Hank's Type 65 Build Thread

[LateApex]

Have you used one of these systems Rob? I am curious about how you might have configured the system

[Windsor]

I have not, no. Bookmarked it for a future project.

[LateApex]

I am looking hard at RuggedRadios atm. See: https://www.ruggedradios.com/product...tooth-intercom

I can Bluetooth pair with my Alpine deck, which provides Apple Air Play Connectivity to my phone for hands-free telephony and any music apps. There are a variety of headset options, including helmet setups, and it pairs well to a radio and PTT for the track. Basically, I can listen to some tunes, and then let VOX handle communications in the cabin, while providing hearing protection. Seems to check most of the boxes. I figure it can be mounted in front of the PS seat on a blank space on the dash, and I can wire headset cables to the the center console or the carpeted area over the driver's left shoulder (and vice-versa on the PS).

Now the tricky part: Mounting an intercom on the PS-side of the dash places it above the PS footbox and JUST behind the firewall. Okay, a bit of free space ....

BUT, about 5" in front of that mount lies an MSD 6AL high-energy ignition box. Hmmmm. My guess is what I will mostly hear through the headset is how well my ignition system is firing.

Has anybody installed this product, or a similar product, and wrestled with EMI (Electro-Magnetic interference) and intercom sound quality and needed placement considerations??

Thx in advance for any comments!

[Skuzzy]

If EMI is a problem, you could use a grounded metal box between the source and destination to block the EMI, but you would also need a common-mode choke to help reduce EMI from impacting other grounded electrical devices.

First, check the UL/FCC ratings of the devices. They may already be protected from EMI emission and susceptibility. If they are rated FCC Class B (doubtful the MSD part is), then EMI should not be an issue. If they are Class A FCC rated then they are susceptible to EMI in both radiant and ground based form.

Best practice when deploying digital devices in a car is to create a separate ground path for low power digital electronics. Simply use an isolated ground bar and run a shielded cable from it to the battery. Attach ground from your low power devices to that. It will isolate those devices from any EMI feedback through the ground plane.

[LateApex]

Great info re: UL ratings and proper grounding!

I actually ordered a slightly different version of intercom from RuggedRadios, being the STX "Remote Head" variant of their intercom. This allows me to place the head unit anywhere (such as behind my seat; much farther away from the HEI, and place the Vol / VOX control right beside my shifter (standard rocker switch form factor). I am getting those bits via FedEx today, and will report out after I install :-)

[Skuzzy]

Great info re: UL ratings and proper grounding!

I actually ordered a slightly different version of intercom from RuggedRadios, being the STX "Remote Head" variant of their intercom. This allows me to place the head unit anywhere (such as behind my seat; much farther away from the HEI, and place the Vol / VOX control right beside my shifter (standard rocker switch form factor). I am getting those bits via FedEx today, and will report out after I install :-)

Being able to physically distance the unit from sources of EMI is good, but EMI can also travel through the ground into that remote unit. No matter where they are located, low power digital devices need clean ground. Clean power is good too, but most devices have some filtering on the power side of the electronics.

[rhk118]

Hey all - been a while. You all have been very busy and I have enjoyed following the threads when I've had time. Realize I've put working on the car down for just about a year now, which wasn't planned - but had to focus on life and work but everything and everyone are all OK, and trying to work on the car felt forced in the little free time I've had. Regardless, I will be getting back to work in the next few weeks. Next up for me are body panels, dash, front electronics and fitting seats. Hope to have that done by summer. If I can do that then can get working on the body.

Couple interesting things. A patient gave me this, she (!!!) saw the painting of the Daytona Coupe I have hanging in my office and found it on Amazon...of all places (does that really surprise anyone?). Apparently one of the original coupes was used in one of the episodes of the Monkees where they built a race car to beat the Baron Von Klutz, who drove the Klutzmobile, which was the coupe...haven't seen the episode, but I'm sure the coupe driven by the Baron lost to the Monkees (but managed to beat Ferrari haha). Here's a link if interested...in Guardsman nonetheless:

Link: "Klutzmobile" Daytona Coupe



When I left off transmission and engine were in, and working on a "Turkey Pan" for the stacks, but need to get the rest of the panels insulated and installed along with front wiring.

Here's some jewelry:





Hope you are all well, updates in about a month. If they aren't here, someone please PM me because I need a boot to the head to get back to work on this.

[burchfieldb]

Life does have a way of slowing these things down. Glad to see you are back at it!

