Engine wiring part 2

 Rather unsurprisingly the engine wiring is still going on. It's really tough going, but if I get it wrong it's either a dead car before I start, or an AA callout on the way back from Malvern 2025.

The engine sensors are now cut to length, with the ECU mounted on the back of the firewall and nicely protected from the elements. I did think about putting it flat but it seemed like a waste of space. Then again, even sat on the firewall I can't put anything in front of it because I need to maintain access!!

The wires will all come across the bulkhead to the engine via a single location, so that will bind up quite well. The sensor wiring has been substantially shortened for the most part, the only one that is still factory length is the airflow sensor and that's because it's right out at front.

I've also picked up a few other sensors as I've gone. For example the cooling fan sensor is situated underneath the connector for the fuel injectors, so that got trimmed.

The next big job is actually what I thought would be the first, which is the 'big' wiring. I've got the alternator and starter motor already wired up as expected, because I didn't take them apart. But on the other end is the engine fuse box, and on the end of the other loom is the interior fuse box. Both mounted on to the chassis in the original car, so they've got mounting lugs. Problem is I can't seem to find a location where I can reuse the lugs. I don't want to use a different fuse box at the moment as it will just be that one extra complexity and cost. So I need to mount the two fuse boxes somehow.

The logical place would be above the steering column on the platform of the bulkhead, here's an earlier view with the body not in place;

However I wouldn't call it majorly structural, given that it's basically the same aluminium sheet bent out of the way and reformed, rather than having anything substantial added to it. I think to mount the two boxes I'm going to need some vertical mounting structure as well as some platform reinforcement. It does need to be off the surface, mainly because the wiring comes out the back of both. 

Putting them in place it actually looks like horizontal is better. The engine one can be horizontal, pointing out towards the engine. Then the interior one can be behind it, pointing to the left. That also means the wires to the ignition switch have a fairly short distance to travel, as does the main power feeds (blue and white/red). 

However the first job is to figure out the fuse layout. The engine sticker looks like it had fallen off as it was upside down compared to the box, and the interior fuse box has no lid! That's kind of expected, it would have been a dashboard panel rather than a lid. I wonder if I could design and print a lid, that would be ideal. 

Anyway, some random pictures;

The first picture of spaghetti would make any Italian cry, and the fact that it's a car loom in the midst of being chopped up would make any electrician cry! The second is the back of the front plug, with indicators, sidelights, dipped beam and main beam.