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A bit of a milestone here, I'm finally done with my rough in electrical for the car. I'm calling it a "rough in" since it's pretty much the same as what you'd do on a house. All of the major components are there, and I can't really do much more until some other stuff starts to come together like the aluminum, engine in, body on (lights), etc.

This weekend I was able to finish up pre-wiring for my linear actuators both front and back, pre-wiring for the trunk latch popper, and adding the LA switches. From there, I was able to get the dash all hooked up and clamped into place. The wires are a complete mess, but I'm not going to get into too much of a hurry cleaning it all up until the engine is back in, and I verify all of the related circuits.

The minor miracle of the day? Everything actually worked. ;-> My headlight reminder chime, my manual rear backup lights, foot activated hi beams, the linear actuator switches, foot box lights, door switches, and the extra complicated headlight and interior light setup, etc. Heck, even the indicator lights for the tangent running lamps, hi beams, and turn signals (with reminder buzzer) worked. Frankly, I was surprised.

So, the next step is even more exciting for me than this one...dropping the engine back in, and actually hooking up the driveshaft, etc. I'm currently on the cusp of having it actually move under it's own power (still lots to do before that.)

I shot a video for wiring the linear actuators, and once I get it edited, I'll post it here. Probably not that important for these builds since very few people would do them, but hopefully useful for someone.

Pics:

Christmas came a 2nd time last week, and brought me my freshly coated Side Pipes, thanks to NitroPlate. Return shipping was a bit higher than getting it down there, but the guys put them in a nice sturdy box, so they made it back home safely. All in all, under $260 for shipping and coating. The other options I found were almost twice that price, and they look great.

As you can see by the pics, the hours I spent grinding the welds was time well spent, the connections are nice and smooth.

Pics:





Hidden Stereo Progress:

Part of finishing up the wiring includes figuring out the plan of attack for the stereo. I had already settled on doing a hidden stereo setup, utilizing my ipod touch, a main amp and sub amp to drive 4 full range speakers and 2 10" subs.

Over the summer, I discovered this cool little docking station with an RF remote for my Ipod, and it occurred to me that since it's RF, I can setup the ipod in the trunk, and run it from a little gum-sized remote, with everything hidden. I had already planned on having an inverter back there for utility, and I actually found one that has a 5V USB port on it. That will allow me to connect the docking station right to the inverter for power, and it'll charge the Ipod while it's running. I did a test hook up yesterday, and it worked great. I also have a 12v power port (3 of them actually), and a 3.5mm hidden jack that I can use up front, in case it ultimately proves to be a pain having the ipod in the back. Interestingly, the dock will wake up your ipod when needed, so you don't have to get back into the trunk to turn it on.

If your interested in what I'm using (amps and Speakers are of lower quality, in a roadster with side pipes, sound quality is hardly an issue,) here is a list and links to amazon.


The Dock: Dock Station Ipod with rf Remote








4 Channel Amp: Legacy LA160 4 Channel 300 Watt Amplifier









2 Channel Amp: Legacy LA120 2 Channel 240 Watt Amplifier









Pyle 5.25" Speakers for Under the Doors: PYLE-PRO PMDK102 - Heavy-Duty Aluminum Anodizing Dual Speaker Stand & 1/4'' Cable Kit







Pyle 6.5" Speakers for the Rear Deck: Pyle PL63BL 6.5-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers







Pyle 10" Subs: PYLE PLW10BL 10-Inch 600 Watt Subwoofer






Pics: - The rest of these have quality that is pretty bad, my normal camera bit it, so time to find another one.








Electrical Progress:

Since it's been several months since I've actually worked on the electrical system, it took me a little while to actually figure out what was what. I had made some pretty good drawings of my relay setups, but had neglected to label all of the wires, so I did end up having to do some tracing to figure out which wire went which component.

After getting everything mapped and labeled, I was able to make some more progress, and I'm nearing the completion of the electrical system. I still need to pre-wire for the linear actuators in the trunk and hood areas, and wire for the trunk popper, plus get the dash all wired in and tested, but fairly soon, the rough in will be completed and the engine can go back in.

