Wiring progress

Sorry I did not post last week. Laziness was unbeatable.

This week, my arm felt better than it has in 3 months. I was able to bowl on Monday and work about 5 hours on the car. I made some very good progress on wiring the Cobra. I planned the wire runs that go to the starter motor and did more on the alternator. I got all the wire into the convoluted tubing that works like a wire conduit and was able to mostly use some existing screws to fasten it down. I did have to drill a couple of holes in the frame for a couple of mounting hooks. This was very difficult work, lying on my back under the car with about a quarter inch clearance. Great test of the arms.

Next I had to cut the wires to the right length so they would be able to connect to the starter motor, but not too long to potentially drag or be exposed under the car. Measure twice, cut once.

After that I had to affix various terminators on the ends of the wires. Mostly they were ring or eyelet connectors, or spade connectors. This again required crimping in very cramped space under the car.

I also had to splice on a couple of fusible links to two of the wires. These are basically wires that have a built-in fuse like capability to blow if there are shorts that would threaten to do damage to the electrical parts. This was a little nerve-wracking in that I had to get it right the first time. No simply cutting it off and trying again if I made a mistake. Fortunately, everything went together beautifully.

For the week, I got all the wires terminated and in place, with one exception, so I have not tightened down everything onto the final posts. I will do that soon, after I resolve one wire question I still have about something called an "exciter" wire. Basically, it runs from the key switch to the alternator to tell it to start up right when you turn the key. The wire that came with my kit has a weird connector on it that I have to research a bit more.

So I do not have any final pictures this week. Laziness may have been defeated for the week, but not completely.