Papa's Retirement Type 65 Coupe Build - Index in first post

[Papa]

I just used an extra brake reservoir for the tank and an AC Delco washer fluid pump, as I did not figure I would need much fluid.

https://a.co/d/09Thl3ZG

Attachment 226249

Attachment 226250

I like that approach!

[orangemonkey65]

Love reading the new updates on the wipers Papa! Not at that stage yet but glad to see what you did so I can think and plan ahead of it.

[Papa]

After a few days away from the shop, I was able to get back to today. I tested the Wilwood EPB today, powering them up for the very first time. They worked perfectly! I posted a YouTube short that you can watch by clicking the image below:



Next up, I installed two access panels that I got from Snakebite Motorworks. I wanted to be able to access the tail light wiring down the road. Brent's access panels are really nice. They are a two-piece design, not the simple aluminum piece that comes with the kit for the fuel tank access. Brent's design keeps the access panel flush with the panel you mount it in. Here are some pictures of the install.

Start by tracing the cover where you want it and then I used a 5" circle template to mark for the center of the two circles I needed to cut out per opening.



Once the circles were cut out, just trim the small portion along the straight edges and clean up the opening so that the cover fits inside the opening. Then, drill and rivel the mounting ring to your panel.









I also posted another build update video on my YouTube channel if you want to view it.

[Skuzzy]

Nice. Going to have to get those panels for my tail lights as well. Make it easy to swap LED's in case of failures.

[Papa]

Today I started working on integrating the IDIDIT headlight dimming relay and the hazard switch relay into the RF harness. I mounted the IDITIT relay to the firewall. It has a built-in self-resetting breaker, so I'll tie the +12v power wire into the buss bar on the post with the Wilwood EPB main power. The tan wire on the left will be connected to the appropriate wire on the turn signal harness.



Next I shortened the RF hazard wires and connected the DPDT relay. Power for this will come from the clock memory wire in the RF harness and the ground goes to the appropriate wire in the turn signal harness.



Next up will be shortening the turn signal wires in the RF harness and adding connectors that will go to the turn signal harness once the turn signal setup from Frank is installed, but that will not happen until the dash goes in.

I did test the hazard switch on the bench, and the relay properly energizes when the switch is pulled out.

Click the image below to watch the short test video.

[Sharris2]

Following your build with interest; im in the middle of doing my wiring as well but stuck while I wait for my turn signal switch from Frank.
I'm curious about the iddit really you are using; I used it when I built my MK4 with the russ thompson switch and it works great.
I asked frank about using it with his system and he said it wasn't needed. Are you adding another function by using it?

Thanks
Scott

[Papa]

Following your build with interest; im in the middle of doing my wiring as well but stuck while I wait for my turn signal switch from Frank.
I'm curious about the iddit really you are using; I used it when I built my MK4 with the russ thompson switch and it works great.
I asked frank about using it with his system and he said it wasn't needed. Are you adding another function by using it?

Thanks
Scott

Scott,

Frank's setup does turn signals as well as providing two different switches. The first switch is a simple momentary switch that is controlled by pulling the stalk forward. The second is an on-off switch controlled by pulling the round knob out on the right side of the unit. You can use the on-off switch to do the headlight dimming by adding a standard 5-pin relay that in the normally closed mode provides power for low beams, and then when triggered provides power to the high beams. Likewise, you can use the on-off switch with a DPDT relay to operate the hazards, which is what I'm doing. To use the momentary switch for anything you want to power on and keep on, you need to do something a bit fancier since the switch is non-latching. The IDIDIT relay does this in a nice simple package. It also adds a flash-to-pass feature. When the headlights are off, pulling the stalk will activate the headlights until you release the stalk. When the headlights are on, pulling the stalk will toggle between high and low beams.

[Sharris2]

Thanks, frank did send me his wiring schematic and I thought that the 12 pin latching relay plus the second relay did the same thing. I'm working in a bit of a vacuum with out his switch.
Thanks again for confirming this.

[Papa]

Thanks, frank did send me his wiring schematic and I thought that the 12 pin latching relay plus the second relay did the same thing. I'm working in a bit of a vacuum with out his switch.
Thanks again for confirming this.