Turn Signal Buzzer:

Since these cars were built prior to the days when all cars have self-canceling turn signals, and because mine will have a simple ON-OFF-ON (left, off, right) turn signal switch, there's an inherent tendency towards that "little old lady" syndrome where you end up driving for miles with your turn signal on. You not only look like a moron, but if someone sees you coming with your blinker on, they may accidentally turn in front of you when you're actually not turning, which is bad.

So, one solution, which has been done many times, is to put in a simple buzzer that will be activated when you put the turn signal on. The annoying "buzz, buzz, buzz" will serve as a reminder that the signal is on. Chances are, at speed, I'll never hear it over the pipes, but when I make my way to the next stop, I will.

Here's how I wired it:

Parts:

1) Piezo Buzzer - Radio Shack Version - Alternative Version

2) Wire to the Turn Signal Circuits
3) Diodes
4) Misc Connectors

Setup:

Basically, the buzzer is just wired into turn signal circuit. There are several ways to accomplish this, but since my harness already has a separate line for both Left and Right signals AND a separate wire for the indicators on both sides, I decided to just wire the HOT side of the buzzer into the left and right indicator circuits.

This meant splitting the incoming line for the indicator lights into 2 feeds, one FROM the harness, and one TO the buzzer. Since the buzzer only has one hot feed, that also meant that I had to connect both the left and right leads to it. This would normally lead to back feeding across that wire, so I added a diode to each side with the flow towards the buzzer. That means that power can go down one leg into the buzzer, but when it comes back up to the other side, the diode will prevent it from getting to the rest of the circuit and back feeding to the other indicator light or signal.

I tested everything and found that my indicator lights weren't fully blinking. I could see the voltage drop, but not a full off and on. Thanks to the guys on the forum, I realized later that it is because the turn signal lights themselves are an integral part of the circuit, and without them, the voltage won't drop like it should. I'll test again with all bulbs in place, but I'm confident it'll be fine.

Pics:





So...the next step is pre-wiring my leads for the LA's and also getting the dash all wired up again. Until next time.

Thanks to the awesome guys over on the forum, I discovered a hidden gem for ceramic coatings in Tennessee. A little company called NitroPlate provides excellent service, and great coating for FAR less than others I've seen ($135 at the time of this writing, plus shipping, of course.) From the pictures and comments of other guys that have used them, I am expecting big things.

I spent the last couple of weeks prepping the pipes. Like my buddy Mike (don't we all want to be like Mike?,) and others, I decide to go ahead and clean up the welds on the pipes. I can't say that I'm still 100% happy that I did that. As it turned out, even if you're careful, it's a little too easy to grind through the pipe material.

I managed to hit a bad weld spot on one of the 4x4 corners, and the result was several frustrating nights of welding, and eventual resignation that I didn't have the right skill or equipment to make it happen. I ended up getting a local shop to to a small patch for me with the TIG, which turned out great, and I just had a little clean up to do.

All in all, though, they came out great for the prep. I started with 80g sanding discs in my grinder, and ended up with 150grit stick on discs to finish up, and take out the deep gouges.

The shop will blast at 100g anyway, so my work with 150 should be just fine. The ceramic coating won't hide many imperfections, so if you go this route, plan on getting them pretty dang smooth.

The advantage of the ceramic is durability, and heat reduction, so you lessen the chance of a snake bit burn, plus they look nice. Combined with my new chrome roll bars (which i got a smokin' deal on too), it should complete the look.

Pictures: (not very clear thanks to my ipod):





Also got a chance to get the car back on the lift and crack open the rear diff. I'm 98% sure it's leaking (could be the brakes), so I need to redo the seal.

Wow, March 28 was my last blog entry...what a terribly busy Summer/Fall I had! I guess when you decided to do an entire landscape redo mostly alone, drop an 8000 pound skidsteer into the pool, rebuild the pool, then build a couple of decks, patios, etc., it takes some time.

