Looks great!

Just out or curiosity, why did you go the custom route rather than with a Bussman RFRM/RTMR or Littelfuse HWB combination fuse/relay block?

I had a specific number of relays and fuses that I needed to house which none of the standard blocks had, and already had a mount installed so the custom route made more sense.
I like to geek out on wiring too and didn't want to miss out on the fun of wiring this!

Nicely said what I was thinking - well, I wasn't thinking this: I was still looking for my lower jaw on the floor. I dropped the jaw in a moment of total awesomeness...

Are you sure you want to remain an architect for the rest of your life? Architect, inventor, engineer... There was this man in Florence/Firenze, Italy when I visited the town last summer. I think his name was Leonardo...

Menno

Yeah, just build your own fuse box and wire a 914 for the enjoyment!

Friggin awesome. This world is going to need you someday!

Well it took couple days but I finished wiring the board!
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I removed the jig in preparation for the final plate.
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I laser cut the final iteration of the base plate out of black acrylic, I countersunk the hardware and mocked everything up, along with a template for the top cover.
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I sure hope so, I am focusing on finishing critical drivetrain systems now which consist roughly of:

finishing the wiring harness
welding in new fuel tank bungs
painting the tranny
replacing/resurfacing clutch components
throttle/clutch cables
restoring and assembling the suspension
checking and torqueing every nut and bolt on the car
and probably 10 other things I have forgotten

It would be great to at least have it running by end of year, moving might or might not be possible, I will do my best!

I drew up the file for the face plate. Since I have access to a Laser cutter I used this file to not only cut out the face plate but to cut out masking tape for back painting as well.
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Here you can see the finished result, by strategically removing layers of the laser cut masking tape you can layer the paint on the back of the clear sheet creating the result below. The faceplate also locks the relay plugs in place. I decided to connect the common power and ground leads to studs rather than hidden hardware so I have a reliable power source to tap into if I need one.
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I used the standard federal automotive icons for continuity but swapped out the normal fan icon for the radiator fans because it looked better.
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Now all I have left is to trim the hardware and mount the board, I will buy mounting hardware today and see how it looks in the car.
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Just wow.

Dane,

Sending you a PM...

Dane, I had to laugh....geeking out on wiring....I love it....I have been lazy as heck with other volunteer stuff taking up all my free time...Spring has sprung here in Nova Scotia so I am back at it.

The stock location for the fuse panel is just a pain so I too am going to move mine...congratulations on new family and car too!
[/quote]

You are insane

Here is the panel mounted in the car:
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And with the gas tank in place:
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Now to plug it in! I bought a 22 pin Delphi Weatherpack bulkhead connector to run through to the interior. With only one plug swapping out brains will be easy if I decide to change or upgrade anything.
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And all wired up, ready to go in the car!
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Well this portion of the harness is finished, time to move to the interior!
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So here is the other side of the bulkhead connector:
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And here is my updated diagram on how the relay board needs to be spliced unto the existing harness:
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I had a fellow avionics technician I worked with back in 1985 in Shreveport, LA. He had his 72' bug wired with a single through-hole hubbel style plug, courtesy of a B52 parts scrap bin. I helped him pull his motor once, we had it out from ignition disconnect in under 12 minutes or similar - I was shocked with how well it worked. I had a 66' Ghia that I was rigging for similar when I got a cash offer I couldn't refuse.

You'll appreciate the ease with which you can do service, especially on a cold floor in mid-winter;-)

I just had to share the state of affairs, what a rats nest!
I think I have the 914 wiring harness (or at least my interpretation of it) just about memorized.

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quoted for the insanity!




exactly how I feel.

Dane, I've shared this thread with other forums and believe it or not theres a TON of people waiting to see this car finished. Wiring is always where I stall out, glad to see you geek out at this point. just dont take too long!

How have I never seen this thread?

This is a fantastic build. So, listen up, I set the standard over on Pelican for how you're supposed to start and finish your thread. (Go look them up - same username)

With a build this awesome and a thread this long, you simply have to finish it.

Thanks for sharing your life with us.

Hal

Who are you? What standard and where is the link? We are too lazy to search pelican...

Possibly these 2 threads.

RSR LS Conversion

DIY IROC RSR Conversion

Thanks for the kind words guys, progress has been slow, wiring takes forever but I will keep plugging away at this thing!

Well the rat's nest has been cleared and sorted, I wired the existing car harness into the interior half of the bulkhead connector.
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Then I routed what remains of the stock harness through the rest of the car.
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i am not wiring up the cabin yet, i want to focus on getting the engine running first.
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The harness has been run into the engine bay, ready to connect my next project, the WRX computer and engine harness.
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Here is the WRX wiring harness, as you can see it is about 10 feet longer than it needs to be. I will trim and shorten it in the future but I know it works as it is so I will leave it until I have a running engine to test it with.
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I am thinking I will mount the computer and the excess wiring harness in a compartment I build around the back of the firewall bulge.
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I organized the harness in a way that should fit in the space provided,
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I had to make 3 big loops around the ECU to take up the slack.
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Dana great work as usual, I was walking around Goodguys Columbus Nationals today and thought about how I would rather look at your build than most of the cars i saw today.

