Today I applied electrical power to total systems and did not burn up my 914-Sixer project. Great feeling of accomplishment. It has been about five years since I started the project and it seems it is coming to a rapid conclusion this Spring.

I have problems with grounds, power, wrong functioning items, etc. but it is a great feeling of having the wiring initially done. The head lights and motors, fog lights, backup lights, emergency lights, blinkers all work; just have to sort out key power problems and grounds to several items.

The things I am very happy about are: the car did not burn up; it holds 12.9 volts on the batteries after four hours connected; and there are not any sparks when slowly attaching the ground cable to the battery. In my book, this means there are not any shorts and battery drainage which is usually a major problem when cars set for more than fifteen years and in different California weather outdoors.

Batteries will be left attached for the next 24-hours and we will see what the condition of the electrical wiring and batteries are in the morning. I will start the shakedown of the auto side of the house and proceed from there handling each problem individually. Ah!! So close and yet so far away!!



Steve Hurt

It is always cool when someone hits a milestone in their build. Keep at it and it will be on the road in no time!

Jim

oh and

I did the same thing to mine. After rewiring the car and adding custom EFI, I was a little worried connecting the battery.
No Somke, No FIre!

Today I will be taking the voltage and circuit checks both with a voltmeter and a circuit tester. I want to know down to a "a nat's eyelash" what is going on with the entire electrical system.

Now is the time absorbing of "frustration, time, and sore back".

First thing this morning will be letting the system settle down and give it's feedback on the problems it has or may have.

I have built the car in layers with certain electrical connections not connected to prevent the engine from starting.

Now for coffee and the irritating process coming up.

Steve Hurt

Fast update: The entire front half of the car is functioning and has either corrected its own problems or I have done something to straighten them out. The dash lights, high/low light, dash lights, oil quantity gauge, etc appear to be now functioning properly. I do have some smaller problems to iron out in this area but the base is performing as expected.

The rear tail lights, brake lights, backup lights, blinker lights, emergency stop flashing lights along with the front running lights are still crossed and not performing. I will start with the grounds and verify back to the various key connection points for clarity etc. The power side has been verified and is wired as expected. These appear to be grounds and may take some time to get them straightened out.

I have added several relays for the front oil cooler and I think I am going to have to go back in the bundle under the dash to verify the hot side of the house and possibly the ground side of the house. Just time consuming and bothersome when one has to open a harness again.

I could tell you that I brilliantly solved the power side of the dash problems following a Sherlock Holmes method of Deductive Reasoning. Well, I did not. It is a problem created by saying, "That area is ok and does not need checking". Wrong!!! A stupid mistake involving the key power not being connected at the fuse box. Connected and problem solved. The point is always double check and maybe triple check different electrical areas; I had wired this area five years ago converting everything over for the 3.2 engine, 911 gauges, blade type fuse box, etc and knew I had not connected the key power to #9 fuse. Time went by and I neglected to wire it in to the system.

I also wired in several relays to control the front fan system, foot well fans, and heater fans which were added as extra items to the electrical system. Here I did another "stupid" mistake. I did not label the hot wires and am being forced to open the harness again to verify everything from stem to stern.

The point I am trying to make in sum: Try to understand what is going on in the various functional segments of the wiring diagram; understand the total wiring diagram; look for simple mistakes which can also be stupid because of assuming and not double/triple checking; if you have questions, ask the board and help is certainly there.

I do know the entire 911 and 914 wiring but when you try to rush through them "Murphy will nail you every time".

The problems that appear to relate to grounds can be time consuming and I will follow the pattern of looking for something simple and possible stupid. Each one will straightened out as individual problem or possible one big problem; or somewhere inbetween.

My start date for everything completed including the several items to connect the engine is April 30, 2011. It will be close but I will make it!!

Happy Easter, Everyone.

Steve Hurt

Today was a great day concerning my 914 Sixer conversion. All power, bad terminals, connections, components, etc have checked and rechecked " from stem to stern (I retired from the military so that is where the phrase comes from) with everything totally ship shape and working". All done in less than four hours!!

I was getting tired of doing electrical for the past couple of weeks and was running into a "brick wall" concerning the emergency flasher, turn signals, and other related but inter tying systems. I was not making any headway. So what do you you do???

I hired an expert and he just flew through the entire car correcting bad wiring, connections, routings, etc. He really worked his magic and came away with a vertually dependable electrical wiring system.

Really made my day!!! Now on to the engine and related support systems. Getting the car off the "jack stands" is just around the corner. I do believe the car is extremely tired of just running on the "jack stands" for the past five years.

Steve Hurt

Congrats on the awesome progress!!!!

Someone here in Flagstaff?