It has been a long day of un-bolting, cutting, grinding, welding, more grinding and bolting on the chassis for our ISIS truck. We also picked up our new Ford 8.8 inch rear end from the media blaster. It looks great. A little sand blasting goes a long way to remove rust and scale. We have a bunch of pictures and video that we shot over the course of the day. We'll be releasing these as soon as we can get all of the production work done.
We got the front end installed on the truck. We put in the Heidts Superide II IFS suspension up front.
This whole process was really easy. We cleaned up the frame and welded in the included boxing plates. These plates fit perfectly on the frame rails of the chassis. We measured, measured and measured again to make sure that we were had everything square and true. From there, we dropped in the cross member and tacked it in.
Next, we ground off the rivets for the stock rear suspension hangers and cleaned everything up. We're using the Heidts Classic Truck 4-Link Kit.
This kit includes all of the brackets and hangers that bolt right into the existing holes on the 1955 chassis. We only had to open them up to fit the new bolt sizes. This couldn't have been easier.
We did have a few questions that were quickly answered by the Heidts technical support team. Ron Westman in particular was really helpful.
We ground off all of the hangers from the Mustang quadra-bind and cleaned up the axle housings. We still need to install the new 5-lug axles and replace the bearings and seals. That will be pretty straight forward.
Tomorrow, we need to finish assembling the components for the 4-line in the rear and start to measure everything to make sure that we weld the rear-end in correctly. We also need to assemble the components for the front-end to make sure that everything fits before we do the final welding on the cross-member.
Keep an eye out for the videos from this process. They will show you everything that you need to install the Heidts components yourself. You can learn more about Heidts at their website: www.heidts.com.
Team Superlite at RCR just posted some new in-car camera footage from the race SLC. This is an awesome car, electrically wired with the ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System.
This was shot at Mid-Ohio a few weeks ago, looking backwards at the track. The best part about this video is you can see how this car dominates on the track. No one can keep up with it.
Watch for Fran and his team next week at the NASA Nationals at Mid-Ohio.
Here's a quick follow up post on our ISIS inLINK. We use a secure and encrypted system to protect the communication between the key fob and the MASTERCELL. It uses a 64-bit, rolling code encryption scheme. That means that every time you press a button on the fob, it changes the secret password. There are billions of combinations of passwords that make hacking into the transmission practically impossible.
Each of the key fobs included with the inLINK kit have to be trained to the MASTERCELL. If you order inLINK with your 2 or 3-Cell Kits, we pre-install it and train it for you. If you order this separately, you need to install the radio board and train the key fobs.
Here are the steps to train your key fobs to your MASTERCELL.
Remove the cover on the MASTERCELL.
Press and release the "TRAIN" button on the MASTERCELL. You will get a message that will read "To Learn... press any button 2 times".
Press the lock button on the key fob twice. You will get a message that reads "Learn Command Accepted". You may also get a message that reads "Existing Transmitter Overwritten". In either case, the MASTERCELL and key fob are paired.
One of the simplest and most powerful additions to the ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System is our inLINK Wireless Control Module. It broadens the functions of your basic 2 and 3-Cell Kits.
inLINK gets you wireless control of your ISIS system through a 16-function key fob. This means that you can turn on your lights, pop your doors and open your trunk remotely. If you add our inMOTION control module, you can express down your windows as you walk up to your car on a hot day.
This video shows some of the ways that inLINK can work with your power locks and windows.
Its most important function is to get you security functions for your car. It adds powerful immobilizer and alarm functions to the ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System. When you lock the system from the key fob, the parking lights flash twice and the MASTERCELL immobilizes the system. The inputs for the ignition, starter and fuel pump are disabled from within the MASTERCELL. Even if you can turn the key, the MASTERCELL does not allow these functions to turn on. With some customer configuration on our end, any input to the MASTERCELL can be assigned to security. When you press the unlock button, the parking lights flash twice and the MASTERCELL unblocks the ignition, starter and fuel pump.
A lot of our customers who are building open top roadsters love this function. They use our one-button start function to start the car and inLINK is their security. There is no need for a key.
We've recently added enhanced alarm functions to the ISIS system. When security is enabled from inLINK, selected inputs become active. For example, you can tie these inputs to pin switches on your door, hood switches, level switches or motion switches. If the MASTERCELL sees these inputs ground when security is enabled, the horn output on the front POWERCELL will honk on and off until the system is unlocked from the key fob. Contact our technical support at (847) 232-1991 for more information on our alarm functions.
