Lighting - Circuit 4/10

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Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task:
Parts: Door Jamb Switchs
           Interior LED lighting
Power Cell: 4
Circuit: 10 - TAN
Master cell: PINK GREEN
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount DRLs
Additional Costs: Switches - $25
                              Interior Lights - $50
Time Requirement: 90 minutes
Date Started: August 10, 2013
Date Completed: August 10, 2013

The interior lighting is LED based. This follows the decision to go with LED lights everywhere possible. I believe the only non-LED lights are the head lights. These are HID bulbs. To me this is a proven technology as I have applied it to the Corvette and the Porsche.

This the hole for the switch.  This is drilled through the fiber glass and sheet metal.

  Of course, this is a GTM so there are still other things that have to be built to make interior lights work. I purchased the door jamb switches from Quick Racing Products. There are a lot of great products on this site. The switch is installed in the door. This is just the signal circuitry to the master cell. The power lead comes from Master Cell #4/Circuit 10 and this routed through a hole cut in the front fire wall.

The QRP door jamb switch installed.

The first thing that needs to be figured out is where the switch can be installed on the door. I determined that there is an average of 3.25 inches from the axis of the hinges on the frame to the edge of the interior body shell fiberglass. There is a 1 to 1.25 inch gap between the frame hinge and the start of the body shell fiberglass. This leaves about a 2 inch strip where the switch needs to make contact. I took door and measured 2.5 inches from the hinge on the door (this will vary from car to car) and checked to make sure there was fiber glass and not the steel hinge plate behind it. This is where I drilled an 11/16 inch hole for the switch.

Terminal block with signal wire from the master cell to the circuit.

I piggy backed the ground and signal wires through the same wire loom used for the door poppers and windows. These connectors are all wired through Weather Pack terminals.. I plan to have to use large diameter wire loom as an over all shield in the gap between the door and the car. The signal wire runs through the internal conduit above the tunnel and interfaces to the other signal wire (from the passenger side) and the signal wire to the master cell via a three position terminal block.

Under dash LED pod.

LED lights are three pods installed above the passenger and driver side foot wells. It is very busy under the dash. I used a strip in the Corvette to replace the bulbs. However, I didn't feel a strip would work in the GTM environment.

Weather Pack Connectors

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      Hazard Wiring - Circuit 4/6
      Parking Lights - Circuit 4/8
      Lighting - Circuit 4/10
   
Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Build weather pack connectors for doors and tail lights
Parts: 4 x 6 way cinnectors
           2 x 3 way connectors
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $49
Time Requirement: 2 hours
Date Started: January 25, 2014

Date Completed: January 28, 2014

One of the things I worked on in late November was connecting the tail light and door assemblies into the main wiring circuits. I was so intent on just getting something to connect that I failed to consider the greater problem of moisture on these contacts. I recognized, correctly, the doors and tail light assembly need to be able to disconnect from the main chassis. I did not wire this up the first time through with any consideration to rain or car washes or any of the other things that can mess up an electrical connection.

These are the little parts that can get dropped, wander away or get lost. On left hand side of the dish are the posts. These fit inside the barrel terminals. The green insulator fits over the barrel connector and the reddish/brown are the individual wire plugs.

The other issue was that by making an individual connection for each circuit, I had a real mess of wires on my hands in the tail light area, and burgeoning mess in the door area. I understand today how everything connects, but what about three or four years from now when something quits working and I need to go into the area.

This is a 6 way connector for the passenger door. Two wires for the popper, the interior lights and power  windows. These wire colors correspond to the wire colors used for the circuits and those colors are dictated by ISIS wire circuit color.

My solution is to go with a weather pack connector that is water proof and vibration proof when it comes to connections. By the time I figured this out, winter had descended with a heavy hand on the Northern Man Cave. I only really got to work the first ten days in December, after that it was just too cold. I mapped out the wiring for taillights and doors. I had 8 wires running to the tail lights and six wires running tot he doors (not counting the speaker wires that I am going to run continuous from the head unit). This will be a maintenance problem.

These each go on the single bulb rear tail light.

The weather pack connector consists of two hard plastic pieces. One holds the barrels and the other the posts. There is a inner rubber insulator to keep water out that fits over the barrel connector and individual rubber plugs that slip over each wire. These are pressed into the back end of each connector. Wires are crimped to the post and barrel terminals. (I really suggest doing these one at a time so as not to get confused.)

These are not a bunch of dying cockroaches. These are the six weather pack terminals I built. Four for the tail lights and two for the doors.

I decided to go with a uniform six inch wire to form the pig tails. To this I measured out 1 foot and cut it in two. The rest just involves stripping the end of the wire and crimping it to the connector. These connects have two "ears" that hold the connector in place. The connector snaps into place. It can be removed using a special tool that fits over the connector and pushes the ears down.

Rear Stereo Speakers

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Major System Category: Electronics
Task: Build speaker box for rear speakers
Parts: Wood Board
            Carbon Fiber Vinyl
            Infinity Reference 3032cf 3.5-Inch
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $75
Time Requirement: 6 hours
Date Started: January 14, 2014

Date Completed: January 21, 2014

Initially I was going to just go with speakers in the doors. There really isn't a good place to mount rear speakers. I started to look at the rear quarter glass. These are really worthless in terms of seeing anything. I plan to rely on mirrors and cameras to see what's going on around the car. Vraptor Speedworks sells a NACA duct that provides air into the engine compartment. I plan to replace the quarter glass with these ducts and use the ducts to push air directly into the cold air intake.

Everything seems so straight forward when you start out. I am just fitting the box together using clamps.

This solves two problems as it now gives me a place to mount the rear speakers. 

The tricky part was getting the hole centered and big enough. I came across a great multiple hole saw kit for about $12 that handled everything from 1/2 to 6 inch holes. 

There are no mounts for rear speakers in the GTM design. There are only mounts for door speakers built into the inner door liners. I 6.5 inch speakers for the doors and 3.5 inch speakers for the rear. Time to make rear speaker mounts!

This is sanded on the seams, glued and screwed together. The speaker wires are running through the small hole in the back of the box. I also have a rubber grommet installed to minimize chaffing. 

I found a sturdy 1 x 12 x 48 pressed board at Home Depot. This is your basic 7th grade shop project where you need to build a box. I managed to mess it up a little, but eventually I had box with a center hole to mount the speakers and rear hole to feed to wires through. I purchased enough board to fix the mistakes. I secured everything with wood screws and glue, then I sanded it down used wood filler to take care of the gaps on the seams and level things out.

I am prepping to wrap in vinyl. I made 45 degree cuts in the vinyl so I could wrap the box.

Since the box is going to be two rather large frame posts and the quarter windows are going to be dropped from the design, the visible part of the box is basically the speaker and the edges leading away from the speaker. This doesn't have to be a perfect job. It just has to look good from the top. Of course, now I have two tan colored boxes. This is where carbon vinyl wrap comes in very handy. This doesn't cost a fortune and it is relatively easy to work with.

Finished product. Now all I have to do is get the GTM transported to the New Southerns Man Cave this summer.

I wrapped the boxes before I installed the speakers. Once I had the component pieces assembled, it went pretty fast.