And So It Begins....

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Thanks.

Just checked what I have and for the facelift it appears there are two 8 pin and one 6 pin connector. These are what I have presumably from the IE. The pre facelift just has 3 x 6 pin connectors.

Peter

Peter, is there any demand for these plugs ? .......Is this a 3d printer project for someone ?

As Eric says the plastic surrounds for the terminals are normally in excellent condition and it is the availability of the metal terminals which is the issue. On the up side the terminals are actually pretty robust so can be carefully reused. Not ideal, but no obvious modern alternative so far found it is a solution.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Thanks for the plugs & terminals Peter, I'll have some fun trying to open them up tomorrow!
Guy

[peteracs]

Just something to do whilst you watch YouTube etc!

[SanRemo78]

Thanks Peter, the fun has begun! I've managed to remove one terminal from the plug, used a small screwdriver to open the crimp over the outer cable and then pull the inner cable out of the main crimp. Then a small nail through the crimp has opened it up nicely. I haven't tried recrimping yet but I see no reason why it won't be reusable even if I'm using thin wall cable. I'll get back to the rest of them once the Grand Prix is over. I also need to look at wiring colours and order a few meters of suitable wiring to replace what's coming out and also think about the routing and where the wires en up on the engine etc.

Cheers
Guy

[SanRemo78]

Done. 21 terminals removed from the housing and 19 opened up okay. 2 broke at the weak point between the crimped end and the body. I think drilling holes in the remainder of the tag and soldering the new cables will suffice but if I change my mind later I’ll find another few to sort out.

Right, the strip method was as follows.
First use a jewellers screwdriver to open the end crimp from the plastic cable cover and bend the tabs flap.
Second, gripping the middle crimp in your hand pull the wire out or until it breaks off flush with the bottom of the crimp.
Third put a steel plate in the vice and close it with the terminals flattened tabs trapped up to the still crimped section with this resting on top of the vice.
Fourth step, get a thin nail and a ball pein hammer and start at a slight angle against the terminal to make sure it pushes against the plate in the vice to ensure the terminal doesn’t bend and keep tapping until the nail bottoms out.
Finally, remove from the vice and check all the old wire is out. The flattened end will need to be bent back before it’ll crimp again. I suspect I’ll strip more wire than needed and solder them in place to be sure it’s good.
I’m also planning on using a single multiplug to avoid disturbing these connectors again when the gauge cluster has to come out in future.

[peteracs]

Dash out today to fit the last of the sound deadening and bulkhead grommets.... And therein lies the problem. I think these two belong in there, one above the pedal box and the other to the left of the brake servo mount. Not that I can persuade either to go in yet. So the questions to those who know the answers (I can't see them in the Beta manuals or my disassembly pictures..) are

1. Have I got the right locations for these two?
2. Do the tails protrude into the cabin or the engine bay?

Cheers
Guy

Hi

Finally remembered to take a photo of that grommet position you mentioned which does not belong on your car. Here it is installed in the HPE.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Many thanks for that Peter! Do you need a couple of spares?

Yesterday saw the heater box installed for the final time I think. Just need to run the hoses into the engine bay and connect up the aircon piping. I think I've finalised routing for them. Today's task is to reinstall the scrap dash and fabricate the replacement panel to the left of the gauges that will carry a 2DIN head unit plus various switches. Then it's onto mounting a battery cut off relay. I hope I can find a couple of M8 bobbins in the garage... I may be starting the wiring at the weekend. Then a trip to Gerrys' for a week will bring it all to a stop again. Hey ho.

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Not needed as I have spares as well

Thanks

Peter

[SanRemo78]

It's not much but a hugely symbolic step was taken today. Not without a fight though. The simplest circuit on the car, a new battery earth strap was bolted onto the car and to the new battery, a cable run to the positive terminal on the engine bay light and..... nothing. Okay, it's the bulb. No, that was fine. Dirty contacts? Nope. No earth on the bracket so a quick scrape with a screwdriver and a dab of copper grease, an extra tighten up after polishing the contacting surfaces on the lamp body and bulb contacts and - we have light. This is the FIRST time the car has had power running through it in probably 30 years. And a valuable lesson - I need to check every earthing point on the car, the electrophoretic paint process after dipping mean every square mm is coated with paint which might prevent grounding.

[SanRemo78]

Next project is the radio and switch panel, I've had some ally panels laser cut but it's too thick to fold so welding it has to be. And it has to be fitted before the wiring can be finished so I can check clearances for the 2 DIN head unit. It's tight. I've managed to cut the flat plates (3mm ally) into shape to fit the aperture on the bench scrap dash board and tape it together to trial fit into the dash in the car. And things move or the two dash panels I have are very slightly different..... Luckily it's a very very tight fit so I have room to adjust it once it's welded together, hopefully some time this week. It looks horrible in bare ally but once it's rough edges are rounded off and it's covered in vinyl and populated with switches and radio it ought to look good.

[SanRemo78]

Radio panel couldn't be welded this week and I'm away next week too so not much to report for.a while. So, last few days it's been wiring preparation and so far I've finished wiring the rear light clusters (brake/side/indicator/fog and reverse) up to the Deutsch multiplug. I've also done the two side indicators and the headlights up to the multiplugs with the plugs (or sockets) nailed onto either the light cluster or chassis. I've never used the Deutsch DT system before and I've managed to wreck a few terminals by fitting them into the wrong half of the housing and also using the wrong locking plate in the plugs... You soon learn and there are ways to dismantle them. Now I've put a note in the garage on the workbench to tell me that the male plug takes the female pins and the orange cap and the female socket takes the male pins and green locking tab. I'm sure it'll become second nature soon enough!

So, forgot to take pictures of the rear lights going together but here's the fronts - the light units are the Australian Bangin Headlights with Halo rings and Bi-Leds. They've been built into the Lancia housings for a while but haven't been tested until the wiring was done. Each headlight has 5 wires, earth, dip, main, DRL and changeover to indicator. I've chosen not to use the indicator function in the headlight but retain it in the bumper. The headlights come with a "plug and play" multiplug for the headlight socket. Except they're not the 6.3mm ones I was expecting so the multiplug just got snipped off. From the Simtek wiring diagrams I identified the various cables needed to match the loom, snipped some off the loom (supplied extra lengths) and spliced them into the headlight cable, soldered the joints and double shrink wrapped each joint.

[SanRemo78]

And then continued the wiring into the outer headlight, this one needed an extra wire for dipped beam plus the wires coming from the inner headlight had to be routed back out of the pod for the outer one before being terminated in the Deutsch connector. The caps were then replaced and the lights bench tested to ensure they were working as intended and then put back into the chassis. Next task for exterior wiring will be the number plate lights and front bumper lights. Nothing complex there but it'll have to wait a week or so.

[SanRemo78]

And I've realised that there is a minor issue with how I've wired them... Should a bulb fail It'll be a bigger job to change them over than if I'd wired them separately. But hopefully, as they're Bi-LED they'll last longer than a normal bulb, replacement will require a new unit though. I may order a spare pair just in case.

Each headlight can be wired as dip or dip/main. I've chosen to keep to usual Lancia layout with one dipped beam light and four main beam lights. The bench test was blindingly bright, the dipped beam have a great cut off line which will be an easy MOT pass. It'll be a while before I can fully test them in the car as that requires the loom installing, routing and terminating plus reading the wiring diagrams to identify the various resistors needed at the column switches. There may be some head scratching!