2021

• 20210113 - Dashboard Dilemmas

A month gone and into another year. Where to start?
Back to the seat glides. Still couldn't believe those huge square nuts belonged next to the round glides in the floor sleeves. Upon taking the screws out (again) I rediscovered that the heads were countersunk from the inside. Brad thinks they are fine. Having a devil of a time inserting top rails into bottom rails. Once together, they are staying there!
Brought out the wiring harness purchased from Moss 40+ years ago. Expected the insulation to be brittle, but was surprisingly supple. Some ends have terminals, but most are just clipped. Went home and copied schematics for the Singer 9, 4AB and got lucky and found one for the Singer SM 1500! Pretty simple wiring, but just hope wires are long enough and are the same colors as depicted on the schematic.
I located the starter switch which we initially installed on the dashboard. Later, Ryan and I discovered that there is actually a long cable like the choke that snakes from the starter knob on the dash board to the actual switch which is mounted engine-side of the firewall, right above the starter. Makes perfect sense...except the gas line to the fuel pump is in the way!
Found the dimmer switch which should be floor mounted. It's internally threaded for BSF none of which I have. Removed the broken screw and retapped for 10-32 new screws. Will mount next time.
The horn switch is missing, but should be an easy momentary-on switch to find.
Ryan rearranged the confusing metal brace on the driver's side that connects from under the dashboard via a circular rod to the frame. It "almost" fits, but there is a lot of congestion in the area with the brake fluid container, fuel pump, starter switch, and emergency brake. (Tighter than a bullfighter's pants).

20210114 - Two-day Progress
Bring braided 240v. Wire next time for starter to switch connection. Brad will order the cable from Positive battery to starter switch.
Brad located metal tubing from oil pressure gauge to block but determined that it would leak like a sailor after three pints! He took the fitting that screws into the block and retapped it for a brass flange 1/8" tubing. Running the copper tubing to the dashboard, he soldered it to the fitting that screws into the oil pressure gauge. Nice work!
I, in the meantime, did the final fitting of the choke cable to both carbs.
I also tried to fit the old starter cable to the switch, which now fits to the firewall since Brad bent the gas delivery line so it would fit. I opened the dashboard hole with a file but still, the cable was 3/8" - ½" too short. Brad ordered a new universal choke cable so that we can use it as the starter cable and cut it to the length we need.
Need to shave the top piece of wood so that voltage regulator will fit. I should also pull the fuse block and clean it up.
Brad reversed the throttle linkage which will make both carbs work in tandem.
Find or buy a horn switch.
Fit seat belts.

20210202 - Structural
Brad thinks we need braided copper wire twice the diameter of what I brought! Yikes! A starter must draw a bunch of amps! He was under a ton of problems today, so I worked solo and tried not to bother.
The choke cable works well but looks a little wonky from the driver's side of the dashboard (countersunk).
The new choke cable which is now the starter pull cable is too narrow for the old hole in the dashboard. Washers might solve the problem, but the shaft of this new cable is too short for the thickness of the wooden dash. Drill a bigger opening to countersink it like the one for the choke using a spade bit? How to keep it centered so it won't chew up the dash?
Forgot the drum sander attachment to notch the wood so the voltage regulator will fit. Next time...
Noticed the throttle cable now kinks as it tries to pass through the firewall. Must fix before there is extra damage.
Read a great article in the Singer newsletter by a guy who made his own wiring harness. This is going to be very helpful when we start stringing wire.
Still can't find my sack of seat belts. Not important now, however.
Bring cloth tape measure next time to measure circumference of the glove box so to make box from galvanized flashing riveted into an oval cylinder with a wooden bottom.
Spent most of my time finding the proper bolts to fit the diagonal struts that join the angled strap supports that travel from under the dashboard across and under the tool area, angle down to attach to the firewall and are then joined with the struts down to the frame. Tedious and tight, weird and clunky but done for now.

20210205 - Springs, Spades and Sanding
I remembered the barrel sander but eventually ran out of juice in the drill. I'm close and will finish releasing the wood to accept the voltage regulator next time.
After consultation with Brad, we feel the best solution to the pull starter cable is to countersink from underneath. I'll need to take the 90° drill and spade bits next time along with the cloth measuring tape for the glove box.
The next consultation was about the accelerator cable kinking. Brad says this is due to no spring tension for the return. We discussed various points to fasten springs. I searched what I had left at the shop, then came home to return with a handful of possibilities. Some photos show single springs; others show duals.
Brad is ordering and making the battery cables and those that lead from the pull switch to the starter and the ground.

