Electrics

4th July 08 - As the day approaches ever nearer when I start the engine for the first time, I have turned my attention to the electrics needed for the start. I am just doing a temporary wiring job and not using the full GD loom initially. I just want enough to get me going!! I am following the example of Simon Rudman and making a temporary dashboard to house the require items. These being as follow:

Rev Counter (Tachometer)

Oil Pressure Gauge

Water Temp gauge

Oil warning light

On/off switch for the fan

On/off switch for the fuel pump

Ignition switch (MOM/off switch)

I made the "dash" out of MDF and bolted a bit of angle aluminium to it so I could then bolt that to the chassis. Moving the the rear of the "dash", I put a bolt through to use as a "distribution post" for the 12v feed from the battery. I will take all my 12v power from this point. I have included a fuse box to pass the wiring through for the critical parts. The square item to the right of the fuse box is a "blade" fuse holder. This is to carry a 30amp fuse for the electric fan circuit. I just need to get a Rev Counter and Oil pressure gauge, plus Oil pressure sender and oil and water temp senders. I'm going to use ETB gauges and parts, as apart from liking the "original" look, they are guaranteed SVA compliant.

This all sounds like I know what I am talking about, but believe me, this is my first time with anything like this and I am making it up as I go along!! Must remember to get a fire extinguisher from somewhere!!!!

20th July 2008 - Well, after an afternoon in the garage, I think I have just about got the temporary wiring sorted ready for the first engine start. The pictures below explain most of what I have done so here goes with an explanation:

Picture 1: I have taken power from the distribution post on my temporary dash to power the fan. the second lead from the fan circuit is to earth. This is the same earth point as the engine and battery earth, see Picture 2. I have not used the relay supplied with the fan but take power directly to and from a switch on the temporary dash board. I will turn this on when I am ready to start and it will remain on permanently while the engine is running.

Picture 3 shows the back of the temporary dash. I have taken power from the battery (when I get it) to a distribution post on the dash. All 12v supply will come from this. I have also run everything apart from the start circuit through a fuse box (see pic 3) with everything fused at 8amp. The exception being the fan circuit which I have fused with a 30amp blade fuse.

Pic 4 shows the temporary earth point for the dials. I guess this will be somewhere else when the permanent loom goes in.

Pic 5 shows the power take off from the Tachometer going to the negative terminal on the coil as recommended by ETB.

Pic 6 shows my temporary "Ignition switch". Essentially one end goes to the battery + terminal (that's the black wire you see hanging down) and then connects to the switch (marked " "). Then on the other side of the switch, the red cable goes to the MOM (momentary on switch) switch that acts as my starter button on my temporary dash. Thinks that does the trick, but we shall see!!!

Pic 7 shows the Carter fuel pump (wire needs connecting). The pump is earthed to the chassis and takes power from the temporary dash via the fuse box (8amp fuse).

Pic 8 is the oil pressure warning light. One wire from the oil pressure sender (see pic 10) and one from the 12v supply.

Pic 9 shows the wiring on the back of the dash. Looks a mess but means something to me...I think!!

Pic 10 shows the Oil pressure gauge sender. This also has a connection for the oil pressure warning light. It wouldn't fit into the Mocal pump cover because of the Aeroquip connectors so I had to by an extended fitting (Aeroquip again). It was ideal and cleared the cover allowing me to fit the sender without a problem

Pic 11 shows a heat shield "wrap" I bought from "Demon Tweeks" which will hopefully protect the starter solenoid from the full heat of the headers. This is held in place with stainless steel tie wraps. I also have heat resistant tubing wrapped round the starter cable and battery cable. Its not pretty but isn't really in view when the car is complete, and will hopefully give the starter a longer life!

Pic 12 is the finished temporary dash. The "start" switch is a "MOM" switch (momentary on) which means when you let go it turns off again. Ideal for a temporary starter button!

Just need to find a battery or some other way of providing 12v power and I am nearly ready to rock!!! Need to get a little bit more tubing for the heater return ( will double it back through the system temporarily) and also a temporary fuel tank.....................Nearly there!!!

26th Dec 08 - Having stripped out the temporary wiring and the temporary dash and fuel pump circuit just before Christmas, it was time to permanently fit the engine bay wiring loom. Having bought the loom from GD some time ago, it was a matter of fitting it neatly to the car. I used various sizes of convoluted tubing and some "HarnessFlex" fittings from a company called "Auto Electrical supplies" to make a neat job of it. They were very helpful and delivered by return of post.

