Preparing to undertake first Proto upgrade project. Advice?

Kerrigan:  I did a R-K GG-1, & it's a bear.  Haven't you a roomy diesel on which to start?  The board doesn't fit between the motors unless you fashion a bracket to hold it high, & there is a tendency to pinch the wires.

This is their premium GG1 so I'm hoping it has the room.   I'd like to do it because the conversion booklet is this locomotive ... with pictures!

Having just completed my first upgrade, a Premium GP9, I come away with this.

1)Go slowly. Stare at the PS1 wires, before you tke it apart, as you take it apart, etc. If they have connector boards at the front and rear, see if you can reuse them to help simplify wiring. On mine, these boards connected to inserts that held the number board lights. Sadly it was 4 days in, after much cutting of wires that I tried the original boards

2) Mine had dual lights for the number boards in PS1.The kit didn't come with that. I ordered 2 sets of cab lights (the one with 2 white bulbs). Call midgge and give her the part id from the upgrade kit.

3) the marker light wires are too thick. I stripped the shrink wrap off 1 wire. This kept the 2 wires separate from each other. Then i slipped shrink wrap over the bare wire and still covered wire. This allowed me to make it thin enough to fit in the hole. Note the old harness was built this way by MTH. The upgrade and replacement marker lights are made incorrectly (IMO)

4) I went to a BCR to save the space used by the battery. This also allowed me to forgo a charge port. This wa im[portant as the GP9 is quite busy on the bottom.

5) Stop at any point and post questons.

 

Thank you-all!  This will be very helpful for me!

I took pictures of my doner engine parts and my engine to upgrade before I started.  That way I could see how everthing went back together.

I will do the same for the GG1 although I'm installing the MTH upgrade kit.

I purchased it a year ago and wonder about the 3v vs 5v issue with the sound/control file to download from MTH?

Is there going to be a problem with the newer file?

 

A couple of additional notes as long as the thread has become a primer on upgrading:

1. You cannot reprint a tach tape for a flywheel less than 27mm diameter.  If you make a shorter tape, the stripes are too close together and the reader will not read them.  Just cut the 27mm tape to fit, and accept that the speed will be off (too fast).  This occurred when I upgraded a 1991(+/-) Weaver brass 0-6-0 w/ 22mm flywheel.  Other than speed, it works fine.

2. On some locos (like the original R-K Challenger, you'll have to enlarge the opening at rear of loco to accommodate the new socket.  Be careful when mounting socket not to short some terminals against the frame.

Do be aware that there are different MTH smoke units, with differing connections.

In upgrading a Challenger, 2 elements in series had to be rewired to be parallel, or may have been vice versa. (was done years ago)

Wonder if it's a reference to those, like the Big Boy, which have two units, like yours did.

I think I'm getting a break on this first job.

Looking at the outside of the GG1 (we just took it down to charge the 12 year old battery for a pre-conversion test) I don't see a smoke outlet.  Hope that means no smoke unit to mess with, no switch to add, etc.

Can one use the existing Proto sound volume pot with Proto2?

If I go to a BCR then I won't even have to drill holes for a charging plug!

Hey, at this rate, I might even succeed in doing this without messing it up!  Knock on wood.

Kerrigan;

A GG-1 is electric, right?

So no smoke unit I guess.

Th original volume control is re-used.

 

Rod

Did they use an electric boiler to provide steam for the coach heat?

 

Kerrigan, they actually had a oil burner to generate steam.  The oil fill can be clearly seen on the GG-1 at the PA RR Museaum in Strasburg.

Interesting!  They must have made a little smoke once in a while

Probably did smoke occasionally.

 

There was one train the GG-1's pulled between NYC & Wash, called the Keystone, which had very low slung cars; the window sills were at platform level.  I rode it many times.  This train had a diesel-engined power car located at one end.