DRL lights and wiring - Circuit 1/8

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Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Wire up the DRLs
Parts:
Power Cell: 1
Circuit: 8 - GREEN
Master cell: BLUE/LIGHT BLUE
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount DRLs
Additional Costs:
Time Requirement: 90 minutes
Date Started: August 10, 2013
Date Completed: August 10, 2013
A good chunk of the front end wiring never got completed in April 2013. When I returned from the Southern Man Cave, I spent the first seven weeks working on the body. In northern climes, you really need to take advantage of the warm weather months! The GTM has been living with dangling wires from the DRLs, power cells and other things. I left them to hang down behind the grille, and it looked like a real mess.

This is an early photo of the passenger side DRL mount.  You can see wires dangling over the side. This is not the first GTM to have DRLs.

Fortunately, I have wiring diagrams worked out for these circuits. In addition, I have a spreadsheet in my master build document that goes into detail about each circuit. I will be sending this spread sheet along with my next order to ISIS Power for the remaining power cells, motion cell and master cell coder. This is because I need ISIS to prep a file that can be downloaded into the master cell for my specific circuit set up. With five power cells, I am pushing 50 circuits - there's a lot going on in the car.

This Gen I GTM in Poland mounted the DRLs above the front grille. I am finding that this area is very busy. I use the upper lip of the front grill to manage the cross connection between head lights, hazards, fog lights. I'm not sure I would want to add the DRLs there. I corresponded with this builder, and asked him about the DRLs. As in every case, GTM builders are quite happy to share their knowledge.

This is half a terminal block. Easily cut with a hack saw.

The DRLs were cut into the body to the left and right lower corners of the grille opening. The fiber glass is very thick in this area, and it is tough going. The wires coming off the DRLs is 22 gauge (not the easiest stuff to work with). Initially, I thought I would create some kind of socket to plug these into, but since I plan to add Angel Eyes around the head lights into the DRL circuit, the idea of some kind og 6 way splice become unmanageable.

I daisy chain the terminal block to create a single circuit. Then I just need a single to power or ground.

Over May and June, I worked on the Intellitronix Dash for the cockkpit. One of the techniques I used here were terminal blocks. Now six way splices are easy. The white plastic terminal blocks are very easy to customize. They come in strips of twelve connections and the strip can be cut apart with a hack saw. I need six connectors for the ground and six connectors for the power leads. That is: 2 x DRLs, 4 x Angel Eyes.

These are the power and ground terminal blocks for the DRLs. The green wire is from Power Cell #1, Circuit 8. The black ground lead hasn't been connected in this photo. The terminals were bonded to the hood using 3M 8115 panel bond.

Note: Angel Eyes cannot be installed after final paint is complete. This is probably 12 to 14 months in the future (and it could slip to Spring 2015). However, the Angel Eyes need a place to connect, so I AM building that now.

The hood mounting is problematic due to the variables associated with centering vis-a-vis the rest of the car.. I explain to people that there are 100 ways to mount the hood, and I settled on the 101st position. I have made the decision that hood will remain attached to the car and it will need to be painted in place. Everything else can be removed. To this point, a great number of things have been permanently mounted (e.g. lights, signals, parking sensors) and the wiring associated with these peripherals.

I mounted the terminal blocks above the front grille opening on the interior of the hood. This is convenient, because most of the wires can run directly to these terminal blocks. The ground is to the chassis area that supports the AC condenser, radiator and fan assembly. The power lead runs to Power cell #1 and is enclosed in wire loom. I made sure I left enough slack in the wires so the hood can open and close without pulling something loose.

Gas strut Installation

<< Hood Mount                                                                           Hood Latches >>

Major System Category: Body (Hood)
Task: Install hood gas struts
Parts: Kit struts and mounts
Prerequisite Tasks: Mount the hood
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 90 minutes
Date Started: September 30, 2012
Date Completed: September 30, 2012
After the hood is connected to the chassis, the gas struts need to be install. The alternative is to rely on the venerable Mark 1A 2x4, which has the annoying habit of slipping out of place. This can be annoying if one is under the hood at the time.

Strut mount next tot he forward upper control arm. Orientation:  Driver's side.

Strut installed. Note the skinny side of the strut points down, and the  mount stud point toward one another.

The lower mount connects to the chassis member next tot he front upper control arm. The Factory Five mounting method is fairly strong. I took my straight edge and ran lines to find the approximate intersection point for the hood mounts. This is a good approximation. Before I went ahead and riveted the hood mounts in place, I used the gas strut to verify the location. The mount stud end up facing each other. This requires the  strut openings to be rotated to accommodate this arrangement.

Fog Lights Mount

<< Mount the hood                       Forward Parking Assist - Circuit 3/9 >>

Major System Category: ISIS Wiring
Task: Mount the Fog Lights
Parts: Kit fog lights
Prerequisite Tasks: Hood needs to be mounted and bolted into place
Additional Costs: $27 Fog Light Brackets
Time Requirement: 2 Hours
Date Started: October 2, 2012
Date Completed: October 2, 2012
I did not even bother figuring out what the Factory Five method was for mounting the fog lights. I had an order ready for Shane at Vraptor Speedworks, so I just added these to the list. Vraptor has many good ideas and everything they sell has a practical application for the car (in this case my sanity).

Left to right: Bracket that comes with the fog light, Vraptor bracket, Vraptor bracket attached to fog light.  I painted  my brackets gloss black.

Since I have been working on the hood, with momentary lapses back to the sanding tasks related to the hatch window and roof scoop, I decided to get the lights mounted. I need to do this anyway before or after I purchase the ISIS system. This purchase has been delayed due to the assessment that modifying the Corvette fuel tanks is an exercise in futility.

Close up of mounted fog light.

The major gotcha in this process is the presence of the brackets used to attach the hood to the hinges. Murphy's Law is alive and well, because those hinges may just be placed to interfere with the mounting of the fog lights. I ended up whisker close to one of the hinge brackets. Fortunately there is enough room to make minor adjustments. I used the steel template, drilled my holes for the bracket. Then I test fitted the bracket and light until I had a reasonable certainty that the attached bolts would go through the holes. This is one of the very nice things about these brackets. The bolts are fixed, so you can just attach the washers and nuts from inside the hood.

Another shot a little further back.

Once I was satisfied with the bracket fit, I drilled a final 1/4 inch hole (watch out for those hinge brackets!) to thread the leads through. I moved everything into place, and tightened the lights down. Another small step in giant puzzle!