So I've got a simple project that's been staring at me for weeks now, and I just haven't had the cojones to jump in and tackle it. I'm hoping that I can coax one or two of you over to my place in Bentleigh (or your place, if you'd prefer) with the promise of free beer and burritos (or pizzas, or kebabs, or other greasy deliciousness).

I recently tore the A/C out of my car and replaced the dash with a 3+3 clock. And since then, I've been staring at a non-working Oil Pressure, Volts and Clock that aren't connected. Sad, I know.

The Oil pressure gauge doesn't worry me much, as it's mechanical. But the electrics scare the crap out of me. No matter how much reading I do, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm going to get halfway and be absolutely lost, with a tangle of wires stopping me from driving to work on Monday. I'm not asking for anyone to come and do this for me, as I sincerely want to learn. Electricals has always been the one aspect (ok, and bodywork) that I have stayed away from. But now that I have a relatively simple project, I'd really like to learn how to do it properly. How hard could it be? Put the lights on an accessory circuit (or perhaps slave them from the current dash lights), get the voltmeter on an ignition circuit, and lastly plug the clock directly in to 12 volts.

But alas, a big part of the reason I'd like some guidance is I want to make sure it's done right. This may mean involving fuse boxes, relays, or some other wizardry that I have no knowledge of.

So whatd'ya say? What kind of beer do you drink, and what'll you have on your pizza?

-Brian

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

mmmmmmm beer & food , sorry man but I wish I had time to do my jobs

why did you pull the A/C out, just check the weather forcast for the next week, so if it wasn't broken, you know the rest.

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Sorry, I'm a bit far away, but it's not too difficult if you follow basic rules.
1 - Get a multimeter & know the basics on how to use it.
2 - Label wires as you ID them, even if just with a bit of paper taped onto the wire.
3 - Put fuses in between your car wiring & the device, & earth it properly. 10 Amp fuses should be OK for your stuff mentioned above.

Find where the ignition wires are, then with the battery connected, use the multimeter to work out which ones are 'Live' all the time & which ones are live on 'Accessory'. Now label them & disconnect the battery while you work on it. Only reconnect the battery to test what you have done, once it's fused etc.

As long as you don't start ripping things out willy nilly (I like that expression...) you should be able to put the dash back & drive it within an hour - Just making sure the ends of wires that become live are covered.

Oh, & lastly, use blade connectors in your wiring instead of those bullet ones. The blade ones are less likely to bind up & tear off when you try to separate them in a years time.
Good luck, & once you get into it, you will find it's not really that hard.

*sigh* I better get back to connecting everything in my engine bay. Break time is over.

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1.8L Sunshine - Legal, legit & lovinit

You're exactly right, here's where the factory connected said items:

Volt meter: gets its power from interior fuse A4, which powers the tacho and the instrument warning lights.
Clock: gets its power from interior fuse C4, which also powers the radio memory and the interior light (and the indicators).
The new gauge lights can all be paralleled to each other and wired in with the existing instrument lights. The AC switch panel you removed was wired into the same lights, so you could use the illumination wire from that if you want.

Arrrggh...sorry, was going to jump on a plane to come down and "help"...

but noticed you said WRENCHING buddies with the promise of free beer and burritos (or pizzas, or kebabs, or other greasy deliciousness)....geeze what a difference one R makes

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"Show me the Mini!"

I'm in Bentleigh too but the things you are scared about doing are the same for me so I'm no use to you and I'm working that weekend so can't even drop in to learn something.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Thanks for the responses guys! I am a bit bummed nobody was able to come have a beer or two, but I'm determined to learn something anyway. (And hopefully the gauges will work also!).

I've never used a multi-meter, but I'll be buying one and reading up. The comments above were very helpful, and of course I've found some resources online that I will continue to reference as I struggle through. As long as I keep reminding myself to not get frustrated, I think I'll be ok. And I've allotted the entire weekend to do the job right. If that's not enough time to figure out how to hook up 3 gauges, I've got bigger problems!

Thanks for the words of wisdom, I'll do my best to post next week and let you all know how it went.

Cheers!

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Is yours the red one with white bonnet stripes in a front yard? Saw it driving home if it is.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Nope, it's Tahiti Blue with white roof/stripes. It's also the one with the dash torn apart and electrical wires hanging out of it!

Here goes nothing! I've decided to get started tonight - That'll give me some time to 'sleep on it' should I run into something tricky.

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Oh the joy....

So I've got the dash out and I'm poking around with my shiny new multimeter and I'm feeling good, and feeling confident. I'm just sort of learning and as I'm checking the various pins on the dash harness, I may have slightly crossed two of the pins. I witnessed a tiny spark, and now my life is over...

The tail lights are out, the brake lights don't work, and the indicators flash way faster than usual. The good news is I've identified and labeled all of the circuits I should need to use for my new gauges.

So I've verified that none of the fuses are blown in the main fuse box, and none of the bulbs are out in the tail lights. What am I missing? What do I do next?
Please help!!

As usual...Thank you so much for your help guys!

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Well, I'm not making any progress. I had the idea that maybe the dash was part of the series circuit, plugged it back in, but no luck.

Why has the rear lighting on my car died? Where do I look? Are there other fuses I am missing? Do I have to start tearing into these wire bundles and looking for a melted spot? Could it be a grounding issue or something? I really don't know enough about electrics. It is so frustrating because I don't even know where to start, what to try, etc...

At least I've got a good reason to be drinking at 10am...

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)

Theres a plug behind radio area that they plug into. You might have to make a little harness but that's easy enough.

have you got WS manual?

is it spi or mpi model? light fuses on spi are behind dash, stupid place!

It's a Japanese spec spi, and yes, I'm looking at the WS manual, the "Electrical Library", and the Circuit Digrams. Unfortunately, it's all Greek to me. (http://home.comcast.net/~bimmer100/site ... IMG%20SRC=)

As far as I can tell, the items behind the dash are all relays and such. None of them seem to have anything to do with the tail lights. The circuit diagrams say that fuses A3 & C3 are the "side and tail lamps". These fuses are both fine, and I have replaced them just for good measure.

It may be worth noting that the entire rear of the car electricals are dead. This included the rear flashers and even the license plate bulbs. Should I be looking around in the boot for a connection point or something that could have melted?? This seems crazy to me, as the tiny spark I saw was nothing...no smoke, no noise - looked like the size spark I could make with some shag carpet and a pair of socks...

Oi....

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1998 Rover Mk VII
2001 Honda CBR 929RR (street)
2014 BMW S1000RR (track)