RK
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 12:53 AM |
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wiring instruments
I don't know where to start.
1. I got some glass place to make me a windscreen. Fine. Expensive, but looks OK. Install same to car, no probs
2. Try to install wiper blades and arms to wiper boxes. No amount of fiddling will get them to work. They just don't line up correctly and the
system binds.
3. I had a guy come over last weekend and get my engine running (some ecu wires were broken as it turned out and I won't touch my ecu! At least
not by myself.). Yesterday, it wouldn't start, but at least sputtered. No gauges work at this point, although they light up. Or did.
4. My instrument and switch wiring went all haywire and half of it didn't work at all following reinstalling the fuse boxes after the wiring
fixes. Couldn't figure that out after spending a couple of hours on it last night.
5. After trying to get the wipers fixed tonight, I decided to physically rip, and I mean rip, out my dash, thereby breaking some instruments, which
were garbage anyways. The connectors never stayed in the gauges. The gauges were cheap plastic crapola, but of course, they cost a bundle.
I have no useful wiring left. My under scuttle looks like spaghetti and no switches are connected anymore. I was never happy with my own wiring job. I
didn't have a loom per se to begin with, just a couple of fuse boxes with wires from those. Everything looks like the bodge job that it is.
I am not going to get this going on the road before the snow flies. This wiring shite took me 9 months to get here and I just destroyed it. I
don't have it in me anymore to redo it all because obviously, as with most of this, I don't know what I'm doing.
Has anybody else done this?
ps I hate my car. Jobs left: wiring, attach front wings, wipers, bonnet catches, sand and paint nose. Otherwise, done.
[Edited on 16/10/09 by RK]
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 03:28 AM |
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Maybe take a few weeks off.
Its only a hobby.
Matt
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LBMEFM
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 05:52 AM |
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Did exactly the same. I just could not go on. I then found a local auto electrician who charged me £300 to tidy it all up. When I got it back it was
not quite right but encouraged me to get started again. Sometimes you need somebody or something to motivate you. Whatever you do don't give up,
maybe just forget for a while, in the end you will have a car to be proud of. I have just had a brilliant summer with something I at one point was
thinking of burning and claiming it on the insurance on. KEEP GOING it's worth it. Barry 
[Edited on 16/10/09 by LBMEFM]
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 07:22 AM |
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 feel for you dude but don’t give up
Thing to remember is you don’t need all that many gauges, just a speedo and a handy fuel gauge. My little car originally tons of them all fitted in a
lovely walnut dash, which when it was crashed I put my knee’s through the whole lot, destroying my dash and gauges
now I’ve just got a plain painted dash and just the speedo and fuel gauge plus some warning lights and I’m very happy with how it looks. If your
not sure about wiring then the main priority is to keep it all as simple as possible. Work on just one system at a time, like the brake lamps then the
tail lamps then the head lamps etc etc get each working before moving onto the next. Then just tape it up and bingo you have a loom.
Or alternatively you could use something like this, Car Builder Solutions sell these modules -
linky Which although a bit pricey do make the wiring up very simple indeed
and in my mind if your not all that clued up in car wiring are well worth the money.
Keep going
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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ashg
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 07:44 AM |
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buy me a plane ticket and i will come help you 
Anything With Tits or Wheels Will cost you MONEY!!
Haynes Roadster (Finished)
Exocet (Finished & Sold)
New Project (Started)
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whitestu
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 07:52 AM |
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I've got and Acewell dash which has everything in one unit and is easy to hook up.
Take some time off and leave it until you are desperate to get going again!
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 08:11 AM |
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^ good idea
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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r1_manx
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 10:23 AM |
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Hey guys,
reading this thread has really helped me get some perspective on my current BEC project. I thought I was the only one who, at times, has just wanted
to slosh a jerry of high octane fuel over my car and torch the damn thing! But I have realised we all get frustrated and stumped on certain aspects of
a project and often help is just round the next corner. After taking a time out now and again it really helps you feel motivated again so keep going
everyone, I will be, and hope to have a nice BEC mini to show you all sometime next summer!
