A few new toys

[old yellow 78]

I bought a few things the other day off of EB that I had been wanting for awhile to upgrade OY. I found a very nice Chronometer WITH all the wiring still intact, and from the same seller, a DELAY wiper/headlight switch, also in very nice shape except for slight wear on the LOW/HIGH wiper indicator. Not really sure that OY even has the wiring harness for the Chronometer hiding somewhere in the back of the dash, but I'm sure I can make it work. As for the hookups for the delay wiper, I'm also not sure that it is simply a "plug in" but even if it isn't, it shouldn't be too hard to make it work. I remember buying an aftermarket delay wiper unit many years ago to convert one of my F's to delay, and it was easy. But if it will simply plug in, that will be great. Not that I would ever even drive OY in the rain, but, still nice to have I suppose. Still working on getting a mint unused ashtray from a guy I know, who seems to enjoy torturing me with it. Now if I could only find that three spoke Special Edition steering wheel that is sitting out there waiting for me somewhere!

 

[Jack Meoff]

Very nice new toys.
I love those clocks.

 

[kkritsilas]

Anybody know how to repair those clocks, or anybody who does it? I have one working one (81 Mirada CMX), and two non-working ones ('80 Cordoba, 82 Mirada ase). I like how the one in the CMX looks, so I would like to get the other two going.

 

[old yellow 78]

It looks like the unit can open up by bending the taps up on the surrounding metal bracket that attaches it to the dash, but from what I can see inside through the plastic, there is just a small circuit board and the LED unit. Not likely to be much repairable in there. Best bet might be to find another working unit, but check to see if it might be as simple as a loose or grounded wire first. There is an NOS unit on EB right now, but it is $99.00.
--- Post updated ---
Does anybody happen to know if all the F's had the wiring capability for the Chronometer? OY never had a clock at all, but I wonder if the wiring is back in the dash somewhere. Also, has anybody replaced the two speed wiper unit with a delay wiper unit? Is it Plug and Play, or does it have to be rigged? I can't get to OY to find out right now due to a high tide of garage crap.

 

[Darth-Car]

Voice Of Experience Here! That delay wiper switch will not work in your car. The wiring will not match your current wiring connector. You can rewire your system to work high speed only with this switch, but you will never have delay. To have the delay function you need the delay wire harness, and the external intermittent wiper delay module.

 

[old yellow 78]

Nuts. That's not good news. Oh well, it was an impulse buy. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Aspen500]

You SHOULD have the clock wiring plug in, far as I know. My car originally had no clock but the wiring was there. Also has the connector for the wiper delay module clipped to the dash brace where the module would go, the extra connector near the wiper switch and an unused single wire connector at the motor, but it never had delay wipers.
Also has all the wiring and connectors needed for A/C but only had a heater originally.

You never know, take a look. You might get lucky and the wiring will be there, just unused.

 

[old yellow 78]

Well, THAT is some potential good news! The build of these cars was so strange and haphazard and it seems that there can be a lot of variation between them. It would seem to me that Mopar wouldn't have bothered to put a different wiring harness in for all the potential option combinations, and that it would have been much cheaper to just not use the specific wiring for options not selected. But, as you say, "you never know." Unfortunately, I can't actually get to OY at easily at this point as I have all sorts of construction supplies stacked up around it. I am hoping to be able to clear out the garage as projects get finished up and then maybe even have the time to mess around with it before too long. I haven't even had the time to put the "new" interior in even though I drove all the way to Oklahoma last Spring to get it. Thank you for your encouraging post!

 

[Darth-Car]

When I did the conversion on my 77 F to install that 77 Lebaron cluster, and cluster carrier, I had true access to everything that that lived behind the carrier, and as much as I would have loved to have found the wiring for the delay wiper switch, or the intermittent rely, it just did not exist in my car. Then again my car was built on Wednesday, Thursday cars could be entirely different. Things were so irregular back in the 70's especially.

