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Electrics
and wiring
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Next job is all electric stuff, and the
wiring loom. Most switches, lights and stuff looked to be in pretty good
shape, and were tested OK. The wiring loom however was completely rotten
away. Bending the wires would produce a spray of plastic bits, so it was off
to
the the junkyard for a better one. |
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So, i
did find a wreck of similar age and type (a 912 seems to be simpler in its
electrics). However, the wiring had the same problems that mine had: the
plastic sheeting around the wires had deteriorated to such a degree that it
was all but unusable. |
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Anyway, the connectors and fuse box were intact, so i removed everything and
cut the wires away. Even the layout was gone, because most of it was patched
up or removed at an earlier stage. The harvest of today: a good set of
connectors, a fuse box, all relays and door switches. Somehow the
photograph doesn't do justice to the bad state everything was in,
in reality it looked even worse than in the photograph. |
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So,
nothing left to do but revert to the basics, the schematic itself. I did
find a scan of it on the internet, but most of it was barely readable. So,
thanks to the official Porsche dealer in Eindhoven, who have given me
excellent service throughout this project, i got a color copy of an
original, which was of very good quality considering its age.
Click the image for a bigger, printable version.
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Next job: wires and connectors. I basically
layed out the schematic, testing switches, relays and stuff as i went along.
This is actually good fun, because every part can be tested by itself, so
you actually get the feeling that you are making some progress. I also found
several mistakes in the schematic, if you are interested just e-mail me. |
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The dashboard, test-fitted to see if
everything worked. It did - eventually. For a classic car, these Porsches
seem to have a lot of electrical functions... Later on, i removed everything
again to have the dashboard painted black. The wiring was neatly taped
together with some black insulating tape, and then a final test of all
components together. |
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With everything connected and tested, the
wiring loom was removed from the car. A few rolls of tape to hold everything
in place... |
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And the final result looks like this. The
fusebox, neatly wired and taped, with the three connectors running into the
car to the dashboard. |
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In the engine compartment, you can see the
fuel pump, voltage regulator, spark coil, etc. The loose wiring goes to the
generator, but where did i leave that engine again.... |
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So how is this for a 'before-and-after' eh?
The logo on the left was what is left of the fuel pump sticker. So i
re-created it in a design software, and printed it onto vinyl. The result
looks better than new.... |
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All in all it took me about four months to
get it all together. Although a lot of work, it wasn't too difficult.
Electricity is actually quite logical and easy to test - one wire at a time.
One suggestion for safety: never work with a battery connected, if you
short-circuit anything your newly created wiring loom takes only a few
seconds to go up in smoke. Use a 12V power supply instead, or replace the
earth strap by a wire with a fuse. |
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