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Wire Your Buggy
By
David Helland - Club Member #50
Page
3 of 4
(Continued
from page 2)
I used two lengths of color coded trailer wire (16 gauge - 4 wires
in a flat cable with brown, yellow, green, and red) for rear lights
(stop, tail, left, right) and engine (ignition coil, oil pressure,
alternator/generator, temp). You could use this wire under the dash
as well. For power from the battery to the dash I used 10 gauge
automotive stranded wire. The wire from the starter switch to the
starter solenoid should be 12 gauge to make sure that the starter
always kicks in. I first formed these wires into a harness and then
covered them with a split plastic protective cover. I then fished
the completed harness into the 2" stiffening tubes that are glassed
under the fenders and pulled the wires to the rear of the car. To
support the wires above the engine, I attached loops of plumber's
tape behind the tail lights and license plate light and then tie
strapped the wire bundles to them.
For the Front wiring I used a 25' 14 gauge 3-wire power extension
cord that I cut into lengths for left head light, left turn/parking,
right head light, right turn/parking. This worked out very nicely,
The wires are protected, bundled, and cheap. I ran these wires along
side the gas tank under the hood. I attached the wires to the fiberglass
with loops of plumber's tape held down with sheet metal screws.
You can get plastic straps for this purpose, but they never seem
to be the correct size to hold the wires snugly.
When wiring your car you must pay attention to the ground wires.
The gauge of the ground wires must be sufficient to carry the current
of the device that is being powered. The main current draw under
the dash is the cigarette lighter which has a 10 gauge feed wire
therefore a 10 gauge ground wire is required between the chassis
and the dash. I attached a crimp on ring lugs to both ends of the
dash ground and bolted one end to the left shock tower. The bolted
the other end to a steel strap that I used to support the windshield
wiper motor. I drilled several holes in the strap and used it a
the central grounding point for the dash. I then attached a 10 gauge
ground wire to the cigarette lighter using a ring type crimp terminal.
I attached 16 gauge grounds to the horn button, blinker, radio,
wiper motor, and dash lights.
The lighting system must also be correctly grounded. Each rear light
assembly must be grounded with a 12-14 gauge wire to the chassis
since multiple lights may be on at one time. I grounded the lights
to the engine sheet metal screw holes near the spark plugs. Be sure
your engine is proper grounded; i.e. there should be a copper ground
strap between the chassis and the front transmission mount. The
ground cable from the battery should be connected directly to the
car chassis or transmission (preferably at one of the starter motor
bolts). The front lights have 12 gauge grounds from the headlight
ground bolt to a bolt in the shock towers. The front turn signals
can be grounded with a 14-16 gauge wire to the shock tower.
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