But...I'm working my way back into the shop, and I'm thinking about all kinds of aspects of the build. In particular, even though I still have a ton of work to do with the paint and body, I'm still trying to nail down my color choice. I had decided fully to go Silver, but now, I am rethinking that. The primary reason is that although I love the silver cars, they are less "in your face" than some of the brighter colors. It's a super-car, more or less, it's supposed to be in your face right? Still thinking about orange, but maybe a true orange instead of pearl, white stripes. Then there's yellow, green, and an old standby, black...

So, this week, I've been working on cleaning up the welds on my side pipes, so that I can get them sent off to the coater in Portland, and Mike M can help get them back to me.

It'll take me a week to figure out what my wiring is doing, I should have mapped it better. I did somewhat, but didn't take all of the time to diagram my custom circuits. I'll need to do that.

I'm also thinking about using linear actuators for the trunk and hood, just because I think it would be cool, despite being not only a little "ghetto" and totally not original to the time period. But, using those will help keep hands off the paint when opening the trunk and hood. I can also use a different setup for the latches then, perhaps borrowing an old "caddie" power latch or something.

Here we go!

A beautiful 2-week family vacation in Grand Cayman will do a lot to add some perspective to your life, and cause you to look at what's currently going on. Add to that the beginning of Holy week today (Palm Sunday,) and I personally began to think through my life priorities, how I'm organizing them, what I'm doing with my time, and what brings me joy. It became apparent that over the last few months, I began to lose a bit of focus on the ultimate goal with the Roadster project...and frankly, with life...it's the JOURNEY.

Heck, if I just wanted a fast car that sounds awesome that I could drive this summer, it's a heck of a lot easier to just go buy one. BUT I DON'T WANT TO BUY ONE! I WANT TO BUILD ONE! It's the building that is the fun.

With this all in mind, I've taken a good hard look at my timeline, and my goals for the car. I'm taking a bit of a step back, and making plans to really enjoy the build. I'll likely be driving it for years and years, God willing, so what's a few months.

As I tripped over a bunch of stuff I'd been trying to ignore in the shop, I was glad that I could take the time to move it, organize it, and begin to clean up the shop I've been neglecting.

So, for the time being, more focus on God, family, and just taking my time. I want to spend some time reorganizing and cleaning the shop, fix my front doors on the shop (they stick), and get Michelle's project organized and stored (she's taking a bit of a break as well.) After that, I'll finish up the wiring and interior. It remains to be seen whether I just keep moving forward and do paint and body. Summer's warmer temperatures are better than fighting cold and paying to heat the shop, so that's an option. Plus, doing the sanding outside instead of inside the shop will make clean up WAYYYY easier.

More updates to come, but probably even slower than before!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks since my last update. I've largely been working on the wiring still, and I continue to be too creative with it. A little addition here, another one there, and just when I think "today's the day I'll finish up the main wiring", it really isn't, and another week rolls by.

Dash - Take II

The big step back this last week was the realization that I definitely put my indicator lights too high on the dash. At first, it wasn't an insurmountable issue, and I thought I could solve it by just notching the 3/4" dash hoop. I was quickly reminded by a forum member that the BODY also sits in that same location. After some measurements by other forum members, I quickly discovered that my top left turn signal indicator would sit inside the dash overhang by 1/4" or more. No good.

All in all, it turned out to be a hidden blessing. I had to remove the original vinyl (see last post) and redo it completely after redrilling new holes for the indicator lights.

When I started removing the vinyl, I quickly realized that it hadn't adhered nearly as well as I had thought, and would have likely ended up with premature failure, bubbles, etc. Although I'm not entirely sure what caused the issue, I addressed it by simply sanding the dash surface a a lot with rough sand paper (80 grit) and cleaning it very well, plus waiting a little longer to make sure the contact cement cured better and more completely before putting the vinyl on. I was really pleased with how it came out, and I think it'll be longer lasting. I also moved the indicators into more of a cross configuration, which I like better any way. 4 hours lost or more, but no big deal.

