Wiring ideas for your car

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tomb22
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Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

Ha guys!! I'm starting a new thread for wiring ideas to rewire your car. I will be totally rewiring my car and have some ideas, but I'm interested in any ideas you have. I want to do the best job we can come up with.
First thing I bought was a 21 circuit panel from painless and installed it in my car. I removed it and will start over because I just butt spliced the existing wires into it

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I plan on putting the battery in the trunk so I bought a terminal strip that I plan on mounting on the driver's side fender, maybe on the shock tower.

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I will be attaching the battery, starter, alternator and panel for starters to this terminal strip. I bought a smaller starter with the solenoid built in and a 1 wire 140 amp alternator.

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I also bought a 22 position Delphi weather proof connector to go in the firewall. It actually fits in place of the existing connectors when you hole saw it out for it to fit.

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There are a ton of other things we can talk about, but this is a start.
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Lou's Comet
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Started planning my rewire too, although just a bunch of random ideas bouncing around in my head right now and nothing too organized yet.

Also plan on batt in trunk like you are Tomb. Are you putting a batt shut off switch in the rear of car. The kind you need if you take it to the track?? If so you will need to run the alt power wire back to the trunk so the switch will work correctly. If you tie it in up front the switch won't shut the car down.

Like the idea of the solenoid on the starter... This will eliminate the stock ford fender mount solenoid??

On mine I am trying to keep visible wiring to a minimum. Thinking I will only need 6 wires in the engine compartment.
2 senders, coil feed, tach feed, starter, and alt. Well plus a ground from engine to body. Was thinking of running them along the oil pan rail and up the front of engine to there components so I didn't have wires going across intake man.

Where are you mounting your fuse box?? Not sure where I want to put mine. Or if I will use 1 main fuse box or two smaller ones. Keep thinking of putting it in the glove box. But would like to keep the glove box empty in case I decide to put in a radio. Thought about putting it in the trunk but to many wires to run thru the car. Recently been thinking about getting the kick panels with the speaker provisions and instead of speakers put my fuse box(s) and relay's in the driver side speaker area and my batt/ power connection/lug in the pass side speaker area. Would like to keep the fuses, relays, and flashers all in one area but could separate them if need be. Thinking it may all end up in glove box :?

Like to see how the starter with solenoid fits, think it will work with doughs tri-y's. Have some thicker welding cable for the batt feed/ground.

Going to run my headlight, parking light, horn wires on the inside of front fenders to keep everything out of site. The right lights in the right fender and the left in the left side. This way no wires seen going across the core support.
V
Going to run relays for the horn, high beam, low beam, and if I go with two small fuse boxes a larger relay for the ignition hot box this way I won't have many wires running to my ign switch.



Lou

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poboyjo65
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by poboyjo65 »

tomb22 wrote:
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Tom I'm not sure but I think you'll need different crimpers for those prongs in the 22 prong connector. they look like the ones in a relay box that I was looking at, which needs this kind, I think there are cheaper ones like it.
https://www.moddiy.com/products/Profess ... gKa0vD_BwE
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Johno

Kingspeedy2
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

I love it,I work away from home so I armchair design my car when I can work on it.I am along way from wiring but have been reading lots.Like you I too want clean neat yet accessible stuff.
I want balance between a show car and a go car..Nothing sadder than a beautiful piece of history parked because of shoddy workmanship or components.
Sounds like your off to a great start.
I have been looking into some remote power centers to group relays ..there are a lot of cheap ones but littlefuse .com has some beautiful water tight ones ,and Bushwacker is another
also I have a 2 books By Tony Candela "Automotive Wiring and electrical systems" and his second book about accessories. Its not a all about products like so many books.
He does talk about the Reliability of Bosh Relays (now Bosh Tyco) and how he has never had one fail..So I will stick with a good brand of relays when I get to that point, myself.
also I cant emphasize enough about the importance of good grounding and wire size selection,as well as dielectric grease to fight corrosion..
One point if you use welding cable to carry current from the trunk mounted battery, consider soldering the connections even if you crimp,just to prevent water wicking up the finer wire strands
maybe once you figure out a good path for the wires perhaps you could a sketch :) or something.i live on the wet coast so I was thinking of using plastic tube or something as a wire run through the fender to protect against moisture and stuff flung by the tires
Good luck on your project.keep the pictures coming

tomb22
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

I wasen't planing on a shut off switch, because I was only going to take it to the track one time to see what it will do, but that is a good point.

