As the title says I am currently doing battle with the electrics on my kit car. I have spent many a night stripping back the old wiring which I have reused from the MX5. My original plan was the use the GBS wiring looms but looking at around £1000 just to buy all the parts required and then still have to adapt certain areas to fit the MX5 parts I decided to save myself that money and stick with the MX5 loom...obviously this has opened up a whole new can of worms...but it's increasing my learning and saving money...well that's what I keep telling myself!
To the shock and horror of my father, (who was starting to think my lounge was no longer a garage), he came home one night to this:
I must say, there are plenty of other worse things I could be doing so he resigned himself to
After a number of nights cutting 20 year old PVC tape and cable ties, I have got down to the bare wires. I had retrived wiring diagrams to help identify what parts were what, but after getting very confused and headache setting in, (it was my first time, they weren't gentle) I decided to resort to the plug in and see what happens ritual. Having a rough idea of what came from where I lay the electrics out over the car. Somethings were easy, other bits not so. This is where I am needing to resort back to the diagrames but this time, it's a little easier - only time will tell.
My plan is to get everything plugged in and see what happens. Ideally I will be able to have guessed most things right first time so there wont be much change. At least it will give me a rough idea of what goes where and if I was right. Basically working on an elimination process, as at the moment it is just highly overwhelming.
Slowly but surely things are getting plugged in. Trying to understand what bit I will need on the car and finding them is proving to be the easier option than finding a wire and following the diagram or vice versa. Generally, plugs only have one clip to go into to avoid crossed wires....or that is was it's feeling like!
I have managed to get to a stage where I believe the engine should be able to turn over (not adding fuel or oil yet I don't want to start her up just yet) but I wanted to see if I had the starter and ignition all wired up correctly. Anyway, one day, needing that bit of inspiration to keep myself motivated I thought I'd give it a go. Battery connected up, all wires I thought would be needed plugged up and turn the key....................nothing....conclusion = dead battery. Luckily, I had managed to find a battery charger in my Granddad's garage so that came to good use, charging the battery in the evening to try again in the morning. (Unplugged the charger overnight for safety reasons) but tried again anyway the next day....still nothing. Conclusion number 2 = Battery is knackered and not holding a charge.......or I need to sort more ground/earth points out too.
Going to go with the last option and try again with a battery fresh off the charge, don't want to buy a new one to have that sit around for another couple months. Anyway, I got the motivation I wanted, but not the way I would have liked, I must now fix this, I will fix this, I will WIN......eventually.
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