Thread: Wiring my Car

Tweet

I bought a 21 circuit kit from EZ wire and want to get started on my car. For a change I thought I would FIRST ask if there is anything I should know before I start this. I assume this might be a long post before I'm done.

I started by mounting my fuse box and organizing the wires into groups. I bought a bunch of split loom, cable ties (1000), shrink wrap and connectors as well as a new soldering gun, my old one was crap. I've wired my chopper in the past from scratch so I have some idea but not much, I've also read some of the posts like the one IC2 put up.

1. Is it best to solder connectors and then shrink wrap them?
2. I noticed there aren't any ground wires in the kit, should I run a common ground from each section of the car to one of my grounding points?

More to come I'm sure, thanks in advance.

Sean

Well, IMO you can never have too many grounds and ground wires!!! Solder and shrink wrap is still the best connection... Also might want to have some dielctric grease for any wiring that has a screw on or push on connection. Just a drop saves a lot of low or no voltage problems down the road.

Sounds good Dave, thanks.

It took me a couple of days to drill through my firewall but I finally did it. I got a threaded copper plumbing elbow from Home Depot and used it to run the wires through. It has another piece that threads on from the inside holding it in place. I fished the wires through to the front and clamped them in place.

Going to the rear I drilled a hole in the floor behind the door jamb and I had a lot of fuel hose left over so I ran the wire through a piece about 8 inches long and used that as a rubber gromet. I have to figure out where to tap off my brake switch, the tail section has 5 wires:

LT Park
RR Turn
LR Turn
Fuel Pump
Dome Light

Any ideas?? I would think it goes off the LT Park but then I wouldn't have any rear lights.

Sean

the wire for your brake switch should be either in the loom for under the dash or under the hood..... The wires you mention should be for tailights, fuel pump power, and dome light power..

I have used them many times and like what they have and cant beat the price. Only thing that is a little messed up is the wire for the neutral safety switch. I think it is wire 29. You will need to run a jumper wire

Cool steering column mount.

Sean - Since you have read most of my trials and some of my pain, I really have few comments:

Solder and shrink wrap are best - and there are two kinds (or more!) of shrink wrap. The shiny stuff isn't as good as the flat finished. The flat I believe is marine and has some adhesive and will shrink tighter.

Grounds are important even with a steel car which I believe yours is as well. You need a ground from an engine/transmission bolt to the chassis and a second, also from the engine to the body. I used some flat braided ground straps that I bought from AAW at an NSRA meet. I also have more grounds for various pieces on the body and behind the dash. These are mostly wire brushed to clean steel areas that had a .25 brass bolt, a couple of SS star washers and some dielectric grease. Any grounds, best to use star washers.

Tie wraps on wires from the module to the rear of the car and if under the carpet will not easily fit in convoluted tubing - and will upset your upholsterer. I originally tie wrapped mine, but ended up removing those under the carpet area and wrapped with orange 3M Scotch #35 electrical tape. Not necessarily the best way if a repair, a change or more wiring is needed but my upholsterer is happier, tho not much.

Dash - by your photos it appears that you haven't done your dash yet - and with the pre terminated EZ wire assembly, you might want to not get too far before you put it together. If you still can, and it's not welded in place, consider pulling the cowl top cover off or get a standing appointment with a chiropractor

Anything else - well, I can share pain in wiring these cars

Thanks guys,

Dave-that's what I thought. There is a brake switch light that comes off the column but mine doesn't fit that plug. I'll try phoning them.

Iceburgh-I found a diagram for that, thanks.

Falconvan-It had to be a forged rod for all the high speed cornering I'm gonna be doing.

IC2- Those kind of tips are great, I'll have to go back and read it again as I go along and I think I'll have a better understanding of some of it. I made my dash removable so I can wire it all up and have the main connectors so all I have to do is plug them in. Sounds easy, but I'm sure there will be more to it than that.

I also flipped the fuse box so the wires are coming out the top.

Sean

I've been searching around for direction so I thought I would verify this. I'm wiring up my engine now and I have a 100 amp. one wire alt. and a mini Powermax starter.

First off the solenoid has two large lugs and one small one. One of the large lugs has a wire connected to the starter so does this mean the other goes to the battery? Also the ign. switch start must go to the small lug, am I right? Now where does the solenoid power go to?? I also assume the starter and alt. are both grounded through the engine. I'm getting more confused.

The one wire alt. says to use a jumper cable from it to the battery side of the solenoid, is that it, do I not need the alternator power and exciter then.

My HEI has three wires, black, red and yellow and I have no idea what to do here. I think the coil pos. and the tach go here as well as a ground but I'm not sure either............HELP!

Sean

Speedway and a number of other companies sell a book titled "How to wire your Hot Rod".... It's a really great reference, I keep it handy whenever I'm doing any wiring. Lots of good information in there!!!!!

I make the dash easily removable. I use several connectors for all the gages and other items attached to the dash. Packard and Molex are my favorite. You can get these from Waytek
http://order.waytekwire.com/CGI-BIN/...7D3012+M37+ENG

You also can get terminals wires and all the accessories you will need. They ship fast too.

Otherwise it looks like you are on the right track. I usually coil up the unused wires and tuck them in somewhere for future use.

I crimp and heat shrink. I do have a couple of pro crimpers however.

Sean your pulling ahead! My engine's not even in yet!
Looks like your making great progress! Call EZ wiring about the alternator, they seemed pretty friendly when I called them last year. Steve

Sean - are you using a Ford style solenoid as well as the big solenoid on the starter? If so, that takes a "special" wiring arrangement. If that is your setup, then I'll draw up a diagram - I need one for my records as well.

As far as a one wire alternator, that needs to be wired directly back to the positive terminal of the battery (or at least a post that is connected directly to that terminal). The always hot starter terminal will work and is the way I'm doing it as it is a fairly short run of #8 to a heavier wire run ( #0) to the battery.

The HEI - no idea as I'm running a full MSD ignition

Okay so I figured out I need a jumper wire from the alt to the hot lug on the starter (thanks IC2 for verifying) and that goes to the battery.

So I got IGN Switch and Tach to the HEI and ALT power and the ALT Bypass to the starter with the bypass going to the Alternator. As Dave told me the plug causing the confusion just plugs into the cap.

Does this sound right?? This is the MSD HEI Streetfire:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Thanks again guys, it's getting closer!

Sean

Doing a bunch of more wiring and ran into another question. My ignition power wire from the battery has a jumper wire spliced into it any idea where this goes???

Sean