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My 1989 Crown Victoria.

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    Auxiliary Power Connector / Cigarette Lighter

    I added an additional cigarette lighter to my car as an auxiliary power source for my dash cam. I plan on keeping it buried in the dash with the dash cam charger cable plugged in. (I plan to route the line up along the A pillar and to the cam but as luck would have it, the cable broke so I'll be soldering and fixing that crap tomorrow)

    For this, I picked up the cheapest cigarette lighter that AutoZone carried. I think it was around $3 and change. I then fabricated some wires with some quick disconnect plugs. I chopped off the pole plug that was in the cars wiring harness for the cigarette lighter and swapped it for a female disconnect plug. The wires I made had two male disconnect plugs to plug into the now modified cigarette wiring harness, then a branch for the original cigarette lighter using the original pole plug and male disconnect. For the new cigarette lighter, I just used two male disconnects as the new one didn't require a pole connector. For all the ends, I soldered the wires in and the wrapped them in heat shrink tubing. Where the new wiring I made plugged into the existing harness, I connected the connectors and wrapped them in electrical tape so that nothing could accidentally touch. (Blowing a fuse).

    Here's some pics:

    Here's some pics of the positive cable. You can see how the branch was done and how the connectors where set up:
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    Here's the whole new wiring harness for the dual cigarette power outlets:
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    Close up of the heat shrink tubing on the connectors. I went to the very tip so that they couldn't accidentally touch anything they weren't plugged into:
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    Here's the new port sitting just popped out the side of my lower dash on the passengers side. Once I fix the cable, I'll plug it in and tuck it back behind the kick panel.
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    I used the same gauge wire as what was already there. It's still powered by the same 20 amp fuse. I don't plan on ever hitting both cigarette lighters at the same time. (I stopped smoking a few years ago ) At most, one will be running the dash cam and the other might run a GPS. If that pulls 20amps... something is wrong.

    '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

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      Crappy power cable for the dash cam broke... cut off the end and soldered on a new one. Then heat shrinked that as well. Good to go!

      '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

      Comment


        Homebrew Alarm System Update

        Alarm system still going. My friend is in the process of etching the board. The first board, the acid ended up eating the leads as well. Second board is printed but needs to be touched up with a paint marker over the lead lines so the acid won't eat it this time.

        Attached is a pic. You can see the old messed up board underneath.
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        Hopefully I'll be able to start soldering on the components early next week!

        '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

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          Heater Core Flush

          Flushed the heater core as my heat has been terrible for about a year now. Seems a bit better. I'll have a better idea after the next super cold day. There was a ton of nasty crap that came out of the heater core during the reverse flush.

          Setting up...
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          Nasty nasty output: Kept flushing until it ran clear. Did the flush in both directions just to make sure. When the hose was first attached, nothing came out for a few seconds and then BAM tons of sediment.
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          '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

          Comment


            YUM! Looks like roast beef gravy!!


            "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

            "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

            "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

            Comment



              Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
              rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
              Originally posted by gadget73
              ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
              Originally posted by dmccaig
              Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

              Comment


                Originally posted by miamibob View Post
                YUM! Looks like roast beef gravy!!
                '79 Continental Town Car
                '90 Crown Victoria LTD
                '94 Crown Victoria

                Comment


                  Haha. Sure did! Smelled awful too.

                  Good news is it was freezing cold out today and the heat seems to be working to a usable level! Woohoo!

                  '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

                  Comment


                    Slack yes indeed F-ing cold In NYC today..........love my new core, temps out of the dash outlets was 100 degrees, I will now be like Captain Kirk, venturing out into far off lands in search of.............Sicilian women.........hey I can offer them a ride in my warm box
                    Originally posted by slack View Post
                    Haha. Sure did! Smelled awful too.

                    Good news is it was freezing cold out today and the heat seems to be working to a usable level! Woohoo!

                    Comment


                      "hey I can offer them a ride in my warm box" - So now you're even stealing their "lines"???


                      "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                      "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                      "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                      Comment


                        Bob reading your post........I am laughing my NYC B's off!!!!!!!....man it is cold here!
                        Originally posted by miamibob View Post
                        "hey I can offer them a ride in my warm box" - So now you're even stealing their "lines"???

                        Comment


                          54 here at the moment! What is it there???


                          "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                          "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                          "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                          Comment


                            I think on Friday I will meet my buds up on Arthur Avenue.....need some hot pasta fagioli to start followed by a plate of veal scallopini with red and green peppers, dessert, some dry cookies with espresso and a shot of anisette, sound good Bob??
                            Originally posted by miamibob View Post
                            "hey I can offer them a ride in my warm box" - So now you're even stealing their "lines"???

                            Comment


                              21 in Central Park
                              Originally posted by miamibob View Post
                              54 here at the moment! What is it there???

                              Comment


                                Too bad they don't make Anesone (it was 90 Proof) anymore. Anisette is like sugar water. Sambuca or Pastis (a French Liqueur) is about as close as you can get!


                                "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                                "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                                "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                                Comment

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