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