Dash and Custom Wiring Harness – Part 2

Before installing the dash we wanted to complete the installation of the front courtesy lights as they are not easy to access without the dash, much less with dash in place. We also completed the wiring and testing for the pedal brake switch that can also be seen in the photo below.

LH front courtesy light

We then covered the front aluminum cockpit molding with our red vinyl and installed it on the body. It looks quite handsome.

front cockpit molding vinyl covered

Just to add a touch of bling to our work the chrome rear view mirror went on next. Two chrome oval head #10-32 x 5/8″ machine screws secure the mirror to the captured nuts in the body.

Rear View Mirror

We then added the rear cockpit molding:

Rear cockpit molding

We then installed the LH demister hose to the elbow and nozzle vent. We will be using an AFR gauge to assist with tuning but do not plan to leave it in the car permanently so we ran a red wire from fuse position #19 in our fuse box, through the firewall an into the interior. This wire can be easily removed after we finish tuning.

We then began the actual installation of the dash with all of its wiring, gauges, switches and etc. in place. We had seen a tip on the internet to make this task easier. That is to use large zip ties to support the corners of the dash. This allows easy access from above for mating Deutsch connectors, finishing up with a few loose wires and for running cables through the dash and the firewall. As it turned out, it was a great tip and made the job quite a bit easier than it might have otherwise been.

Dash with zip ties to the body

We could then gradually tighten the zip ties and move the dash closer to the body. Ultimately, we cut the zip ties and inserted the 1/4″-28 – 1″ hex head bolts and tightened each corner.

Care must be taken with three items 1. one must keep an eye on the steering shaft so that it remains free in the column bezel. 2. There are two braces under the dash that secure the dash to the firewall. The braces must be above the lip that they mount to on the firewall before the dash to body bolts go in on the corners, otherwise they are difficult to properly position. This is especially true in our case since the braces serve as the platform for our supplementary switch panel behind the dash. 3. Routing the capillary tube for the water temperature gauge and the copper pipe for the oil pressure must be approached cautiously to avoid damage to either.

The installation of the individual items associated with the dash is covered in the attached video. Once we had the dash in place we began testing all of our circuits. Everything seems to functioning properly! A major achievement in the process toward assembling the Bugeye.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Eighty-six:

https://vimeo.com/1006256130/a0a01395e3?share=copy

0:00 – Front courtesy lights connected

0:21 – Brake light wiring

1:11 – Covering and installing the aluminum cockpit molding

2:56 – Rear view mirror installed

3:18 – Rear cockpit molding installed

3:50 – LH demister hose installed

4:00 – Temporary AFR gauge wiring installed

4:22- Dash wiring and installation

8:00 – Zip tying the dash to the car

8:47 – Wiper controller rheostat installed

9:07 – Water temperature & oil pressure gauge & pipes installed

10:00 – Windscreen washer pump hoses and wiring connected

10:19 – Brake wiring connected

10:48 – Started cable installed

11:05 – Heater switch installed & wires connected

11:12 – Choke cable installed

11:24 – RH ground bus bar wiring

11:39 – Dash to body mounting bolts and braces

12:08 – Electrical circuit testing begins

 

 

 

 

Smiths Heater Refurbishment & Trial Fitting

In a Bugeye engine bay, the Smiths heater box and blower are quite prominent so it is important that in addition to functioning well, they also look good! This Episode Forty-five video of the Bugeye Restoration shows the refurbishment process. The original plan was to use the heater box that was in the car, but in the end we decided to replace the box with a unit manufactured by Ashley Hinton in the UK. 

The matrix was flushed and checked for leaks and the blower motor was tested. The unit is now ready for installation in the car.

Bugeye Restoration Video Episode Forty-five: https://vimeo.com/860319039/8d4bcf8c4c?share=copy

Upon initial fitting of the heater box it was quickly evident that the heater box was sitting too low relative to the blower fan unit. In our case we are using a blower unit that was originally in a big Healey, the heater box as previously stated is a new reproduction made by Ashley Hinton and the previous owner installed a new battery shelf so it is difficult to say where the misalignment may have originated. Perhaps a combination of all three!

