Thread: Electricals - phew

Tweet

Don,
May I be the first to offer congratulations on this giant step

Heck, if you can put a computer together you sure can do this. I do hope that the wiring system has a good set of instructions or at least some sort of a schematic.

I'm not sure that I can get good photos of my under engine wiring where it is as my camera wont focus that close but sometime after next week I might have some more free time. My "free" time is being taken by working on a US Congressional candidates election campaign trying to overthrow an incumbent who is very well funded(we appear to be leading).

More later.

IC2, By coincidence there is another recent thread by Stu Cool about hiding the wires in the frame so maybe that is the solution for me, I'll give it a try.

Don Shillady
Retired SCientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

IC2, By coincidence there is another recent thread by Stu Cool about hiding the wires in the frame so maybe that is the solution for me, I'll give it a try.

Don Shillady
Retired SCientist/teen rodder

Don - I considered that but since I wasn't astute enough to provide access to the fully boxed and powder coated frame while building the chassis am resigned to just laying the wires on the floor with a protective cover - and it's doubly "interesting" since my AAW module is behind the passenger's seat in a separate compartment. For sure not one of my better ideas!!!

LOL's. You guys are making me nervous as Scrat (the prehistoric squirrel in Ice Age). I love that little guy.

I love wiring......did all the wiring in my 1rst and 2nd home.....do equiment (DSLAM's, ATM, IGX, Mux Shelves, fiber terms...you get the idea) installs at work....but I worry about the pain involved with wiring my 36. LOL's.

I set mine up to hide in the frame behind the boxing plates. I double stacked conduit between 4X4 electrical outlet boxes and different points along the frame and bore a 1 5/8" hole at each point I thought I would need an exit. Will cover with a nice little aluminum cover. Really, I'm excited that I'm starting to worry about it. Thats means I'm getting closer I guess.

I want to say to both of you (Don and Dave).....your inspiring me to keep going.

Denny....have you ever tried the expandable flex? This stuff looks awesome whether you have it stuffed full or just a couple of wires. I use this stuff all of the time at work. Just thought I'd mention it too. http://www.cableorganizer.com/braided-sleeving/

Dave G

Originally Posted by Stovebolter

LOL's. You guys are making me nervous as Scrat (the prehistoric squirrel in Ice Age). I love that little guy.

I love wiring......did all the wiring in my 1rst and 2nd home.....do equiment (DSLAM's, ATM, IGX, Mux Shelves, fiber terms...you get the idea) installs at work....but I worry about the pain involved with wiring my 36. LOL's.

I set mine up to hide in the frame behind the boxing plates. I double stacked conduit between 4X4 electrical outlet boxes and different points along the frame and bore a 1 5/8" hole at each point I thought I would need an exit. Will cover with a nice little aluminum cover. Really, I'm excited that I'm starting to worry about it. Thats means I'm getting closer I guess.

I want to say to both of you (Don and Dave).....your inspiring me to keep going.

Dave G

Denny....have you ever tried the expandable flex? This stuff looks awesome whether you have it stuffed full or just a couple of wires. I use this stuff all of the time at work. Just thought I'd mention it too. http://www.cableorganizer.com/braided-sleeving/

Dave G

Dave G - What you are doing is what I should have done - that is if I had had any idea how many wires are terminated at the module. In my thinking errors I forgot that wires from a switch went back to the module then back to the device. The American Autowire system that I have is really very straight forward with excellent drawings and directions but the fact that it's behind the passenger seat makes for a lot of very long (in automotive terms) conductors. It may come down to the fact that I will need to get some connectors, figure out a way without pulling the body again to make some holes in the frame and run them that way - but at this point, it's a later mod.

As far as oher personal wiring experience, I've totally rewired one house, made major mods on another and have redone most of this current house after the previous owner, an electrical engineer screwed up many areas (I'm a mechanical ). I've also sucessfully done 2 cars completely.

This has been a fun thread - a lot is my griping just to get it off my mind and out where others can "work me over" so I hope that it's inspiring to others. I'm almost done - delayed by some outside activities, a few honey do's and other interesting things

Hi, the garage is getting colder day by day and I have been reading this thread for help noting the early entries are from hot months. Today instead of actually working on the car (which I may do this afternoon) I am trying to get into the mood for frustration with the wiring so here are a few pictures. First, I am pleased with the tail light LED kits I got from Bratton's. I can test things with a small 1 amp trickle charger which I plan to use more often as suggested by C9X. That way I can test circuits without frying the whole system with the full battery. I am getting to know a guy named "Rick" at TPI who has been very helpful and usually right. He did say, however, that cigar lighters were hard to find but as some of you suggested (NTFDAY?) Advanced Auto had one for $3.79 but I let my order to Whitney ride and what I got from them was more expensive and came to $13 when shipping was added. However, the Whitney cigar lighter came with a chrome plated mount which looks pretty good so I may use that one instead of the very minimal unit from Advanced. The rear LED units from Brattons are simple replacements with connectors to fit into the Model A teacup units like bulbs but they are totally incased in plastic for moisture protection. The first picture shows the tailight in the daylight with the brake light on, looks good to me! At night they light up the whole rear half of the garage! Then I did some research on where to get the flasher units for LEDs and "TPI-Rick" gave me the phone number for Technologic in N.C. (812-265-0062). The tech guy at Technologic said the LED units I have are probably for restorers as made in China but Technologic does have the proper two prong flasher units for them so I ordered two of them. TPI-Rick said the three prong units get hot when used with the emergency flasher so it is better to have two flashers, one for the turn signals and the other for the emergency flasher. I also chatted with "Clark" at Speedway but I am satisfied that the Technologic units will solve the flasher problem to use with LEDS front and rear. The second picture shows the present situation with the next step to figure out how to route and hide the wires to the front lights. With full fenders I may just run the wires on the outside of the driver side of the frame and be done with it, hoping that the fourbars will protect the wires exposed up on the frame but I will encase the wires in a spiral plastic cover. The "front bundle" is large because I have not attached wires to the choke, coil or tach; one wire intended for an electric fan will not be needed. I have totally given up on any fleeting plans for a show car and now just hope to get a safe car that runs! Any of you who "love wiring" are welcome to drop in and help but I think I will just have to plod on slowly.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DennyW, good to hear from you! The PET cover looks like you have to slide it on before you connect the wires while the spiral stuff can be added after the connections are made?

