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Everything posted by JohnCh
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What I did assumes you will find the correct wires, a suitable mounting place for the relay, and then make all the connections. I did a major rewire of my dash loom so where I placed the relay won't be applicable to your car. If you aren't comfortable with automotive wiring, then this might not be the best thing to undertake. It would be a fiddly job with the scuttle in place and requires you to trace and confirm wires to ensure you have the right ones. That said, I often do things that I have no right doing, and I haven't killed myself...yet. If you aren't familiar with how a standard 4 or 5 pole automotive relay works, it's worthwhile doing a quick search. There are a number of youtube videos that dig into it and make it clear. I wired mine with a standard 4-pole normally closed automotive relay available at any auto parts store or Amazon. It's nothing special. You could also do it with a 5 pole (change-over) relay. As you watch the videos, remember that the coil is operated by the side lights, and it should make sense. In my case pins are as follows 30 - switched 12v+ (controlled by ignition key) 87 - wire to DRL 12v+ 86 - sidelight 12v+ 85 - ground Because the relay is normally closed rather than normally open, power flows between 30 and 87 to the DRLs when the ignition is on. When the headlights are switched to position 1 or 2, power to the sidelight operates the coil and breaks the connection between 30 and 87 and the DRLs switch off. You certainly don't need to do this now, but you don't want to connect the red and green wires in the headlight bowl unless you cut the red wire where you would wire in the relay. Otherwise, the DRL will come on with your headlights.
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The relay is set up so that when the ignition is on, the DRL gets power and turns on. When the headlights are turned to position 1 (side lights only) or 2 (side lights + headlights) the relay changes from closed to open and turns off the DRLs. This is how many (most?) modern cars are set up. I seem to recall Canada even requires this functionality in new cars. The rationale for turning off the DRLs with the headlights is to avoid blinding someone at night. In your case, with the DRL in the headlight housing, if they are sufficiently bright to be effective in the daylight, they are probably adding enough output to your low beams to blind, or at least annoy, an oncoming driver.
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Are these the factory LEDs or another brand? Side light is British for parking light. For my standalone DRLs, I used a normally closed relay that feeds the DRLs from a switched 12v+ and powered the coil from the sidelights so that when they are on (including when the headlights are on) the relay turns off the DRLs. I did this during a major scuttle-off rewiring project so can't tell you exactly where to splice into those wires. I would repurpose the red wire as you describe provided there is no side light functionality in the new LED. For the turn signal, I'd run a new wire back into the body and splice into the turn signal wire there to keep things clean. I'd also wire everything temporarily to ensure things works as expected before cutting anything.
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@CBuff great tip on the Epson. Mine arrived over the weekend and worked well in testing. I wish I had this when wiring the Caterham.
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That's a big chunk of weight to jettison. Yeah, you just screwed yourself
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Mystery switch under the hood-----can you identify?
JohnCh replied to mrmustang's topic in General Tech
I only mention it, because if that's what it's for, it's a nice thing to have. -
Mystery switch under the hood-----can you identify?
JohnCh replied to mrmustang's topic in General Tech
Is it possible it's a low oil pressure switch to trigger a dash light? -
Very interesting! By any chance do you have before and after weights of the harness, or the weight of the enormous pile of wires removed? I'm looking forward to hearing how the other harness goes in. BTW if you didn't see it, there is a current thread with tips on building a wiring harness that might be of interest for the upcoming car:
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Thanks, I may give that a try. Wrapping the dymo labels around small wire seems fraught with redo opportunities given my ham-fisted nature. As you note, I can always top it with clear heat shrink.
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I didn't know that exists. How well does it work and how well does the heat shrink and printing hold up? I was planning on using Dymo labels covered by clear heat shrink on my project, but this would save a lot of time.
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My point wasn't for Vlad to buy a '95 993. I don't think it checks his other boxes I was simply using that as a data point for Croc's comment about OBDII being an inflection point.
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To give a real-world example, Porsche 993s, sold from '95-'98, use Secondary Air Injectors (SAI) as part of the emissions system. The SAI ports have a tendency to clog over time. When this occurs, there is zero effect on drivability and cars still pass the tail pipe sniff test. However, if the car is a '96 or later with OBDII, that system throws an error code that is an automatic emissions fail. The fix is labor intensive and expensive. My car is a '95. In this situation, ignorance is bliss.
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I decided to make some wall swag yesterday by tracing the Caterham font and the lotus logo from the '60s and 3D printing them. For scale, the Caterham letters are 4" tall and the spelled-out word is almost 50", whereas the Lotus logo is a bit smaller, with the ACBC portion 6.5" in diameter. I've included a couple of closeups to show the finish of both logos.