I followed the GD wiring instructions for the engine bay loom (a bit sparse to say the least, but just about enough), apart from the Electronic Fan Controller that I had bought. I took advice from Simon Rudman on this one. I did away with the EFC (Electronic Fan Controller) relay, (simply cut it off) and connected the blue wire straight to the green and black in the GD loom (this connects to a relay on the body loom when I put that in). Of the other two EFC wires, the red goes to a 12v supply and the black to earth. The finished job is fairly neat as shown below. The thin red wire on picture six is for the 12v feed to the EFC which will connect to the fuse box somewhere I guess! The thick red cable is the main battery feed to the starter. Also on that picture you can see the two connectors that connect the engine loom to the body loom.

24th May 2009 - Once the rear part of the loom was fitted I started on the front part which includes the relays and fuse box. This is the more difficult bit to handle. I found it easier to fit the fuse box and bolt it into place first. This stopped the loom wondering all over when I was handling it. I then fed the forward part through the pre drilled hole (by GD) through into the engine bay, where it will eventually connect to the engine bay loom. This part of the loom should have had a pre-fitted grommet on but it didn't. I spoke to Andy at GD and he is getting me the right grommet which I will have to split to fit on. I'm not too bothered about this, and if it doesn't sit right when fitted, I will probably superglue it together. The grommet you can see in the third picture below is a temporary one. I support the loom at this point by two 'P' clips before it disappears under the engine bay lip. From here the loom feeds forwards under the lip and is 'P' clipped into place. This can't be seen at all from above making for a neat installation. As the loom reaches the front, it branches off for the nearside lights, entering the wheel arch area through a grommeted hole. The remaining part of the loom goes across the front of the bonnet hinge mounting, and is 'P' clipped into place. The bit of loom hanging down in the last picture below is for the fan. When it reaches the other side it goes through another grommeted hole into the offside wheel arch area for that sides lights.

17th July 2008 - Took a delivery of Dials and sensors from ETB today. Must admit I'm impressed with them. I was going to buy Smith's but having seen ETB dials on various cars, only a trained eye could tell the difference, and allegedly these are more accurate!! I got the Tacho, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure and Water Temp. Didn't bother with the rest as I won't need them for a while so no point in spending the money just yet!

I also got sensors for the Water temp, which goes into the front of the Edelbrock Manifold, and the Oil temp which goes into a Mocal unit in the oil line just before the oil thermostat which sends oil to the cooler when necessary. Lastly I got an oil pressure sender which fits into an adaptor on the bottom of the Mocal oil pump plate. I needed the adaptor because with my pipe setup the sender was to big to fit directly because of the Aeroquip hose fittings. The adaptor was ideal, see the pic below.

18th July 2009 - Started doing a few small jobs this weekend. I fitted the battery tray and bolted it through the floor to secure it. I will cover the underside in liquid rubber later, just to be safe from leaks from the outside.

I also fitted the two engine bay studs that protrude through from the battery compartment. These are what the battery connects to to and where the engine bay gets power from. I used two long stainless steel M6 bolts with the heads cut off. You can just see the lower one of the two at the top of the picture below. The brown cable is through from the passenger foot well and gives power to the loom via the bank of relays in the nearside footwell. Fitting the relays tomorrow, not a job i'm looking forward to!!

19th July 2009 - Well, I couldn't put it off any longer. Spent this afternoon on my back in the foot well, fitting the bank of Relay's. What a bleeding job!!! I fixed them with self tappers but had to pre drill to get a good purchase. Definitely going to have a stiff back and neck tomorrow!!! I also had to fit the main battery feed with its high capacity strip fuse on. This is the brown cable you can see in the pictures below, feeding through into the battery compartment.

I then connected the heater to the loom via the connector provided by GD. I was a little confused because the wires on the heater were Red, Yellow, Orange and Black. The three on the GD loom are Green\Yellow, Green\slate and black. Now I new that earth was Black, but wasn't sure about the other two. After looking at some pictures from GD (see last picture below), it became apparent that the three wires on the heater are different speeds for the fan. I looked at the GD photo and as there were only two wires I assumed there are only two speeds to the GD config for the fan, so copied it. Time will tell!! Time for a drink!!!!!