I've been kind of dragging my feet on the wiring but tonight I decided it was time to jump in. I started with mounting the power-on relay. This relay will activate when the key is turned on and send +12 volts to the fuse/relay panel, effectively creating a set of circuits that are only powered up with the key on.

I used this exact relay in my XJ6L project last year and it worked very well.



I'm 99% certain this will be the home for the fuse/relay box. It will be easy to access and I like the central location. I do need to re-assemble the dash and make sure nothing is in the way but I think it's going to be a good location.


The last thing I did was to wire up the new Speedhut gauges I picked up a few months back. This was the first time I had all of them powered up.

The radiator shop won't be finished with my fuel tanks until next week, so the amended plan for this weekend is to finish the exhaust and finish wiring up 5 circuits.

 

LOVE the guages!

 

Thomas, don't overlook the treasure trove of fans and shrouds in the salvage yards. Most oem are over-built compared to aftermarkets, and move more air. Also pwm supplies are pretty cheap as is series/parallel wiring (2 fans) for hi/low speeds (I did this on my corvette and is used by gm).
Bill S

 

Bill,
That's a good idea - unfortunately most of the salvage yards near me don't let you wander the yard. It's all based on "tell me what you need from year/make/model". I miss the junk yards where I grew up in the south that let you roam freely but you had to watch out for cotton mouths.
Thomas

 

I assume that you are a baseball fan since you made the reference. And living in Chicago, I assume you fancy one team over the other. I have an immediately family member who happens to work in the front office. He was scout at the time but holds another position now, but got to try this boulder on from 2016:



(So either you think that is cool or the worst thing in the world...or indifferent as your allegiance lies elsewhere, just thought I'd share though!)

I am in the South, so still have those! I live in them often and, in fact, have thought of starting my own. My wife will tell you I have already done so "on accident"!

Mike

 

Yep, U-pullit yards all around me. Like a good fishing trip, I love going out hunting parts, good therapy.
Bill S

 

I have been busy.

First, I was able to finish the exhaust system today. Earlier this week I posted the down pipes from the manifold; here is the business end of those. I connected it to a section of flex pipe for two reasons. One, I wanted the engine to be able to move without torqueing the exhaust system. Secondary to that routing it this way keeps the exhaust heat away from the transmission.



Right about the mid-point of the car is a resonator.


The muffler is mounted under the trunk.


The center section of the exhaust goes through the frame and I wanted to make sure that the system could expand but not move enough to bang against the frame. I made some stainless steel exhaust brackets.


The silicone exhaust grommet will help keep heat off the frame.


Two stainless steel V-band clamps were used. This allows the system to easily be removed in the future if needed.


This is the left side of the transmission where the exhaust originally ran. I decided to trade ground clearance for keeping the exhaust away from the transmission.


I rolled her out in the sun to check ground clearance.


The flex pipe aft of the down pipes is the lowest part but it's still more than double the ground clearance of my MGB.


There's plenty of clearance at the muffler.
After the exhaust manifolds everything is stainless steel so rust won't be an issue.


With the car in the driveway I took the opportunity to clean up the garage. This is a 10" stack of Jaguar crankshaft pulleys I acquired through this project.


With the garage cleaned up I pushed the car back in the garage and got busy wiring. I started with running the 2 gauge cable from the alternator to the battery, then moved to the inside. First up was bringing the "key on" power into the fuse/relay box (the white wire on the left).


I started with the heater fan. I'm sticking with the original factory wiring color scheme even though the brown looks black in this picture.


When I completely re-wired my MGB a decade back I used tape to hold wires together. That was a mistake as if you needed to run another wire you had to undo the tape then re-tape.
This time I am saving the tape for last; I'm using velcro wraps to hold the wires together until I am sure I am done.


With the heater fan wired it was time to test the circuit. It worked on the first try.

 

I ended up going backwards a little bit today. The modular fuse/relay box had some quality control issues and when a relay was pushed in - some of the connectors on the back would fall out. Or all of them would fall out. I tried re-seating them and bending the prongs so there was more engagement but my efforts to get it work were futile. I started thinking about what would happen a few years down the road if a relay needed to be replaced and some or all of the connectors fell out. I decided the risk was too great and went shopping for a different fuse/relay panel.

I consider myself lucky this happened on the 2nd relay and not the last one.

I looked at what Painless Wiring has to offer and although it was cool that they print what the circuit is on the wire, I wanted to stay with the original color scheme. In the end I found a different style fuse/relay box that I'll try out.

With that small setback handled, I kept on with wiring. I pulled the headlight dipper switch so I could clean the contacts.


I added a deutsch connector to make it easier to attach the wiring when it is in place.


The alternator got a dedicated ground to eliminate any charging issues. I also wired up the ignition light circuit.


My wife made a special appearance in the garage tonight to help out.


I added a power post to the firewall to limit the amount of connections need to be made at the battery.


Last on the list was installing the heater valve and making most of the heater hoses. I need one more silicone elbow before I can finish the cooling system.

 

I'm back on track. Amazon delivered a pair of fuse/relay boards today and I am pleased to see they work as expected.


I was concerned the relays were surface mounted to the PCB (which would have made replacement of a bad relay effectively impossible) but I was happy to see each relay has a socket.
The LEDs which show the state of each relay are a nice touch and will be helpful for troubleshooting.