 

[Aspen500]

As with all Mopar's, you can never say never.
My car has always seemed kind of odd. Not sure if it's because it's such a late build '79 (June 23rd, 1979) or it was built wrong, or....................Certain things just don't make sense. Almost like they were using what was left in the parts bins or something or used some '80 design parts. Example, the rear bumper "shocks" (part that bolts to the car) are not the same as a '79, the holes are in a different location in the rear cross brace. I had got some really nice ones from an Arizona '79 Aspen and they weren't even close until I modified them.
It never had the front bumper inner brace either. The bolts were always there but absolutely zero evidence they ever held anything on. No witness mark on the rear of the bumper, or a difference in the rust.
It was customer ordered and sold in Wisconsin at a dealership about 80 miles north of me. I'm the second owner and got all the paperwork with the car when I bought it in '87. Special order WI car but it came with the E24 225 California only 90 hp power house. It's just one ef'd up car, lol!

 

[old yellow 78]

Uh oh. OY might have been built on a Tuesday. No telling what I will find when I finally get to check it out. Sort of like waiting for a lottery. Of the two toys, I'd rather be able to use the Chronometer than the delay wiper switch. I also have (somewhere) the non-digital regular clock out of my wrecked '76 Aspen wagon, which might work. Who knows? No disaster if neither one can be used, but it would be nice. Aspen 500, sounds like you really lucked out with yours. Darth-Car, THAT sounds like a very interesting swap-out! Did most of the wiring transfer easily, or did you have to do a lot of re-wiring?

 

[Aspen500]

One thing on the older analog digital clocks. 95% of the time when they quit working all you need to do is pull it apart and clean the contacts on the auto-rewind mechanism and they'll start ticking away,,,,,,,,,,,,,,until the contacts go bad again.

 

[old yellow 78]

As with all Mopar's, you can never say never.
My car has always seemed kind of odd. Not sure if it's because it's such a late build '79 (June 23rd, 1979) or it was built wrong, or....................Certain things just don't make sense. Almost like they were using what was left in the parts bins or something or used some '80 design parts. Example, the rear bumper "shocks" (part that bolts to the car) are not the same as a '79, the holes are in a different location in the rear cross brace. I had got some really nice ones from an Arizona '79 Aspen and they weren't even close until I modified them.
It never had the front bumper inner brace either. The bolts were always there but absolutely zero evidence they ever held anything on. No witness mark on the rear of the bumper, or a difference in the rust.
It was customer ordered and sold in Wisconsin at a dealership about 80 miles north of me. I'm the second owner and got all the paperwork with the car when I bought it in '87. Special order WI car but it came with the E24 225 California only 90 hp power house. It's just one ef'd up car, lol!

Wow! I would bet you are right about it being a late build car. But, Mopar was in dire straights at that point, and who knows what was being used for what back then. You are lucky in both having the wiring harness that you have, and in having all of the original paperwork and knowledge of the history of the car. I have some, but not all of the paperwork for OY, but I do know it's history. The old woman who bought it new in Caynon City, CO had died, and her son then just put it in a storage lot to sit while he contemplated turning it into a "drag car" because with "no power steering and a stick shift, it sucks!" AGGHHH!!!!!!! NOOOO!!!!!!!!! After I had bought it sight unseen in Colorado, but before I flew out to pick it up, I just happened to come across a short video that the grandson of the original owner had taken of it while it sat in the storage lot, and had posted it on YouTube. Thankfully, instead, the son sold the car to the man who flipped it to me. It's not a great video, and OY looks pretty forlorn, but it allowed me to get in touch with them to find out it's entire history. Here is the link to the video if you are interested:

 

[Aspen500]

I don't actually know much of the history except where it was bought new, by who and that it was special ordered (not dealer stock). Paper work was in the glove box in a dealer envelope with the owners manual. Sadly,,,,,,no window sticker though Know I'm the 2nd owner because the original owners name was on the trade in papers. He traded it in for a new 1987 Taurus (why????????????lol) at the dealer where I was Ford tech. What I do know is, it's an odd combination of parts they put together to build!
--- Post updated ---
He was going to drive it in high school but then his Camaro showed up...................Kind of says it all, doesn't it? lol