[M. Townsend]

Your orange/gold tape has given me an idea for frame color... it looks good with the pretty chrome.

[jgray]

Hi Hank, it's great to see you posting again. I got my engine started on Saturday. It was an epic experience for me, being a rookie, so I sent excited texts to various folks. I did not send you a text because when I had not touched my build in months, the last thing I wanted was to see progress from others. Don't get me wrong, I am happy others are making progress, it just makes me feel even worse to see it. Anyway, I am about to put a post up and will go ahead and send you a text or two!

[rhk118]

Hi Hank, it's great to see you posting again. I got my engine started on Saturday. It was an epic experience for me, being a rookie, so I sent excited texts to various folks. I did not send you a text because when I had not touched my build in months, the last thing I wanted was to see progress from others. Don't get me wrong, I am happy others are making progress, it just makes me feel even worse to see it. Anyway, I am about to put a post up and will go ahead and send you a text or two!

Well I'm getting ideas from others who are "passing me"....this to me is a hobby, and isn't work....when I started building there was a bit of a timeframe to it, but that's out the window and no reason at all for angst over this build. Your engine is epic, would love to see the video, although I imagine you will post it to your YouTube?

I'm hoping for a go cart this summer.

[rhk118]

Your orange/gold tape has given me an idea for frame color... it looks good with the pretty chrome.

My kids especially love it when they point it out to me and I just have to say "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"....they regret it every time Now that you say that it does look pretty good with the black and silver...

[burchfieldb]

Well I'm getting ideas from others who are "passing me"....this to me is a hobby, and isn't work....when I started building there was a bit of a timeframe to it, but that's out the window and no reason at all for angst over this build. Your engine is epic, would love to see the video, although I imagine you will post it to your YouTube?

I'm hoping for a go cart this summer.

No need to rush it, you will only end up with regret from making hasty decisions. I am on year 3 of this adventure, 1 year for the engine and 2 for building the car. Still probably a year out from completion.

[rhk118]

9 Month Update

Hi All. Life's been busy. Work has been busy. My car is sitting in a buddy's shop and I've been heading in there on days off and vacation time to work. They have a lot of cool tools! He helped me measure and build some custom brackets and modify the safety hoop to fit the 302-T56 combo into the frame as this combo doesn't fit in the car with the factory five mounting points.

So the next several posts will be just a bunch of photos...hope you enjoy. Ask questions, I'm game!

So here is the transmission in and mounted:


Yes the transmission is slightly rotated toward the driver side, that's how it mounts. Actually good for hand position for shifting, so no issues here. BUT with the way it mounted the fuel lines were in the way, so they needed to be moved over in a less than elegant way...

And another photo of the hoop, after all the modification this thing needed, I would stay with the basics Summit or JEGs safety hoop, much easier!




Next, a cool and very useful gizmo for making holes in aluminum: Vevor Hydraulic Knockout Punch Kit:
https://www.vevor.com/hydraulic-knoc...p_010785491583


You drill a hole in the aluminum, thread the punch on either side, pump the handle and it cuts like butter very clean holes:

[rhk118]

Fuse Box Mount

I looked at 2 areas to mount the fuse box - along the side of the footwell off of the outer post which would be to the left of my knee, and the place Paul mounted his. I like where he mounted his and will be out of the way of my legs. So completely copied his scheme - thanks again Paul, I'm still reading your posts like the encyclopedia on how to build this even now. I used angle aluminum to brace the box like he did as well. It needs the extra rigidity IMO.




Ugh...my bends in the brake lines...not pretty, hopefully functional! The black plastic line is the brake bias adjuster cable.




Wiring
In prep for wiring I stripped the main wiring harness of all convolute and pulled out the branch for the truck. I followed those wires to their respective wiring connectors and cut them off at the pins so nothing is exposed or needing to be capped. I will do the same for the other harnesses - there are A LOT of wires to fit behind my dash! Anything I can remove, re-route, or shorten I will. This will take a lot of time, but in the end will be worth it to not rush through.




