Project 55

Post date: Jan 28 2007 - 12:00am

I set out today to do some little bits and bobs as I didn't have much time this weekend. I drove it out and turned it round first so that I could work on the other side of the car. First thing was the missing bit of trim on the wing, no real drama there. Next was a few adjustments to the trunk lock to get it to sit a little better. Unfortunately I managed to chip the edge of the paint while I was doing it. Yet another battle scar, and it's not on the road!. I was running out of time so I decided to put the battery hold down that my mate John gave me.

I think I must be getting the hot-rod bug as I decided it wasn't pretty enough despite the fact it will ultimately be covered over. I made a cardboard template for the rough shape that I wanted and folded it to get the correct length. Once that was done, I transferred it to a strip of aluminium and started to fold it up. After a lot of careful checking and re-shaping I rounded off the corners and sanded the scratches out before giving it a quick polish. Two stainless bolts and the battery isn't going anywhere. It will have an MDF cover over the whole thing so I don't lose any trunk space. Another little job off the list.

The Key Makes it Do Stuff

Post date: Jul 15 2006 - 11:00pm

I decided to run the main feed from the boot to the starter, so got the car up on stands at the front so that I could get under it. My mate John had given me a load of welder cable to use, so I fitted a ring to the one end and lay under the car to work out the best route to the boot. I also want to run the fuel up the passenger side, so I decided to run it up the side of the frame rail inside. It was an easy job to do, just time consuming. I also didn't have big enough 'P' clips so had to use smaller ones temporarily. I left enough on the end to allow me to move it round a bit and drilled and gromitted a hole into the wheel well and put the battery clamp on.

I made a matching one for ground, and drilled a hole through to put a bolt in. I put a strap on the other side and connected it to the frame as well. That was me done for Saturday, so on Sunday I started back on the engine wiring. I decided on a route for the gauge senders and some other odd wires and made off the ends and taped them up into a loom. With the starter solenoid also connected it was ready to see if it span over on the key. I filled it up with oil, poured some over the rockers and pulled out the plugs to give it a go. I turned the key and over it spun. A few seconds of turning over, then a quick check to see if anything was getting hot. The jump leads I was using as ground for the block were hot, so I connected up the bigger ones and gave it a few seconds more. It built pressure to 25psi, so all looks good. It never had a key, let alone a starter circuit when I got it, so I'm chuffed with another little milestone for me.

Alarm and More Dynamat

Post date: Mar 5 2006 - 12:00am

It was a nice dry day on Saturday, so I got the car out and turned it round to work on the other side. I had a quick sweep up and then started on the door looms. The drivers front went in much easier than the passenger side, so I was just about to do the rear door when I realised I'd forgotten the speaker wires. Oops. I took it all back out again and re-did it, practice makes perfect eh?. I did the rear one as well and then soldered in some extension wires so that I could connect up the motors. A quick test and it all worked so it was on to fitting the alarm. It came with loads of extra input and output wires so the first thing I did was sort the wires and cap off the ones I didn't need.

It needed to tie into a lot of the existing wiring, so it was a pain to cut into it and keep the wiring neat. With it all done, I powered it all up. No flash from the indicators and no LED or siren but the central locking worked from the remote.. After 20 minutes or so of double checking, I realised I had crossed over the battery and ignition live wires. With it swapped over the siren chirped and the led showed status. I unlocked it again and started to tidy up the wiring a bit. The alarm is smart enough to re-lock and re-arm if you haven't opened one of the doors. Well, it re-armed and while I was thinking about what it might have been I set off the motion detector and the siren which I was right next to went off and scared the living daylights out of me. With that all done, I cleaned up the drivers door inner and vacced it out ready to fit the Dynamat. It makes an audible difference to the doors, they make a nice thud when you shut them instead of sounding hollow and rattly. Just one more door left to do and it's on to the boot. The engine went out for machining and balancing this week, so I should get that back in a few weeks ready to go straight in. Getting closer all the time.

