664 replies to this topic

[M44K TS]

yeah, it's the ones that go onto the ends of the wiring of the headlight loom that plug into the 4 way connector

[M44K TS]

Woah, didn't realise it had been so long since i last posted in here.

Bit progress made with the car on the wiring front.

Got all the suspect wiring conenctions sorted that were either bodged or corroded through normal wear and tear.

Starting with the new wiper loom and plug.



There were a few badly scorched terminals on the fusebox, now all nice and new with the original style spade terminals and protective covers.

Appologies for the dark pics, my phone decided it didn't need the flash!


Bought some relay bases so i could make the new hazzard and indicator relays look OE.


Very worthwile mod in my opinion, i was never a fan of the 2 pin flasher units as they would never give a steady flash rate for the indicators and i found they wore out very quickly. By changing them for normal relays that you'd find in a more modern car, the indicators flash at a very steady pase and will make them much more reliable. All it needs is the original wiring connecting to the new relay and an earth added so they work.

Next is the new bullet connectors for the headlight loom and the sockets they fit into. I'll be covering the conenctions in white grease so they don't corrode.



Wrapped the loom in the some cloth loom tape i bought to give the wiring loom a neater look. (forgot to do the horn wire!)



Then i got the wiring finished for putting in the MPI stalks.



I've managed to connect the new stalks upto the original plugs from the old stalks so the new stalks will plug into the car loom and be removable without having to snip any wiring.





Any comments welcome

[M44K TS]

Forgot to say aswell, had to wire in the MPI ignition barrel to go with the new column, so again, i wire it using the original plug off the old one, only problem was, my car has a Cat. 2 Immobiliser which wires in via the ignition barrel, but being a thatcham one, all the wiring was black. So i numbered each cable and made a note of where they went.

Crunch time came after everything was wired in and ready to go. Connected the batter, immobiliser light started flashing, pressed the key in, and the engine turned over!

So success on the first try, something which i wasn't expecting!

Engine won't fire as i haven't got the coil wired up, bit of head scratching will be in order before that's wired up the right way. Also, the fuel tank won't be going in until the car's been painted so i guess if it was going to start,it would have only been using whatever fuel was in the lines.

[M44K TS]

Been doing yet more wiring today, first off was to connect a button for the horn as my sttering wheel has 2 buttons, but no wiring! Only a temp thing though.



Then replaced the wiring for the door pins as the original wiring was shot. Parts of it had been shorting behind the dash and causing the interior light to stay on permenant. Also bought 2 new door pins as the old ones were corroded



Then made a start on wiring in the radio harness to the ISO plugs. The car had a cd player previously connected by a so called auto electrician (no names mentioned!) and the wiring was a total mess, for some reason, the cut off the original radio plugs, the very badly connected an iso harness in it's place, instead of using the adapters you can buy like i asked!



Got the speaker one to wire in tomorrow, had to extend the wiring for the front speakers a tad as i was using the plugs from a donor car.



Also, got the hazards to work using the new relay, but found that i have a dodgey switch, so that's something else to add to the shopping list. Connected the relay using the correct relay bases to make it look a bit tidier.



Also, this is the best invention ever for solo soldering....



Makes life a whole lot easier.

More of the same tomorrow. On the plus side, most of the wiring is now done so it's just a case of testing everything and making sure everything works. Tomorrows jobs will be to connect the side repeater bulb holders in as i had LED side repeaters previously, but going back to standard clear ones. I need to also see if i have enough length on front indicator wires to go through the inner winds to connect upto the main harness, then it will be a case of wiring in the 3rd brake light to the tail light harness and maybe even wire up the boot light on a pin so it comes on when the bootlid is opened.

[M44K TS]

Bit more playing around today with the wiring, adapted the MPI heater power connections so that it should just plug into the car loom and work (forgot to take pics)

Messed about tracing more cables, sorted the earths on a few, then wired up the spakers to the iso plug for the radio.

1 sort of complete radio loom, just needs the front speakers wired up, but that can wait until all the interior's back in.


Success!!! A working CD player! (not the one that will be going in the car though, that's the spare one i took out the Accord when i fitted the dvd player)


Next on the list is to get the coil wired, then check for spark whilst turning over the engine.

[M44K TS]

Got a couple of bits so i can get cracking with the niggly bits.