Here is the "space" behind the dash:


And here are all the "brains" that need to get mounted in there:


from the top left to right:
1. Bussman Relay-fuse box (might need this, might not)
2. EPAS controller (Electric steering)
3. BusBars - I have several...
4. Wildwood EPB controller (electronic parking brake)
5. 520 Speedworks lighting controller - will allow the Russ Thompson push to pass, and modifies how the rear lights work for braking/blinking.
6. Digital Guard Dawg electronic ignition. This has 2 open 60A relays. I might not need the Bussman relay/fuse box because of this.
7. White box - that is a USB power source. Its USB-A...since I bought it I might switch it out for USB-C
8. Terminator X ECU
9. MSD Ignition box
10. Terminator X display. I will make this mountable hidden behind the dash, or visible in the car...

I'm going to try and keep the engine compartment as clean as possible so will try to get these behind the dash....I'm also running vent tubing to 4 AC vents on the front of the dash and the 2 defroster vents.

On unhappy discovery is that the aluminum defroster vent adapter from Factory five that mounts below the dash doesn't even come close to lining up with the vent holes in the dash, it is 5-6 inches too short. Doesn't surprise me since I have an exactly post-pandemic car and they were scrambling to get these kits out. I bought two $16 vintage air plastic adapters from Summit that line up and fit the Factory Five vent holes. No biggie.

Finally have the rear trunk box parts powdercoated and cleo'ed in place right now:

[rhk118]

Turkey Pan

I'm going for the vintage look. Adding a turkey pan to the Inglese Weber EFI. Leaving it tall until the body is fit, then will cut it down. Going to convert the fuel lines to hard lines inside with AN fittings on the back of the turkey pan. I'll be cutting a hole in the hood to feed air but either a manual or a solenoid-controlled door to open and close it in case of rain.











PS: I badly want to take that mini for a rip. I cannot believe how much room there is inside of that thing for the driver. I'm really liking it!

[rhk118]

Seat Mounting

I'm going to use the Intatrim seats I had made, and decided to use the Corbeau sliding seat mounts with them. The Intatrims fit perfectly up against the back wall of the cockpit at the perfect angle. They are narrow and have good shoulder bolstering, not so great hip bolstering, but good enough. With a lot of messing around with seat angles I determined a 1" rise in the front and a 1/4" rise in the back of the seat is a very comfortable angle for me, and having the seat all the way back gives my legs plenty of room to stretch out and not be cramped in the footwell. So I will mount them just about to the full rear position and allow the sliders to slide forward from there. Mounting some bar iron to the sliders and will mount the seats to those.

Ended up making bar iron pressure bars to mount to the bottom of the seat mounting pan. Seems sturdy, although still wondering if I should mount to the frame somehow? ie is just mounting to that thin FFR baseplate strong enough?











BUT I really like the stock roadster seats from FFR. They fit me great. So I will make mounts for those as well so I can switch seats on these mounts...seems excessive I know, but will also give me the ability to put in a full race seat as well if this ends up seeing a lot of track time (which it might)...to be continued...

[rhk118]

Engine Compartment

After a lot of thought, I decided for now to just put a master ground disconnect to the battery mount. That will let me "pull the flag" for security if I'm parking the car somewhere, or for winter storage and will add a trickle charger hookup here as well for storage. If this car ever gets raced I can change this to mount in the rear or a push lever system in back if needed. I know that will be a PITA to do later, but I really I don't see this being a "class" racer....Just track days a few times a year. This will simplify wiring to the firewall a little, but I really just want the ability to "disconnect" and this will serve that purpose.



Fuel regulator behind the turkey pan:


Going with an Evil Energy 2L coolant overflow tank from amazon...High quality, very happy with this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGDS19NJ...sin_title&th=1

I'll determine where to mount this once the radiator lines and oil cooler are installed:




Going with an Evil Energy 2L coolant overflow tank from amazon...High quality, very happy with this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGDS19NJ...sin_title&th=1

[PNWTim]

Great photos and updates. Just a couple of comments in order of appearance:

The hydraulic knockout kit is pretty slick. I am assuming the cutting edge is hardened steel? Curious if it slightly warps the aluminum while cutting? It doesn't look like it.

I think dieting the harness is pretty wise and while a bit time consuming, not terrible difficult. I also like to replace the plastic convolute with split soft loom, but that's just me.

Many years ago, I spent a New Year's Eve ripping around downtown Paris in a Mini very similar to the one in your picture. And you are absolutely correct - they are much larger on the inside that one would think.

I would be curious how the FF recommends mounting their low back seats. If they have you bolting them through the pan then it should be OK. I suspect an amount of force necessary to tear those bars out of the pan would be relatively unpleasant regardless. My only concern would be if you can feel the seat flex or move when sitting or getting in or out.