At any rate, we had some 1/8″ black ABS plastic sheet laying around the garage so we cut three pieces to size and then glued them together with ABS glue. We then used a 1 5/8″ drill hole saw and a saber saw to cut the air circulation hole in the center of the new shim plate. To this we attached 1/2″ closed-cell rubber adhesive-backed insulation and screwed the shim to the bottom of the heater box. We were then able to bring the components into alignment when mounted on the car.

ABS plastic shim

The dashboard heater switch was installed in the dash and connected to the blower fan. once connected to a 12 volt power source we were able to successfully test the switch and blower motor. 

Finally, we installed a 10-32 nut sert into the RH engine bay valance to locate the large “P” clip for the heater/fresh air trunking. 

Bugeye Restoration Video Fifty-two shows the installation of the heater components in the car: https://vimeo.com/884518618/83d80549a4?ts=0&share=copy

 

 

Chapter 42 Restoration Assembly, Week Nine 2/12/2007

I began the wiring of the dash instruments, gauges and switches with the water temperature and oil pressure gauge and moved across the face of the dash from left to right with the exception of the speedometer and tachometer which were left until the end. The openings for these two instruments provide access to the back of the dash.

Spaghetti

The gauges/instruments were all rebuilt by MOMA and they did a beautiful job.

Before connecting the oil pressure gauge I inserted a new small leather washer that prevents oil from dripping on the driver’s leg! The washer was available from British Car Specialists. 

The following is a summary of the wiring connections I made. Although this worked successfully for me, in no way do I suggest that this listing is a substitute for the diagram in the workshop manual. Anyone wiring their own vehicle should consult the manual for proper direction.

Ignition Switch #22 – Brown/Blue wire to right terminal #1; two white wires to the left terminal #2, twist together.

Ignition wiring

Tachometer – Yellow and White wires to the tach light bulb; black double wire is the ground for the tach.

Fuel Gauge  #32 – Two solid green wires to terminal B; one green/black wire to the T terminal; red/white wire to fuel gauge light bulb.

Light Switch #25 – Blue wire to the S2 terminal; two brown/blue wires to the A terminal twisted together. The wiring to this switch was modified to permit the intermittent wiper control module to also turn on the lights when the wipers are activated. This simply required running a blue wire from the module’s relay to the S2 terminal, and running an additional brown/blue wire from the relay to the A terminal on the light switch. Details on this assembly were provided in the week eight blog installment. I also installed an in-line fuse into the red wire leaving the S1 terminal.

Overdrive Switch #39 – See the details in Heater switch below.

Flasher Warning Light #24 – Light green wire bulb

Speedometer #30 – Light blue/white wire light bulb. Two black wires to ground.

Wiper Switch #27 – These connections are modified to accommodate the intermittent wiper control. The white/yellow wire from the wiper control module is connected to terminal #1 on the dash wiper switch (replacing the black/green wire.)

The black wire from the wiper control module is twisted together with the black wire from the wiring harness and connected to terminal E of the wiper switch.

Starter Button #23 – two white wires twisted together to terminal #1; one white/red wire to terminal #2.

Water/Oil Pressure Gauge – red/white wire light bulb

temp & oil pressure gauge

temp and pressure gauge

capillary tube for water temperature

Panel Lamp Switch #34 – I decide to leave the panel lights on all the time which made the panel light switch available to be used to control the auxiliary driving lights.

Panel Switch 2

The single red and double red/white wires originally screwed to the panel light switch were connected together with bullet connectors and a double rubber connector sleeve.

panel lights linked

The ground is used in the auxiliary light wiring system to complete or break the circuit. A black wire from the relay is connected to the panel lamp switch and then a black wire is connected from the other terminal on the panel lamp switch to a ground connection on the firewall.

Heater – I am using a “modern” heater to replace the Smith’s unit under the dash. The new unit was available from Cape International. It uses a two speed fan that is internal to the unit. The Overdrive Switch is not used for that purpose on my car since I am using a Smitty conversion Toyota 5-speed gearbox. Therefore, I replaced the switch with a DPDT switch and used it for the heater control. The red wire (high speed) was fastened to one terminal of the switch, the orange wire (low speed) was fastened to the terminal on the other side of the switch, and the yellow wire from the supplementary fuse panel was connected to the central terminal on the switch to provide power to the unit. So I ended up with a convenient heater control without having a change in appearance of the dash or locate a switch in some hidden place.

