Hello Electrics My Old Friend...

I think I have previously mentioned that the electrics was a major player in the decision to embark on this rebuild. For those who did not see the original car or cannot recall the pictures I have shown here, I'll fill you in quickly.

My original wiring was an abomination!!!!

Yep. Filled in. My problem was not having much knowledge or care for electrics. Plus deciding to save money in the build I reused the original MX5 wiring to aid getting the car up and running.

• Problem 1. There was a lot of wiring not actually required from the MX5 that remained in the loom = Excess weight.
• Problem 2. There was large sections of wires not covered with anything to protect or tidy them up = Potential short and a bit rubbish.
• Problem 3. To solve Problem 2, I just wrapped everything in orange electrical tape (colour coordinated you see!) including cable tied chunks of Problem 1 which also got wrapped into an orange clump of ugly = Rather aesthetically shocking - pun intended.

Look at that beautiful wiring tape!

Strangely, I never had any electrical issues, so why take out something that works? Well I got to the stage of trying to avoid taking the bonnet off due to the unsightly mess that the wiring was. Unfortunately, car enthusiasts, being the strange animals we are, always wanted the bonnet off to check out the heart of the machine in front of them. Queue awkward "ignore the wiring" comments....

Under the dashboard/scuttle was no better!

With the old engine removed, you can see the extent of wiring remains. I am truly pleased to be getting rid!

Initially the plan was to build my own loom, cutting the size down immensely. However I had neither the knowledge, patience, time nor desire to do truly this...or learn to do this for that matter. Quick look to RapidFit Looms and their standard 7 style loom was a price worth saving the effort of my own loom. Hand in hand with a standalone Microsquirt ECU to control the engine on its new throttle bodies, Jez (RHOCAR) came and helped me throw away the MX6 loom and set me on my way with the new stuff!

Yes the wheel is upside down.......still building!

It is already so much better looking than my original loom, ok it's spread out but there is less to spread out! It also is pretty straightforward to plug and play with virtually everything between Rapidfit, car and Microsquirt after a bit of thought. So credit where credit is due to RapidFit, MicroSquirt and Jez! Once everything is working I will begin making it neat and tidy. No more ghastly orange tape bulk wrapping!

Don't hold your breathe though, this may take a while!