[rhk118]

Dash Mockup

Given everything I need to mount to this car (want the vintage look, but everything is newer tech behind the scenes) I really looked at how to get some extra surface to mount things to, so built an oblique "shelf" that will easily fit behind the dash and hopefully help add some space to mount things to and keep the engine compartment clean. So here it is:







I will need to cut a hole for the vents, but it adds some room behind there for organization....we will see!

[rhk118]

Finally mocked up the dash with the gauges and my switches...Need to figure out where I'm going to put my indicator lights:






I am going to be using Alpinetech LED indicator lights, 8 mm black (not sure I will use them all, or if all will be on the dash):


I have to say sitting in this thing with the gauges in and the switches there....wow it is a great space. I am so excited about this car. Thanks Factory Five, and thank you all for your inspiration and help...



As you can see I'm just going basic setup. I have a bunch of old plastic knobs for the lights, wipers, heat...etc. The 2 black buttons are Lucas-stule push buttons and the left side will be horn, the right side is electronic ignition to toggle the Digital Guard Dawg (see prior post for his this is set up) which will have a remote LED on the dash with EdwardB (Paul) smartly pointed out that needs to be seen as the number of flashes can indicate activity state ve error codes...

OK so I will be wiring for quite a while now, but that is where I am to date.

Have a great weekend all!

[rhk118]

Great photos and updates. Just a couple of comments in order of appearance:

The hydraulic knockout kit is pretty slick. I am assuming the cutting edge is hardened steel? Curious if it slightly warps the aluminum while cutting? It doesn't look like it.

I think dieting the harness is pretty wise and while a bit time consuming, not terrible difficult. I also like to replace the plastic convolute with split soft loom, but that's just me.

Many years ago, I spent a New Year's Eve ripping around downtown Paris in a Mini very similar to the one in your picture. And you are absolutely correct - they are much larger on the inside that one would think.

I would be curious how the FF recommends mounting their low back seats. If they have you bolting them through the pan then it should be OK. I suspect an amount of force necessary to tear those bars out of the pan would be relatively unpleasant regardless. My only concern would be if you can feel the seat flex or move when sitting or getting in or out.

Hey Tim!

It doesn't warp things, it just warps the piece coming out, VERY clean cuts. Yes hardened steel. Its Chinese so the measurements are off...the 1" cuts just short of 1-1/4" for instance...but it works great and is relatively cheap. Also worked well cutting a couple holes in the firewall....where I cut through the bend in that one photo it did flatten the aluminum bend a bit, but just put it in the brake and re-bent it.

Yes, when he gets that Mini running again I will definitely be taking it for a drive!

I will be converting to split-loom as I modify how the wires run.

FFR says nothing other than get the positioning right, drill holes and install the bolts..no word on where to install the bolts...they seem pretty darn solid.

[Shakey]

Hank, nice work! You have been making a bunch of progress. I used the same Corbeau seat track on my build and it worked out that I had to move all 4 of the stock holes to get them to go through the seat mount plate or the car frame. If I remember right, the top right bolt(weld nut) in the below picture is like 2.5inches long and goes all the way through the frame tube. At the time I was wondering like you did, if just the plate was sturdy enough so, I went ahead and made sure a bolt went all the way through the frame.


V/R

Shakey

[rhk118]

Hank, nice work! You have been making a bunch of progress. I used the same Corbeau seat track on my build and it worked out that I had to move all 4 of the stock holes to get them to go through the seat mount plate or the car frame. If I remember right, the top right bolt(weld nut) in the below picture is like 2.5inches long and goes all the way through the frame tube. At the time I was wondering like you did, if just the plate was sturdy enough so, I went ahead and made sure a bolt went all the way through the frame.

V/R

Shakey

Thanks Shakey - yes I think I'm going to just find one frame member under there and get a bolt in...These seats are so narrow (17" at their widest on the floor) that to bolt them in they fit squarely within the floor pan there. I think it's strong enough, but will feel better if it's in one or two of the frame tubes. Thanks!

[CSX427]

Do the perfect seats exist? (basically me just talking out loud, not much useful here)

Hoping for input here guys...


To Be Continued….

