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Most of us have "modernized" our engine compartments and no longer have a need of the choke knob. All it does is cover up the hole! Leon Crouch found the perfect use for the hole. He uses the choke knob to control his intermittent windshield wipers! Up in Oregon where he lives there is a real need for intermittent wipers and since he likes things to look as stock as possible he didn't like the idea of having the delay box mounted underneath the dashboard. So he didn't!! He used a delay unit from JC Whitney (P/N 122370A, $15.99 in a 2004 catalog). The delay box is too big to mount behind the dash and utilize the choke knob hole without some modification. With a little patience and some trial and error, he found a way to make it work. The delay unit, a few crimp-on connectors and a soldering iron was all he needed. He started by opening the delay box and checking out the circuitry. The switch was soldered to the circuit board so heated up the connectors (5, in this case) with the soldering iron and removed the switch. He then cut five lengths of wire about 8" long and soldered them to the circuit board where the switch had been and then to the switch making sure the wires remained in the correct order. The terminals on the switch needed to be bent back and down so the wouldn't short against the dash. This is much easier to do before soldering the wires in place. Next, he put the circuit board back into the delay box leaving the switch and the new wires hanging out the front. The he used the nut and washer that were used to hold the switch to the delay box to attach the switch into the choke know hole on the dash. To be safe a thin piece of cardboard was placed over the shaft of the switch to insulate the post from the dash. Once bolted in place, there are only four wires to hook up: positive, negative and two wires that control the delay action. The w/w harness does not even have to be cut. Just disconnect the blue wire (the one with the single connector) from the w/w switch and attach the input lead of the delay box (in this case, green) in its place. The other lead (the white one) attaches to the blue wire that used to be on the switch, and viola! He positioned the delay box on the steering column under the dash and attached it with some zip-ties. To top it off, an original radio know with the spring retainer removed fit the delay switch like it was made for it. About an 1/8" had to be trimmed from the end of the shaft so that the knob would fit close enough to the dash. The final detail that he address was keeping the stock choke bezel in place. The threads on the new switch are too small for the bezel so he simple glued it in place. To operate the delay, just turn the wiper switch to low and turn the delay (former choke) knob to the desired position; it's good for 3-20 seconds delay. |
