Which wire goes where? – 2 Hours

Room becomes a premium very quickly as more and more systems are installed, especially in the upper half of the driver’s foot box and behind the dash board. Before finally deciding on the location of the master cylinder brake reservoirs I decided to install the fuse panel to better understand which direction the reservoir hoses would best clear and also if different fittings would be required to raise the hose’s higher.

The Mk3.1 kit includes a full harness from Ron Francis. This is a very nice package, each harness is clearly marked and every wire is also clearly marked. The instructions are acceptable and specific to the Factory Five Roadster.

But, and this is a big but, there is only one small ground for the whole system! So before the engine arrives there are a number of modifications to be made, these include:

1. Add more common grounds for the front and rear wiring harness

2. Splice in the FAST EFI wiring harness, this mainly focuses on the fuel pump controlled by the EFI computer (not forgetting to utilize the inertia switch), and electric fan. The plan is to have the FAST computer control the fan with a manual override switch

3. High intensity headlamps are also to be used and so two additional relays will be required for this function. For those not familiar with relays, a relay basically is a high current switch triggered by a lesser current (the dash switch) and the reason for using relays is to eliminate cooking / burning out of the dash board switch. (All of us Brit’s know that every Lucas electrical system included a small bag of blue smoke and the key was not to burst this bag)

4. Add a 12V outlet in the dash filler panel

5. Add a calibration patch for the electronic instruments

6. Add a reversing light (the Tremec TKO600 transmission includes both a neutral and reversing switch)

7. Courtesy lights in each foot box, the light switch facilitates this option

8. Weather pack quick disconnects for all the light fittings to ease body mounting / removal

9. Wipe relay modification to include park (yes this is possible)

After laying out the harnesses they all look to be of sufficient length, however the cut out in the driver’s side foot box between the foot box and the firewall /transmission tunnel will need enlarging for the required cables to run through this bulkhead.

Still in two minds about replacing the clock in the vintage instruments with an oil temperature gauge, or add this gauge anyway and relocate the clock.