I decided to mount the battery in the engine compartment. There was some room and I didn't want to
run cables all the way from the front of the car. I'll need to install some remote battery posts after the
engine cover gets installed. Access will be tight, but it should be manageable.
There was a lot to learn about the best practices in automobile wiring. I got some great
information from the Ron Franis product catalogue and website. In addition, hone up on how relays work. It's important to have a separate relay for each component. There
are things I did that other builders haven't mentioned. First, I added a remote power disconnect from
Painless. It will act as an anti-theft device and preserve battery life when the car is in
storage. Second, I added a remote fuse box to be a centralized power source for all the major electrical
components in the back half of the car. Lastly, I added a gold plated grounding strip as recommended by
Ron Francis since electrical problems are often caused by ground issues. Here is an electrical
diagram of how all the major components are connected.
The wiring for the cooling is the next piece. There is an electric water pump and two cooling
fans. All of these components are triggered by a temperature sensor that turns on at 176 degrees and turns
back off at 161 degrees. Check out part #AR-33 from Ron Francis. Be sure and put the sensor at the
front of the engine in the cylinder head. Having it towards the back made the car run much hotter. Now,
the fans actually cool the car down and turn off even when it's idling outside in 100 degree weather. This
also made the wiring much simpler and cheaper than buying a complete dual fan relay kit. To check out
the cooling system, click here. Refer to the diagram below for how it is
wired.
Feb 2014: Got started on the electrical work on the interior. I decided to
eliminate all the unnecessary wiring. Since I installed a self-contained EFI system, much of the electrical
wires were unnecessary. After everything was eliminated, the wiring was greatly simplified. I did cut
the turn-signal wires coming out of the dash so they wouldn't flash, but once I figured that out, it all came
together.
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