Pics of the new dash:





The speedometer is en route back home, all repaired from Auto Meter. Great service from those guys. I also found that the clock I had traded for had some fading on the hands. I sent it in for service, which they said would be $25. They ended up not being able to replace the hands, but because they quoted me that, they are replacing it with a brand new gauge for the $25, which saves me $50 at least on the gauge. What a deal!

More Wiring Progress:

It really does feel like I'm making some final progress on the wiring. This weekend was some work on the dash gauges, getting them pre-wired in before the dash goes in, the clutch safety switch rewire, and headlight switch wiring. The gauges are a little easier to wire before the dash goes in.

Door Switches, Accessory Lights, Headlight Switch Mod:

I did a full write up of the process for wiring the cockpit lights and door switches. I'll include it here too:

I spent a bunch of time head scratching to get this all to work the way I wanted, and thought I'd possibly save someone else the time/trouble if they wanted to do the same thing.

This is a long, detailed write up of how I did it. I'm sure there are several other ways to do the same thing.

There is an underlying methodilogical debate with switching, whether to switch the HOT side or GND side. I'm on the HOT side of the coin, and have simply always switched this side. I think there are merits both ways, and probably the GND is actually better/safer. This procedure assumes the HOT side is switched, which did present an issue with the AA switch as you'll see.

Purpose/Background:

I thought it would be great to have some door actuated interior lights, much like a production car, but also have manually operated lights for each foot box, and for the bulkhead area for the seat/cockpit (I’m doing a rear shelf and the light will light that up and spill in).

I have an LED under the middle front of each footbox (on Everson’s dash panel) and then the flexible strip is on the ¾” tube behind it and wires run in a hidden fashion. The headlight switch has a dome light setting (must be modified so it’s not GND driven), and then each footbox has a rocker switch to activate it. The headlight dome switch also controls the footbox lights, so I can turn on all interior lights light a production car. Another manual switch could be added for the bulkhead, but I didn’t need it.

Parts:

I bought a lot of this stuff over time, you could probably get all of the stuff from 1-2 vendors.

LED Accessory Lights

LED Flexible Light Strip

Standard Automotive Rocker Switches

Diodes

American Autowire Headlight Switch (modified)

Door Switches (push button normally ON switches)

Bosch Relay

Relay Harness (with all 5 pins – 87a)

Misc Connectors

Issues to be Addressed:

Backfeeding – this was the biggest challenge for me, and took a couple of hours of head scratching and testing to get it right. The system wants to backfeed between the 2 footbox lights, and also between the rear light and the footbox lights. The way I addressed it was by using 3 separate diodes (essentially a one-way valve for electricity) at each light so that the power will flow TO the light, but not feed the others. I put the diode on the 12v lead for each light, so it’s the last part of the system.

Headlight Switch Dome Switch – This switch is handy in that it already has a built in mechanism for controlling a dome light. However, the switch uses the GROUND circuit to do the switching, and the rest of the way that I wired the system uses the 12V side. This required me to modify that switch to use the 12v side instead. It’s possible that you could change the rest of the switches to switch the ground instead, but this wasn’t a preferred option for me since I had already wired everything else in and the headlight switch was the last item.

I had some plastic washers left from a metal shed install around, so I basically made another leg for the switch by drilling a hole in the switch bottom, and using a small metal bolt as the leg. I isolated the bolt by shrink tubing it except the screw end and head, and then put a plastic washer between it and the switch surface. I tested for continuity before I applied power to make sure it wouldn’t short.

I'm no DV/DT kind of fabricator, so keep that in mind, but it'll work for me. It’s very solid, and I’m fairly confident the switch will wear out before I have any issues with this part of the system.

Hooking it All Up:

There are many ways to go about wiring everything, here’s how I did it.