20210211 - Chewing wood to make things fit
Using the barrel sander and a rotary rasp I hacked out space for the voltage regulator. Not beautiful, but the regulator now fits using long slotted screws and locknuts.
Using my 90° drill and a 1" spade bit, I actually centered a countersink hole from the rear of the dashboard. After finding an appropriate washer for the front, the starter pull cable is fit and looks great!
Brad had ordered the battery cables but was too tied up to install.

20210217 - Cover up and BIG wires
I removed the voltage regulator and fuse block, stained and sealed the wood I'd chewed up the last time and polished up the brass terminals while I was at it.
Brad fitted new negative battery cable and high voltage wire from the starter pull switch to the starter. We have the positive battery terminal now but must remember that the Singer has a POSITIVE ground.
Brad finally discovered that the accelerator cable was kinked and so removed it. He might be able to straighten it and if not, order another one. We spent some time trying different spring tensions at the carbs to return the accelerator pedal. I fashioned a tab which will bolt to the exhaust manifold holding the spring which connects to another tab at the common connection of the accelerator cable and dual accelerator lifters.

20210303 - New Accelerator Cable + Spring
Even though Brad has hired two new mechanics, he is overrun with projects!
I noticed Brad had given up on "fixing" the old kinked accelerator cable. He ordered a new assembly. Good call. As he said, "the worst situation in a car is a stuck accelerator!"
I threaded the new cable through the old sleeve. Brad cut it to the proper length and locked it in with the Allen wrench. I fussed with and lost one of the circles at the firewall end. Next, I found a new "L-shaped" bracket which demanded a longer bolt to fasten it to the exhaust manifold. Of course the threads were buggered so at Brad's suggestion I rethreaded the BSF threads. Voila! It fastened up perfectly and the spring tension will prevent future kinking!

20210310 - Engine Vibration Damper
Brad again too busy to help, so I found a couple of pieces we put aside for "later".
The section that is bolted to the frame is held by two studs welded to the frame on the passenger side. Despite all the nuts I have, I couldn't find two that fit. Finally, I decided the studs were 5/16" x 22 BSF, so I rethreaded with a die and used the tap to clean out the nuts. All now fits beautifully.
I was a bit leery to loosen the common nuts that hold the block to the bell housing as well as the second piece of the engine vibration damper for fear there was critical torque involved. Brad said to go ahead, but "yes" there was critical torque involved. Did the best I could to duplicate torque without using a torque wrench.
Brad thinks there is enough thread to adjust the rubber bumpers at top and bottom of the frame-mounted piece. I'm not so confident, but we'll cross that bridge when the engine starts to rattle!
Brad said he would lay out the wiring harness within the week and give me a call when I should next return.

20210601 -Wiring Harness
Brad started unravelling the wiring harness and comparing the color-coded wires with the only SM 1500 wiring schematic I could find.
Some of the wires match the diagram, but many do not. We always have the option to scrap the harness and start wiring from the battery but both agree it would be nice if we can use most of this harness. We also agree to stick to the positive ground arrangement the factory decided on back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
Some of the wires have bullet plug-ins, others are just snipped and have to be stripped. There are actually 3 harnesses: one is obviously the main while one of the other two must join to supply current to the rear lights (tail, brake and license plate), and the third to the petrol sending unit. The colors, however, do not match...
I researched Singer wiring on the NASOC forum and elsewhere during the week. Found some interesting update on wiring flashing LEDs within the trafficators. Brad explained that the originals only popped out with a constant illumination. To make them flash would also cause them to constantly pop up and down! Makes sense. The update I found adds a separate circuit. The original wiring pops up the trafficator and the new relay and LED mounted chip board flashes once the trafficator is actuated. Brilliant, but not so important now. This will be a modification in the future. For now, we both realize the trafficators (or ANY turn signals) were not supplied at the factory.
I called Moss Motors, spoke to Dan who looked up the number I supplied from the harness I bought from them back in the 70s. Yes, the number is in their system but has been purged so long ago that only zeros occupy all the cells where info used to reside. No help.
Brad had a continuity meter which showed weird and non-intuitive connections between the red wires (ostensibly used for lighting circuits). I used my limited time to trace continuity and simply tag wires that matched (i.e. Red 1 to Red 1, Red 2 to Red2...). Then I did the same process on the extra harness and discovered that the brown wires had all sorts of weird connections to each other. Therefore, the system he had me do was valuable after all.
I drilled a 9/16" hole in the wooded firewall to admit wires from under the dashboard to connect to the voltage regulator and the dual fuse block. We figured out where the rest of the harness would be fastened.
I noticed how old and brittle the spark plug/coil wires were and asked Brad to replace them. He said new replacements would all be "noise suppressor" wires now used to prevent interference with the radio. I told him I'd order old style spark plug wires from Moss or somewhere. I ordered a cheap 10' solid core coil of 7mm spark plug wire from Amazon.

