1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

[sladey]

All looking tidy and well-engineered.

Presumably the condenser's function depends upon drawing in cold air and outputting warm, and therefore needs a constant supply of fresh air as well as for the warm air to escape, without the two mixing. How will that happen in that space with the wheel arch liner? Are you planning some added baffles separating the two sides, as well as ducting to exit above or below?

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There is still a big gap to the outside world underneath the condenser, and another gap going over the top of the arch liner. If I find it’s becoming an issue the next stage is punching louvres into the arch liner or replacing part of it with mesh. Regarding the placement of the condenser in the rear arch other users have done this and not reported any problems.

[sladey]

Great work

Those clips are not dissimilar to those used on the fuel lines of a 986 / Boxster so looks very factory!


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Thanks - it was one of those rare moments where something that looked like it might work online actually worked even better in reality

[sladey]

And then I came onto the wiring.

the wiring diagrams with the kit are all pretty clear but I wasn’t sure where everything was going to go.

With the condenser in the rear arch the first thing I had to do was extend the cable to that and run it down inside the car. I wasn’t sure what thickness to order so looked at the fuse size for that wire and ordered something - but when it came it was far too small.

I then popped into Halfords and their options were 8 amp wire or 16 amp wire. I went with the smaller size but again it was too small. Eventually I got some callipers on the wire itself (with sheath stripped away) and sussed out it was (I think) 2.7mm thick and I was able to buy some suitable cable.

While watching a video I also learned about these pre-soldered connectors

They looked like a good idea so I gave them a try. Worked pretty well - I couldn’t get the solder to melt with a heat gun. The Mapp torch was overkill but worked - think I’ll use a lighter next time.

once that wire was connected through it was basically a matter of connecting everything up which left me with this spaghetti


I soon realised that I could start running the cable along the inner wing where the existing wires ran and it fitted in there quite well

Some more connected up

Nearly there….


I’m pleased with this now

A couple of small issues:-
On two of the wires I had loads more than I needed but the connectors on the end weren’t something I could break apart so I ended up folding it back on itself and hiding it behind the fuse panel. I toyed with cutting the wire to length in the middle and joining it but I thought that unbroken wire would be better.

The wiring diagram described two types of connect you need to make - some to ‘ignition 12v’ and one to ‘battery 12v’ (see the diagram below)

Now I took ‘battery 12v’ to mean connections that were always on - that was fine and I found one of them. The ignition 12v I took to mean that it is hot when the ignition is on. I needed a 5amp fuse for that. However in spite of going through the whole board I couldn’t find one - they were either 5amp but not on until something is switched on to not 5 amp.

In the end I plumped for a 7.5amp fuse - the one for the brake lights. I would hope this is OK


I forgot to mention - earlier in the process I decided to strip out some redundant wiring (for headlamp washers and stuff like that).


It was good to get rid of the crap. However now the left hand indicator doesn’t work so maybe I went too far.

But that’s a job for another day……


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[PeterK]

For the hot with ignition, I wired to the ‘upstream’ side of the switched fuse box fuses using / via an inline 5 A fuse

[sladey]

Interesting - thanks Peter. I’ll try again on that. I know on some of the ones I tested the hot side was also dead - waiting for me to turn something on - but I’ll give that a go.


Thanks again

Edit. My brain has just caught up with that - I can join it to any of the hot side ones can’t I because it’s protected by that 5A fuse. D’oh!

I got there in the end. Thanks again

[rhd racer]

I would probably fit a small single or twin fuse to the side of the main box - vehicle wiring products do lots of neat little things like that, and you can just power it with a hot feed


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[911hillclimber]

All that wiring, I would hate it, but all done now, tidy job and good to simplify if you can, simple is best every time.
Good luck with the next step, which must be testing it all?

[sladey]

Thanks Graham

[sladey]

I would probably fit a small single or twin fuse to the side of the main box - vehicle wiring products do lots of neat little things like that, and you can just power it with a hot feed


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Thanks - I’ll look into that

[rhd racer]

No worries - they do loads of modular stuff, really neat if you are not trying to keep OE. It makes doing all this kind of stuff really easy, and despite Grahams hatred of electrics, quite enjoyable to do. They are local to us too, but the mail order is spot on. You can get thin wall cable too, so you get the right rating in a factory colour but lighter weight


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[Bruce M]

Small thing I found helpful to better understand automotive wiring (especially fuse values).

The fuse has only one purpose- To protect the wiring.

The wiring is sized to suit the expected current load. So the fuse is sized based on the capacity of the wire, so that it will blow before the wires melt or start a fire.

[sladey]

Thanks for that. I found a neat LED fuse holder but I was struggling for where to put it.

Then I went back and revisited the fuses and found a, ‘ignition 12v’ one that was only used for the electronic mirror adjustment (they’ve gone) and the factory AC (never had it) - so I repurposed that with a 5A fuse and all is good


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[sladey]

Ok so following all the wiring being connected up the next stage was to test the system.

I had to connect a laptop to the serial port and use putty to connect. After some initial glitches which were down to a poor connection in an USB socket I eventually got this



Which showed that things seem to be ok. I was able to run various commands to test certain parts of the system and that all seemed to be ok.

I can’t move on to gassing it up until the updated alternator is installed.

I can’t install the alternator until I’ve fixed that sheared bolt on the engine case. So it’s engine drop time!

Before that started I was able to out the interior back together which was nice to see again. Also taking a lead from Andy lightweights current resto I chose to delete the rear seat backs





I’m pleased with that.

So onto the engine….

[sladey]

It’s been a while since I last dropped the engine but I’ve done it a few times so wasn’t worried about it. It’s surprising what you forget though…. Also it was my first engine drop using the lift.

I dug out my engine and gearbox trolley


Looking a bit rusty (it was underwater for a while during the last floods) but should be ok

I then went round the car gradually undoing everything.

This approach generally went well but I had a few gotchas along the way

Earlier this year I fitted a new driveshaft on the drivers side and this just wouldn’t move far enough away for me to lift the car - it kept snagging on the starter motor - so in the end I removed the starter motor

Having the lift was good in terms of being able to lift the body away. But it makes it a bit too easy as I’d forgotten the engine loom connection and it was only the sound of the bracket cracking that made me stop. Didn’t damage the connection though.

Then a bit further in I found this

This is a tab that holds the clutch shaft in place. I really can’t work out how or why it’s broken but I’ve got a new one on order, and there don’t seem to have been any consequences

[sladey]

Once I’d got it onto the trolley I thought I was good to go. And I was until one of the castors caught on something and this happened


I was able to get the jack back under there to take the weight while I organised the engine hoist.

The passage of time since the last engine removal meant I’d completely forgotten how the yoke attaches.

I knew it goes into where the studs mount to the gearbox, but I’d forgotten that you take the studs out and put some threaded rod in there.

Like this



Then I was able to put straps around the yoke and the engine mounting bar and hoist it up.

Once it was up in the air I was able to lift the engine stand onto the yoke and then lower the whole thing down.

This got me to a useful point so I was able to go on holiday



I also re-welded the castor back onto the trolley