 

[old yellow 78]

Yep. Really glad that they didn't trash it, or ruin it in any way. As neglected as OY looks in the video, it is actually an extremely solid, interesting wagon. The only rust is some surface rust on the door hinges. The man who flipped it to me had done a little work to the dented front drivers fender, repainted the wheels, and generally cleaned it up. I drove it about 2000 miles home from Pueblo, CO. to Pennsylvania. with only a little brake work first and virtually no trouble during the trip. It was a great road trip! I have a short video of OY from this past summer looking MUCH better than this video, but of course, I can't figure out how to upload it. Really frustrating.
--- Post updated ---

I don't actually know much of the history except where it was bought new, by who and that it was special ordered (not dealer stock). Paper work was in the glove box in a dealer envelope with the owners manual. Sadly,,,,,,no window sticker though Know I'm the 2nd owner because the original owners name was on the trade in papers. He traded it in for a new 1987 Taurus (why????????????lol) at the dealer where I was Ford tech. What I do know is, it's an odd combination of parts they put together to build!
--- Post updated ---
He was going to drive it in high school but then his Camaro showed up...................Kind of says it all, doesn't it? lol

AGH! TAURUS! I once had a '93 Taurus I bought almost new - It was hands down the all time WORST car I have ever owned. The only thing that never broke, malfunctioned, or shorted out on it was the paint. At least the dealer didn't just trash all the paperwork with your Aspen. I think on new cars, they often just remove and toss the window sticker, and then when traded in, anything other than the owners manual get the same. Did you ever try to contact the original owner? My friend found the name of the original owner of his '75 Dart Sport when it was traded in the late 90's. He called her and she was able to give him all sorts of info on it. Very interesting.

 

[Aspen500]

I was a tech at the Ford dealer it was traded in at and I saw the car right after the guy left in his new car so, I got to it before it was even touched. Otherwise I'd never have known the history that I do. At the time I just thought it was a good looking car (wasn't looking for an Aspen,,,,,,,,,,,or any car for that matter) but they only wanted $700 and couldn't pass up a 7 year old car with 72,000 miles for that price! Never figured I'd still own it 29 years later. What papers I did have vanished over the years though.
The dealerships I worked at, Ford from '86-'07 and Audi '07-'12 (worst 5 years of my life) always gave the customer the window sticker.

I'm curious as to what you'll find with your wiring when you get at it. Keep us informed!

 

[old yellow 78]

I was a tech at the Ford dealer it was traded in at and I saw the car right after the guy left in his new car so, I got to it before it was even touched. Otherwise I'd never have known the history that I do. At the time I just thought it was a good looking car (wasn't looking for an Aspen,,,,,,,,,,,or any car for that matter) but they only wanted $700 and couldn't pass up a 7 year old car with 72,000 miles for that price! Never figured I'd still own it 29 years later. What papers I did have vanished over the years though.
The dealerships I worked at, Ford from '86-'07 and Audi '07-'12 (worst 5 years of my life) always gave the customer the window sticker.

I'm curious as to what you'll find with your wiring when you get at it. Keep us informed!

Will do, but don't hold your breath. I just posted on Volare4life's thread about his heater core NON-AC heater core and blower about some projects taking years to complete. OY is currently pretty much buried behind a bunch of construction stuff. I sort of bought these two "toys" on impulse, and probably won't even get to OY before Spring unless I move the stuff to the project house. But, it will be interesting to see if that wiring is up under the dash somewhere. I really hope so. In any event, I think I will contact the seller and see if he has the wiper delay module that clips to the dash brace so that if the wiring IS there, I could put that in too and hopefully make it work.

 

[Darth-Car]

AZ parts has the delay modules in stock.

 

[old yellow 78]

AZ parts has the delay modules in stock.

Thanks, that's much easier!