Polarity

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Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
folks,

It had never crossed my mind before, but does anyone know whether S1 Vixens are negative or positive earth? I don't have the original coil so I can't see the markings. The only one I have good photos of in this area is converted to alternator and is neg earth, but could have been changed over.

Dollyman1850

6,318 posts

250 months

Saturday 25th June 2016
quotequote all
I am pretty sure all were Negative earth.
Some also had wiring alterations regarding Dynamo versus alternator but all the Vixens I have come across are Neg earth.
Not sure if some very early granturas may have been pos earth but again I haven't seen any!

N.

Dollyman1850

6,318 posts

250 months

Sunday 26th June 2016
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Interestingly I think the positive earth system was eventually phased out because it was proven to create galvanic corrosion in cars more aggressively than running the current t'other way round!!

Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Sunday 26th June 2016
quotequote all
OK, I am pretty sure the answer is negative earth, thanks Neil
Cortina 1600Es were negative earth, which is where my gauges come from and the only tacho I have says 4 cylinder negative earth on the front in (very) tiny writing. So as long as I have the correct gauges, then I think i am right....

Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Sunday 26th June 2016
quotequote all
incidentally, in order to discover this, I opened my box of assorted wiring. The loom has been cut into at least 4 pieces, and none of it is labelled.

think I need to sit down with a cup of tea now

Fortunately wiring is some time away, but I am hoping to get the engine in the chassis in the next month or so, so I need a basic loom so I can make up a control panel and start her up (rubs hands in anticipation!)

RCK974X

2,521 posts

149 months

Monday 27th June 2016
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If it's any help, when I built kits, I would typically start with a whole loom from a vehicle and then cut it down as required. Then you can keep most of the colour codes etc, and you get connectors, fuses etc for free.

It may work out less work than restitching an original loom which is already hacked about ?

I think you need only 5 wires to test start it - (battery leads, ignition supply and earth, and starter motor engage)
not like modern Efi systems !!

Edited by RCK974X on Monday 27th June 05:10

Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Yes, the plan is to create a minimal loom to get it going, then to add in some of the ancillaries to test them (tacho temp etc). I think the last owner may have been thinking of splitting the loom with multiway connectors, but I don't think it's a good idea to reuse an already hacked about loom. I may use it as a guide the build my own, or maybe buy a ready made one. I think Vixen looms are available.

I was hoping to update it by adding in some additional fuses and relays, for safety.

Out of interest, does anyone know how much it would cost to get it done professionally?

Dollyman1850

6,318 posts

250 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
If your car is relatively std then a new loom from Autosparks is about £350 from memory.
I went the Car Builder solutions route because I wanted something more modern and the ability to wire it all myself and make it neater.
The dash is easy just time consuming and it is best to just wire 1 gauge at a time and loosely clip everything together till you work out what route you are taking..

I basically joined the dots with the CBS kit and as someone who is red / green colour blind and hates electrics I managed…
I also used an additional fuse box for any additional circuits required.



The beauty of the CBS kit is that you can wire in your ignition circuit first before you wire anything else and fire the car!!

N.

V40Vinnie

863 posts

119 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Dollyman1850 said:
If your car is relatively std then a new loom from Autosparks is about £350 from memory.
I went the Car Builder solutions route because I wanted something more modern and the ability to wire it all myself and make it neater.
The dash is easy just time consuming and it is best to just wire 1 gauge at a time and loosely clip everything together till you work out what route you are taking..

I basically joined the dots with the CBS kit and as someone who is red / green colour blind and hates electrics I managed…
I also used an additional fuse box for any additional circuits required.



The beauty of the CBS kit is that you can wire in your ignition circuit first before you wire anything else and fire the car!!

N.
That's really neat wiring. I'm not colourblind but the wiring loom would confuse me so much

Clive-sz8cz

109 posts

104 months

Monday 27th June 2016
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I'm sure the MGB engined Vixen S1 I bought in 1981 was originally +ve earth, I remember fitting a cassette player (30+ years ago) and wrapping it in insulating tape so no wiring could short out against the casing. I eventually changed it to -ve earth to save hassle.

tomtrout

595 posts

163 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
I agree with Neil on this one. I ordered a ready made loom that was supposedly for the Vixen. It was expensive and had superfluous wiring and connectors that were not compatible with my S2. I suspect the same would happen if you ordered a loom for your S1. In the end I bought a very basic colour-coded loom from RAW for less than half the price and made up my own end connectors as required. It came with three basic looms (rear, instruments and engine bay), a pre-wired fuse box and indicator relay which you can either use tucked away under the dash, or modify to take the original style fuse box. You can then wrap it with cloth tape to give it the classic look it that's what you're looking for. Supplied with a simply wiring diagram. Very simple and so far has proved to be very reliable. I suspect the loom supplied by Car Builder Solutions would be a very similar product.

Andrew Gray

4,969 posts

149 months

Monday 27th June 2016
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Astacus said:
Yes, the plan is to create a minimal loom to get it going, then to add in some of the ancillaries to test them (tacho temp etc). I think the last owner may have been thinking of splitting the loom with multiway connectors, but I don't think it's a good idea to reuse an already hacked about loom. I may use it as a guide the build my own, or maybe buy a ready made one. I think Vixen looms are available.

I was hoping to update it by adding in some additional fuses and relays, for safety.

Out of interest, does anyone know how much it would cost to get it done professionally?
There is a lot of man hours rather than materials about a £1000 R spent on getting his MK1 Vixen done recently and although good not as neat as doing your self at your own leasure its rather relaxing once you get into it and well worth upgrading and hiding extra fuses and relays behind the dash but keeping the oiginals in the engine bay even if not used
Andrew


Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Monday 27th June 2016
quotequote all
Thanks All,

Who are RAW Andy?

tomtrout

595 posts

163 months

Tuesday 28th June 2016
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They make kit cars. http://www.striker-cars.co.uk/



Astacus

Original Poster:

3,382 posts

234 months

Tuesday 28th June 2016
quotequote all
Ah, OK thanks