Yes there won't be any solenoid in the engine bay for the starter. I got the smaller starter for the 302 so that the starter wouldn't be up against the doug headers. I'll get a picture of how it fits.

I removed the driver side vent and made a gasketed cover to plug the hole and then mounted the panel just below it. I like the position because of everything in the dash is right there.

I will have light relays,electric fan relays, and a few more fuses that I need to put in some sort of box. Don't know where I'll mount this box yet.

Looks like I'm going to need a different crimper for the delphi connector. Thanks poboyjo65 for the add.

I will be looking into those remote power centers. Thanks kingspeedy2
I mounted a relay for a plow under the rear fender of my 4 wheeler and covered it with liquid tape. That was 16 years ago and I've never had any problems with it. The connections are still covered and intact. Whoed of thunk.

tom
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popscomet
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by popscomet »

I put the batt in the trunk of wife's 56 ford, back in the 90's...I made sure body frame and engine was grd to each other,,,,of course it don't need a cut off switch,,but beings I converted it over from the original Y-block V8 to a 1976 351w,,I also got rid of the generater and went to an alt....been working grt!thanks and good luck......POP
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pop/glenda

Kingspeedy2
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

oops I was wrong in my Post ,it was cooper Bussman and not Bushwacker Relay enclosures ,Hella also has some nice ones .I personally would like to have one with fuse right beside the relay .
there are lots of others on Ebay or Amazon of various qualities.
I notice how some relay listings say Bosh -like or Bosh style ..Also Waterproof relays can just mean the relay itself is sealed around the contacts coming out of the relay itself, were as some have a nice mating conectors... Building cars and looking for stuff you need is like the old Sears Christmas wishbook for Adults. Picking out the stuff you want..On a side note Sears Canada is closing ..I am sad.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Universal-Waterp ... Swe-FU6d9q

lavron
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by lavron »

I will ask this here for us guys in early planning stage :roll: I know there are a lot of choices when purchasing a replacement harness, universal, Painless, etc, each with pros and cons. But how do you determine the number of circuits?

For me my car will be bare minimal electronic/accessories (AC, air ride, maybe an amp to attach a iPhone too) the air ride I have relays for already but something needs to feed the relays (for compressor only, using manual valves) just curious how you determine with a basically stock car :roll:

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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Lou's Comet
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Tomb,, check with your local track about the bat in trunk. Here you need a switch that shuts the car down and a firewall between the pass compartment and trunk. They actually check for them in their tech insp, even on test and tune nights.

Love the solenoid on the starter, I was planning on putting my solenoid in the glove box or trunk to keep engine compartment clean looking but both ways would have been a pain.

Eliminating the vent not something I really want to do. Car will not have ac and will be black. Guess my electronics will be in the glovebox unless I decide to build a console.

Kingspeedy, Agreed wire size/type, grounds, are very important. Actually one of the reasons I plan on building my own harness. I plan on using SXL wire for most of my wiring and use SGX for the feed wires for fuse boxes and relay feeds. Will also use the SGX for the wires going thru the inner fenders for headlights and horn for the extra protection. Not sure on the wire gauge for everything yet but thinking 12 ga to run to low beams and 10 gauge running up front then split into two 12 ga leads for the high beams. Don't really see on going with anything smaller than 14 ga anywhere on car.

Was also thinking of running some kind of plastic tubing in the inner fenders to run the wires thru for protection. Always think pros and cons. One of the big things in my build is I don't want any squeaks or rattles, want the car to be tight/solid sounding. Worried the plastic tubing may produce some weird noises/squeaks, Plus have to run the wires thru the pipe then put the ends on, would prefer something with a split for easy assembly and future access if need be. For the wires in the fender I will just layer some protective covering . Like a split PET woven wire sleeve(which I plan on using on most of my wiring) then maybe a layer or two of the split loom plastic.