Posting late for future reference. I struggled with the same issues. I wound up making my own seat mount from a couple of pieces of 1/4x1 steel in an H pattern on it's side. I welded the sliders to the top and bottom of the H sides and bolted it down, in my case, inside the sliders. I used those large L seat side mounts that allow adjusting seat angle. You can make the H any size that fits. In an early iteration, I welded the tracks together to locate them and mounted the tracks at the front and back on home-made brackets with different lengths to get a fixed seat to lay back. To get the maximum leg room, the seat needs to point a little towards the driver side front tire, like the original ones did. FFR, please remove the seat belt tabs and add seat belt mounts to the side of the tunnel and side of the cabin.

[LateApex]

+1 on the stock FFR seats. They are comfortable. They lack a head bolster however, and this is an ongoing project for my coupe.

As far as alignment and / or lifting a seat a bit, I used some hard maple shims under each rail (in my case to lift the passenger seat a bit for my gal). It's easy-peasy to use that approach to skew a seat if desired. The steering column indeed angles toward the left front wheel (Daytona legacy? Look out! Another left turn!) I left my seats pointing directly ahead. The slight angle of the steering column doesn't bother me.

The foot box IS narrow though. I wear gym shoes (like LEMS, or I suppose you can spend money on a pair of Ferrari driving shoes ....) It is all pretty much second nature for me now. Note that I don't have any issues with the temp of the foot boxes. A lot of track time perhaps would perhaps color this observation.

If I were to choose seats again, I would choose ones with a similar fit as the FFR buckets, but with a head bolster for whiplash protection.

[rhk118]

Differential Vent

Someone had this in their build thread and I copied their diff vent, pretty clean. Search “Exhaust Muffler G1/4 Male Thread Strainer Stainless Steel Breather Pneumatic Air Flat Muffler” on Amazon and you will find this. Screws right into this part “DERNORD 1/4" Barbed Hose x 1/4" NPT Female - Home Brew Fitting 304 Stainless Steel” on Amazon and that goes into the tubing.

[rhk118]

Front Wiring Harness

Nothing fancy here, followed EdwardB (Paul’s) thread on how to run the front wiring harness…nothing different other than I ran the wires that go to the passenger side through the tube behind the radiator tunnel rather than along it. I also mounted the horns using Snakebite Motorsports Horn mounts to put them behind the radiator tunnel which looks cleaner to me.





That is all mocked up and the mounts now at powder coating.

[rhk118]

Dash and Extra internal Shelf

I am going with a powdercoated dash only, I’m not going to upholster it…Got it back in a textured black and think it looks pretty clean….enjoy the background eye candy at my buddies garage! The Gauge visor is the Factory 5 visor, I just cut it down so the “legs” on each side are shorter.





This is the diagonal “shelf” I had photos of a few posts back, now ceracoated.

From the under side:


Space between the dash and the shelf:

[rhk118]

Snakebite Motorworks Glove Box

I have to give a shout out to Brent at Snakebite Motorworks for a lot of the parts he is making for these cars. I have the horn mounts, a couple of his oval access panels I will put in the trunk to get to the rear lights if I ever need to get back there, Just ordered some of the “Daytona” Stainless door sills (great quality), and he made me a custom glovebox to my measurements to fit my dash and not crash onto that diagonal shelf I made to hold all the ECUs I need to mount in there. Unfortunately this was a late development for me and I had the dash powdercoated before cutting the hole. Thankfully with a lot of tape and very slow careful undercutting followed by a lot of filing, I managed to mount the thing and not ding up the textured powdercoat at all…some chassis black painted the raw edge of the cut in the dash aluminum nicely.

It is precisely cut, bent and perfect fit, I couldn’t be happier and I certainly could not have done this as well on my own.

I’m also mounting the glovebox with all nutserts/screws so that I can remove it if I ever need to get into the dash to work on anything, hopefully that is never .





Glovebox parts are now off at Powdercoating.

[rhk118]

Wiring

I have the front wiring harness mounted, and the rear harness mounted. Started to mount some of the ECUs on the extra shelf. Pictured here are the digital guard dawg, and the Wilwood Electronic Parking Brake computer. On the upper portion I have the engine ECU and the MSD ignition box. The big wiring harness coming through the transmission tunnel is the Terminator X harness. It is BIG. Also have my main power coming up through and a big ground to chassis.





I’ll get into more details of these as I do more wiring. Right now my main power goes from battery to starter and from starter to cockpit. I installed a main ground (black) disconnect to the battery rather than a disconnect on the main power in (red) just for ease of storage and tending to the battery, plus ALL the stuff I have going on with my dash. It’s just out of the way and accessible enough for my needs.

