Found Cut Wires - is this a little deal or a big deal...?

[UKPR1]

Roger-that. One circuit at a time sounds like a great idea. Means I'll have to wait a few days to get started as I had to order an ignition switch plug and pigtail as the one that was in the back of the ignition had seen better days - all of the wires were corroded and some had barely a couple of strands still connected.
Thanks for helping me get to this point. I'll report back with how things went.

Cheers,

Geoff

[UKPR1]

Randy et al.

Originally this update was a nauseating mile long in explaining a trivial, but bothersome issue I had with the instrument cluster backlighting being illuminated as soon as I connected the battery. In writing it all out, I realized that in the original fuse box, the blue/red stripe wires were connected by essentially an inline fuse - these wires received no power as such from the fuse box. Fast forward to me replacing this fuse box and I tie these 2 wires together and splice them to a constant on fuse wire. No surprise that the light switch had no control over it and it remained on all the time. I'll resolve this by disconnecting it from the fuse box altogether and crimp in an 5 amp inline fuse.
Other electrical victories/remaining challenges:
1.The truck cranks with the key after wiring in a new fuse box, ignition switch and ignition pigtail, so that's a good thing.
2.Tail lights are spotty, but generally come on when the light switch is pulled. Light switch is new and good and verified with 2 other light switches.
Brake lights are spotty as well. Both have one side brighter than the other. Going through the grounds this weekend and new buckets are on the way.
3. Head lights and front markers are non existent. Haven't even checked the bulbs and grounds as yet - these will be done tonight. Hopefully, its the bulbs or just bad grounds.
4. The alt and oil lights come on when the ignition is turned as they should, but they also come on when the ignition is turned one click back to the ACCY only position. Is this normal?
5. The cargo switch knob glows red when turned but I need to check the bulb and courtesy light bulbs also.

Other than that, I think I'm in a good spot. The most concerning of the issues above is the idiot lights coming on in every key position other than off. Haven't run the truck as yet (should be this weekend) but I'm curious if the alternator light especially, goes out.

Thanks for getting me to this spot.

Geoff

[sargentrs]

Good luck and keep us posted!

[UKPR1]

Randy,

Just wanted to circle back to say that I completed the Duraspark swap yesterday. The dizzy was way out of adjustment, but it still managed to start and idle. Once I dialed the dizzy back to 12 degree, the idle was so silky smooth, it was incredible. One small hang-up was that the engine wouldn't shut off with the key. I did some research and if I removed all the wires routed to the "I" terminal, I had complete on-off control once more.

Thanks for all of your help! Couldn't have done it without you. Now to fix my oil/alt light issue...

Geoff

[sargentrs]

Glad you got installed and running!