Custom Wiring Harness Installation – Part One

We sent our custom made wiring harness to Rhode Island Wiring Services to have the harness covered with a cloth braid using a royal blue double tracer. The cost was $5.25 per foot with an $8.00 machine set-up fee. We were very pleased with the results. Pardon the messy work bench – it gets that way from time to time!

Cloth Braided Wiring Harness

Previous posts cover the creation and circuit testing of the harness:

A new electrical systemhttps://valvechatter.com/?p=13986

Building and Testing the New Wiring Harness – https://valvechatter.com/?p=14061

JWR Bugeye Wiring Diagrams: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14067

Finally, the time has arrived to install the harness in the car. The first step was to get the end of the harness though the firewall grommet. Not easy with the Deutsch connectors attached, but we got them through.

Harness through the firewall grommet

The next step was to connect the three wires in the harness to the small power supply fuse box. One thirty amp wire feeds the Ignition bank in the fuse box, the other thirty amp wire feeds the accessory bank in the fuse box and the fifteen amp wire feeds the lights bank in the fuse box.

Power supply fuse box

Then it was a matter of connecting the wires to the four banks of fused terminal positions in the Classic Technologies relay/fuse box.

Fuse Box Wiring

We pulled all of the fuses in the two fuse boxes and will add them back one at a time as we test the circuits upon final installation.

fuse installation with ratings

Next, we turned to the group of wires that run to the front of the car along the RH valance. Wiring for the coil, the hydraulic brake switch, the radiator fan, the radiator fan thermostat, the horns and the lights are in this bundle.

Wiring harness on RH Valance

We used stainless steel clips to secure the wires to the valance. A smaller 3/8″ clip will be used to route the capillary tube for the water temperature gauge and sensor.

Stainless steel wiring clips

We made a little bracket to support an 8-pin Deutsch connector at the front of the valance. This connector will mate with an 8-pin bonnet connector to deliver power to the headlights, flashers, running lights and auxiliary driving lights if we decide to mount them.

8 pin Deutsch Connector

We then installed the twin Hella horns and made the wiring connections. This did involve using a four way bullet connector to receive and supply power to both horns. A double spade connector was used to facilitate the wiring connections for the ground wires.

Horns Wiring

Hella horns installed with wiring and custom cover

The next wiring connections to be made were for the wiper motor. Duestch connector “H” is used to connect the wires from the wiper motor to the Wiper Controller mounted behind the dash. The three wires, encased in shrink tubing, come through the firewall. The green wire connects to wiper motor terminal #2 and the green/black wire connects to terminal #1. A black ground wire connects to terminal #3.

Wiper Motor Wiring Connections

The next item to wire was the ignition coil. The yellow/green wire from the harness connects to the (-) terminal of the coil. The white wire from the harness connects to the (+) terminal of the coil.

Ignition Coil Wiring

The heater blower has two black wires from the fan motor. One of those wires is connected to a yellow wire from the harness with a spade connector. The other black wire is ground and is screwed to the chassis.

Heater blower wiring

The hydraulic brake switch is mounted on the RH engine bay valance. A teal green wire and a brown/green wire from the harness connect to the two screw terminals on the switch.

Hydraulic brake switch wiring

The brake pedal brake switch is a custom addition to the Bugeye. Details on the switch and its mounting bracket are highlighted in another post: https://valvechatter.com/?p=14351

Two wires from the harness, a green wire and a dark green/orange wire, come through the grommet in the LH footbox near the dipper switch and connect to the switch at the pedal.

Brake Pedal brake switch wiring

The Dipper switch wiring was completed next. We had a little issue on this because we cut two of the wires a little too short requiring the use of bullet connectors to add length to the wiring to the switch. However, while space was tight, we were able to make all of the necessary connections.

There are three terminals on the dipper switch. A power-in terminal, a low-beam terminal, and a high-beam terminal. One has to look closely to find it but the power-in terminal is marked with an arrow on the switch molding. The blue wire from the harness connects to this terminal via a bullet connector.

The blue/red wire is connected via a bullet connector to a blue/green wire (ran out of blue/red) and then to one of the remaining switch terminals – it doesn’t matter which one.

