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Mar 31, 2012 22:36:43 GMT
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had this thought basically after the my corsair passes its mot I want to press it into daily use , but the eelctrics are bugging me being so basic and not protected and not enough connections and not wanting to overload the ign witch with accesories needed I.e electric fan, washer kit, relays for lights, cig lighter etc.. and possibly a decent ice install .. the original set up will not handle that but as said thats for the future I'm planning ahead here
obviously it will be so much better if i get a complete new loom kit as all connections on mine are old and it doesnt have a fuse box and isnt currently protected so it is quite hairy if i add a load of new stuff as mentioned to the original loom..
or should I go with the saying if it aint broke don't fix it?...
what do you all think there its 50 year old electrics too remember but nothing is wrong or not working atm just thinking ahead for future engine conversions and possible ice and upgrading said components for more efficient running etc..
any kits you would recommend I'm currently looking hope this can make my mind up here currently looking at the 'EZ loom kits'
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Last Edit: Mar 31, 2012 22:53:04 GMT by slammage
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If it was me - i'd get as late a scrap BMW loom - or anything else FR that I could find cheap in the scrappers then adapt to fit.
My plan with the Pantera is to get a late MR2 loom as they are MR - basically the same setup.
But be aware that you will have 5x the number of wires that you actually need - when I put the MR2 loom in the GTM the stereo loom weighed more than the entire original BMC one.
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'83 GTM Coupe. 4A-GE Powered
'00 GTM Libra Auto. Ick.
'71 Detomaso Pantera. Current Resto
'89 GMC Safari Tow/Kip bus
'05 SAAB 9-3 Daily
'71 Siva Moonbug. Not even contemplating resto yet.
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Carbuildersolutions do a central fuse and relay box. Its pretty expensive for what it is though and you are still limited to what it has fitted. I scratch-built a loom for my old mini....I sketched it out life-size on the dining room floor (It should be noted that this act was a contributing factor in the breakup with my then lady-friend!) bought all the different coloured wires in the correct rating for each circuit and housed it all in spiral-wrap. I built in a holder for blade fuses, electronic flasher relays for indicator and hazards extra wiring to add fag light, satnav charger, stereo etc Total cost was less than the basic loom kits.   |
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1986 Panda 4x4.
1990 Metro Sport.
1999 Ford Escort estate.
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Personally, I would say that it's too much work for too little gain. If you were planning a major rebuild or repainting the car anyway, then it's definitely worth replacing the loom at the same time. For the sake of just the loom though, I'm not sure whether it's worth taking out the dash, interior, carpets and more. You will have to get access to the back of every light and switch, don't underestimate the hours involved!
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Loom for something simple like a Corsair shouldn't be that hard to make, you could use a fuse/relay box out of any number of modern cars if you don't want to buy one, my Volvo has one under the stereo that would do the job and its inside the car so one from a scrappy shouldnt have suffered to much from age. Loom under the dash will be alright to get at from underneath I would have thought, and it'll only have the run to the rear running down one side of the car, if its anything like a cortina you can probably get it all out in an hour.. I wouldn't be to worried about taking that kind of job on, its gotta be better than adding new stuff to the old to fit extra goodies and new wiring will brighten up all the lights for a start. I'm sure there are plenty of cars with suitable panels, if you look round a scrappy, Volvo relay panel has the fuses lined up across the front and room for loads of relays depending on what you eventually fit.  |
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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hmm food for thought here, thanks for all this info so far very interesting, i have been looking at just simply buying a new blade fuse box and installing this into the current loom therefore protecting the whole loom and also i can piggyback of spare fuses for stuff like an electric fan cig lighter etc.. can i not?
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yeah, make sure the main feed into the box is high enough rated and you can run as many circuits as you like off a fuse box, you can either fuse everything individually or combine circuits on one fuse as the manufacturers do.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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yeah just looking into this on a very informative cortina (exactly same as corsair) site/data sheet and it seems it seems accesorie wise I only have 16 amps to play with will this cover a cig lighter and an electric fan?!? radio doesnt really matter as I can run that from the battery with a in line fuse.. here is the site I am looking at freespace.virgin.net/tommy.sandham/fusebox.htmcheers guys helping me a lot here got a lot of years ahead of me to learn this dark art of auto electricery edit- oh and never knew you could do it all on 1 fuse like you said i think for now the fuse box will do for now but will research that a bit more  |
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Last Edit: Apr 1, 2012 18:17:54 GMT by slammage
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electric fan should go on a relay, usually aftermarket ones are wired direct to the battery through the relay, and the relay switched on and off by a temp sensor (sometimes with manual overide although I never see the point) If your setting up your own fuse box you could run the live feed for the fan through it, but they do draw a fair few amps. This is the point where it starts to seem easier and easier to just build a new loom with everything you need and high enough rated wiring already in it.  |
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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popuptoaster you are too right about the new loom seems easier at this stage haha , had this chat with the old man and his mates theyve just said get a new loom kit and as you have said it ill have a high enough rated wire to cope with the components and more, plus i will learn a new skioll here to pass onto to many more cars, my mind is decided new loom kit it is am currently looking at a langy hot rod loom kit, and some kit car looms as this is what i would want for it. have you got any suggestions on what loom kits to use i know you mentioned getting one from a breakers but i kinda don't fell confident enough to do this  wow, seems like this corsair has snowballed into a project big time, again ha |
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I've got a loom out of an XJ40 if thats any good to you.
