georgec

I am looking at the printed circuit on my 81. There is a small break which is visible to the naked eye. I believe this is the reason my voltage guage stopped working and some of the lights in the center consol do not work. Has anyone ever repaired such a break? Also, instead of this printed circuit has anyone ever come up with a wiring harness to take its place?

Thanks.

stpman

I've repaired printed circuit boards in the past by scraping the coating off the board then bridging the break with solder. if the break is too far apart add a short piece of wire.

Steve :steering:

Smokehouse69

Yes, I have repaired seperations in printed circuit boards, it really depends on how complicated the circuit is and if the circuit board is a multiple layer board or not. On old circuit boards the tracings are usually fairly wide and there are usually only have tracings on one side, in that case it is very easy to solder a jumper over the broken section of tracing. Just make sure you get all the varnish off the area that you are going to try and jumper across and don't use too much heat or you'll end up messing the board up or frying some of the components.

Big Fish

:iagree: I've done this many times, but not on cars. Most of the PC boards I have repaired are in commercial heating units. I usually try to bridge the bad spot(s) between 2 spots that are already soldered with a piece of wire. Good as new!

LAvetteman

:iagree:

I have as well. And the boards like the one mentioned is super simple compared to a PC board or an A/V board.

Go for it.

blunsford

I'm an electronics engineer by degree. All of the above methods will work. Just go to Rad Shack and get rosin core solder and a soldering pencil. Bridge the gap with a copper wire after scraping the coating off of the wire with an exacto knife. Tin everything before you solder. This just means apply a coat of solder to ALL surfaces, then lay the wire in place, reheat and all will melt together.

jetech

You can also use copper tape (found at electronics stores and stained glass shops) Just bridge the gap with the tape and secure with solder at both ends. The corvette circuit board is pretty crude, you could probably bridge the gap with a 16 penny nail and be ok. :rolleyes:

427V8

:iagree:

The wire keeps the break from happening again...

adam

You could also take a wire from one of the hot sides of the working lights
to the broken hot side of the nonworking lights. It would be easier to hook
to the wires sticking off the light than do the circuit board if you are
unsure of yourself.

Good luck.

Budman68

I've repaired mine, you will need a lower power aron from Radio Shack. There pricey, but if you get it two hot with will melt the board. As instructed scratch the broken area with sand paper and then clean it with contact cleaner. Weld together the section that is broken. They also have the metal tape out there to repair breaks.

ray77vette

it's a pretty simple job all you need is a soldering iron and a small piece of wire. just make sure you armed amped on a few cups of starbucks first.

UKPaul

Done the same on my '81. It's a very primitive board & an easy job to do. I used low melting point solder (used for SMT PCBs) which made the job a lot easier as there weren't the problems of melting through the "board".
Once you've done the fix, use an AVO to buzz through the tracks. I found another break in one of the tracks that wasn't immediately visible.
:cheers: