47 year old parts.  I had installed fog light support brackets on the grill when I repainted it so the new fog lights bars slid right into place.  I bolted it all together and connected the wires. Then I stood back to admire my work.  I don’t have any pictures right now but as soon as I back the car up out of the garage I will take a few and post them here.

A quick test showed that the fog lights functioned perfectly.  I have to admit that I doubt they will provide much value as far as lighting goes.  They are more for show.  I just happen to like the way they look on the car, even though technically they aren’t correct for a non GT car.

My last job of the day was to tackle the front bumper guards.  I had requested that Herbie install them when he painted the car, but he forgot to do so.  From talking to Herbie and from reading online it sounded like it was possible to install the bumper guards without removing the front bumper.  A quick survey under the car revealed that it was an extremely tight fit.  So I crawled underneath and spent what was probably the next 2 or 3 hours attempting to insert and tighten down 4 bolts, two per side.  Looking back on the job now I would have to say that it would have probably been faster to just remove the bumper for the install.  But I was able to finish the job without damaging the new paint job so I’m happy with the results.  A little hard work can be good for the soul sometimes.

Work will probably slow down or even stop for a while until either the weather begins to warm up or I obtain a heater for the garage.  But I’m sure I’ll find some Mustang related work to do inside my house.  And when I do I’ll post it here.

At 7:30 AM this morning I heard a package being delivered.  Could it be the tail light housing being delivered this early in the morning?  I went down stairs and opened the front door in anticipation of seeing a box of dried fruit or a fruit cake.  To my delight I instead found a package from the Mustang parts vendor.  Upon opening it I found the tail light housing I had ordered.  I was anxious to get to work installing it but it hadn’t warmed up outside yet and it was raining as well.  So of course that meant that I went out to the garage and got to work anyway.

The tail light housing was the first item I tackled.  I had new gaskets for it as well.  I polished up the original lens and it came out OK so I put the housing back together.  Then I placed the housing inside the trunk and inserted the new bezels to hold everything in place.  A set of new bulbs went in and I was then ready to test both lights out.  I flipped on the emergency flashers and walked around the car to check all the turn signal lights.  They all were working fine so I moved on to the next project.

Since I was working on lighting and was at the back of the car I chose to tackle the backup lights next.  I had new housings and attaching hardware all ready to go.  I had also installed new LED bulbs in the housings and tested them on my bench using a 12 volt power supply.  I learned that the bulbs were polarized and would only light up if they were inserted the correct way.  I’m glad I decided to test them before installing them on the car so that I could get the polarity correct and prevent me from chasing my own tail attempting to diagnose some non-working backup lights.

I found it a bit challenging getting the backup lights installed with the rear splash pan installed on the car.  There was very little room to maneuver around the rear leaf spring shackles and the exhaust tips.  I eventually decided to unbolt the ends of the splash pan to gain some additional clearance.  I was concerned that I might scratch or chip the paint but in the end everything went together OK.  A quick test of the backup lights showed that they both worked.

I was on a roll and didn’t want to stop just yet.  So I removed the rear bumper and rear quarter end caps so that I could install the end cap molding.  I had new hardware and gaskets for the end caps so I installed them as well.  The molding fit fine and everything went back together with no new scratches or paint chips.  I was careful to try and line everything back up the way it was when the paint and pin striped were applied.  I think it came out fairly well.  Here are a few pictures so that you can judge for yourself.  Try to ignore the dirty license plate and messy garage.  I’ll try to address both of those issues later.

At this point I put away the tools and took a break.  I may take a shot at installing some of the weather stripping later today.  If not it may be as much as a week before I have an opportunity to continue working on this project.  I’ll just have to wait and see how things work out with family time over the holidays.  So until then…see you later.

It was a cold, foggy, rainy day today but I just really wanted to get some more work accomplished.  I decided to start out with something easy, installing the rubber bumpers under the trunk lid.  They popped right into place and the trunk lid closes a bit tight.  It looks like the lines for the rear chrome trim aren’t going to line up quite as nicely as I hoped.  I may have to do a bit of tweaking on the trunk lid alignment later on.

After the bump stops I moved on to the passenger door.  I installed the lock and door handle and checked to ensure that they both operated correctly.  I’ve done that job several times now so it is getting easier.  The best tip I can offer is to make sure you are wearing long sleeves so that you don’t scrape up your arms on the door.  I have an old sweatshirt that I wear just for these occasions.

The Scott Drake fender letters were next on my list.  I was a bit surprised to find that the inserts that press into the holes in the fenders and hold in the letters were made of metal.  All the ones I’ve used in the past were plastic.  I think I like the metal inserts better, although they can tear up your fingers a bit when you press them in.