Feed – I have a separate fuse panel that has both constant ON and keyed on power. I chose to use the constant side for the interior lights, this is how a production car would be wired. I have a 20A fuse for this feed, but probably 10A or less would be more than adequate, especially with LED’s.
Relay – To get this to work, I used a bosch type relay, which has a switched power source inside. The 87 lead is powered when the relay is OFF, and the 87a lead is powered when it’s ON. This gives you 2 separate sides for the door switch side and the manual switch side. When the doors are closed, the manual switches are fed by the 87a side of the relay. When you open the door, the lights get fed from the 87 side.
Footbox Switches – Everson’s Dash Filler Panel) makes a great foundation for switches. I have a bunch of switches, audio input, and 12v power ports. I put a switch to the side of the tranny tunnel for easy access to turn these on.
Rear Bulkhead – My LED strip was an easy decision for me since I am adding a rear shelf. This gave me a perfect hiding place for the light, so the strip and lighting is invisible behind the ¾” hoop. I ran the wires along the hoop and simply added electrical tape to hide the wires (the wires are very thin.) In a non-shelf setup, a nicer looking light would be needed, but same implementation. I ran a single power wire from the dash to the light area, and grounded right there.
Dome Switch Mechanism – Already described above, but more detail. I grabbed power from the main headlight feed coming into the switch via one of the taps that came with the kit. I added a bullet-type connector so I can easily pull out the whole switch assembly.

Caution – due to the nature of these builds, there is ALL SORTS of conductive metal where you’re working. I had a stray wire that blew out the fuse 2x before I figured out it was resting on the upper column. Use a meter to test as much as possible before hooking up the battery, and if you can, maybe layout a towel under your work space to keep this from happening.

Pictures:

Relay Diagram:



Headlight Switch- Labeled



Footbox Lights and Switches



Bulkhead Light and Footbox Lights (note, one led is out on the left side, pending replacement)



Headlight ON Warning Chime:

This probably wasn't ultimately necessary, but it's more along the lines of a production car, and with running a pretty small battery, it made sense to do it.

I just posted this for niceguyeddie in PM, and I thought someone else might find it useful. I'll get some pics later, but they probably aren't even really needed.

Both of my daily cars have automatic headlights, so I was concerned that I'd turn these on in the evening and forget them, so I figured wiring in a chime will help me remember.

I bought a $10 door bell type chime from Radio Shack, and wired it in. Works fine, and it's annoying enough, I'll never forget the lights. I'm going to be adding a turn signal reminder buzzer the same way, RS sells the piezo buzzer for $7 think.

Here's what I did:

Mount...I mounted it facing down in the Everson under dash panel, but it could be moutned anywhere that you can hear it (it's loud.) This worked well for me.

There are 3 wires on the chime, blue, black, and red. The blue and black go to ground. When the black and red are hooked up, and 12v at red, and you take the blue to ground, it chimes.

So, I wired the blue and black to ground together.

I took a bosch relay and wired it this way:

SWITCH (black on my harnesses) to the KEYED ignition circuit.
GND (white) - ground
THROUGH (87a) to the RED wire on the chime.
SWITCHED POWER (Activated side - yellow) - Cut off and capped.
12V IN (blue) - I used a tap to grab power from the dash light circuit - you could also use the tail lights or parking lights.

Basically, no power to the relay at all with just the key on...so, the relay won't fire. When the KEY ON and headlights ON, the relay has power, and it's fired, so power moves from the 87A side to the 87 side, and no power to chime.

Turn the key off, and the relay is not firing, but has power from the headlight switch, so the power is at 87a to the chime, and DING DING DING!

Took me a while staring at it, but it works just fine.

Video:



Holy Crap Bar:

I love that name. ;-> Basically, it's a grab bar for the dash that the passenger can use if you get a little over zealous with the go pedal, plus for getting in and out of the car.

Since the dash is not to support the bar on it's own, a support mechanism had to be built to support it. I used some steel angle I had around, and made it in such a way that it can be adjusted upward as the dash gets installed into the body. The bar is a marine-application grab bar, and should also help with the relatively empty space on the passenger side of the dash.

