Wiring Up Part II

One of the things that left with the engine and the ECU was the connector that goes to the reversing switch on the transmission. The switch is still in the transmission, but there's no way to connect it up to the car. I had to find the line back in the trunk that ran to the reversing lights. It turned out to be easier than I'd hoped. Once I isolated which wire it was, I cut it as far back as I could in the wire loom that runs into the trunk and spliced it to a new wire that runs to the switch. On the other side of the switch, I have a wire running to a power source. Problem solved.

I also ran a 12 volt line back to the battery box in the trunk. and one from the fan that will vent the battery box in the trunk. Those two lines will be connected together with a temperature switch in between them. When the temperature hits 122, the fan will kick on and force fresh air into the box.

I added a new relay in the electrics bay. This relay will work as a check for the heater. I'll hook it up to the car's ventilation fan, so that when the fan is turned on, it will power the new relay. That in turn, will power the switch for the heater in the cabin. If I turn on that switch, it will power the big contactor/relay I pointed out a couple days ago, and that will turn on the heater. Why so complex, you ask? This will ensure that the heater can not be turned on unless the fan is already on. I really want to avoid setting the car on fire.

Odds & Ends Part VI

Today was a day to take care of some smaller things.

I cut a hole in the trunk's battery box and mounted the ventilation tubing in it. I also ran the tubing to the fan mounted under the box that occupies the space where the gas tank was. I routed the tubing where I need it to go and secured it to the under side of the chassis so it doesn't move around and run into the suspension.

I also secured the wire loom that had been hanging in the trunk to the box mentioned above. Here's a shot of the trunk as it is now.

Notice the nice clean appearance, and the tubing inlet in the lower left corner of the picture.

I marked and drilled several holes in the tray that will hold the Zilla controller. Once I sort out the position of all the other electrical components, I'll be able to just mount the Zilla to it and then drop the tray in place and bolt it down.

That's all for now, back next week.

The Tray is Done

This morning I mounted the tray I've been working on. The tray is sandwiched between the sub-frame/chassis and the stability cross brace which mounts to both. It went on fairly easy. No pictures because it looks pretty much like the pictures I posted yesterday. Only difference is that it's not coming out again.

I began working on getting the box that will hold the charger and DC to DC converters in the trunk mounted up. I got as far as I could without help. I need someone either under the car or working in the trunk to help me tighten down the bolts.

I did manage to mount the fan that will blow fresh air over the batteries in the trunk should they get too warm. That fan will hang from the box I mentioned above and I will be routing some 2" flexible tubing into the battery box. I have a temperature switch that I'll mount in the battery box which will control the fan. When it gets above 122 Degrees F. the fan will kick on. It's set to turn off at 104 which means that in the summer time in Phoenix, it will pretty much run non-stop.