Now one question.

What the hell is this still doing in this build?

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Don't get me wrong, I love Chris' products. And they have there place. This car needs a Subaru MT5 in its back end, and a cable shifter. We have a bunch of these in various conversion cars, and I would love to see your build skills being put to use on an MT5.

maybe not to get it on a he road if you already have the 901 parts but in time, I think the suby trans is the logical upgrade.

Unfortunately now is not the time to change huge things like a tranny, in the future definitely. It will be drivable in the relatively near future and the detour of changing drivetrains at this point would kill this project. Lucky the rear half of the car is replaceable, so nothing is permanent. Once I have play money upgrades will be implemented on the entire car, I just need it to move under its own power first.

Hi Dana - So glad to see you making progress on your car. One of my absolute favorite builds. Good luck.

Sounds like a great answer to me, carry on love the build

The cigar comes first.

Sorry for not posting in a while, rest assured, progress continues!

I got the ECU and engine harness wired into the car and engine.
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In addition to attaching the engine to the ECU I also attached the car harness to the ECU as well as a custom rear wiring harness.
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Here is the rear wiring harness I built, it attaches to the intake sensors, starter, reverse switch, speed sensor, and rear lights.
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This is hard to represent properly but here is the state of affairs, I now know the wrx wiring harness by memory, but engine wiring is just about done!
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Here you can see the rear harness, plugged into the intake sensors and waiting for a tranny to wire up. Also refurbished the adapter plate and installed it, clutch is on its way!
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I needed to start wiring up the battery cables, but wasn't close enough to starting the engine to buy a battery so I decided to make a battery mockup. I started by modeling an Odyssey 680 based on images
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Then I 3D printed it.
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I painted the print and installed the proper threads into it.
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Here is the Battery Mount.
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Finally I installed it in a clear spot on the firewall, low, opposite the driver, hidden by the air cleaner. I then ran the harness for the passenger side of the engine and battery cables to the chassis, starter, and wiring harness.
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Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
I finally got all of the parts of my new clutch setup. New kennedy kevlar disk, new stage 2 pressor plate, and a resurfaced flywheel. I will install them and hopefully the tranny this weekend!
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I found a great local machinist, look at this beautiful work!
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Dane your work is incredible. You keep raising the bar!

Nice work Dana

Flywheel is in!
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Pressure plate and disk are in too.
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Tranny goes in tomorrow!
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Dana,

You should earn "914 Emerald Points" or similar. How many times have you moved that dream across the US? 3 or 4?

It looks great as usual.

Dave

Since 2008 when this project started, WRX transmissions have become common on conversion cars. Did you ever think of ditching the Kennedy adapter and 901 for a Subaru trans with a cable shifter?

Yes, I feel like that is all people want to talk about on this thread. Check out the previous page for my most recent answer to this question, or the page before that to see the previous time I answered this. A new tranny really isn't a priority right now.

Sorry.

No problem, just trying to get this thing on the road!

I installed the tranny to prove that I am embracing this inferior technology, at least for now.
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Time to start wiring it up!
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not many cars had a 5spd in the 70s..time marches on

Tranny is wired up!
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Starter and relay:
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Speed sensor:
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Ground strap, and plugs for rear lights:
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Kind of a shame to cover up all this fine art with body work.

Yea, It's a work of Art; it needs to go to a Museum. It's too clean to drive on a dirty road.

Man! I haven't been around here lately..But I am stoked to see this project activity! Love this thing.

I had a couple people pm me asking about about tranny paint, this is the paint I am using throughout the car, I have found it to be very durable, and looks great.
It is available for aerosol and paint guns, I have used both on the car with good success.
Usually cheapest (but not cheap) directly from Eastwood.
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To repaint the tranny I started by cleaning it with soft wire and fiber wheels.
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Then premiered with Eastwood black primer.
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Here are some higher quality images of the Alumablast finish, clear coating is optional, I chose not to.
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Reading this thread... Second honeymoon

How many cans of primer and aluma blast paint did it take to do your transaxle?

Thanks,

Steve

Just found this thread today, man I wish I had seen this years ago. Mine has been sitting in my dads barn for 10yrs and this is defiantly an inspiration!

2 cans of each should be plenty, I did 2 coats of both primer and paint.

I am going to give the WRX fuel pump controller a shot, I didn't use it when I had the car running before, it delivers variable voltage to the pump based on engine need, and shuts the pump off after a couple seconds when the ignition is on and you haven't started the car.
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Here it is installed, I also wired up the pump, As far as I can tell I think all of the wiring needed to start the car is done. Radiator and everything up front is wired as well. I will get some test runs under its belt then shorten the excess length out of harness and wrap everything. Eventually I will build a cover for all of this.
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All of the dash wiring is good to go, and ignition and starter buttons are wired up for testing.
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Looks like the chassis wiring is fairly done, here are the leftovers, nice to cull this amount of chaos and weight out of the car!
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