DASHING AROUND!

Sunday morning I started work around 7 am and continued getting the wires run through the dash. There were quite a few connectors that had to be attached to the wires and I made good progress.

Around 11:30, I got cleaned up and drove the Miata to my parents in Coshocton, Ohio, a little over an hour away. It was a great day and I was able to ride with the top down. We had chicken and hot dogs on the grill and had a very enjoyable time.

My dad has been reading my blog and has taken an interest in the build in the last couple of months. I really want to get the interior done and the seats back in so I can take him a ride. Who knows, maybe I can talk him into coming to EVCCON with me.

Sunday it was back out to the garage and I tried to solder wires on the JLD404 where the circuit board had evaporated. I got 3 of the 4 connections made back up and the meter did power up but would not allow me to enter the set up menu. It would bring up the zeros for me to enter the code but before I could get the 0036 entered, would go back to the hours display. I thought it would be nice to have a second JLD404 to bottom balance with but I guess it is not to be until I buy another one.

Monday morning began with watching the EVTV weekly show. I had watched a little on Sunday but I like to wait for the Youtube version so I can watch it with Chrome Cast on the TV. For some reason, the Chrome Cast streams much better that my computer so when watching it from Youtube, there are no lags or delays.

Then out to finish the wiring on the Fiero. About 9 am, I was putting the dash back in the car and was also working on getting the warranty transferred and updating the bios on the Dell Venue 8 tablet. I think between emailing the EBAY seller, calling Dell and getting on the Dell support site, I got the warranty transferred. After flashing the BIOS, the screen would not change orientation to landscape view, so I will need to work on that also.

By 4pm I had the instrument pod mounted and all of the wires hooked up.

DASH BACK IN THE CAR

INSTRUMENT POD INSTALLED

VOLT AND AMP METER WIRING HOOKED UP

In the afternoon, my wife and I rode over to Buckeye Lake and had dinner at the Smoke House, on the lake. It was still warm but slightly overcast so the ride with the top down was very enjoyable. When we returned home, there was still time to mow the grass, so I had a very productive day.

Until next time,

Randy

TIDYING UP WIRING

Today was spent tidying up the wiring going to the instrument cluster connectors. The speedometer had the original wires disconnected and different wires running back to the rear of the car. The original wires were reconnected and checked with on ohmmeter to make sure there was continuity to the C-200 connector. This will allow a clean wiring run through existing wires across the dash and through the center console

WIRING RE-TAPED 

C-200 CONNECTOR WIRES

Eight wires were bundled and run from the front battery compartment to the interior, routing with the existing stock wiring to the front of the center console. Another bundle will be run to the rear motor compartment before the interior is re-assembled to give me plenty of conductors for any new components that need to be run in the future.

NEW FRONT COMPARTMENT WIRES

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NEW WIRING TIED TO ORIGINAL

NEW WIRES TERMINATING AT CONSOLE

The rear window was filthy on the inside and appears to have a film on it, so I used acetone to try and clean it, with limited success. There is still a blueish film along the bottom of the window that has partially come off.

FILM ON REAR WINDOW

The motor bay hatch open switch had a broken ground connector and the new one from EBAY arrived last week, so I removed the old one and installed it.

HATCH OPEN WARNING SWITCH

I am at the point where when ever one task is completed, another two pop up that I hadn't seen before. I am still trying to figure out the final layout of the gauges and am trying to make sure there is available wiring run for it before the dash cover goes back on. New trim retaining clips were ordered today so hopefully, while I am waiting for them, the seats can be removed and the carpets cleaned. There is also the issue of the panel behind the seats and figuring out how to fix my screw up on making the sun visor holes in the head liner too big.  The sun visors still need sown together, so I have a little time to figure it out. I am also waiting for the LED lamps for the dome light before putting it back in.

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy