Superman to the rescue...
During the week dad took the opportunity to lower the washer bottle as we had discovered that it was indeed too high. This has been lowered so the bottom of the bracket is in-line with the lower edge of the body.
Saturday was to be a long day as may father and I were planning a 12 hour shift as this may be the last build opportunity before we move house on the 19th September (hopefully, fingers crossed!). First was a trip to Maplins for some supplies, some heat-shrink and an inline fuse holder to protect that all important loom/dash. We decided to carry on with the approach from last time which was to work our way through the Ultima wiring list. Next up on the list was the fuse box & relay rail, but a few items needed sorting first. First we ensure that the Brown/Blue wire was piggy-backed onto a Green (permanent live) this is apparently necessary for the Accusump. This appeared to have already been done, so was left. The White/Pink wire (just hanging by the relay rail) also needs to be covered up if not needed, is used mainly for the radio as an un-fused ignition switched live, so it was covered and loomed out of the way. Lastly the headlamp dip/flash relay needed to be connected as this is separate from the relay rail.
The fuse/relay bracket could now be fitted, this required some
additional holes (we opted for three) to be drilled in the bracket to support
the relay rail. The holes for the fuse box were already present, the only
additional thing that we had to do was to open out the bottom centre hole as
this fouled the rivnut in the body for holding the blanking plate on. We also
used rivnuts for holding the relay rail in place. With the fuse box and relay
rail now in place it was onto more wiring.
We wired up both left and right door mirror connectors as per the Ultima wiring
instructions using the three core cable provided, although we have yet to fit
the mirrors themselves. Next up was the tacho, the Stack wire was connected
directly to the Ultima wire (White/Black). The Oil pressure gauge was next and
today I've made some interesting discoveries regarding the aforementioned. Now
(after chatting with Dave at Ultima, thanks) I think we've got it sorted, and it
goes something like this: When using a Stack dash there is no use for an oil
pressure warning lamp as the Stack has one built in (mistake one!). This frees
up the White/Brown wire which can now be used for the Stack oil temperature
sender along with an appropriate earth. This allows the original Brown/White
wire to be used for the oil pressure sender, again along with an earth. This
means that I have a warning lamp in the dash that doesn't work, (fear not young
Jedi!) as I have another indicator lamp as I had opted to use only one, problem
solved (phew!), next...
The Stack power wires were connected next and these were connected to the Ultima voltmeter wiring as these provided the exact wires needed (Green (ignition switched fued live) & Black (earth). The water temperature sensor was wired up next, the Stack connections were wired to the Ultima Water Temperature Gauge connections Green/Blue & Black. The three main stack sensors all work with an earth. The windscreen wiper was wired up next and this could only use one speed (normal) as the switch is only push button on/off affair. Finally the fuel pumps were wired and in the end we decided to use only the White/Purple & White/Green extension wires and the earths we extended ourselves, so both wires were loomed along the chassis to the pumps. The chart has been updated to reflect the changes & the problems that were yet to come...
So now the fun starts as it's time to connect the battery up or the first time and see what's what. We wired up the battery first through a 3 amp fuse to ensure all was well and it was, BUT as soon as the battery was connected some of the switches lit inside the car. Now although this looked good it was unfortunately incorrect. We had assumed incorrectly that when the switch was pressed that it would light, but the truth is in fact quite different and I will explain in a minute. But first we need to find out why all the Red/Black wires were permanently live. The answer was found within about 30 mins of testing and checking different circuits. All we had to do was to look for a 'real' permanent live i.e. a Brown wire and we found one (among others) that was connected to the starter button. Strangely enough a Red/Black wire was also connected to the fed from the radio illumination. This we guessed was short-circuiting the permanent live straight to the Red/Black and we were right. Once this connection was cut the permanent live on the Red/Black was lost (good!, we thought...) We now hoped that when the circuit was activated the Red/Black wire (for that device) would become live, but no luck. After much checking and testing we eventually had to through the towel in, leaving the build both frustrated and upset thinking that we may have a major problem.
On Sunday (when I was planning no further build activities) I spoke with Chris Morris in an attempt to shed some light on it, but both of us were a little unsure of exactly how things were supposed to work (Chris has not powered his system up as yet & also has a standard Ultima dash). BUT help was on the way Chris had kindly offered to come up and have a look (bear in mind this guy lives some 75 miles away!!). Superman arrives at about 1:30pm (red pants and all) and after some chatting/testing and a cuppa he's got the answer (bloody big head!). The answer is in fact that some switches (lights, fan, wiper & washer) will all light only when the side lights are switched on, the other only light when they are activated, simple when you know. But Chris hadn't finished yet as he stayed for the next 4 hours or so and helped us wire the majority of the switches up, and as you can see from the pics below we seem to have real life at last. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris for all his efforts and help in making our Sunday, THANKYOU!
I though I would also take this opportunity to share Chris'
version of Sunday' s antics:
'Glad to see you have not been slacking, I know what you should
put in your up date, Saturday this is how not to wire the switches in, Sunday
well better call an expert and get them wired in properly, rolls on the floor
laughing :-)'
and on that note I will leave you (sorry for the lengthy
update)...