Electrickery

I’ve been slowly pressing on with the electrics. In particular, I’ve finished doing the engine loom, easily the most complicated bit, which is shown here languishing in the kitchen. This now fits the car and, as you can see, I’ve taped it all up so it shouldn’t be vibrating to bits at the first sight of a working car.

There seems to be an errant bit of wire in the middle of this photo, no idea what that is, as it certainly isn’t in the loom itself.  Just to the right of the middle of this photo is a multi-pin connector which connects this loom to the cable that goes to the switch panel.

Here’s the loom on the car, although I’ve taken the airbox off so that I could get the central tub on. I don’t think it’s a huge problem that I have to take the airbox off to get the bodywork on. I hope it isn’t, anyway.

The reason I put the bodywork on is that I’m trying to arrange to get someone to make an exhaust system for me. Although, I’m hoping to get the engine running soon even before that. That’s bound to upset the neighbours! The reason I need the bodywork on for fitting the exhaust is that my plan is to run the silencer in the left hand sidepod, that is running forward from the engine. This is advantageous because it keeps it out of the engine compartment so improving access and keeping the heat out. It could also have an effect on the weight distribution. Obviously, though, when someone makes me an exhaust they’re going to need to have the bodywork that the exhaust is inside. One minor wrinkle with this, though, is that the Blue Book says that the exhaust must exit no further forward than halfway between the front and rear axles. That might mean a slightly odd U-turn in the exit pipe.

The other reason for putting the bodywork on is that I wanted to check for clearance to the gearchange, which I was pretty sure was going to be a problem. And, so it turns out to be.

The first issue can be seen in the photo on the right, where you can see I’ve had to open up a slot for the gearchange cable at the side of the steering column. That’s not a big deal.

A larger issue, and the one that I was wondering about, can be seen in the next photo. As it stands, there’s no way I could actually change gear as the paddles will bash into the bodywork. This is, of course, a consequence of my ludicrously long arms. Obviously, I’ll have to cut the bodywork away, which is a shame as there’s a nice binnacle-y bit there. However, I’ll probably stick a polycarbonate “screen” in front of this bit anyway, so it shouldn’t look too bad. The intention is to mount something on that flange that just in front of the binnacle.