I was running out of time since I started late and only had a couple of hours to work with.  For my last feat I installed the rubber bump stops that go in the fenders along the sides of the hood.  The new bump stops were all the same height, but I strongly recollect the originals as being two sizes, long in the back and short in the front.  I need to do a bit of research and possibly change the rear bump stops.  But for now the short ones will fit.

My new tail light housing should be arriving tomorrow afternoon.  The weather is predicted to be warmer, but it has a high probability of rain as well.  Hopefully I can squeeze in some more work tomorrow and at least get the tail lights installed and working.  If the weather permits I will also install the back up lights.  If so I can see how I like the new LED back up light bulbs I’m planning to install.

Until tomorrow.

It wasn’t really all that warm or nice of a day today, but I couldn’t keep myself from starting the reassembly after paint.  I started at the back of the car because it was facing into the sun.  That at least gave me a little bit of warmth.  I felt that the most important things to address first were the trunk lock and fuel filler.  Without the trunk lock the only way to gain access to the trunk was using a long screwdriver.  After finding the new gasket in my parts inventory I made short work of the trunk lock.  The gasket made it a much tighter fit but perseverance and some pressure locked it into place.  The fuel filler was another easy job.  As a temporary install for painting I had it installed inside the gas tank with a spare gas cap.  I simply removed the filler neck, put on the gasket, and inserted it through the hole in the tail light panel.  A little WD-40 helped the neck slip inside of the rubber tank inlet hose.  Then I screwed on the pop-open gas cap.

My confidence was building so I decided to continue with the tail light bezels.  I had new gaskets and bezels ready, so I removed the left hand side housing and disassembled it for cleaning.  Most of it looked pretty good, but there was a bit of rust in the bottom where some water must have collected.  I scraped off the rust, reassembled the housing using the new gaskets, and then installed the housing and bezels.  Then I started on the passenger side.  It also had a bit of rust.  When I scraped it away I was left with a hole in the housing.  I had to leave that tail light for another day after I get a new housing, which is now on order.

At this point I was energized and didn’t want to stop just yet.  The trunk lid molding looked fairly easy to install.  It turned out it was a easy as it looked.  Then I put on the MUSTANG letter that go across the trunk lid.  They don’t line up quite as nicely as I would like.  The holes in the trunk lid were made by the factory so either the reproduction letters are a bit off or the assembly line worker didn’t make the holes quite straight.  That’s OK, it will be good enough for my purposes as I’m not building a show car.

The running horse fender emblems were next to go on.  It took quite a bit of force, but I was finally able to get them installed without breaking them.  I haven’t installed the MUSTANG fender letters yet, but i have them ready in my parts inventory. I also decided to install the hood mounted turn signals.  That was a really easy job, but I still need to check and make sure that they still work.

Next I turned my attention to the driver’s door.  I installed the rear view mirror, door lock, and door handle.  I made sure the lock worked and that the door opened correctly.  I wanted to start on the passenger door, but it was getting late and I had other things to do.  I compromised by installing the passenger side rear view mirror.  Then I stood back and admired my work.  One thing that stood out to me was that the rear view mirrors and door handles have been sitting in my garage since the late 1980’s.  They fit OK but I wonder whether newer reproduction parts would look or fit better.  That question will most likely go unanswered.

The weather forecast for next week includes a couple of warm days.  Hopefully I will find some time to continue the reassembly process in the next few days.

Yesterday I got the call from Herbie stating that he was finishing up my car.  He said he was doing some polishing and compounding of the car and that it would be ready for me to pick up the next day.  He gave me the price which I felt was very reasonable.  Herbie doesn’t do show car quality paint jobs although his work looks nice.  The price reflected that, which I was aware of and happy with.  I wanted a car I could drive rather than a show car that I could sit on a pedestal and worship.  I made plans and prepared for my trip to pick up the car.

Today I hopped on the subway and rode it into the city.  From there I rode a commuter train to the town where Herbie is located.  I had to walk the last 1.5 miles which wasn’t too bad.  I could use the exercise.  When I arrived I saw my car sitting in the driveway under an overhang.  I called for Herbie and we looked the car over.  He pulled it out into the sun so we could see better.

The car looked pretty nice.  I could see he had spent some time compounding and polishing.  If I looked close I could see some imperfections and blemishes, but the car really looks great from a foot or two away.  He added some red pin stripes along the body lines that are very similar to the optional accent stripes that Ford offered back in 1967.  Overall I was satisfied, so I paid Herbie and drove the car home.

Here are some pictures of how the car looked when I arrived home.  I still have a lot of work to do installing the trim and weather stripping.  The interior needs a really good cleaning too.  My Winter project awaits.

My Mustang still has the original style sealed beam headlights.  They were never particularly bright, but I had learned to live with them.  For years the only alternatives seemed to be halogen sealed beam replacements.  I never bothered to upgrade in the past, but decided to see what my options are considering the improvements that have been made to lighting since the 1980’s.

