Electrics

Hi

I have managed to get some more hours in but when your wife takes time of work before you go away its better for your health to spend some time with her. Few nice days out and back off again tomorrow.

HMS Trincomalee at Hartlepool marina

The jobs have been small ones as most of the big work is done and I am basically waiting for the interior trim which Ray of RS Sewing solutions has helped me design and is currently ordering the carpet and mohair, the door cards have been sent to the embroiderer and hopefully everything should be ready for my return.

A few of the jobs have been small, like fitting the windscreen water washers.

And the air inlet.

The air inlet cleaned up nice but unfortunately I had mislaid a couple of the clips and anyway they were a bit of a nightmare to remove so getting to fit when the bonnet is on would be a lot worse. You can get plastic plugs, these are like a rawlplug that you fit into the holes from the top and then just push the intake pins into. But I didn't have any so I stuck it in place.

Its a three piece intake, the air funnel, gauze and chrome work, I cleaned and polished before hot glued the funnel and gauze to the underside of the chrome work then with foam double sided tape I stuck it to the bonnet, then screwed the underside plate in position.

Still needs a few more screws but in my box of 200 none fit, need a better box.

I was lucky on Friday to have my friend Ben turn up and he got recruited into door fitting, I can only fit the passenger side door otherwise I would never be able to get in to do any work without removing from the garage, O for a double garage.

Not the easiest of jobs and it took a lot of fiddling to get it mostly correct, the bottom does not come out fully no matter what I did and you can see the red paint line from the sill. I will remove the door next time home and elongate the hinge holes on the body to give the extra few mil I require, till then its out of Lynne's way. 

One other thing happened when fitting and that was the door opener arm broke, when I fitted it I thought it was a touch too long and there was no more movement on the door mech so I had to bend it a touch, a touch too much it seems.

You can see the extra length, a spot of weld will fix.

The main job this week has been the electrics and there is a bit of a problem which my electrician thinks is a short in the indicator system as they only work when the hazard is pressed down and the drivers side works ok but the fuse keeps blowing when I change over to the passenger side. This may disappear when fully connected but will have to wait until I return home and he assures me it will be no problem tracing it so until then I have been busy wiring everything up to the wiring diagram.

One thing I have found out is that no matter what else you do during a restoration; is to keep the battery disconnected when you have exposed connections. My first job on the car was to remove the battery then as soon as the engine was in I replaced it not thinking about the multitude of wires touching each other and random parts of the car. Anyway I have replaced all of the blown fuses and any exposed wires either got taped or covered with the female connector end.

I had wired up the drivers side using the new waterproof connections I had bought and I didn't like the way they fit, too bulky and far too fiddly, so I ripped them out. I next fit with Lucas bullet connectors as per the original fit and didn't like these,again to bulky and as I did not have the correct crimping tool I had to solder each end on which burnt the wires, so I ripped them out. I next used crimp bullet connectors and didn't like them, so I ripped them out.

I have spent a small fortune on connections and they all look a mess, they may be hidden under the car and no one will see them but I will know that a crap job had been done so I have reverted to what I know how to do and that is engine room method. I have worked in the engine room on ships for the last 36 years and all electrical cables are kept in sealed waterproof cabinets, they are all colour coded and numbered, and all are securely connected to connector blocks using either crimp pins or something of that nature. So that is what I have done.

I have bought a secure waterproof electrical box, cable glands, crimp pins and connector blocks, for the wiring I have bought twin core cable for everything but the headlights and 3 core 15amp for the headlights. Each light has its own cable colour code and written down what it is and does and all run under the car as a bundle to the box.

You can make out the cables in black running along the wing support and from the headlight, much neater and waterproof then brought inside the engine bay.

I have unclipped the loom from the front of the car and brought it back to the fuse box.

The electrical box has been drilled for the cable glands which unfortunately I never bought enough of and will have to get more on Monday.

I thought there would be enough room under the bonnet for two boxes but I was wrong, I wanted a box either side but will have to settle for both wiring looms in one box. I shall fit more glands when I return home.

Before fitting the connector block and wiring in the box I fit and tested each light in turn, I made up a written plan of what colour should fit what part of the loom and believe it or not it worked, I have only one issue and that is the negative wire from the driving light which is proving a bit of a problem, still works on full beam but has a small return current when the dipps go on.

Anyway surprisingly everything worked great so I boxed up all of the wiring.

I have fitted the box next to the fuse box.

The wiring for the passenger side has all been run to the box and the loom has been freed up and this fits neatly, so as soon as I get hold of some more glands I shall drill out the box and fit this wiring. I shall also do something similar to the back of the car so as all of the wiring is located in one box.

Full beam with indicators and side lights working.

Side Light and indicator.

I am much happier with the wiring as it is now and I have wasted a few days work messing about with the other connections. 

Not long left before going away for 5 weeks so hopefully I will get a bit more done, if not see you in around 6 weeks time.

See ya Paul

Headlights

Hi

Not had much time to get things done as Lynne has taken another week from her leave as I will be going away for a while, but of course I still managed to get some time in.

So I thought a little update.

Its been mostly little jobs I have managed to do, the first was the grill.

This was damaged in a number of places and I had already fixed a few but the main ones where on the securing arms, these had partial cracks in the joins and no doubt would not have lasted long.

So I had a piece of thin stainless to make up new brackets.

I made up one for each side and trimmed up the edges before securing in place with double sided tape, very secure now.

Before the finish fit of the grill and the Panther badge I machine polished all around the front of the car and waxed everything.

I was also a bit doubtful of the colour coding of the overriders, they just didn't look right, so out with a tin of satin black. I gave them 3 coats of paint and 3 coats of lacquer before getting out the polishing machine and the wax.

I have also received the mirror screw covers, I was going to buy the screw-on caps then found a type that are just the caps minus the screws that can fit on any screw so I bought a pack of 20 of these and hopefully the chrome finish will not rub off when washed.

I have spent most of today trying to sort out the electrics, the 2 pin waterproof connectors arrived and they are very good but a little too fiddly for me. So I went to the local car electric shop and bought a load of nipple type connectors much the same as the Lucas type fitted to the car, just put the wire ends in and crimp, much easier. I shall use the 2 pin type when I am not sitting under a car.
I have managed to get the headlights and the driving lights wired up, Firstly I carried on with the machine polish and waxed before fully fitting the headlights.

I have wired up the dipped lights as normal and the main beams have been wired up with the driving lights.

I have had a go at getting the indicators and the sidelights working but no joy at the moment so I have had a word with the electrician at the paint shop and he is coming around tomorrow after work to sort them, no doubt its an earthing issue but he said no problem.

So not much done, I have lots of little jobs I can be getting on with when I am allowed to play so shall get on with them.

see ya Paul