For the high beam and low beam relays I was thinking of the bosh 0332019150 relays that have two 87 contacts. This would give a seperate feed from relay to left and right side. Wouldn't have to split/splice the wire for the two sides after the relay.

As for the welding cable for batt I will take that to the electrical shop and have them put the ends on after I cut them to correct length. They do a real nice job on the big truck stuff, think they have some kind of hydraulic crimper, not sure but seen their ends on my buddies trucks and they look solid.

Lou

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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

lavron wrote:I will ask this here for us guys in early planning stage :roll: I know there are a lot of choices when purchasing a replacement harness, universal, Painless, etc, each with pros and cons. But how do you determine the number of circuits?

For me my car will be bare minimal electronic/accessories (AC, air ride, maybe an amp to attach a iPhone too) the air ride I have relays for already but something needs to feed the relays (for compressor only, using manual valves) just curious how you determine with a basically stock car :roll:

See Ya,
Mike
Make a list of everything you are going to have and want fuse protected and add provisions for what you think you may add later.

Once you figure out how many fuses/ circuits you need/want then you need to figure out what is ign hot(works with key on like wipers, radio, heater) and what is batt hot (hot all the time even with key off like headlights, horn, brake lights)

I plan on having two fuse boxes. One for the key hot items that will have a relay wired to ign switch to activate it, and another box rated higher amperage for the batt hot stuff.

I have a preliminary list broken down into the 2 categories at my shop for my car, I can post it later if you want. Thinking I am at 16 fuses and 4 relays and my car is going to have just the minimal stuff. But I am going to fuse protect more than the factory did.

Lou

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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Just a couple more thoughts before I go and actually work on my Comet :)

Fo my gauge cluster/panel I plan on having one connector for the cluster so if I need to remove it later just have one connector to disconnect instead on a bunch wires going o each gauge and indicator light.

Another thing I was looking at was headlight connectors/plugs. Was looking at ceramic ones that have a plastic sleeve around the ceramic center, they will accept 12 ga wire. What you guys think. I have seen the plastic ones melt before and was thinking the ceramic one may be better??

Lou

bigdan
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by bigdan »

Several good ideas I might steal there, Lou. I plan on using a Painless 21 circuit harness ("muscle car", per Painless). The reason I went with it is it is a 2 part harness; the fuse box and engine harness are separate and join at the firewall in one big connection. It's also "modular, " meaning it has Ford, GM and Mopar column connectors, for example. Of course, it's not installed yet, but ill let you know how it goes this winter I hope!

Dan

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Long time search complete, 65 Cyclone project in progress!

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Lou's Comet
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Kingspeedy2 wrote:....................................... a good path for the wires perhaps you could a sketch :) or something.i live on the wet coast so I was thinking of using plastic tube or something as a wire run through the fender to protect against moisture and stuff flung by the tires.............................
Was thinking of this today while sanding the front aprons on my Comet...What about heater hose? Rubber, flexible, even the 5/8" has decent size hole in it for wires. If you drilled a larger hole in firewall and rad support for a grommet that the heater hose fit snug in you would have a nice seal.

Took a picture ( that didn't turn out so well) of a piece of 5/8" dummied in place, don't think it would even be that noticeable.

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Lou

tomb22
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

I know the NHRA requires a shut off switch and I have one on my race car. The small track I go to doesn't look at everything real close. I would go to a muscle car race and probably wouldn't have to open the trunk.

Here are a couple of pictures of the starter I installed.

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Here is a picture of the remote relay and fuse box I'm thinking about

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I found this on ebay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Water ... 1438.l2649

You can just buy the box for about $50.00 but you still need to get relays, fuses delphi connectors and seals.

The reason I like this box is it is bussed, so you only have to feed it with one wire. Most of the relay boxes I've looked at needs a feed for each fuse or relay.

tom
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Lou's Comet
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Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Tomb,
thanks for the pictures of the starter. I like that, definitely the way I want to go.

The fuse/relay box looks a lot like the one Kingspeedy had link to. Very nice, well thought out, waterproof, looks nice/sturdy. Not sure if it will work with the relays I want to use, but I will look hard at it to see if I could make it work. Might look at the bare one and maybe be able to make that work? But I like that one the best out of what I have been looking at.

Lou

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