The best part of our inLINK is that it is completely integrated into the MASTERCELL. There is no external box nor is there a need to figure out how to wire a separate wireless system and an alarm into your car. ISIS takes care of all of that.
If you order inLINK with your 2 or 3-Cell Kit, we install it for you. If you upgrade to this after, it is very easy to install it yourself. It literally plugs into the system and you're ready to go. There are no software changes that need to be made. Click here to see the instructions for installing inLINK into your MASTERCELL.
So, we've been cleaning up our Ford AOD transmission, getting it ready for its rebuild. It came out of a 1988 Thunderbird without a lot of miles on it. Since we drive the ISIS Power truck a lot, we don't want to take any chances. We're going to rebuild it. We have the rebuild kit and will start to take it apart this week.
We wanted to clean it up so it was power washed and attacked with a wire wheel over the past few days. Since Max the intern went back to school, that duty fell on my shoulders. I don't mind because it is actually cathartic.
After we rebuild the transmission, we need to protect the surface, just as we need to do for the chassis and the underside of the body. Not knowing much about the best way to do this, I turned to my pal Tony D at Valspar for help. He recommended their Plastikote line of products. They have something for all of our metal protection needs. I need to do a little more research on all of their options but I think that we'll be covered, all puns intended.
We start welding the Heidts Superide II IFS in tomorrow. We've prepped the frame rails and will start by welding in the boxing plates. From there, the rest of the parts will fall into place. We're shooting video for all of this so watch for the coverage.
We also get the rear-end back from our friends at KVF Blasting tomorrow. The axles, bearings and seals came in Friday so we'll get that assembled Tuesday. From there, we need to grind off the old Mustang mounts from the Quadra-Bind and start to assemble the Heidts 4-link rear for the F100 truck.
There is a ton of stuff to do. Stay tuned for more details.
We're also wrapping up production on more of the ISIS electrical install videos. Another batch of those will be trickling out next week. Keep an eye out for those to show you the details on how we wire our F100 truck with ISIS.
Okay... that title came out a little strange. Sorry.
We picked up a used Ford 8.8 rear end for the new chassis for our ISIS F100 truck. As we've mentioned in other posts, we're doing everything that we can to modernize this truck. We're going from drum to disk brakes, upgrading the suspension from leaf-spring to independent with coil-overs, going from a carburetor to fuel injection and we wiring the truck with our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System.
We've been picking away at the suspension and chassis modifications over the past few weeks. This isn't going as quickly as I hoped but we're making progress.
We stripped all of the old Mustang suspension parts off of the rear end and sent it out to get media blasted. KVM Blasting is just down the road and the do great work. We'll have this back Monday. The new axle shafts are sitting here under my desk with a complete rebuild kit for the bearings and seals.
The next step is to grind off the old Mustang hanger brackets from the quadra-bind and start layout the Heidts components.
We're moving forward on the ISIS truck. There are still a bunch of videos that we are producing that show you all of the details on how we wired the truck with ISIS.
In parallel, we're working through the details of the drivetrain. We picked up a Ford AOD a few weeks ago and just started the process of rebuilding it. All in, it is in pretty good shape but we're going to take the time to rebuild it just to be safe. A day of time invested now will save us a lot of heartache later.
To prep for that, we degreased and power washed the transmission housing this afternoon. We'll start to tear it apart tomorrow.
At the same time, we picked up a Ford 8.8 inch posi rear end. It came out of a 5.0L Mustang with 88,000 miles. We've already taken it apart and it is in great shape. There's a fair amount of rust on the housing, but we'll have that media blasted tomorrow. It has the 4-lug axles in it now but we ordered the SN95 5-lug axles from Summit. We'll have those in a few days and we'll swap them out. The nice thing about the SN95 axles is that they are about one inch longer than the originals. This will help space out the new rims that we picked.
We'll get some pictures and video up here on the blog to show our progress.
Here's a quick follow up post to our video showing you how to wire you ignition switch into our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System.
A common question that we get is: "How do I wire inputs so that my turn-signals only work when the ignition is on?". This is a really good question and certainly an important one. There are lots of things in the car that you want to only work when the ignition is on. The turn-signals are a great example but other could include the back-up lights, fans, audio and others.
The way the switches wire into ISIS makes doing this really easy.
Remember that the inputs to the MASTERCELL work by being connected to ground. You wire one side of your switch to the MASTERCELL input wire and the other connects to ground. If you put something in series to interrupt that path to ground, the MASTERCELL will not see the input. So, the easiest way to get ignition only functions is to use the ignition switch to interrupt the path to ground for the switched function.
