Electric Root Canal Wire Invasion

So, I am now deep in to the wiring job. 

In other words, I have done almost no actual wiring.

I have spent a lot of time looking up the wires that connect to all the sensors, what their color codes are, what they originally hooked up to, and what they will now hook up to using the Microsquirt ECU. Making a chart of all the non-ECU wiring circuits, calculating their amperage loads, figuring out what gauge wires will be needed, and updating my wiring diagrams with all the new info.

I used DIY Layout Creator for the above. It's really meant for electronics layouts, but it works pretty well for this - and it's freeware. ExpressSCH is also freeware, and I've used it a lot also, but it's set up for schematic diagrams. To me, schematics are for thinking about electronic circuits and layouts are for translating the schematic into wires and switches and relays. There isn't anything in these circuits that needs a lot of deep thinking, so I went straight to the layout.

I also got one of these things

It can make labels on different kinds of materials - and most relevant to this project, it can print on heat shrink nylon wire insulators. My Grand Strategy for this wiring project is to front-load all the agonizing root canal parts of the job - like labeling all the wires before I hook anything up - rather than wiring it all up all lackadaisical slapdash now, and then having an agonizing root canal experience troubleshooting later.

So, I've been doing a lot of this:

Conveniently, the heat shrink material comes out of the label maker flat, so the labels do stay nicely in place on the wires without having to heat shrink them on yet. I will heat shrink them on when I splice the wires, so these will do double duty as insulators and labels.

Yeah, that's what it be like.

The original Miata donor car engine control unit didn't use a MAP sensor or an IAT sensor, but the Microsquirt does. This does provide more accurate data for the ECU to manage the engine, and if I were turbo-ing or racing, this might make a difference - but I doubt it will be noticeable for my driving purposes. 

However, I had another reason for using a modern ECU and modern sensors: when the 1992 donor car was made, it used a MAF sensor which needed a large amount of intake ducting in the engine bay. Using modern sensors allowed me to remove several cubic feet of plastic tubes and boxes, thus tidying up the engine bay.

Say it with me: Tidy Engine Bay. Tidy Engine Bay. 

The words just roll off the tongue, bringing with them an aura of peace and order and loveliness.

Yes, Tidy Engine Bay is an ideal, and I'm not sure I will achieve it. Some people set their sights on Enlightenment; others on Self-Actualization. I aspire to Tidy Engine Bay. It's a noble ideal whether I achieve it or not.

Apropos the FaceBook builder's group, it has a new name. Why? Because the car has a new name: LMR 141. Which I think is a good move. 'Replicar' was just really... pedestrian? Uninspiring? Banal? Why not just call it 'Vehicle?' For the explanation of what LMR 141 stands for, go here.

I would classify the work above as "wiring-adjacent." Because while it is not actually wiring it does advance the wiring project. I need all the things I'm wiring to be in their proper locations before I can wire them, and there is a lot of stuff on the dash that needs wiring. In my last blog post I told the story of the off-center dash that needed to be extended on the passenger side to line up properly with the steering column; thus the need to add some length on that side. So I made a mold and laid some fiberglass in, resulting in the above.

At the stage above, I have sanded the join between the extension I added and the original dashboard. If I were painting this, there would some fine finishing to do around the join. But my current plan is to use self-adhesive leatherette on the top and cherry wood laminate on the front, so the surface doesn't have to be perfect. I went ahead and sanded the whole dash, to give the adhesives some grip.

This is the cherrywood piece that my lovely and longsuffering wife made for me, before I recognized the right-shift alignment problem - so it's too short on the passenger side. I am pretty sure I still have enough of this material, and hopefully I can convince L&L to make another slightly longer one.

There is a bit of a dip on the upper surface, just inboard of my dash extension, which was disappointing at first. But then I saw similar dips in other parts of the dash. After covering the top with leatherette, then covering up most of that surface with the windshield coaming, I don't think it will matter.

It feels like I have barely made a dent in the wiring as yet. There is a lot to do. It's exciting, because when the wiring is done I will be at the "driveable chassis" stage: kind of like a big go-kart I can drive around the neighborhood and make sure everything works properly. It's one of the big milestones of any project car build.

But there's a lot to do between here and there - plus Summer family activities - so it may be a while before I have any substantive progress to report.