Don Shillady
Retired SCientist/teen rodder

That is an unfortunate drawback....but they look real clean with the PET cover. We use them here in the central office on transport equipment and such. Real clean....very very flexible.

Denny,

Do you know of a site that sells the GM factory oiltite plugs...like the LS will have on the engine harness. I saw a site a long time ago and cant find it now.

Thanks,
Dave G

BTW Don. That car sure is perty! Cant wait til I get some color on mine.

Dave G

Yes. Thank you so much Denny. I wasnt sure what they were called so I was having a time searching.

Thanks,
Dave G

I got some plastic corregated split-flex tubing in 3/4" diameter and so far I was able to put all the wires from the firewall to the rear lights in one flex tube under the ledge along the left door. Another 3/4" corregated flex tube takes the wires for the front lights through the firewall in one seemingly single bundle down under the left side of the frame and then to the headlights. I can split out any branching wires though the side of the split at any point. That part is not finished yet but today I tried to unify things simply and put a short 12 gauge ground wire from the motor to the bolt which mounts a little aftermarket horn. That bolt goes through the firewall to the gray plate in the picture above with a star washer on both sides so that now the steering column and everything mounted to the gray (painted 3/8" aluminum) plate is grounded and tested with a voltmeter. Since my little garage heater brought the temp up to 49 F I kept working and installed the wire to the water temp sensor in the Edelbrock intake but I have question. I have the correct water temp sensor for a '76 Corvette 350 and it has a grooved post instead of a threaded post. The local NAPA guy looked through the parts book and that is the right sensor but he did not have a connector. I made a connector out of one end of a coil wire with it's rubber boot and it does snap on to the sensor. I removed the coil wire and crimpled the water temp wire in there but I wonder where to get the right connector? I have some faint hope that maybe just maybe I can get the car wired over the winter by just installing "one wire at a time". All of the TPI wires are labeled so I have a fighting chance and with the firewall plate grounded it looks like the gauges will be easy to ground at several places. The engine is grounded to the battery negative post with a long 00 gauge welding cable.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

On another thread Tech1 commented on the potential low quality of home built cars. I hear that but short of farming out the work I am doing what I can. I am posting pictures just to keep my own momentum on the wiring job. Actually I am learning a little about crimping and connecting, AND when I connect something the wire gets shorter. The TPI 20 circuit kit would probably handle a very big '76 Cadillac but the roadster is much smaller so I end up with long lengths of wasted wire when I cut them down. I think I solved a major grounding problem with the black 12 gauge wire from the engine to the aluminum plate on the inside of the firewall. The inner 1" steel framework is already grounded to the frame and engine. For some reason the 700R4 has no bolt boss for the very top hole on the block so I used that for a grounding point. I leave the pre-oil rig in the dist. hole to keep out dirt. I hope the horn connection is not too gross, the mounting bolt is grounded through to the firewall plate. I know this is trivial stuff but it is encouraging progress to me. The second picture is what is left on the interior. Hopefully that mass of wires can be hidden up under the dash once I get the gauges hooked up. I still need to rig up a good ground for the rear lights since I will need an extra ground for the tailights and the ground of the gas tank sensor. It is getting exciting as I near the day of startup, but that may still be in the Spring!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
Get a big bundle of 4" tie wraps and put one on every 2-3 inches then tie wrap them to some support structure behind the dash - I've used several hundred. I suspect that there is some wood or steel reinforcing that if you can't wrap a tie around, then you can install some wiring loops by drilling and screwing some too support structure for the wires.

When you cut the wires make sure that when you go up the side of the cowl and/or across the floor or any other areas that will be covered that you make allowances for the upholstery. I've done and redone mine enough times that I'm just barely going to keep my upholsterer speaking to me

Originally Posted by Stovebolter

Do you know of a site that sells the GM factory oiltite plugs...like the LS will have on the engine harness. I saw a site a long time ago and cant find it now.

Thanks,
Dave G

Dave, a great, easy to assemble/disassemble connector to use for a weather/oil resistant seal is the Deutsch connector. This is the type connector Ken Thurm used on his wiring, I asked him. I became familiar with them working on Harleys. I get my supplies from Batts Racing, http://www.deutschconnector.com/ Once you crimp the terminal on the wire (you will need a Deutsch crimper, but Summit has a great one), these are the easiest to build connectors I've ever worked with and if a repair is necessary, the individual wires can be very easily removed. I'm sure you can find other sources by doing a Google search for Deutsch connector. Hope this helps.

Mike

Latest in the saga of wiring my car. I only have one wire left - from the AC electronic control module. It just isn't there!!! Vintage Air supplied me with an AC 'kit' that is missing a wire! There are supposed to be 7 wires to the dash switches - and the green wire ----is not there nor has it ever been there. I even asked my wife who is NOT color blind as I am to make sure. Then there are the two switches - fan speed and the mode - and the terminals are so loose that this AC would never ever work correctly. I may try to solder them but feel that this might be a waste of my time - they are $12.25 each. The electronic module is $35 if Vintage want to blow me off tomorrow when I call. Bah Humbug!!