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Wiring loom _ Things to Consider?


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#1 Cook

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Posted 28 February 2019 - 01:57 PM

Hi all.  I have an auto-elec coming over next week to start wiring up the hatch (exciting times).  He is a forum member and I'm sure he has done a heap of Toranas so confident in his abilities.  I am just wondering though, for those that have been down this track:

 

If there was one thing you would do differently what would it be?

If there was one thing you would have added what would it be?

What additional gauges do you consider necessary or not warranted (intend using standard SL cluster but may include some gauges in the console if thought warranted)

 

In my case some info on what I'm doing : street cruiser but with some HP, stroked 308, t400, twin thermo fans, 135 amp alternator, battery in hatch, wiring provision for air-con. Reasonably standard resto really. 

 

Appreciated as always. Cheers Ron



#2 _2 girls racing_

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Posted 28 February 2019 - 02:37 PM

Wide band lambda would be my choice to include. Will give a much greater indication of tune.


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#3 grumpy xu1

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Posted 28 February 2019 - 11:13 PM

Electric water temp & oil pressure gauges large swoop style like autometer ect, you can add pencil warning lights on them too if needed. Dear, but accurate. Make sure the lighter works so you can charge phone & play music through it or an I pod ect.

#4 RallyRed

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 08:01 AM

Regarding the harness,  depending on the orig/ modified ? outcome you want, maybe add the wires for - 

 

Battery in boot ( hatch)

12v  distribution / relay box 

A spare wire or two from engine bay to rear

Boot ( hatch area ) elec. fuel pump

driving lights

Thermo fan/s

and like you say, wiring for any additional dash stuff

 

Any / all may be irrelevant to your build, or may fit well.

 

2 cents



#5 Cook

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 09:19 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys and gals.  

 

Steffi I had to google the sensor (tells you a bit about my knowledge) but will definitely take it on board.  I presume it screws into a threaded bung on the exhaust (which I think I have on the extractors) and has a read-out in a dash gauge? 

 

Gary I like the idea of the warning lights.  I'm curious about the electric water pump.  I originally looked at including one but my son suggested stay mechanical (KISS principal) and I have read a bit of pros and cons on here.  I made sure my lighter worked in the WB ute when I had it wired up for that very reason, so have to keep that in mind again.

 

Col I've ticked off a few of your items.  Can you educate me a bit on the distribution/relay box.  Is this instead of the fuse box or in addition with the inclusion of the relays. I had thought about an electric fuel pump but didn't want it in the hatch area and couldn't satisfy myself of some of the possible locations underneath. 

 

All good and thanks again.  Cheers Ron



#6 Rockoz

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 09:27 AM

First thing I would include would be relays for the headlights mounted as close to the headlights as possible.

At least 3 relays per side. 1 for low beam, 1 for high beam and one for additional driving lights.

 

Relays serve 2 functions, 1 which is probably more important, but usually isnt considered.

 

1st reason is to take the electrical load of the switch.

Probably not so much of a consideration with the Torana as it probably has the change over relay.

But given that they are becoming difficult to find, then it would be a good enough reason to take as much load off it as possible.

 

2nd reason, and I believe the more important one, is to reduce the voltage drop to the lights themselves.

Most relay installations dont really take that into account.

 

Run a really large gauge wire from the battery to feed the relays mounted on both sides, close to the lights, then from the relays to the lights with preferably slightly thicker wire than standard.

 

Small voltage drops affect the light output considerably.

 

Would do something similar for electric fans if you are going to fit them.



#7 hanra

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 09:29 AM

LH dosnt have a headlight relay. 



#8 grumpy xu1

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 10:07 AM

Hatches aren't in lh, he's talking lx here.

#9 grumpy xu1

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 10:16 AM

Sorry Ron, i actually meant water temp gauge & oil pressure gauge, but electrical units, large swoop style, makes them easy to view. Of a quality brand like autometer ect. I would probably prefer the mechanical water pump, on a regular driven vehicle. I worry about the pump stopping. I would suggest pulling it apart and giving it a nice port & radiusing the edges though mate. Has anyone tried the led headlights in the torana's yet & what is the thought on using them ?

Good explanation of the relays job too Rob.

#10 Cook

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 12:01 PM

Thanks again all, the more that get's thrown up the better informed I will be.  

 

Sorry Brad I should have mentioned it's for the LX.  Unfortunately I only have one Torana but hey, I have one.

Rob thanks for that.  Reminds me the auto elec that checked over the ute (WB) said the same thing but not as explained as you have done.  Just said I needed relays otherwise the switch will burn out and not to use high beam until I do.  Luckily I rarely drive it at night but will certainly list this as things to go over on the hatch.

 

Sorry Gary you did and I misread it.  They're added to the list of discussion points. Motor is yet to be built (next decision to make once electrics are in) and don't have a water pump yet. I will leave some questions on that for another day/thread. Talking about LED headlights I saw a couple of Toranas on the weekend (Autobarn Bayswater if anyone was there) and some had what I presume are sealed halogen lights but the look was like a cut crystal if that makes sense.

 

Cheers Ron


Edited by Cook, 01 March 2019 - 12:03 PM.


#11 RallyRed

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 06:12 PM


Hi Ron,
Instead..
Guess I was meaning if you are doing a full rewire and have open slather..you could do something like you would see in a VE/VF Commode, where a big fat wire comes from the battery( where ever you put it) and the connects to the fuse/ relay box. All the things you wish to contol are then switched by relays , from there.
This would require some planning/ thought, but prob. has the advantage of doing away with old glass fuses?.and grouping a lot of the control right where you need it..i.e ignition & headlight control etc etc. Bottom line is about minimising wire length & voltage drop from the point of control ( the old switch) to the end device.
I think you can buy generic wired ones on the net. Prob. easier than trying to interface a ECM / BCM type box.
It's all just your choice. There were/are thousands of these cars running around quite happily with bog standard wiring looms.
2 cents

#12 mick_in_oz

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 07:23 PM

Some of what Col said!