Cheers
If im not in action, im in traction!
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Richard Quinn
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 11:59 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by r1_manx
Hey guys,
reading this thread has really helped me get some perspective on my current BEC project. I thought I was the only one who, at times, has just wanted
to slosh a jerry of high octane fuel over my car and torch the damn thing! But I have realised we all get frustrated and stumped on certain aspects of
a project and often help is just round the next corner. After taking a time out now and again it really helps you feel motivated again so keep going
everyone, I will be, and hope to have a nice BEC mini to show you all sometime next summer!
Cheers
My advice in this case would just to use regular petrol rather than high octane. For the purposes of dealing with an annoying project,
you will find it burns just as well and you will save a few p per litre (which on a 25 litre jerrycan's worth of fuel soon adds up!!)
On a serious note - If you get stuck, just stop and take a break from it all. I did this a few times during my build and was amazed at how things
would suddenly become clear after a bit of a break from it.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 12:15 PM |
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Good grief! You've had a tough time with this car, haven't you!
Electrics scare people, but really it's easy when you get a system going.
1. If you're not confident, don't try wiring everything at once - do 1 or 2 circuits and get them working, then move on. This means if
something doesn't work then you don't have many things to look at.
2. Lay out the wires so that they're roughly in the right place, then pick out the ones you need to do the one job.
3. Once you're sure that a circuit is working, temporarily tie the wires back out of the way - I used some of those tie-wraps that you get with
plastic bags, but you could use string (tie a bow).
Doing it this way means that you don't get daunted by a mass of wires when things go wrong.
This method doesn't work when you get to ignition systems or ECUs - but by the time you get to them you'll be more confident in wiring a
dozen or so wires at the same time.
Good luck...
[Edited on 16/10/09 by David Jenkins]
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dave107
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 12:32 PM |
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Great advice guys about time out and taking one step at a time, i have now got my car with all the running gear on body work on sitting on the ground,
next job setup of suspension and the like, then i am going to take a month out before starting electrics i am absolutely dreading.
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RK
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 01:38 PM |
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Thank you everyone. And to Mr. Jenkins: yes, it has been a bit of a problem all along the way. I have to decide whether to ship it to Montreal for the
work, and free up the garage. It won't come back til April though, which kind of negates the idea of a winter full of "fun"
projects.
I had wired everything to work correctly at one time, but gradually, everything stopped doing what it was supposed to. I did it all over a long
period, one wire at a time, but things just didn't hold, and it was a mess to look at. I need an overall plan. Right now, I have to continue
with other little jobs, and forget the wiring and wipers for a while.
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scudderfish
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 03:18 PM |
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Electrics can appear daunting, but just take it one circuit at a time. Circuits tend to be either power or sense.
Power circuits (headlights, fuelpump etc) are 12v -> fuse -> switch -> item to power -> earth
Sensors are either guages or lights. Lights tend to go
12v -> fuse -> light -> switch -> earth
Guages tend to have a 12v feed, an earth feed and then a feed from the thing being measured (eg fuel sender)
Do them one at a time and start with something simple like sidelights.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 03:49 PM |
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Maybe you'd be better off with one of these:
CBS module
Bloody expensive, but it does make life soooo much easier!
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02GF74
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| posted on 16/10/09 at 05:56 PM |
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electrics are really straighfroward, honest.
think what you want to fit then draw it on a very big sheet of paper.
then buy different coloured wires and wire it up one wire at a time and test.
you've have it easy - starting a build from scratch - in my case, I had hacked up loom that had wires extened in difrerent colours, sometimes
more t han once.
It may look daunting so take it slowly, testing as you go along.; I went from this:
 
wiring before
to this:
 
after
probs two days max.
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RK
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| posted on 19/10/09 at 12:44 PM |
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Back at it. Instruments all ready to be plugged in, headlights wired, brake light wired, wipers wired. Man, I cut a lot of garbage out of there. Turns
out it was the best thing to do, just starting again.
Your encouragement has been, as usual, very appreciated. Thank you!
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