Edit: Re-reading your post, I don't think Frank's instructions go into what is required to use the stalk momentary switch to do the headlight dimming. He discusses how to use the secondary (on-off) switch with a 5-pin relay for this. He also discusses the DPDT relay (8-pins) for the hazard function using the same on-off switch.

Here is a link to how to replicate the functionality provided by the IDIDIT module using the stalk momentary switch for the headlight dimming and flash-to-pass feature:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post347758

[Papa]

Yesterday we had 84 degree temps and I spent the day outside working on yard cleanup and brush cutting. Today we are in the 40's with rain, so I got to work on the Coupe. I continue to work through the electrical and with the headlight dimming, hazard flashers, and turn signals integrated into the I.E.427 turn signal setup, I decided to add another Deutsch connector to allow me to install the dash and easily connect the turn signal setup after the dash is installed.



Next, I made the connections for several items to the Dakota Digital VHX controller. I connected the left and right turn signal indicator wires, high beam indicator wire, dash light wire used to dim the gauges when the lights are turned on, tach signal wire, and the fuel sender wires. I also connected the GPS antenna to the GPS receiver/processor.



I still have to wire the heater and A/C and also the wipers. Once I have the engine, I'll run the sending units into the engine bay and connect them to the VHX controller and make the other Coyote connections that go inside the car.

[Sharris2]

Thanks for that information and correction. I'll do the same as your build and add the iddit relay, I want the flash to pass, same as my roadster. If you would be so kind as to email your wiring schematic that would be very helpful for me; I struggle with the wiring at time.
Thanks
Scott
Scott_harrison@bell.net

[Papa]

Thanks for that information and correction. I'll do the same as your build and add the iddit relay, I want the flash to pass, same as my roadster. If you would be so kind as to email your wiring schematic that would be very helpful for me; I struggle with the wiring at time.
Thanks
Scott
Scott_harrison@bell.net

Scott,

I sent you an e-mail with what I hope is a pretty simple wiring diagram to follow.

Dave

[Papa]

I started laying out the heater and A/C wiring today. I started with the connections that go to the control panel and then worked from there through the other legs of the provided harness.



I ended up needing to extend the leg with the plugs that go to the evaporator by about a foot. I'll be running this leg from under the dash into the passenger footbox and up to the evaporator.



Next up was the heater control valve. It looks like I'll be routing this set of connections inside the footbox as well, which means that the remaining parts of the harness will be coming out of the front of the footbox with a grommet. I'll also need to decide how to handle the extra length of the wires with the plug that goes into the heater control valve.





The rest of the connections on this leg of the harness are for the trinary switch and the compressor. The remaining leg is the power, ground, and fan. I'll tie the power into the heater wire from the RF harness and run the ground to a convenient location. I need to read up on the fan wire, which doesn't show up on the Factory Five wire diagram. I also have the fan thermo control wire from the sending unit harness that I kept that will go to the trinary switch.



Making steady progress with the wiring!

[Papa]

I got word from Factory Five that they have my engine ready to ship. The ball is in Cunningham Transportation's court now to schedule pick up and delivery.

[burchfieldb]

That is great news!

[Papa]

I worked on a few small items on the electrical today. First, I shortened the harness connector from the thermostat to the heater control. I'll run the wires that tie into the main heater and AC harness through the top of the footbox and will likely use insulated spade connectors rather than permanent splices.



I also ran the rest of the heater and AC harness through the front of the passenger footbox. I'm hoping that the leads for the trinary switch are in a reasonably correct location.



Finally, I started to lay out the windshield wiper wiring for the Specialty Power Windows kit. I posted in the main Coupe forum as well, but I'm thinking of bringing the wires around the end of the firewall and out through the firewall extension. The flat plug will remain on the engine-side of the firewall in the event that the motor ever needs to come off.

[Papa]

I took advantage of the beautiful weather in central Missouri today and started cleaning up the parting lines on the body. I didn't go crazy trying to get the ridges smooth, but knocked down the razor-sharp ridges with a chisel and then hit everything with the pressure washer.





I'll wipe it down with mineral spirits once it's good and dry and will share some pictures of a few areas on the body I'm a little concerned about. More to come!

[JimStone]

Enjoy the weather!