Shiny Floor

Post date: Feb 19 2006 - 12:00am

I got the Dynamat to do the car a week or so, and realised I needed to do the firewall behind the AC box. I pulled it all back out and cleaned the floor and firewall ready to cover, then matted up to the underneath of the dash. With the one side done I re-hung the AC and did it all up tight with no problems. Next on the list was yet more wiring, and the box of grommets that I had ordered meant I could put one over the engine loom and re-connect all the wires I cut when I fed it through the firewall. I'd tinned all the wires in the week, so it was just a big soldering and heatshrinking job.

I used a trestle with a wooden block clamped on to hold my soldering helper up high enough to hold the wiring as I was doing it, and after cutting loads of heatshrink up ready I settled down sat on the crossmember and got on with the job. I'd cut the bundles in slightly different places so that I didn't end up with a thick part in the loom when the heatshrink was on. A few hours later it was all done and wrapped up with tape and I moved on to the connections to the new wiring for relays and all the other bits. With these done it's pretty much ready to go now. I pulled the column back out and dynamatted the drivers side and bundled up the wiring loosely until the central locking is in, which should be the last of the wiring. For now at least anyway. Oh, and I turned the brake booster up the right way. Ahem.

A weekend of Wiring

Post date: Feb 5 2006 - 12:00am

I got on with the wiring this weekend, as there's plenty of it on a car with a computer controlled engine. I wanted to finish off all the wiring that I could for inside the car before I moved on to the engine loom. I had decided to fit a delay relay to the courtesy lights, which meant that I had to re-wire the circuit as it used the earth as a switch as well as a supply. With that all done and tested I moved on to the indicator circuits. There was so little draw from the LED's I needed to fit resistors to get the flashers working. They are quite chunky as they have big heatsinks so I fitted them in the gap next to the air vents where they could be screwed to the body to help keep them cool.

It was then on to some additional wiring. I ran switch wires for the fuel pump and the amplifier power up relays in the boots. The battery is going in the boot so it will be supplied from there too. I fitted a 30A breaker to cover both circuits and left it all loose for now until the battery is in place. Next was a relay to do the neutral start switch and supply a signal to the PCM to indicate if the car is in gear or not and control the idle. It also has a two way brake switch that supplies power to the torque converter clutch which I fitted. With all that done, I sat back and realised I'd done all of the wiring I needed for now and could move on to the PCM loom. I planned to use the hole from the wipers to feed the wiring through, which I'd checked was wide enough for the wiring. It wasn't big enough to get any of the plugs through, so it was either make a bigger hole or cut all those wires. I grouped the wires by colour so that I could solder them back together easily and cut it all. Gulp. Plenty of soldering for me to do over the next few weeks!

A bit of Wiring Now

Post date: Dec 11 2005 - 12:00am

The kids were both ill on Saturday. so I spent the day in the house. While Poppy was making some Christmas cards I made a start on the wiring by wiring up all the gauges. I wired for the electronic speedo too which should be here before Christmas hopefully. With all that cut and soldered it's one less thing to do at least. Sunday I got some garage time, so made a start on wiring the rest of the car. I got the fuse panel in and roughly laid out the wires from it over the column. Once I knew where it all sat I cut and soldered the Raingear intermittent wiper switch.

I'm trying to work out what will fit under the dash and where it all sits so I fitted the switch and bezel which suddenly made it seem closer to being finished in my head. I also wired the ignition, and the lights then got the Vintage Air AC kit from the house. A quick skim through the instructions revealed that I needed to remove the factory defrost duct, which was behind the Raingear wipers. It was a pig to get out, as you cant get to the bolt that holds it in, especially with the newly fitted switches in the way. To top it off, I dropped the spanner down the A pillar, and it took me twenty minutes to hook it back out. With it all bolted back in, I put the pipes on the Vintage Air box and swung it under the dash to bolt in. Except I couldn't. I've welded up the holes it uses. So it's either drill them back out or work out a different mount.

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