For example, we have three wires on our turn signal switch. One each for the left and right turn-signal inputs and one for ground. If we connect the ground wire from the turn-signal switch to the IGN terminal on the ignition switch, there will only be a path to ground for the turn-signals when the key is in the ignition position. When the ignition is off, the turn-signals will not turn on.
This is one of the most important video and posts in the entire ISIS video series showing you how to wire our panel truck. In this video, I show you how to wire the ignition switch to the MASTERCELL. We are going to repeat this process for every other switch in the truck.
We keeping the original switches that came with the truck. They are in great shape and we like the retro look, for now. In the not too distant future, we are going to replace all of the switches on the dash with our inTOUCH MAX Touch Screen and take the truck to a whole new level.
As we have been working through the truck, we have found some scary electrical things. The truck was originally built with a 6-volt electrical system. In the early 1980's, it was rewired with a 12-volt system. When it was rewired, they did two disturbing things. First, there are no relays anywhere in the truck. This means that the full loads of the accessories are flowing through the 50+ year old contacts on the switches. Second, there are absolutely no fuses anywhere in the truck wiring system. There was nothing to protect any of the wires from overheating if there were any shorts or any breaks to ground. We fixed all of that with ISIS.
The original switch layout in the truck has a keyed ignition switch and a separate push button to engage the starter solenoid. We are wiring it exactly like this diagram in our reference library. This link will take you to a downloadable version of this.
In other posts, we have talked about how the MASTERCELL inputs work. Instead of running the full load current through the switch, the switch triggers a ground signal to the MASTERCELL. It takes less than 1 milliamp (0.001-amps) of current to turn on an input. This is really important since we are using the original 1955 switches. The contacts from those 56 year old switches will never burn up because of carrying excessive current.
The MASTERCELL inputs simply need to be pulled to ground to turn on. The input wire goes to one terminal on the switch and the other terminal connects to ground. When the switch is on, you have a path to ground that triggers the input on the MASTERCELL. You have two options for ground. First, we give you several ground wires in the MASTERCELL input connectors. Second, you can ground the switch right to the chassis as long as you can get a good connection.
Here's where most guys have to flip their thinking over when it comes to wiring cars. You are going to use the switch in the car to ground an input to the MASTERCELL, instead of applying power to the switch. In most cases, you are going to use the terminal on the switch that connected to the battery as the connection to ground with ISIS.
In the case of our ignition switch, there is a terminal labeled B+. Originally, that connected to the battery and was the feed to the other terminals on the switch. The IGN terminal connected to all of the ignition switched functions. Current flowed from the B+ terminal to the IGN terminal when it was wired originally.
With ISIS, we grounded the B+ terminal on the switch and connected the IGN terminal to the ignition wire in the MASTERCELL harness. When the switch is on, current flows from the MASTERCELL input wire, through the switch, out the B+ terminal to ground. Again, this is very little current flowing so the wires can be just 22 AWG. Compared to what was on that switch originally, there is much less bulk of harness behind the dash.
Check out our latest video for more commentary on this.
You can catch the rest of our video series at our website by clicking here.
Keep watching for more videos from our F100 Install Series.
Okay Guys... cheer Max on for his first video on ISIS Power prime time.
Anyone restoring a car has to make an investment in tools to do the job right. Come on, admit how many special tools did you buy to rebuild your transmission, plumb your fuel lines or align your suspension. I know that I have drawers full of specialized tools.
When it comes to wiring, that's where guys get cheap. One trip to Radio Shack and you think that you're done. The reality is that this is the part of your project where you shouldn't get cheap. The right tools are going to make the job easier and dramatically increase the reliability of your electrical system.
The tool that every guy should have in his garage is a good crimper. This is an invaluable tool for everything from rewiring the car to installing a stereo to installing those extra electrical gizmo's.
A lot of guys get scared of crimping wire. They think that it is difficult, unreliable or not acceptable. In reality, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a crimp. You just need to do it correctly. Check out Max's commentary on the subject below.
One of our most trusted sources for the right tools is Waytek. You can check out their selection by clicking this link.
You can call our tech guys at (847) 232-1991 for more recommendations on what you need in your tool box to get the job done right.
We're updated our installer partner page on the ISIS Power website. This is our list of authorized, partner shops that have proven that they can do a quality wiring job with our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System. They have met our requirements on system knowledge.
If you want to add ISIS to your car but don't have the time reach out to one of these guys. Or if you want all of the features the ISIS can offer you but just don't feel confident doing it yourself, these guys are waiting for you.
We have mentioned in previous posts that we're trying to modernize our 1955 Ford F100 panel truck as much as we can. We're installing the latest & greatest in electrical wiring technology with our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System. We also want it to drive and handle like a new truck, not like one from 1955.