I hung the body up to th ceiling 2 years ago and haven't looked at it since, but will be doing what you are this summer. Hope you didn't find too many ruts and divots

[Papa]

After everything was wiped down and dry, I took a few more pictures. Here is what the majority of the parting lines look like now:



And here are some of the areas that I am concerned with:



This one is the front of the passenger side pontoon:



This one is the interior panel at the lower, rear of the passenger door opening.



Do any of the concerns I have seem overly problematic to the guys that do body work on these things?

[PNWTim]

The first pontoon shot looks like someone took a bucket of secret sauce and patcher her up! I think fiberglass is pretty forgiving but I'll let the experts weigh in.

[Papa]

The first pontoon shot looks like someone took a bucket of secret sauce and patcher her up! I think fiberglass is pretty forgiving but I'll let the experts weigh in.

Exactly! It looks like some of the material was damaged while trimming the body and they just putty knifed in a blob of gel coat.

[Papa]

Yesterday I worked on fitting the switches in the dash and extension panel. It's surprising how little space is available for the large, bulky switches!





I actually had to relocate my gauge controller module further downward to accommodate the headlight switch. I'll also be adding some more items to the extension panel that I mounted the heater and AC controls in.

And for those following my videos on YouTube, I uploaded a new update yesterday.

[PNWTim]

Some of those are significantly larger on the backside than the front side. I also had to be careful how low I mounted anything on the forward F5 panel to ensure it didn't conflict with Brent's panel. It's pretty gratifying to get everything positioned on the dash.

[Papa]

Some of those are significantly larger on the backside than the front side. I also had to be careful how low I mounted anything on the forward F5 panel to ensure it didn't conflict with Brent's panel. It's pretty gratifying to get everything positioned on the dash.

It's going to be interesting trying to get all the electrical and ducts in place at the same time.

[Papa]

I focused on the wiring to the dash-mounted items a bit more today. I tinned the wires for the horn switch, modified the ignition switch leg of the harness and connected the wires to their proper posts, lengthened the headlight switch leg and attached the switch.



I also made a decision on how I was going to run the wiring for the wiper switch and motor and completed that as well.



I still need to run the washer motor wire, which I'll bundle with my sending unit wires that need to run into the engine compartment from behind the dash.

I was planning to mount an extra FFR reservoir through one of the engine bay cover panels like I did for the brake and clutch reservoirs but decided to keep it simple and mount the reservoir near the firewall like Paul did on his current build. I liked the simple bracket that Paul 3D printed, but with no printer, I found a similar solution. I bought a pair of 2.5" bar clamps and will be using one of them to mount the washer pump to the FFR fluid reservoir I'll be using for the windshield washer function. My pump should be here Monday, so I'll see how it works out ... lots of optimism right now.

[JimStone]

Electrics are looking very clean and organized. Well done

I've struggled in that department. Sometimes I think about ripping it all out and starting over. Then I think about how much time I have in it so I just add some more messy wires and move on

[Papa]

Electrics are looking very clean and organized. Well done

I've struggled in that department. Sometimes I think about ripping it all out and starting over. Then I think about how much time I have in it so I just add some more messy wires and move on

Thank you, Jim. I really wanted to focus on organized wiring on this build since much of it will be inaccessible on the finished car.

Dave

[Papa]

Today I spent some time cleaning up the wiring now that the bulk of the behind-the-dash wiring is done.







It's not as pretty as others I've seen, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks now. Up next will be the main power cables. I'm still not settled on how I want to run a lot of them because I don't have the Coyote components in my hands yet to position stuff.

Another upcoming project will be getting the NRG quick release steering hub mounted to the new hub I ordered from Frank. His NRG hub will let me mount the NRG release directly. After that, I need to decide which steering wheel I'll be using. If I keep the FFR leather wheel, I'll need to drill the NRG bolt pattern. If I go with a different aftermarket wheel, the NRG hub should work without modification to the wheel. Are there other good quality wheels that others have used and would recommend? I'd like to go with a flat-bottom style wheel if I go aftermarket.

[Papa]

I ordered my Wolfbox G900 Pro camera mirror today. I got a bundle that includes:

- G900 Pro mirror
- Hardwire kit
- Circular polarizing lens
- Rear camera plate bracket
- OEM windshield mount
- 30-month extended warranty

Now I get to decide how to run all the cables.