Smith’s Heater Blower Fan – Since the new heater contained its own fan, the Smith’s Blower was available to be used as a blower for fresh air to the passenger (right side) compartment. I will discuss it further when I come to the installation of the new fresh air supply components.

Heater Switch #26 – The green/brown wire to the black bullet wire connector on the switch. The green wire to the black bullet wire connector on the switch.

Windscreen Washer Pump – I read a technical article by Stu Brennan, an owner of a Sunbeam Tiger, who had converted his hand activated pump windscreen washer to an electric washer. I like the idea because he put the electric switch in the aluminum canister thereby eliminating the need to install an additional switch somewhere. Since the washer in the Tiger is the same as the one in the Healey, I decided to give it a try. These links provide Stu’s instructions for his car and my interpretation for the Healey. The fused red wire is connected to the purple switched wire from the supplementary fuse panel. The other red wire from the washer canister connects to the washer pump. Elect Washer Pump Comp and Rose Elect. Washer Pump Comp.

electric windscreen washer 2

Washer Pump

 

Toggle Switch Panel – Try as I did, I could not find enough places to provide switch controls in original mountings (overdrive switch and panel lamp switch as examples) for every accessory or modification that I wanted to add, so I made a small panel out of aluminum stock  (1 1/4″ L stock) to house two toggle switches and an indicator light for the auxiliary lights.

Toggle switch plate

I mounted the switch panel to the front two screw posts for the wiper motor. I will still successful in mounting the switches without drilling any new holes in the car! The bracket is painted red to make it less obvious, although it is concealed pretty well anyway.

One of the toggle switches will be used to override the remote control for the interior/boot courtesy lamps. Using the remote “clicker” the lights stay illuminated for only 40 seconds, but the toggle switch can be flipped “on” to leave the interior lights on until flipped “off.” The second toggle switch will be used to activate the redundant fuel pump when needed. In the “up” position the original-type SU pump is activated. In the “low” position the second Carter pump is activated. In the center position neither pump is activated – a good ani-theft device!

Finally, an alert lamp is include in the panel that notifies the driver that the auxiliary driving lights are on.

Interior Courtesy Lamps – Purists will get another chuckle out of my addition of remote control courtesy lamps in the footwells of the interior and in the boot. Again, I did not want to drill any holes in the car for door jam switches so I thought, “why not use electronic remotes used in modern cars to unlock doors, open boots, and set off alarms to activate the lamps?”

Courtesy light right

The remote control system I acquired from Pyle was about $40.00. It included two remote “clickers,” the control module, and the wiring. I grossly underutilized all that the Pyle system makes possible, but I was after simplicity. I just cut off all the extra wires, but I can imagine a few other very practical uses. The button on the remote typically used to unlock the car (obviously not needed on a BT7 roadster) is now pushed to activate the interior/boot lamps. As I approach the car at night, I can click the remote and my interior lamps will come on for 40 seconds and they extinguish on their own with not other action required. As noted above, a toggle with is also wired-in to control the lamps.

Courtesy Light Install

The lamps are some fairly primitive incandescent fixture purchased from Victoria British, part #15-642, but sine they are not easily seen I was not too concerned about their physical appearance. I made some simple brackets and mounted them in the footwells on each side of the car, along with the control module and its relay. Again, placement of the lights was determined by available mounting points so additional holes in the car were not required. A boot light adapted from a period license plate illumination lamp was also installed.

Boot light

dash fascia

 

 

Dash Fascia and Gauges

When we bought the Bugeye, it came with a working tachometer and a dead speedometer. After thinking about having the original instruments refurbished or buying new ones I decided to buy new Smith’s gauges. Keeping the original tach would have involved installing the guts of an electric tach into the casing of the old gauge since we had previously installed an alternator making the original worthless since it had a mechanical drive off the back of the dynamo.

So the new gauges were ordered from APT Instruments, but it would be terrible to install them in the old dash so replacing old vinyl with new naugahyde was the only thing to do! I began the removal of the dash and proceeded slowly, carefully labeling the wiring to each instrument or switch.

