A while back I cooked some of my wiring harness and connectors at the steering wheel. Then I took apart the steering wheel, blinker switch, ignition switch assembly and basically that's where I've left off.

Since then I've purchased a new aftermarket ignition switch, fuse box, wire, different connetors etc...

It's been months and I keep staring at it thinking I'll do something but I have no idea what that "something" is.

So I'm asking for help. =-)

Is there someone near the Bay Area who I can hire/barter/bribe to help me on this one.

I've managed to learn everything else to make my 914 what it is today but I'm afraid I'm stumped on some of the intricacies if the wiring at the steering wheel and other places. The schematic just overwhelmes me. =-( I'm tired of kidding myself.


Things I can offer are:

a couple of spare stock axles/CV's
use of my my 220V reverse polarity stick welder/MIG welder/oxy-acetylene setup
assorted miscellaneous brainless chores
spare aftermarket steering wheel
use of my hydraulic spreader for body work
a joy ride in one heck of a fast 914 afterwards

I can cook one wicked pizza!

What can I offer to make it worth your wild?

Roger in the San Francisco Bay area (East Bay)

If I may make a sudjestion, there are plenty of guys cutting up old 914's, get a

loom from one of them. The wires that are fried, follow them back till they

terminate or are know longer fried. Cut, splice, solder and shrink tube the

connections. Plug them in and drive. Make sure you get a loom from a teener

that is the same year. Love to help you but Iam to far away.

I'm willing to come help out sometime Roger. But I require food.

I can also help, though it will mostly be with advice, as my weekends are pretty booked for the next few.

The easiest way to tackle this initially overwhelming problem is to break it down into pieces. Get some graph paper, take the wiring diagrams, and start to draw out just sections of the diagram. This helps tremendously in understanding the mess. Start at one switch, and follow one wire all the way to +12 or ground, then follow the circuit the other way to ground or +12 (ALL circuits work this way, one end at +12, the other end at ground).

Once you do this for a couple of circuits, you'll be able to follow the wiring diagrams much better by eye.

Look at the diagrams in my rewiring thread, as they simplify things. I'll be updating that some this week.

Buy a bag of zip-ties, a roll of heatshrink, and a heat gun. Some clear heatshrink and a label maker can also help a great deal in labelling wires neatly. Since you probably only have a few colors of wire, labelling is going to be required to keep things sorted.

I don't want to use the stock ignition switch and prefer something on the dash.

I will still need to replace these parts.

asdf

this bare wire melted all the way up into the main harness and disappeares in the bundle.

I'm not using the stock ignition switch, either. I used one of the cheap aftermarket switches (under $20), and it fits in the hole for the lighter perfectly. Wrong side for a Porsche, but saves me drilling a hole.

The column switch can probably be saved. De-solder the wires on the contacts and run new wires to a pair of multi-pin connectors. I can supply you with some Weatherpak connectors cheap. I could probably be talked into repairing the switch itself completely for a modest fee.

Do you know what caused this and have you fixed it? Wiring repairs are not that bad. in most cases the strands are still intact. Just carefully seperate them and follow them back. Cut and replace one at a time. Or find a good harness and splice it in.
David

thank you james and david for your input. oh, and mark too!

LOL

james, i would like to take you up on the offer to rebuild the column switch thingies. i don't like the ignition switch but i do want to use the blinker switch and whatever else runs through those wires. =-)

also the ignition "plug" is cooked as well as some of the wires. are any of those wires needed or can i bypass them with a new ignition switch?

what do you need for me to procure or do yo have everything already?

your humble servant,
roger

Make a list of all the wires you have to replace and their colors. Then it will be easy to make a shopping list of what goes where.

Roger, what year chassis are we dealing with? It's clearly at least a '73, from the column switch.

What I'd do for a column switch rebuild would be to de-solder all of the wires from the switch, replace them with new wires of *approximately* the same colors (solid only, I don't have any two-color wire in my stash), solder those to the switch, label them, and use Weatherpak multi-pin connectors on the ends. We'd then cut the old connectors off the harness and fit the other half of the Weatherpak connectors to mate them. This will give you back blinkers, high beams, and wipers with minimal hacking on your wiring harness.

All I'd need to find for this is some clear heatshrink (for the labels). I have everything else. I need clear heatshrink myself, so I'll dig some up.

My only caveat is this is limited by a lack of time. I have an event early in June I have to get my own car ready for, and it's not quite there yet.

I can swing by some evening to look over the rest of the wiring and we can see if there are other repairs necessary. PM me your address, and I'll see if I can come over some evening this week.

DEAL!



if i only had a dime for every time i said, "I love this club"....