Three wires connect to the remaining terminal on the switch. The blue/white wire is for high beam operation, the green wire is for the high beam warning light in the speedometer, and the blue/yellow wire is routed to the toggle switch under the dash for the driving lights. These three wires connect together via a four way bullet connector, with one blue/yellow wire then connecting to the terminal on the switch. A bit confusing, but the photo helps.

Dipper switch wiring

The fuel pump wiring connections were then made. The teal/purple wire from the harness was connected to the black wire at the Facet pump with a spade connector, and the white/purple wire from the harness was connected to the SU pump with a spade connector 

Dual fuel pumps wiring connections

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty shows the installation of the front and rear harnesses: https://vimeo.com/998221034/30174c4eea?share=copy

The contents of this episode include the following:

0:00 – Braided wiring harness received

0:30 – Begin wiring harness installation

0:58 – Power distribution fuse box

1:48 – Fuse ratings

1:58 – Wiring to Classic Technologies fuse box

2:33 – Wiring clips on the RH engine bay valance

2:40 – Deutsch connector for wiring the bonnet

3:30 – Wiring connections to the horns

5:08 – Horns wiring cover

5:30 – Hydraulic brake switch wiring connected

5:45 – Ignition coil wiring connections

6:05 – Heater blower wiring connections

6:26 – Alternator wires to be connected later

6:32 – Connector “F” wiring to the RH courtesy lights and brake lights

7:30 – Brake pedal brake switch wiring connections

7:55 – Dipper Switch wiring bracket

8:54 – Brake pedal switch wiring tested

9:02 – Accelerator pedal assembly temporary installation

9:20 – Wiper controller installation

9:30 – RH demister elbow and tubing installation

10:30 – Wiring harness to the rear of the car installed

11:18 – Fuel pumps wiring connections

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building and Testing the Wiring Harness

Yes, in building a new electrical system for the Bugeye we wanted to add additional circuit fusing protection, we wanted to add relays to take the load off of switches, we wanted to add “personalizations” for safety and convenience but perhaps as much as anything, we wanted to eliminate or at least minimize this:

Working Under the Dash

Anyone who has done it, knows that working on the dash wiring while lying on one’s back is just no fun in the little Sprite. So, we wanted to construct a wiring harness that would take advantage of modern electrical connectors (Deutsch connectors) to make it possible to essentially “unplug” the dash with all of its gauges and wiring in tact and remove it from the car. The water temperature/oil pressure gauge, choke cable and the heater switch complicate this proposition a little, but disconnecting them for removal are minor compared to lying on your back on the floor of the car!

The previous post, “A New Electrical System,” detailed all of the electrical system modifications we are making in the Bugeye. This post covers creating, testing and removing the central wiring harness that serves the engine bay and the dash. Three videos were created to show the process.

Later, we will build the wiring harnesses for the bonnet and for the rear of the car.

The following Bugeye Restoration video episode fifty-three covers the initial work done on the wiring:

https://vimeo.com/913981383/62234c4caa?share=copy

0:00 – Fuse box, power supply to fuse box

2:30 – Deutsch connectors, wiring routing

5:25 – Hella horn wiring

7:00 – Deutsch connector from body harness to bonnet harness

8:00 – Removing the harness from the car

9:00 – Disconnecting the wiper controller

10:00 – Harness removed from the car

10:25 – Taped harness

Bugeye Restoration video episode fifty-four covers the fabrication of a switch and control panel hidden behind the dash. The panel includes toggle switches for the radiator electric fan, the courtesy interior lights, the driving lights and the fuel pump selection. The hazard flasher switch, the rheostat for the wiper speed controller and a combination voltmeter and USB port are also mounted on the panel. The video then focuses on the wiring for the gauges and switches on the dash.

https://vimeo.com/913992798/07c6df6f44?ts=0&share=copy

0:00 – Supplemental control panel behind the dash

2:05 – dash wiring

3:12 – Fuel gauge

4:00 – Magnetic wiring clips

4:25 – Speedhut Speedometer and Tachometer

7:15 – Ignition and light switch

8:40 – Panel lamp switch

9:00 – Turn indicator switch

9:15 – Hazard flasher diodes

Bugeye Restoration video episode fifty-five covers the testing of the wiring circuits before the central harness is removed and taped.

https://vimeo.com/914010274/237d25f4f3?share=copy

0:00 – Testing the wiring harness and the connectors

3:00 – Wiper controller

3:10 – Toggle switches on the control panel