There should be more in the post shortly from other places, but for now...

Brand new brake res. cap as the terminals on my original on are shot and totally corroded


New throttle cable as mie snapped. Plus i like the black instead of the yellow one that was already fitted.


Sill rubber trim (obviously the car will have to be painted first)

Edited by M44K TS, 11 March 2008 - 08:33 PM.

[M44K TS]

Eventually got the dash sort of finished.

I had trimmed the (previously union jack) dash in black vinyl as i was wanting to tone down the interior and go for a classier black and beige theme so compliment the seats, but i never got round to finishing the glovebox lid as it was already a tight fit, and the hinges had broke.

So tonight, i eventually pulled my finger out and got cracking.

I took the original lid which was already a snug fit, and trimmed the edges and rounded them off as they were catching on the edges when i was going to close it.



Only thing is, the paint just soaked into the mdf and has gone a matte finish, but has went glossy over the original paint. I'll go over it with some gloss black brush on paint tomorrow

Added the new hinges, but had to countersink them as with them surface mounted, the lid sat too high for the opening.



One sort of finished glovebox lid, might still make another as it's a little rough round the edges.



Still need to sort a handle on the lid, i'll have a look about for one i like, probably just a small chrome or brushed ali one.

Still need to retrim the front speaker pods too, but again, that can wait until tomorrow aswell, lager has got the better of me for tonight lol

[M44K TS]

little update.

After much headscratching with the ignition system, decided the best thing to do was to replace the bulk of it, (points, condensor, rotor arm, dizzy cap and ht leads)

And i'm happy to say that i now have a spark!

So once i get the tank back in, it should start off the key (wishful thinking i know!)

[M44K TS]

Oordered a set of grp 2 arches last 10night so should be here some time this week with a bit of luck (cheers once again simon

Got cracking tonight as the weatehr was nice, managed to fit the later mpi 2 speed heater so should be a huge inprovement over the old single speed thing.

Fitting it was a doddle, just hoked onto the bracket on the bulkhead, tightened one nut, and 2 screws to hold the front part to the lower dash rail. Had to adapt the original hoses to fit, luckily the matrix conenctions are on the passenger side on the new heater, whereas the old heater, the pipes fit to the drivers side, so all i did was chop down the hose to fit, would have been a right b***h if it was the other way round though.

Looks a bit neater once fitted.

Old.


New



Hardest bit was removing the 16 year old jubilee clips holdoing everything together!

Appologies for the pics, despite the tv adverts, LG Viewty's so called 5mp camera's are useless if it isn't anthing but a sunny day!

[M44K TS]

I've found out that HID headlights only draw 6Ah for the initiol start-up of the igniters and ballast, so may very wel go down that route for the headlights, and because i'll be wiring everything through relays for the spot's and fogs, i was thinking of doing the same for those too, but i think i might be pushing it a bit.

[Jordie]

I think it needs a turbo.

[M44K TS]

i think so too

I'll be in touch

[M44K TS]

ITS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuck a length of fuel pipe on and put it in a jerry can and this is the result...



Happy is not the word!

[M44K TS]

A while since i've updated this.

Bought a couple of other things over the last couple of weeks.

First off, my arches came




Will obviously need a bit of manipulating to fit but should be nice when on.

Next, bought my new bonnet as i wasn't happy with the tiny bits of surface rust on the strengthening bit on the underside of the original (would have cleaned up but thought might be a bit pointless saying as a new one was £60)



I'll need to drill the spotwelds out that hold the later grill trim on as i'm going mk1 look with this.





Then i also bought a set of black leather head rests with cream piping that will either replace the existing ones i have, or i'll have both sets trimmed the same so i can have front and rear head rests. Should look a bit different, never actually seen another Mini with 4 head rests although there will be some out there.




That's all for now on the buying front, i think i only need the grille surround and maybe a new set of black or cream/beige seatbelts to match the interior and a set of HID's then it's ready to rock (hopefully!)

Also, remoed the last of the union jack sticker kit ready for paint, car looks bare now.

Comments welcome as always

[M44K TS]

The guy that will be painting the car is coming to have a look on Tuesday to see exactly what's needed. So hopefully i'l have a better idea of when the car will be getting it's full shoot and when i can start building it back up

Been waiting for this for a looooooooong time!