[Power Surge]

Glad to see you posting again! I love following your build.

[rhk118]

Thanks! Moved a business which was a serious distraction, still not fully 100% running there after 5.5 months but starting to get a little breathing room to get back to work on the car. I had a lot of understanding of the wiring just about over a year ago and time to get back on the horse!

[burchfieldb]

It's looking really good Hank. I like the powder-coated dash, that will look sharp. I also feel your pain on the wiring, I was on and off of mine over the course of a year. Always took a little bit to figure out what I was doing. A coworker recommended that I should take a narrated video of what I was doing at the end of the day so I could reference it, once I got back to it.

[rhk118]

Narrated video - that is a great idea!

[460.465USMC]

It's been a while, so great to see your progress. I'm also a big fan of a powder coated dash. It's a clean look, and a nod back to that era. Looks great!

[rhk118]

MAIN FUSEBOX AND HARNESS “DIETING” - Posting this from another thread of mine for reference, thanks to everyone for chipping in on this information

IGNITION/START SWITCH CONNECTORS:
1. Completely removed the Brown (ALTERNATOR IGN) and large red alternator (ALTERNATOR FEED) wires, which includes the Solenoid wire which is the other 1/2 of the large alternator wire
2. The small blue “EFI CRANK PWR”, Left the other, slight larger, one as that goes to the clutch safety switch for starting. I will tie my starter wire (purple) coming from the digital guard dawg into this so that the clutch needs to be in for the starter to crank. This part seems different than how the Coyote’s work, so will leave the FFR blue wiring/clutch safety switch intact so I don’t crank while in gear.

HOT ROD COLUMN CONNECTOR
- Pulled all those wires out of there, where they tied into other connectors, I cut them, capped, and shrink tubed them but left enough length (2” or so) in case I’d ever need to tap into the wire for any reason or repurpose that position on the connector

SENDING UNITS/ELEC CHOKE CONNECTOR - **ONLY IF YOU HAVE SPEEDHUT GAUGES**
- Removed:
1. Oil temp (light blue) - capped this at the dash harness connector, completely removed the other side of this from the dash harness
2. Oil Pressure (gray) - capped this at the dash harness connector, completely removed the other side of this from the dash harness
3. Water Temp (dark blue) - capped this at the dash harness connector, completely removed the other side of this from the dash harness
4. PURP-COIL—>TACH (purple) - This wire is a free wire in the EFI/COIL bundle and removed this entirely in the main harness as well as from the dash harness as my Tach wire comes off of my Distributor (MSD) and will connect directly to the tach gauge

What I Kept:
1. All the 3 grounds for the sensor wires on the dash harness side of things that I removed in case I need them, probably won’t and will trim them out as needed when I install everything, but no need to diet them out for now
2. Fan Thermo Switch (Dark green) - going to tie the Terminator X fan control ground relay wire into this wire - that way the Terminator X will control my fan from its temperature sensor, and I can set the parameters for temps it turns on/off in the Terminator X (I think the FFR sensor is on at 185 F and off at 150 F)
3. Electric Choke Wire (Tan) - This runs back to the fusebox to a fused line - I will keep this one and use it to power something else that needs a fuse
4. ORG-EFI OR COIL - This wire is in the bundle of EFI/CHOKE free wires (not going to a connector) and kept this one as it also goes to the fusebox to a fused position fed by Ignition power - so will use this to power something else that needs a fuse

DASH HARNESS
- I have the Speedhut gauges that come with their own sending units, and an old enough set that mine came with all the jumpers and dimmer, for better or worse, will be wiring those up today.
- Because of this I was able to pull the sensor wires out of the harness since the Speedhut gauges come with their own sending units that plug right into the gauges EXCEPT:
- Fuel level - this will come from the fuel level sender in the RF harness
- Speed Sensor - My Speedhut gauge for speed is a VSS version—not the GPS version (you can send in your GPS version and they will convert it to a VSS version for the cost of shipping alone)—so I kept the Gray and Green Speedo wires for now which connect to my transmission computer that sends the speed and controls the reverse lockout on the T-56
- Obviously I’m keeping the Dash lights (white), Gauge power feed (Brown), and Speedo-Clock Mem (Red) wires so that simplifies things a bit, complicated by running the sensors out of the engine bay and to the respective gauges.
- Also as mentioned above there are about 4-5 ground wires in the dash harness that I will keep in there for now and trim back once its wired.

