Chapter 35 Restoration Assembly, Week Two 12/24/2006

Because of family schedules we celebrated Christmas (gift giving) on Christmas Eve this year, so Monday, Christmas afternoon was devoted to garage work on the Healey. I continued with the installation of the Dynamat Extreme and finished the right side pedal assembly box. I will wait until a little later to finish the dynamat in the interior. The blanking plates were next: one plate with screw clip nuts for the right side master cylinders, 2 plates to cover the steering shaft holes for RHD (one in engine compartment and one in the interior), and finally two plates with the hole for the steering shaft grommet on the left side of the car for LHD cars (again one in the engine compartment and one in the interior). I painted all the flat washers and screw heads for the plate installations.

Blanking Plate 1

I then fastened each of the hot air outlet interior door assemblies and thebulkhead flange bezel. Followed by the fuse block, the double clip for the clutch and brake lines from the masters to the fluid reservoir, the flasher canister and the new flasher relay.

Bulkhead Flange Bezel

 

Vent Doors

Fuse Block and Oil Gauge Line

Well, it is a new day and I am ready for some new challenges. I will get started on the battery cable from British Car Specialists and the wiring harness from British Wiring, Inc. I pushed the harness through the firewall grommet from the interior and separated the strands. I decided to focus on the under car runs first, so after jacking up the car on stands I installed the harness wire that goes to the boot for the fuel pump, fuel sender and rear lights. I skipped the clip attachment to the bump box until I have the rear axle in place.

Wiring Harness 4

Wiring Harness 5

Next I shifted my attention to the battery cable. I got it in place and quit for the day. Tomorrow will be dedicated to connecting the harness under the bonnet and in the boot.

Battery Cable 1

Battery Cable to Starter Solenoid

Harness left side

Wednesday was a good day. I started with the harness on the left side of the car. I secured the harness in the engine compartment with the appropriate zinc fastening clips and connected the wires to the fuse block, the flasher canister, connected and then threaded the dip switch mini-harness through the firewall, connected and threaded the mini-harness for the wiper motor through the firewall, connected the eight wires to the flasher relay box, and connected the front lamp pigtails and routed the harness through the front of the car.

Fuse Block & flasher

Flasher relay

Then I shifted to the right side of the wiring harness. I modified the voltage regulator box to accommodate wiring for an alternator. This is done by cutting out the connectors in the back of the box and then connecting the three brown wires to the same post, and the two yellow wires together to another post.

Harness front view

I then connected the harness to the starter solenoid, and routed the wire down the right side support. Feeders to the ignition, alternator, brake switch, and heater blower route off of the primary harness.

Voltage Box

Harness Right Side

Solenoid Wiring_2

I finished the afternoon installing the battery master switch in the boot. I heard complaints from too many about the original switch so I changed to a modern variant and modified it to fit in the original housing.

Battery Master Switch

Boot Battery Cables

Boot Wiring

I then connected the ground strap, added a few rubber grommets, and routed the wiring to the back of the carwhere a rear lighting harness was connected and fastened with two zinc clips. All-in-all it was a productive day!

Back to the garage the next day, I installed my modified horn brackets and the horns. These are not the proper horns, but at least I got them painted the right color. I used Duplicolor E8800957 “Seattle Silver,” a Honda color, I believe.

horn brackets red LH

horn brackets red RH

Horn painted

They used metric 7mm bolts. Then I installed the little bracket for the bonnet release, the remote control rod support bracket as well as the hydraulic fluid reservoir bracket.

bonnet release rod bracket

fluid reservoir bracket

The bonnet hinges were the next items to install. I greased the clevis pins and used stainless split pins.

Bonnet Hinge

Two big items in my storage bins were the Smiths heater blower and the Cape International interior heater I will be using to upgrade the heating system in the car. The Cape unit, in addition to improved heating efficiency also has a two speed fan. More details are available in the Heating/Cooling section of the website. I went ahead and installed these two items just to make a dent in my storage container!

heater blower 1

Cape heater 2

One thing I wanted to get done early in assembly before tiny spaces got crowded was the installation of the wiper motor assembly rubber grommets. These are a pain to get in, but a little liquid dish soap and muscle did the trick.

Wiper Motor grommets

Chapter 14 – Cleaning and Trial Fitting

August 26, 2003

Wiring 

Wiring Harness – Received the new wiring harness from British Wiring Inc. We ordered the main harness, horn wiring that we probably won’t need, light pigtails and the stator tube wiring. Everything looked good. Also ordered a special pliers for pushing the wiring bullet connectors into the rubber joints which will prove to be a real time saver.

