Sunday, January 06, 2008

Wiring improvements

Now rid of every single crimp connector behind the dash and front of the loom. EVERY connection has been soldered by hand and has a boot on. Every cable behind the dash is just long enough to reach its location switch etc. All new wiring is color coded throughout each circuit.

I refer to the picture below as spaghetti, however once all the switches are in place it developes into a rather neat job.
Can't stand crimps anymore! Lazy.
Takes ages doing a nice job of wiring. ALL wiring added is now of an ampage that is just right, not some thick old mess on stuff that doesn't need it.
This is the new fuse box, the 2nd one, the car has 12 fuses now. Fuses just for test, I have no more 5amp. Each electrical item basically has its own feed and fuse or is paired, maximum 2 items per fuse and each item has dedicated wiring, no piggybacks, such as the megajolt and EDIS on one fuse, the SPA unit alone, the wipers and washer bottle motor, the heater and voltage regulator, the coil and brake light switch, its double fused too. The feed to this fuse box is fused etc. This fuse box runs on power from the other electric box on a dedicated battery line from cut off switch and is fused in the first box, its then relayed (40amp) from the ignition before the fuse box, this fuse box runs EVERYTHING that is ignition switched hense the relay on feed line. Bar the fuel pump, cooling fan, ignition switch feed, EWP, lights and indicators etc which are fused from the other box.

There are now basically no circuits running from the ignition switch or anything taking any load from it, or using it as a feed, bar two relay triggers, the starter motor contact switching and the oil pressure light and ignition feed to the alternator (to turn it on). Lights are dedicated battery feed on relays also, switched by the column switch.

Again soldered through. I like a loom you have confidence in! Can be yanked about and you know the connections are solid.
Work in progress here! Just have to solder all the feeds out from the fuse box to the electric items, sort the coil power and trigger from the MJL, get a new wiper motor connector and shorten all these wires.

Pretty happy with my new fusing circuits. Fingers crossed it'll work from the off! I usually don't forget anything and there is no odd wires left over!

Sadly not so happy with some of the old wiring. Before covering it up I will buy some lengths of wire and rip out and redo some of the stuff left over from my first efforts many years ago! Its coming together!

2 comments:

Rob said...

I've been reading thru all your blogs Dave. Very informative, my friend Steve Smith, (gt6steve) in Las Vegas told me about you. Nice work on the wiring, and all else for that matter. Inspires me to do well with my 77 1500, which is currently under const. Keep up the great commentary too, your critique of the sad state of retail products confirms my own thoughts.

David Powell said...

Thanks Rob.

You are the guy who adjusted Steves rollcage?

Best of luck with the Spit.