 

I'd also make a point of a relay for the starter as I've been caught with the old wiring and plugs causing intermittent cranking.

 

I'd also add what I might call additional circuits, one as accessories, and another as on power, controlled via relays, and simply left available for anything you choose to add down the track, it will mean its kind of its own thing not associated with the main working of the car.

 

I used this approach when I did the EFI conversion with a Haltech ecu, car is as it was originally, and all of the efi is a stand alone system with nothing more then a couple of relays driven by the original harness.



#13 fuzzypumper

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Posted 01 March 2019 - 11:26 PM

This is what i did:

Installed an engine bay fuse  and distribution box of a Vectra or Astra next to battery

which catered for thermo feeds, head lights motor power feed and  new main cabin fuse box feed.

Ran auto choke wire for carb,

Installed relays for low and high beam, starter motor and 2 relays for twin thermos.

Ran extra oil pressure and water temp wire feeds for after market gauges and sensors.

Added additional battery negative feeds to body along .



#14 Cook

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Posted 02 March 2019 - 10:25 PM

Thanks all for the further input.  Seems to be an underlying theme of the requirement to include sufficient relays and earthing points.  The auto elec is going to hate me now that i am armed with all this info LOL.

I should have mentioned up front that I am using the original loom but with the idea of ensuring i include anything additional that I think is warranted.  Auto elec says it is one of the best looms he has seen (that would be a first for this car LOL).  One thing I am not sure about is using the original dash cluster which I guess will need a fair bit of work $ anyway to get the gauges calibrated etc. In that regard anyone used Ringwood Speedo recently.  I know they are good but the old bloke is like me, grumpy and slow.  Ideally I would like to use the original cluster framework (possibly with some additional gauges in the console if needed) but incorporate new gauges in it and I have seen a number of excellent examples on here but I don't have the ability/knowledge to do this myself and don't think it would be a cheap exercise to get someone to do.  Something I will have to take up with the auto elec. 

 

One thing that hasn't been raised is a kill switch and maybe because it is obvious.  I intend on running one off the coil (hidden) but should I also have one off the battery.

 

Thanks again. Cheers Ron



#15 Rockoz

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Posted 03 March 2019 - 07:49 AM

Fuse and relay boxes are cheap to buy.

Attached File  Resized_20190303_084042_2059.jpeg   115.05K   7 downloads

Attached File  Resized_20190303_084121_1549.jpeg   139.86K   7 downloads

 

One is straight fuses, the other a combination fuse relay box, which comes with the spades to wire into your harness.

These were less than 20 bucks each from memory, and I got them from Wish.

 

The original wiring for a car is built down to a price, not up to a standard.

There is no real technical reason for the older cars to have fuse panels in just one location.

Just means that lots of circuits end up being a whole heap longer than they ideally should be.



#16 Cook

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Posted 04 March 2019 - 02:52 PM

Thanks again for all the comments.  Will let you know how it ends up. Cheers Ron



#17 koalasprint

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Posted 05 March 2019 - 06:28 AM

Hi Ron, you're auto elec will probably know but make sure that the power cable to the alternator is big enough. 35A Torana cable isn't up to the task of thermo fans. 140A works well.

One other modification I have done that's not covered above. I ran an extra wire to the oil pump from the dash. I spliced the dash end into the park-brake light switch. At the oil pump I install a t-piece. Oil pressure sender in one side and a pressure switch in the other. The park-brake light will come on if I loose oil pressure. My dash is all original and I didn't want to see after market gauges and lights.

 

Cheers, Steve.



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Posted 11 July 2019 - 10:21 PM

Hi Ron, you're auto elec will probably know but make sure that the power cable to the alternator is big enough. 35A Torana cable isn't up to the task of thermo fans. 140A works well.
One other modification I have done that's not covered above. I ran an extra wire to the oil pump from the dash. I spliced the dash end into the park-brake light switch. At the oil pump I install a t-piece. Oil pressure sender in one side and a pressure switch in the other. The park-brake light will come on if I loose oil pressure. My dash is all original and I didn't want to see after market gauges and lights.
 
Cheers, Steve.


Hi Steve,
I too have considered repurposing existing tell-tail lights to indicate additional tell-tails as all the tell-tail requires is an earth. What I considered was to add an electronic flasher to the additional tell-tail function so for example if you lost oil pressure the park-brake light would flash rather than just come on.

I have also made intermittent wipers (for my HK Kingswood but I suspect they would translate to the Torana) using an arduino and three relays that use the original switch. The delay is set by changing quickly between off and low or low and high. I should put up a post about it... I’m all for adding modern features but keeping the original look.

Cheers, Wes

#19 gtrboyy

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Posted 13 July 2019 - 11:33 AM

hidden or removable afr,vacuum & battery voltage gauges

 

power stud/block under dash

 

kill switch/breaker switch (battery & inside car)

 

thermofan overide

 

relays/wiring for cdi,f/pump etc



#20 Lima31

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Posted 16 July 2019 - 11:43 PM

Yep extra or large ign switched power circuits under dash for later goodies (efi/ecu, gps, usb power, alarm, dash cam, tablet, tacho etc),

hidden switches to earth out the distributor,

hidden momentary switches for disabling alarm or the two relay self-arming fuel pump cutoff trick...




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