So out of the 90 or so connections coming out of the main harness I pulled 16 out, not including grounds which will get pared back as I install things. It is crazy how much smaller and more manageable things are now. I don’t find pulling all the coverings off of the harness get into it as complicated, as things are taped and zip-tied together underneath, so it isn’t like its all going to fall apart into a bundle of wires, you can selectively take things apart, re-route as needed, then re-wrap….the wires everywhere problem happens when you go to install it all

[rhk118]

Initial Cockpit Wiring

Ok just a few pictures of how I’m organizing things in my cockpit, will get more detailed later, but just something for everyone to look at, and yes, wires absolutely everywhere. I’ve read a lot of threads, contacted a lot of you, and taken a lot of notes! Appreciate everyone on here, and while this is daunting, I’m having fun at the moment.


This is a screenshot of a video I took for myself. Someone suggested taking a video and pointing out where you are with certain things and what your plans are, so if you can’t work on the car for a few weeks, you can remember where you were and this was a good tip. In this picture is my power distribution. Looking at the transmission tunnel cover - Black power distribution connector on the right is grounded to the frame, just like Paul Did. Red power distribution block will be my main power line coming in from the engine bay—the red wire on there is not my main power, that is the 12V power wire for the electric steering. My main power will go from battery to starter, and starter to cockpit, 12V on all the time. The power distribution bar to the right of the red distribution block is a Blue Seas connector that will connect to the Digital Guard Dawg ACC power then go on to the ACC in the fusebox. These will be things that need switched power but turn off during cranking - things like the electric steering unit (you can see the red switched power trigger for the EPAS already on there), the entire ACC side of the fusebox..etc. The Digital Guard Dawg also has an ignition wire that will go to the ignition part of the fusebox, and to the 12V triggers for the Terminator X and the MSD ignition controller that need to have constant power during cranking. The Digital Guard Dawg finally also has a purple wire that is the starter signal, and I will run this through the blue clutch-safety switch wires in the RF harness so that the signal isn’t sent to the starter during cranking unless the clutch is in.

You can see the digital guard dawg to the left and to the right of that is the ECU for the Wilwood electronic parking brake. You can also see the EPAS electronic steering ECU in the left side of the image on the inside of the firewall. Fits nicely in there. The huge harness coming out of the transmission cover is the Terminator X harness. It is HUGE and has relays and fuses built in which you can see hanging off of it. Some will get mounted underneath the panel, some will need to be on top.



This is just the top of the panel I built for under the dash to mount things to. To the left is the Terminator X and to the right is the MSD ignition controller. For sound deadening I’m using Boom mat which is weighted, spongy, and aluminum without breaking the bank. I will double it up where I can but came to the conclusion that hearing protection is a must no matter how much you try to deaden/insulate these things so I’m going to do my due diligence but not go crazy trying to make this quiet…it won’t be! Biggest thing for me will be no rattles.



And this is where things are now. My fusebox panel is still at the powdercoaters so this photo is me seeing how best to run the wires out to the dash and trans tunnel cover from the fusebox. Because I used electric steering, the EPAS motor sits exactly where most run their main dash harness. I have to run mine underneath but high enough to keep it away from the steering column, so a couple of P-clamps to the frame hold it up nicely. Once I have the fusebox mounted that will allow me to shorten the front and rear wiring harnesses. As it sits I have about 8 inches of excess front harness, and about the same on the rear harness. So they will need to be shortened and likely direct-wired like most have done. I have the power and ground harnesses made for the MSD box on top, Terminator X box on top, DGD ignition, and the Wilwood electronic parking brake made so they are now just bolt in.



This is my Starter (Power Master) which connects directly to the battery, and the smaller wire is the 12V trigger that will come off of the Purple Starter wire from the Digital Guard Dawg, but run through the RF harness and the clutch safety switch so I don’t accidentally start it in gear.

Anyhow, the photo of the wires everywhere is daunting, but we all have a version of that!

[rhk118]

Couple of Odds and Ends

Just a couple other random things. Removed the crossbars in the frame and moved them up a bit as well as bowed them. I can sit in the drivers seat and my head clears the crossbar from side to side now. This was measured with the body on and they don’t contact.





Also my fan tunnel aluminum seriously oxidized so just bit the bullet and had them powdercoated. Did it 2 tone with silver on the inside and black on the outside.

[burchfieldb]

Looks good Hank. I did the same on mine with the rollbars and feel better about driving it without a helmet.

- Brent