I initially disconnected 2 orange/yellow braided wires to the wiper washer pump. Using a micro switch, my dad had previously converted the manual pump for the windscreen washer to an electric pump. Next was the heater switch. I disconnected a green/brown wire from the harness from a black wire to the heater switch. Then I disconnected a black wire from the heater switch body from a double bullet connector into a light green wire.

Washer Wiring

Washer Wiring

Washer Wiring

Washer Wiring

Heater Wiring

Heater Wiring

Heater Switch Wiring

Heater Switch Wiring

The turn signal wiring was next. The switch has three spade connectors. On the side with tow spades, a yellow wire attached to one and a blue wire to the other. A white wire was disconnected from the side of the switch with the single spade.

turn signal switch

turn signal switch

The Ignition Switch followed. The switch had four screw terminals. The top right terminal had 2 red wires joined together. The top left terminal had 1 heavy gauge yellow wire. The bottom right terminal had two white wires joined together and an red fused wire from the the electric fan switch that had been added. Finally, a large blue wire was disconnected the bottom left terminal. A previous owner had fabricated a clamping system to hold the ignition switch in place, that while primitive, did work. It will be replaced later.

Ignition Switch Wiring

Ignition Switch Wiring

Ignition Switch

Ignition Switch

Gauge Lights. Wiring for most gauges is red. The oil/water temperature gauge light fit into the retaining bracket sleeve. The tach light was also red, but this wire was ultimately discarded as it was not needed for the lighting for the new tach.

Oil and Tach Lighting

Oil and Tach Lighting

Oil & Water Temp

Oil & Water Temp

Tach lamp wiring

Tach Lamp Wiring

Speedometer Lamp Wiring

Speedometer Lamp Wiring

Wiper Switch. Disconnected the dark blue wire with a soldered tip from the right screw terminal, and the black wire from the left terminal.

Fuel Gauge wiring. One black ground wire was removed from the retaining bracket. A red/white wire for the lamp to the retaining bracket, a green wire to the left terminal and a green/black wire to the right terminal were all disconnected.

Fuel Gauge Wiring

Fuel Gauge Wiring

Panel Lamp Switch.

The panel lamp switch had three wires. Two red/white wires were joined and connected to the right terminal and 1 red wire was disconnected from the left terminal.

Panel Lamp Switch

Panel Lamp Switch

Radiator Fan Switch

Radiator Fan Switch

The radiator electric fan switch

Has three wires: the black ground wire was removed from the top spade terminal, the blue power wire from the switch to the fan itself was removed from the middle spade and the red wire with fuse to the ignition was also disconnected.

The Horn

Had one brown wire from the horn trim ring to the horn itself. The wire was disconnected at the bullet connector.

After removing the starter button and cable, the choke cable and the heater air control assembly cable, and the grab handle, the dash was removed from the car. Two ¼” hex head bolts secured the dash to the body on the left and right side. Two chrome phillips head screws fastened through two brackets from the firewall to the dash and finally one nut is fastened to a stud located centrally at the top of the dash.

Recovered Dash

Then it was time to recover the dash. I purchased some naugahyde at a local fabrics store and some contact cement and went to work. This is the result:

Fresh New Look

Fresh New Look

Reupholstered Dash

Reupholstered Dash

Horn Ring

Horn Ring

Reupholstered Dash

Reupholstered Dash

The new tach and speedometer

While not original design, the new tach certainly looks period. The tach required some new electrical connections.  One wire connected to the coil, another to the fused power block and one to ground. These are the installation instructions:Electronic Tachometer Installation Instructions

Smiths Electronic Tach

Smiths Electronic Tach

tach coil connection

tach coil connection

Tach Fused Power

Tach Fused Power

Tach Ground

Tach Ground

Coil White Wire

Coil White Wire

Finished Dash Installed

Finished Dash Installed

Demister Hoses

The old paper demister hoses had holes in them and obviously did not work well. With the dash off it was the perfect time to install some new hoses.

Left Side Hose

Left Side Hose

Right Side Hose

Right Side Hose

Aluminum Racing Pedals

My dad had installed racing pedals in the Big Healey and thought they did give a better pedal feel in addition to looking cool, so I bought a set for the Bugeye as well. They do look nice. I did not use the racing pedal for the accelerator pedal as it was just too close to the brake.