I mounted the first panel to the firewall and re-wired the circuits for the heater fan and the starter.


Between following the factory wire color scheme and the printable heat-shrink labels, the wiring will be easy to troubleshoot if needed.


I did add a small, 4-fuse panel for a few circuits that don't need a relay.

 

Another busy night in the garage. I was able to get within one hose section of plumbing the heater system. I was supposed to order two 90° 1/2" silicone elbows but I only ordered one. That will here tomorrow and then I can finish the cooling system and fill it with anti-freeze.

Tonight I wired up a couple more circuits and continue to make steady progress. The bigger circuits still lay ahead of me - all the exterior lighting and the fuel pumps - but this is one of those deals where you slow down now to go faster later.

I did make the executive decision tonight to not install the AC condenser in front of the radiator right now. If this was a work project I would talk about how the Minimal Viable Product is being able to drive around the block and AC can come later on in iteration 2 or 3. I can focus on that over the winter.

After installing and rough wiring the cooling fan I had two thoughts. The first was that the 14" fan moves a lot of air. The second was that if I get a smaller condenser I could probably fit a 16" fan in front of the stack if I was lucky. That being said, here is is the 14" fan doing its job.

 

That fan will do the job I think, Thorsen!
My own bet, respectfully offered, is that you should go with the thinner radiator (in fact thinner ones often cool better than thicker ones) and make room for the aircon and the fan that way. A shame to ditch the rad, but it willl be a better installtion, as we know an unsatisfactory work around ( a slight 'bodge') will eventually get to you....

 

I always appreciate hearing the opinions of others, especially yours, as I am by no means an expert. I'll see what radiator options are available but to your point - if I am able to find one that is 1" thinner I should be able to mount a puller fan.

 

I second that!

 

I had 3 goals tonight: hook up the transmission cooler, finish the cooling system, and wire up the brake light circuit. I scored 2.5 out of 3.

The transmission cooler was an easy one. Nylon AN hoses are so much easier to work with than braided stainless steel and I like the look.
After tightening the fittings, I put 4 quarts of ATF in the transmission. With the quart I dumped in the torque converter I should be fairly close on fluid level.



After that I put the grill back on. It has been sitting on my workbench for the last 4 months.


The last hose for the heater came in today and I was able to button up the cooling system.
I only had a half gallon sitting on the shelf but I have 3 more gallons on the way Friday.


The brake light circuit is where I only scored half a point. I was able to wire up from the brake light switch to the relay easily enough, but the wire from the relay to the lights is where I ran into trouble. I didn't realize that the wiring harness for the rear lights and fuel level senders go over the rear doors. I'm not a fan of that and I don't want to remove the headliner. I need to see if I can run them under the car.

 

I spent some time browsing the radiators at Summit Racing tonight. I need something 17.5" wide and about 22" tall at the most. The current radiator I have is 2.75" thick.

Radiators for classic Mustangs dominated the search and I actually have experience with those. I put one in my MGB a few years back when I upgraded the engine and wanted to make sure I had enough capacity for the bigger engine and air conditioning.


eBay was a better place to shop for those, so I went over and found a 2-row Mustang radiator that is only 1.5" thick. It also comes with a built in transmission cooler. It's a little wider than I need it to be but I learned from my MGB project that the sides can be trimmed easily.



I'll take a deeper look at these over the winter. I appreciate the suggestion!

 

100% do not touch the headliner! Plenty of space under the car.

I have a small bet with myself that the new rad will arrive well before the winter, perhaps once Madame has been given enough time to forgive the cost of the current one?

 

Madame has no clue what any of this has cost which is probably for the best.

 

They knoww, they always know...

 

I do like the look of that!
Yes indeed, that will keep that trans Way cool!
Along with a good in-line filter and magnets in the pan, it will be Decades of hard driving before that trans wears out.
Decades, I say!
(';')

 

I ask Madame tonight at dinner if she had any idea how much I have spent on this Jaguar. She said she had no idea. Then she asked me how much I had spent and although I don't know the exact answer to the question, I made a quick estimation and added about 30% to that. Madame did not choke on her drink or seem upset so I guess I have more money to spend

Tonight I spent some time with the factory wiring diagram to see how they got the single bulb with two filaments in each rear light to do the function of tail light, brake light, and turn signal. That's two filaments (one bright, one dim) doing three jobs. It quickly became apparent that the turn signal/brake light relay served an important part of this function so I dug it out of the trunk and cleaned it up.

The functioning is quit simple and Jaguar was able to do with two relays what probably would have taken a handful for me to do. If the brake is depressed with no turn signals then both of the bright filaments in each tail light are lit. If a turn signal is switched on with no brake light, then that bright filament is light. If the brake is depressed and the left turn signal is selected, the bright filament on the right side is continuously lit while the bright filament in the left flashes. The secret is the bridge piece you see on the bottom part of the relay.
The dim bulb on either side has the sole function of being a tail light.

This isn't the most exciting topic so if you're still reading I thank you for your support.


I had closed the hood to do some cleaning up and I always feel drawn to this emblem. It's a much better look than the Leaper and still better than the more modern Growler face.