20210616 - Eric & Spark Wires

My good friend and former student, Eric Baker, was in town. He has prodded me for many years to get on with the rebuilding of the Singer. So, I drafted him to come with me this morning and help replace the spark plug wires. Amazon provided the old school wires, and we provided the muscle. Brad helped greatly by contributing a box of newish spark plug wires which gave up their rubber boots which will cover my 4 sparking plugs and their nice gripping metal components. We used the old copper/brass washers which slide into and make contact with the distributor. I wouldn't say it went totally smoothly, but no blood was sacrificed, and until the spark is tested, we will have to mark the morning as a success. In any case, it was great to be working with Eric once again!

20210625 - Don't need no stinkin' Harness

Brad had done a bit more tracing of the color-coded wires from the harness, however, there are far more wires than are indicated by the schematic, AND the colors do not always match!
We both concluded that this Moss harness was made to service several 50's vintage British cars, and that we'd be better off going wire-by-wire and just follow the schematic as best we could. Then, we can bundle groups of wires and make our own stinkin' harness.
We cut apart the sticky harness electrical tape mess, and he stretched out the wires by length.
Suddenly the task became easier as we wired the horn, the petrol sender and the fuel pump in a matter of minutes rather than banging our heads against the practical and the theoretical wires snaking out of the harness.
The horn once had screws which compressed against wires, but had lost the screws somewhere along the way. Miraculously, I found two small bolts with threads which matched, and we were back in business.

20210701 - Solo wiring

Wednesday postponed to Friday and still Brad was overloaded on both sides of the building.
I studied the schematic and soldiered on alone.
My plan was to complete the logical routes emanating from the dual fuse block starting by trying to identify wires from the recently harness-stripped pile - a sticky, filthy, tangled mass.
I found two yellow wires of different gauge, a thick brown with blue and several whites. After several brief but valuable consultations with Brad, I successfully stripped, threaded and fastened all but the last lead to the generator which needed a wide spade female that neither of us had. Brad ordered it (hopefully more than one since I think the starter and dip switch will also need wider spades).

20210719 - Solo wiring II

Evidently the spade females did not arrive. Brad will reorder.
He was even busier than before! There are only inches between vehicles on the south side and the two young techs have their hands busy on the north side. He seems very stressed.
I made two wire connections and then decided to start identifying wire color groups. I cleaned and IDed groups and placed them on the passenger floorboard.
I made a realization that makes me smile about British wiring: a Blue with Red designated wire is assigned a number on the schematic. Also a Red with Blue wire is given a number. Which is the correct wire?? So far that hasn't been an issue, but.....
This doesn't sound like much progress, but I feel the 2.5 hrs. were well spent.

20210902 - Travel and more Wiring

After traveling to both coasts for multiple weeks, we are back at it. Brad again agreed to work with me for an afternoon, but was once again pulled away by dozens of interruptions.
The diagram below tells the whole story of progress made on wiring. Since neither the front or rear fenders (wings) are attached, it makes little sense to wire tail, running, brake and head lights. The trafficators will need their own separate circuit.
Once Brad helped me see the difference between the blue wires and the green ones things sorted themselves out nicely. Except for some end-of-the-line lighting circuits, we are very close to our goal of getting the motor running set back in January!
Brad found and attached the wider spade connector for the generator. He also cut some small bits of hose connecting the radiator to the head and block.
The dimmer switch had to be removed, but was wired up to the dashboard elements and left with trailing wires which will ultimately connect with the headlamps. I also discovered that the windscreen wiper motor I have is not electric, rather vacuum driven. Hmmmm.