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@Geowiz did the answers and photos provided above get you sorted?
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What have I done? Two N00bs Try to Resurrect a 7
JohnCh replied to YourEconProf's topic in Build Threads
I went through the photos. This car has a lot of things I haven't seen before. What are you plans for it? Do you want something streetable or are you keeping it as a dedicated track car? I've seen double silencers before to meet strict track noise regulations, but I've never seen a setup where the exhaust ends at the rear of the scuttle. I'd think that location would pump exhaust into the cabin. Is this the throttle return spring or just a helper? It looks like the loop at the end is intended to attach to the bolt next to it. -
What have I done? Two N00bs Try to Resurrect a 7
JohnCh replied to YourEconProf's topic in Build Threads
Based on the wiring you inherited with the Caterham, that will come in handy I fixed your upside down image. See this help guide to understand how to fix it yourself and why it happens. Short version is your camera was upside down when you took the photo. -
@dvl thanks for starting this thread. It's great timing as I'm just in the beginning stages of rewiring my Elan. Although I'm using the Elan loom from Advance Auto Wire as my starting point (modern GXL wire in traditional British colors, twelve fuses, not two, all relays and fuses in one location, detailed color-coded schematic, etc), the routing and termination methods are on me, and not all are decided yet. I do plan to use Deutsch Connectors as shown in your photos but hadn't considered lacing cord rather than zip ties. Am I correct the benefit to that approach is no sharp edges, and no danger of heat and time embrittling the plastic? Thanks, John
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I think there is interest. Beachman Racing organized a short tour for his customers centered out of Suncadia in 2023. Then, last summer, some customers jumped in to help plan a follow-up tour to Walla Walla, which had 9 or 10 cars. My understanding is they want to keep these going, which is great, but I'm not clear on the actual appetite to proactively open it up to all brands. I've heard the organizers aren't opposed to the idea, but the name of the private FB group is PNW Caterham Club, which doesn't exactly sound welcoming to a non-Caterham owner. Personally, I'm more interested in multi-marque se7en tours and get togethers. For me, it doesn't matter if it's a Locost built for the GRM $2000 challenge, a Donkervoort F22, or anything in between (including a real Lotus). I love seeing the different approaches. Hopefully others will chime in with their interest level. BTW moving this to the Pacific forum to aid future discoverability but will leave a forward link in General Discussions for a month.
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Have you checked for a resistor pack between the ECU and injectors? It's possible someone added something to compensate for the low impedance.
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This is also how Lotus did it in the Elan. It wouldn't surprise me if the parts are the same to save money. There are a few people here with Elans that might be able to take measurements for you. I'm happy to measure mine, but my Elan is a Stromberg car, which may have different dimensions than the DCOE airbox.
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We have members who live in the LA area or have friends and family there who are dealing with the ongoing devastation. I've heard from one se7en owner who had a proximity scare and is still under evacuation watch, but I'm sure others are dealing with something similar. One of the great things about the forum is that it's not just a transactional place to ask questions; all of you have helped build this into a true community. If anyone is in the LA area and needs some assistance, or if you are in that area and unaffected and can offer help -- even if it's just safe storage of a se7en -- please chime in. Thanks, John
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Without further evidence, I agree. Although Raceline does make a 250hp spec Zetec, it is an expensive build that includes lots of head work, larger valves, forged rods and pistons with very high compression, etc. They aren't very common over here. This doesn't mean it's not that spec, but I'd want some proof. What ECU is in it now? It might also be worth pulling the valve cover to see if there are any markings on the cams. That would give a better idea of what's been done: stock or mild cams, then probably stock internals. Very aggressive cams, then perhaps there is more done inside. Also, if it is an '83, I believe that is still an Ital axle (others will know). As I recall those can't take massive amounts of power, which would mean yours might have been swapped to the English axle or that the engine is not heavily modified. Getting some pics of the diff could help here. Sounds like a fun project!
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Ah, the shiny car! The Miata engine with throttle bodies caught my eye. That isn't overly common in Miata circles over here. I'd be curious to find out the ECU brand and who did the tuning. Is a dyno sheet available? Given it's new, it's down to assembly quality. I'd ask for a lot of detailed photos to see if there are any obvious short cuts taken.
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@Vovchandr is reasonably correct (note the intentional language so I don't end up a victim in his signature). Barring someone responding that they are in the area and can check it out, sharing some information about the car (brand, year, engine, etc.) could generate a list of specific things to check.
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@Frankie are you asking why they were still using that badge on a 2010, or why there have been two 50-year anniversary badges with different starting years? If the latter, the one above was to celebrate the start of the Lotus Seven in 1957. The more recent badge was to celebrate Caterham taking over production in 1973.