[Sharris2]

I have the Wolfbox G900 Tri Pro; same kit but with a front camera. Ran the cables through the roll bars (used both sides) GPS cable power and the camera inputs. Ran the rear camera with the rear tail light etc. Front cable out with the front harness.
Bench tested it; works great

I'll email you some pics

Scott

[Papa]

I have the Wolfbox G900 Tri Pro; same kit but with a front camera. Ran the cables through the roll bars (used both sides) GPS cable power and the camera inputs. Ran the rear camera with the rear tail light etc. Front cable out with the front harness.
Bench tested it; works great

I'll email you some pics

Scott

Thanks, Scott. I got your e-mail and pictures. I hope to do something similar with cables running through the roll cage bars. I also got your note about the interior light. Could you just tie that into the courtesy light circuit already provided in the RF harness? I'm thinking of adding door activated switches to operate a dome light.

[Sharris2]

Yes I don't see why not; I was thinking a separate switch like for a map light.

[Skuzzy]

When running wiring through the rollbar tubing, you might want to consider putting the wiring into either a silicone or teflon jacket to protect the insulation from being contaminated with rust. If your wiring is already sleeved in silicone or teflon, then go for it.

Rust can dry out the regular insulation and cause it to crack over time. It is also very course and any steady vibrations will act like an orbital sander on the insulation. Even a cloth sleeve will be better than nothing.

Just a safety thing.

[PMD24]

Wiring looks pretty darn tidy to me. I've developed an appreciation for how difficult it is to get the dash wiring cleaned up.

[Papa]

Wiring looks pretty darn tidy to me. I've developed an appreciation for how difficult it is to get the dash wiring cleaned up.

Thanks, Pat. I appreciate the kind words. It is definitely not easy to make big chaotic piles of spaghetti look organized, but I think making it as tidy as possible is important. I was so intimidated by the wiring in my first build, but gained a lot of confidence there that helped me with the approach I've taken on this build. Making the changes to the generic harness to better fit what features this build has is worth all the time I've invested, and the better tools and connectors I've used. I think digging into the harnesses like I have has actually given me a clearer understanding of the wiring as a whole.

[PMD24]

I agree 100%. With no experience I dug into mine because I had to add a reverse light for New York State. Then I added a light for the trunk. By sorting out those two simple circuits I was on my way to a complete understanding of the entire harness. MANY hours later it has been thinned out, cleaned up, routing improved, wire exits moved, etc. I'd encourage every builder to do it. It's way easier than we think. And fun, because of the challenge.

Pat

[Papa]

I received my new hub from Frank at I.E.427 that is specifically designed and machined for the NRG quick release steering wheel setup. The NRG hub from I.E.427 is thinner than the standard hub that comes with the turn signal kit, so after everything is assembled, the NRG hub only adds about 1/2" to where the standard hub places the steering wheel from the dash. Just like with the Russ Thompson TS, the NRG part needs to be modified by removing the inner "cups" on both the hub and steering wheel mounted components. I did the modification by holding the parts in my vise and using a hacksaw to cut off the cups and then cleaned up the remaining bit of material with a die grinder and an abrasive disk. Here are the removed cups:



And here is a picture of the NRG quick release mounted to the new I.E.427 hub and in position on my steering shaft.



Now I just need to make a decision on the steering wheel. I do like the FFR leather wheel and could simply drill the needed 6x70mm bolt pattern as many others have done, but would really like to go with a flat-bottom wheel for the additional room it offers. I've looked at several NRG wheels, but have also found this one from Sparco:

[Papa]

Decision made! I picked this one up from Summit Racing just a few minutes ago.

[TrackDay17]

Decision made! I picked this one up from Summit Racing just a few minutes ago.

Looks very similar to my MPi I got from Summit except mine is suede which might be a mistake on the Roadster, hopefully it won't get too dirty.
Does the coupe kit come with the newer turn signal setup like the MK5 does ?
I found it kind of a pain at the build school and was planning on just using a dash switch until I saw Frank's solution.

[Papa]

Looks very similar to my MPi I got from Summit except mine is suede which might be a mistake on the Roadster, hopefully it won't get too dirty.
Does the coupe kit come with the newer turn signal setup like the MK5 does ?
I found it kind of a pain at the build school and was planning on just using a dash switch until I saw Frank's solution.

The Coupe does not come with FFR's new TS setup that comes with the MK5.