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Rewiring the track car - any wiring gurus out there?

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:22 am
by Lunacy
Right, im just getting into rewiring the twincam engine and doing battery cables, power distribution etc.

My thoughts at the moment are that the battery is going to be mounted on the floor behind the passenger seat, with a ground of 2 gauge wire earthed to the chassis.
From the + terminal of battery, 2 gauge wire to the big terminal on the starter motor, with inline kill switch/isolater.
From starter 2 gauge wire to a distribution block (any ideas for this, all i can find are car audio ones)
2 Gauge wire from block to chassis ground.
From distribution block il need power to following - fusible links - alternator - fused switch panel (has ignition, fuel pumps, fans, heater on it) and relays, and starter button( 12v on one pin and starter motor spade terminal on other)
Somehow need 40amp fused 12v power source to relay for ecu which will feed injectors, 12v on ecu and TPS and CAS. Guess its possibly best to run this direct from battery + terminal also via switch panel?
Switch panel is pre wired, so only needs a communal positive 12v and ground feed which covers all the switches, then each fused switch has an output wire for when its switched on, of which most will no doubt go to relays mounted beneath it for fans, pumps, heater etc.

Obviously will ground everything as well where required.
Am keeping factory wiring harness for stuff like lights, indicators, wipers etc.

Sorry if this sounds like alot of rubbish, im just trying to get my ideas for this down to see if anyone has any thoughts on it or anything ive missed/improvements.
If anyone has done this and cares to share any tips yell out pls :)
Cheers
Bryce

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:35 am
by iXNAY
everything sounds pretty good.

what ECU are you going to run?

I remember I put in a relay for the thermo fans as I got them running of my haltech

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 12:29 pm
by Lunacy
iXNAY wrote:everything sounds pretty good.

what ECU are you going to run?

I remember I put in a relay for the thermo fans as I got them running of my haltech
Cheers, was hoping i had most of it covered. Im running an EMS Stinger 4424 v4. And yup have also got a relay for the thermo fans.

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 2:42 pm
by GasJA
From the + terminal of battery, 2 gauge wire to the big terminal on the starter motor, with inline kill switch/isolater.
Q1 Is this inline kill switch/isolater a standard item?
Q2 where do you put or find this ?

Also some people install a relay for the starter motor - where would that be found?

thanks

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:22 pm
by Lunacy
This is similar to the kill switch im using
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-par ... 561287.htm

It will be placed between the positive terminal of the battery, and the starter motor post, within reach of both driver and co-driver.

IIRC the starter relay goes inline in the wire from the ignition to the spade terminal on the starter motor, and obviously requires a power 12v and earth wire as well

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:30 pm
by GasJA
Thanks for that - I think I will probably put a relay in for the starter motor.

Re: Rewiring the track car - any wiring gurus out there?

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:52 pm
by Cookiemonster
Lunacy wrote:My thoughts at the moment are that the battery is going to be mounted on the floor behind the passenger seat, with a ground of 2 gauge wire earthed to the chassis.
From the + terminal of battery, 2 gauge wire to the big terminal on the starter motor, with inline kill switch/isolater.
Similar to this?

Image

Re: Rewiring the track car - any wiring gurus out there?

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:34 pm
by Lunacy
Cookiemonster wrote:
Lunacy wrote:My thoughts at the moment are that the battery is going to be mounted on the floor behind the passenger seat, with a ground of 2 gauge wire earthed to the chassis.
From the + terminal of battery, 2 gauge wire to the big terminal on the starter motor, with inline kill switch/isolater.
Similar to this?

Image
Yup pretty much exactly what i had in mind :)

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:27 pm
by Lummy
I'm not sure what sort of racing you're planning on doing, but keep in mind that most categories require a remote kill-switch on the outside of the cabin (ie, a cable that can be pulled to cut all electrics from the battery).

Personally I prefer the kill switch to be on the dash somewhere.

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:22 pm
by Lunacy
Lummy wrote:I'm not sure what sort of racing you're planning on doing, but keep in mind that most categories require a remote kill-switch on the outside of the cabin (ie, a cable that can be pulled to cut all electrics from the battery).

Personally I prefer the kill switch to be on the dash somewhere.
Im not set on the location of the switch yet, so will chuck it where myself and the codriver can both reach.
Do you mean something like this for remote kill switch?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =403591266

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:31 pm
by Lummy
Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Check your regs to see if your class of racing requires it or not.

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:38 pm
by panda
The MOST important thing to ensure your wiring is going to work & be reliable will be the EARTHING. Pay extra attention to all the wires going to ground & if possible (though not easy sometimes) try & use as few as possible chassis grounding points. By that I mean its OK to connect 10 lugs under one bolt into the chassis.
Its amazing how many weird unexplained faults occur that can be traced back to dodgy earthing.
Good luck, I'm sure it will be fantastic when its done.

panda

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:09 pm
by adam169
A ground earthing kit would be a good idea?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:12 pm
by Lunacy
panda wrote:The MOST important thing to ensure your wiring is going to work & be reliable will be the EARTHING. Pay extra attention to all the wires going to ground & if possible (though not easy sometimes) try & use as few as possible chassis grounding points. By that I mean its OK to connect 10 lugs under one bolt into the chassis.
Its amazing how many weird unexplained faults occur that can be traced back to dodgy earthing.
Good luck, I'm sure it will be fantastic when its done.

panda
Absolutely! Have been there done that with grounding problems on starions in the past and def dont want that again.
Yeah even my EMS wiring diagram says to ground all the earths together.

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:14 pm
by adam169
I'm having the same ems installed next month