We were lucky to find the exact chassis that we need for our truck. It came out of a 1955 F100 pick up but fortunately, it is exactly the same as what we need for our panel truck. We have a newly rebuilt Ford 302 sitting on an engine stand waiting for a new home. We also have a Ford AOD to pair with that engine. Engine and transmission upgrades will only get us so far in our quest to improve the drivability of our truck. To take it to the next level, we turned to the guys at Heidts.
We've blogged earlier about the hardware that we're going to add to the chassis. You can catch that posting here. We've just started to strip out the old truck suspension components off of the chassis. We have a few more days of prep work then it will be time to start welding in the new Heidts hardware. Check out this video showing off our starting point with the chassis.
We'll be shooting video each step of the way through the suspension install. So keep watching for more. Also, keep watching for more videos showing how we wire the truck using our ISIS Power products. You can catch the whole series on our website by clicking here.
In the meantime, you can learn more about Heidts' products at their website: www.heidts.com. You can learn more about ISIS Power at our website: www.isispower.com.
A common question that we get about wiring your dash board and gauges is how to wire the turn-signal and high-beam indicators.
The easiest way to do this is to splice off of the POWERCELL outputs for the turn-signals and high-beam and connect this to the indicators on the dash. Whether you are using incandescant bulbs or LED's for the indicators, they draw very little current. You can use a 22-AWG wire with no issues.
We used two green LED's for the turn-signal indicators. The LED's can carry a maximum of 30 milliamps so we soldered a limiting resistor in series. Using a little simple math (V=IR) and assuming that the maximum voltage from the alternator is 14.5 volts, we soldered a 500 ohm resistor in series. We checked the brightness of the bulb off of the battery to check before we buttoned it up. We did the same thing for the blue LED that we used for the high-beam indicator.
Check out this video for more commentary and details on wiring our dash indicators.
There are more details on wiring your car in our reference library. You can get to that by clicking here. You can also catch the rest of our F100 install series at our website by clicking here.
Here is the next video from our job of wiring our truck with ISIS.
We took the original dash cluster out of the truck. It was cool in an old-school way, but we wanted something a little more modern. We picked up a new dash insert from Speedway Motors then went to Auto Meter to look for a set of gauges. After some debate, we picked their Old Tyme White II Series.
We really liked the look and the feed of these plus we went with the fully electrical gauges, which made wiring them very simple. There are no mechanical cables, just small 22-AWG wires going to the senders and the sensors.
To wire the gauges, we used our inDASH Dashboard Harness. This kit gets you everything that you would need to wire your gauges, switches, power and illumination to your dash. The best part about inDASH is that it gets you two sets of connectors that you can use to make your entire dash harness pluggable. You can take the dash out of your car, wire it on the bench and plug it into the harness in the car. Very simple. The other big advantage of ISIS and inDASH is that all of the switches pull very little current, less than 1 milliamp. This means that the wires going to your switches can be very small, 22-AWG. The bulk of harness behind the dash is much smaller as compared to a traditional wiring harness.
You can learn more about the ISIS inDASH Dashboard Harness by clicking here.
This video gives you more details on wiring our gauges with some additional commentary.
You can check out the rest of our ISIS Power install series in our F100 truck on our website at this link.
There are a bunch of new videos coming up this week that document installing our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System in our 1955 Ford F100 panel truck.
We had blogged earlier about the importance of good planning in any job. Here's that post. This post is a continuation of that theme.
In this installment, we talk about the importance of choosing the right cell locations when you wire your car, truck or vehicle. The whole goal of ISIS is to move from a central fuse and relay box to distributed cells. This allows you to reduce the amount of wire that you have in your car plus make the install easier. Essentially, you put the MASTERCELL close to your switches and you put the POWERCELLs close to your outputs.
One of the first things that we suggest that you do when you start to replace your wiring harness with ISIS is to look at where you have your switches and where the outputs are in your vehicle. Time spent up front thinking about your layout will pay off when the job is done.
I just got done connecting the Electric Choke. Essentially all that was required was to connect the ignition to the positive terminal of the choke. Below is a photo of the splice off the ingition wire.
Next is the connection to the choke terminal. I used 14 AWG automotive wire, the same that is used for all of our PowerCell output harnesses. This can carry up to 25A with ease, which is plenty for a choke application in this vehicle.
Lastly, we adjusted the choke position to fully open after a few minutes of the engine running.
For more photos of connecting the choke and of all the work done on the truck so far, please visit our facebook page, ISIS Power.
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