After taking the harness through the firewall, the major components were separated to go down the two sides of the car. 

Flasher – First connected the three wires to the flasher – green, light green, and green/brown. 

Wiper Harness – Then connected the wiper harness with connectors and fed it through the firewall – black, black/green, and green. 

Dimmer Switch – The wires for the dimmer switch were then connected and fed through the top of the footbox and connected to the switch – blue/red, light blue, and blue/white.

Fuse Panel – Wiring was then connected from the harness to the fuse box. Three white wires to the lower left terminal; one heavy brown wire to the top left terminal; two brown/green wires to the upper right terminal; and five green wires to the lower right terminals.

Throttle Switch – The white and white/purple wires intended for the throttle switch will not be used so rubber connectors were placed on the ends to avoid contact with metal. The wires were tucked below the fuse box.

Boot Harness Extension – Six wires were then connected from the firewall harness to the harness that goes to the fuel pump and boot for the lights. The harness runs down the footbox insulation panel with two clips. The harness was clipped to the master cylinder box and then taken through the welded clip on the wheel well. 

Flasher Relay Box – Wires on the left side will then be connected to the flasher relay box including a black ground wire at the base of the box. 

Lights and Horns – The wires were routed to the front of the superstructure for the lights and the horns.

Voltage Regulator Box and Brake Light Switch – The harness was also routed down the right side, by the voltage box and down the right side to the brake light switch.

Wiring 3

Wiring 1

Wiring Fuse Block 2

Wiring 6

Wiring 8

Wiring 9

Wiring 12

September 9, 2003

Heater Vent Doors – Installed the left and right heater outlet vent door assemblies.

Air Vents 1

Air Vents 2

Bump Boxes – Installed painted bump boxes. Secured threaded horn mounting plates.

Bump Box Painted 1

Steering column bracket tapped plate

Parcel Tray and Fascia Brackets – Installed parcel tray support bracket and fascia support brace.

Parcel Tray Brace

Fascia Brace

Steering Column Steady Bracket – Installed steering column steady bracket, but unclear about which windscreen post hole it should mount to – will check it out later.

Steering support Brace

Steering Column Steady Bracket 2

Bonnet Prop Rod  and Brake Reservoir Brackets – Installed bonnet prop rod bracket, pivot, and the brake reservoir mounting bracket.

Brake Reservoir Bracket

Bonnet Rod Bracket

Bonnet safety catch and prop rod bracket

Bonnet Latch Bracket and Release Mechanism – Assembled and installed the bonnet latch/release mechanism.

Bonnet Catch painted 4

Bonnet Catch painted 3

Bonnet Catch painted 2

September 13, 2003

Wiring Continued

Battery Cable – Installed the battery cable ordered from British Car Specialists. The cable set was expensive, but of high quality. Installed rubber grommets in boot kick panel wall. Clip 1 was attached to the right bump box (Should install the cable on the box before it is mounted on the body.) Clip 2 was attached to the kick panel above the shock mounting bracket. The cable was then routed inside of the right frame rail.

Battery Cable 2

Battery Cable 1

Battery Cable 3

Battery Cable 4

Clip 3 and clip 4 were located at the back of the cruciform. Clip 5 was located at the front of the cruciform near the gearbox mounting bracket. Clip 6 was located on the frame rail about 6” from the ground cable mounting. Clip 7 was mounted on the right footbox wall with the cable directed to the right terminal of the starter solenoid. The Cable from the starter to the left terminal on the solenoid was then secured. The white/red stripe wire fastened to the small terminal on the solenoid. Three “cert” nuts need to be installed – two for the solenoid and one for the clip on the footbox.

Battery Cable 5

Battery Cable 6

Battery Cable 8

Battery Cable 9

Next, the rear lights harness was installed. Clip 1 was secured at the right upper fuel pump bracket. Clip 2 was secured on the kick panel to the left of the pump. Clip 3 was attached to the left bump box and the wiring was threaded through the boot wall. The green wire will connect to the fuel gauge sending unit. Metal tabs were fabricated from clips and mounted on the floorboard of the boot.

Single bullet connectors were used to join the main harness to the rear light harness and link the white/black wire, and the white/purple wire. The red wires were connected using a double rubber connector. Clips 3 and 4 were mounted to the rear rail. The long separate white/black wire was also routed through and it connected to the single screw terminal on the battery on/off switch. Black ground wires were connected to the screw on each clip.

Boot Wiring 1

Boot Wiring 2

Boot Wiring 3

Boot Wiring 6

Boot Wiring 4

Boot Wiring 5