We wind up the Q2B to goodness gracious - HQ video

Here ya go.  What a lovely, lovely sound!

Q2B Installed

Well, that was more of a chore than I anticipated.

First off, let me just gripe a bit about the rats nest under the dash.  Surely some of this is leftover from the removal of radios at some point, but... really?  I looked it over when I brought 17 home and was annoyed at the time, but it had been a while and I forgot how annoying it was.  Look at this mess!

So there was a random, small, single-conductor wire sticking out where the Q used to go.  Much too small to be a supply for a Q, so I thought maybe it was for the siren brake.  Verified that there was power to the siren brake button, but wherever it went after the siren brake (disappeared into an anonymous wire bundle), it did not come out at the pedestal.  Starting at zero, then.

Also, there was still a wire to the Q's foot pedal, which also still had power.  And once again, the sending end disappeared into an anonymous bundle never to be found again.

Clipped back both the random wire at the pedestal, and the siren pedal wires, and securely capped off the hot ends until such time in the future the more complete rewiring can be done and those removed.  Unlike the old stewards of E17, who just disconnected random crap and left it to lay there, dead ends and random-access grounding lugs and such.  GAH!

Ran a new 4-gauge wire right from the battery selector switch to a new 150A circuit breaker, then under the cab to a new starter solenoid.  Stole a hot lead from the solenoid's source and ran a 12-guage to the foot pedal then back to the solenoid actuator terminal.

By the way, I found that my cheap hand tool cutters were no match for 4-gauge wire!  Glad that piece didn't put my eye out when it came off!

4-gauge wire - 1  ----  cheap wire cutters - 0

Then there was the siren brake needing attention.  Ran a new 12-gauge line from there to the pedestal before finding that I had a bad section of wire.  Tested for continuity, and it failed.  Wow, was that frustrating, how often do you get manufacturing defects in wire?  What a chore!  Removed the bad section and restrung it.  I am not a fan of butt-end connectors and prefer all-new wires and terminals, and the siren brake was no exception.  While attempting to remove the terminals from the old siren brake, the 43-year-old circuit board lost a chunk.  Thankfully you can still get this exact starter-type switch at NAPA for about $8.  Short delay, but onward.

Original siren brake switch, may it rest in "pieces"

Got it all finished late last night at about 9:30PM.  A little late to play without annoying the neighbors.

So here it is this morning.

Got a sweet video of the beast winding all the way up and waking up the chickens for miles around (sort of obscure C.W. McCall reference there).  Just as soon as we figure out how to get that video off of my son's iPod, we'll post it here.

Engine 17 has a SIREN, baby!

Q2B - with video

Got an excellent deal from a friend for a Federal Q.  In the early days I wanted to do paint before anything else, but this was driving my crazy, taking 17 out and having just a dinky parade siren widget.  People want a SIREN.

This Q was originally a flush mount, but I also got a pedestal and cowl for it.  Trouble was, for some reason the flywheel housing had been rotated 180 degrees, making it impossible for the pedestal and siren brake to co-exist.  Taking it apart to fix that, I got stuck needing an impact wrench to release the bolt holding the flywheel (the four screws to release and rotate the housing are behind the flywheel), and I don't have an impact wrench.

Took it to the shop guys at work and struck a deal.  If they'd give me ten minutes and access to an impact wrench, they could play with the siren.  They just ended up brushing me aside and doing the work anyway, because guys in coveralls are unable to stand and watch a guy in slacks and a tie do anything at the workbench.

Situation resolved, the Federal Q2B is now ready for installation on E17.  Enjoy the show.