The sealed beam halogen replacement bulb is still an option.  It is probably better than my pair of old sealed beams, but based on some of my research it may not be much better than a new pair of sealed beam units.  A really nice upgrade is to the newer H4 type of headlight.  This is the same as used on my 1997 Mustang.  I know that HID and LED conversions also exist, but the legality of these conversions is questionable.  I also would like a stock appearing unit, so the H4 conversion seemed to be the best choice.

To upgrade to an H4 bulb I needed to purchase some glass housings that bolt in the stock location and accept the newer H4 bulb.  I found a couple that I liked.  One was made by Hella and the other was Cibie/Valeo.  Some research on candlepower forums revealed that the Cibie unit was a better choice due to their light pattern.  Also for me I liked the look better as it was less flat than the Hella, although they both look fine.  I also looked at bulbs and settled on the Phillips X-Treme Vision based on their performance and that I got a really good price on them.  I went ahead and ordered the housing and bulbs and continued to plan.

One of the issues with upgrading the lighting on older Mustangs is in the headlight wiring harness itself.  The current for the headlights has to make its’ way to the headlight switch and dimmer switch in the car’s interior, then back to the headlights.  With old wiring and the length of the wiring, voltage drop can be introduced.  That’s one issue.  The current carrying capacity of the stock wiring is the second issue.  The newer and brighter headlights can sometimes require more current than the car’s wiring is designed to handle.  The headlight switch contains an auto-resetting thermal circuit breaker to protect the headlight circuit.  The increased current can trip the breaker causing the headlights to turn off.  Once the breaker has cooled off it turns the headlights back on until the breaker heats up again.  This causes a blinking affect where the headlights turn on and off when in use.  This is obviously not acceptable.

The cure for this problem is to use the existing factory headlight wiring as a low current switching circuit and adding a new circuit to handle the increased current.  This allows the existing switches to control the lighting the same as it always has, but provide more current carrying capacity for the headlights.  The higher current wiring will also be much shorter decreasing the voltage drop from the original wiring.  The way to accomplish all of this is to install headlight relays that are turned on and off by the existing wiring.  The high current is switched on and off by the relays.  I also chose to install higher current circuit breakers to protect the new wiring.  The original breaker in the headlight switch would provide the protection for the low current part of the wiring.

My next decision was how best to wire up the new higher current circuit.   I chose to go with overkill and install separate relays for each side of the car along with separate circuit breakers.  I have seen many instances where one pair of relays is used to power both lights.  Two relays are required because there is separate wiring for the low and high beams.  I wanted to isolate the two headlights from each other in case of a failure in one side of my new wiring.  Looking back on it now I think this may have been unnecessary but that’s my thinking and approach.

I planned to install a pair of relays and a circuit breaker in each of two project boxes and then wire them into the headlights.  I also planned to run 12 volts from the starter solenoid to power the circuit.  Getting the 12 volts was easy enough and so was filling the boxes.  The question now was where to insert this into the existing headlight harness.  I had seen three different approaches used.

The first approach was to splice into the existing harness and solder in new connections.  I didn’t really want to cut up my existing harness so I discarded this approach without any more consideration.  Looking back on it now it also had the disadvantage of reusing part of the existing wiring for the high current portion of the circuit.  I’ll explain more about why I think that is a problem in a minute.

The second approach was to purchase an upgrade wiring harness that used the existing headlight plugs to trigger the relays and used new ceramic headlight connectors and bigger gauge wiring.  This had the advantage of using the bigger gauge wiring for greater current carrying capacity along with the ceramic headlight connectors with greater heat tolerance.  I have heard that the original plastic headlight connectors can sometimes melt from the increased heat of the upgraded lighting.  So from a safety standpoint this sounded pretty good.  The downside is that it takes a bit of effort to remove if the stock look is required for shows.  Not too bad but the third approach I looked at was a lot more “plug and play”.

The third approach is to insert the new headlight boxes I was building in between the headlight wiring harness and the headlight extension wiring.  This would make it very simple to install and remove the relay wiring, as I only needed to separate one plug on each side of the car and insert my new wiring.  If I needed to remove it for any reason I could just unplug my relay box and plug the original wiring back together.  This looked like a great approach and I made plans to build everything this way.  But then I realized that the original headlight extensions used smaller gauge wiring and a plastic headlight connector.  I really felt it was important to have the heavier gauge wiring and ceramic connectors for safety.  So I returned to method number two.

I have almost all of the parts in hand but won’t be completing the project until my car is back from paint.  I can begin building the relay boxes and some of the wiring, but I need the car here so that I can take some measurements and find where I have room for the relay boxes and wiring.  This project isn’t a really high priority at this point, but just a “nice to have” item.  I’ll continue to work on it as time permits and will come back and post some photos when I get a chance.  Hopefully I’ll have the car back from paint in the next week or two.