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,543
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Doing it once, now, may well prevent future issues if you're planning other mods. In your case finding a proprietary wiring kit might well be best though I have no experience with any so can't offer any recommendation. However, it is possible to piggyback the original wiring as you suggest, with a new fuse box and that's basically what I've ended up doing with our Herald (which has no fuses at all from the factory). For the Oxford, since its a more major off the road project I've built up my own main panel so that I could still use factory wiring colours, circuits and switches rather than end up needing to either modify a new "standard" loom (which since I'm routing it differently would be completely unsuitable) or possibly modifying a bought unit because it doesn't have quite what I wanted. I am so used to Lucas colours that a bought unit might well have ended up causing me confusion in future and I think this has worked out cheaper too.  That's going to be mounted under/behind the dash but in a place where access with be reasonably easy. |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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andyborris
Posted a lot
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.
Posts: 2,220
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Polevolt have good prices.
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Its worth having a good think about what you might plan for the future, for instance even if your keeping it on a carb and mechanical fuel pump for now, it may be worth running a feed in the loom to the rear of the car for an electric fuel pump in case you ever decide to fit an injection engine.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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well i don't plan anytime soon i.e this year to go injection or throttle bodies i do plan a zetec conversion IF i keep the corsair for this year, so it will be needed .. to be honest i will buy the loom kit from the hot rod guy, as it seems to be a really good piece of kit and from the fuse box it uses it has about 6 free sockets to install more stuff on top of the usual headlights, engine standard stuff! seems to be worthwhile as i can find out how to do this on this car so when it comes to building my mk1 i have a lot of knowledge and know how, plus it will be safer in my head knowing that al electrics work and are fused plus a bonus being i can have a very nice ice set up installed! thanks for the help guys and all the assistance in my stupid questions (theres more to come I'm learning) it seems it is best just to do it once and last, also gives me an excuse later this year to switch to a throttle bodied zetec lump  |
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Electrical work gets really interesting as you start doing it,seeing how everything goes together etc.
I'm a control spark myself and I'm about to make a new engine loom for my 4x4 Cossie as it's a common fail point on these due to excess heat/vibration etc.
My tips and advice to you is solder whenever you can and avoid crimping,it looks awful and causes all sorts of problems.
Get yourself an automatic stripping tool and good side cutters from screwfix etc,only a few quid and you'll wonder how people get by without it!!!
Getting a scrap loom for the plugs etc is a great idea,you can cut wires and solder/heat shrink then without disturbing the plug connectors,again a common source of failures.
Use relays wherever you can as that saves the current flash across switches etc and looks a lot more professional.
I can perhaps get you wire from work that has numbered cores on it if that's a preferable way for you to do it rather than colourcoding cables?
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....My tips and advice to you is solder whenever you can and avoid crimping,it looks awful and causes all sorts of problems.... Really? That goes against pretty much all the advice I read about making car wiring. Seemingly solder is not a "mechanical" joint, and while its electrical properties are great, the vibrations and movement in a car can lead to it failing. From what I read, the best bet was crimped joins, covered in heat-shrink. Just curious. |
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1986 Panda 4x4.
1990 Metro Sport.
1999 Ford Escort estate.
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I can tell you that as an aircraft engineer I have NEVER seen any loom (automotive or aviation) that was soldered together. Soldering provides no mechanical means of connecting wires, when pulled apart a properly made crimp joint will break the wires before it pulls apart. Crimps yes, solder no. Don't mean to shoot you down dude, but people believe what they read online far too often.
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1994 Rover Metro
1994 Peugeot 405 Estate
1991 Rover Metro Gti 16v
2001 Fiat Seicento Sporting
1999 Fiat Punto 1.2
1994 Peugeot 106 Xnd (x3)
1991 Westfield 7
2004 Landrover 110 SW
2003 Seat Ibiza 1.9Tdi Sport
1959 Ford 107e Prefect
1992 Suzuki Vitara
2008 Skoda Fabia
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