Pics:

After a month of no updates, thought I'd show some progress. I have been wiring for this whole time, and took some time for the dropped trunk mod. I'll post that stuff later, but today, the Dash.

I'm simply ignoring the fact that my speedo is en route to AutoMeter for repairs, and pretending that i finished my dash.

So, it's really an almost. Speedo will need to go in, and the holy crap bar as well.

Thought I'd post it up anyway.

Details:

AutoMeter Ultra-Lights (oil temp delete, add clock)
LED Indicators (amber turns, blue for high beams and tangent driving)
Push button start (button was $3 from parts express)
Standard horn button
On-Off-On turn signal turned sideways
On-Off-On for tangents
Headlight switch and knob from American Auto Wire
Matching Knob for the Choke

Ignition key and heater switch are going into the tranny tunnel.

Dash Material is Marine Black Vinyl from Joann's (50% coupon, so cheap) no padding.

Used Weldwood Contact Cement and a cheap paint brush, worked perfectly, very little mess.

Covered up the pre-drilled dash holes (small ones) with one layer in back and 2 layers in front of aluminum tape.

Cut holes with 1/8" extra inside for gauges, perfect tight fit.

Pics:

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I last updated the build site. However, looking back at the last month and all that's happened, it's exciting to see.

The most exciting even this month was finalizing the engine assembly, and starting the engine for the first time in the chassis. What a rush! It took a couple of times firing and tweaking the distributor to get it right, some fuel line leaks at the carb, and a temporarily hacked together push start wiring job via a small cardboard box, but I pulled it off. More exciting than that even is the fact that it didn't like crazy! What a great experience to see something come to life that you built with your own hands. Good stuff. Nothing like the sound of 4 into 4 headers and side pipes.

First Start Video:



Pics:



Front Battery Box:

I decided that I didn't want to run battery cables all the way back to the trunk, so I am following a current trend to mount the battery upfront in the engine bay. I chose to do a Group 51 battery, and got mine at Costco for about $60. It works great, and can fire up the 302 without any issue. It's smaller in CCA's, but since this motor will never see 32 degrees, it's a non issue.

I took some 1" angle iron steel I got from my father in law, and made a tray, which I then welded together (poorly, btw) drilled and painted. I then put it on the far inside of the bay between the 4" front tube and x-member. I drilled through the x-member for the bolt, and drilled and tapped the 4" tube for a couple of 5/16" bolts, then ran a piece of thick aluminum from the x-member to the box. The fit is perfect, and it's not going any where. I figured out that by drilling a couple of holes in the bottom on each side, and using my tubing bender on the bracket, I could adapt the battery hold down from the kit to work perfectly. A couple of wing nuts, and it was good to go.

Pics:





Transmission, Bellhousing, Clutch Assembly:

After the excitement of the first start, I knew the engine had to come back out again so I could do the wiring. I pulled it back out, and assembled the rest of the drivetrain, including the transmission, bellhousing, clutch and pressure plate, and clutch fork. Thanks so some creativity in using my work bench and the hoist, it went together quite well.

The only real issue I had with this is that the tranny actually tilts a little to the driver's side, and you can see it when it's mounted. This took some head scratching and forum searching to figure out that it's supposed to be that way.

Pics:






So, some real progress this month, and I'm pumped to see the go-kart stage get closer.

I have a little tweaking to do to finish my anti-sway bar install, and then finish up the electrical wiring that I started last week. The ground studs are all welded in, and the beginning layout is complete. Thanks to the Ron Francis harness, it's pretty easy to put together.

Pretty exciting weekend for me, despite the fact that I didn't get much done...that time of year.

But...my last remaining parts for the brakes (bulkhead fittings) came on Friday, so I was able to get the brake system finished and bled. I also got my last bolt for my 3-link, so that's all torqued in and ready to go.

That means...the wheels and tires are on, and she's a roller! I dropped the lift, and rolled her back and forth a few times, and checked the brakes (they work).

I also cut and connected the fuel filler neck that's in more or less a temp state until the body goes on.

So...the battle wages on, and it's FUN!