I am ready to pull the trigger on probably 2 harnesses for cars that do not have pre-done ones. So, I am going to buy generic "hot rod" harnesses for them. 50yo wiring can go berkeley itself.
How many fuses would you go with?
Just basics for my 914, I may want power windows and other stuff for my Opel.
I generally grab a 18-21 circuit. It's overkill sometimes, but gives options for expanding in the future.
Also, American autowire. Only ones ill use anymore.
Try this: https://www.painlessperformance.com/
IIRC, Sanford has 12 circuits.
Basically, count up everything you want on a separate fuse and go from there.
Dusterbd13-michael said:I generally grab a 18-21 circuit. It's overkill sometimes, but gives options for expanding in the future.
This. I was thinking at least 20 to be safe.
I'm going to be at 12 I think for D2D... and that has roll up windows.
My Land Rover came from the factory with 2 fuses :)
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Yeah, but my german cars can park on a piece ot paper and not oil soak it. :P
Back when I bought a Painless Wiring unit, they came with no schematic. You'll need to figure it out if it's being used in anything other than a GM application. Specifically, some of the circuits are live all the time, and some only when the ignition is on.
I built the original harness for my Locost with 22 on two different fuse panels, one always on and one switched. When I rebuilt the harness last winter, I eliminated the always on fuse panel and only have a 12 circuit system. This is for a very basic system, no power windows, heater, radio, etc. If you expect to have those I would do a minimum 20. I am a fan of separating loads to separate fuses where possible so if there is an issue it limits what is impacted and makes it easier to dignose.
FieroReinke said:I built the original harness for my Locost with 22 on two different fuse panels, one always on and one switched.
dang, that's pretty smart.
I installed an Advance Autowire British car universal harness, which wasn't too bad, other than it not really being meant for the car I installed it in (too big for a Spitfire). The one advantage is it used orginal Lucas color coding for the wires, so anyone familiar with British car wiring would know what they're looking at. They have schematics for the TR6 or MGB on the website.
Advance use 8 fuses and a fair number of relays for larger loads. It might work well for a 914 or an Opal. They also sell relay kits if you want/need more circuits. The downside, however, is the fuse/relay panel is not small. Years ago, there were rumors of a "micro" sized fuse/relay panel but I've only heard of it when talking to the rep in person at Carlisle some years ago. Still not on the website. I found they didn't quite give me enough wiring, so I had to order some bulk wire in the correct colors from British Wiring.
In reply to preach (dudeist priest) :
Can I choose where we put the piece of paper?
In reply to preach (dudeist priest) :
This is an interesting subject. Thinking now about a race only car with ignition, brake lights, fuel pump, and alternator. ( Plus power for a on board lap top)
5 circuits, but one ( the fuel pump) needs 50 amp circuit breaker. I don't know how much to use on the ECU ?
I dug through the back end for anything we might have on wiring, and here's what I found so far. Hopefully they help:
In reply to frenchyd :
Injectors? O2 heaters? Wipers? Cool suit? Datalogger? Camera? Gauges?
Consider yourself fortunate. The Jaguar F-Type R has around six fuse blocks and 125 fused circuits - no kidding.
12 is easy: I added 6 to the 6 stock circuits on my Volvo 122 just for non-stock stuff like lights, horns, fuel pump and such. It's enough but in retrospect I should have added a 12 circuit panel in addition to the stock harness.
Keith Tanner said:In reply to frenchyd :
Injectors? O2 heaters? Wipers? Cool suit? Datalogger? Camera? Gauges?
I'm assuming the injectors are controlled by the ECU. Not likely to buy a camera but it's a circuit that wouldn't be too hard. Gauges? I'm really more inclined to use mechanical than electric. The cool suit probably could go right on the camera circuit. Data logger? ;-) I don't want any record of past transgressions. Actually as I understand it the engine data will be recorded by the lap top.
As for driver input? Vintage racing. Not in the proper spirit.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Thank you, That should give me plenty to study tonight.
I find that the 20+ circuits are only a few more bucks than the 12-18 circuit kits, so I usually go bigger so I have more circuits to play with later.
frenchyd said:Keith Tanner said:In reply to frenchyd :
Injectors? O2 heaters? Wipers? Cool suit? Datalogger? Camera? Gauges?
I'm assuming the injectors are controlled by the ECU. Not likely to buy a camera but it's a circuit that wouldn't be too hard. Gauges? I'm really more inclined to use mechanical than electric. The cool suit probably could go right on the camera circuit. Data logger? ;-) I don't want any record of past transgressions. Actually as I understand it the engine data will be recorded by the lap top.
As for driver input? Vintage racing. Not in the proper spirit.
Injectors are controlled by the ECU, but that's not the same as powered by the ECU. Same with the O2 heater - depending on the ECU. Or the wideband controller. None of these are hard, but you really need a full list of everything that's going to be pulling power if you're designing a system, especially if you want them to be independent so that losing your wideband O2 doesn't mean your injectors shutting down. One ends your race, one probably just increases fuel consumption.
Not sure what you mean by driver input. Are gauges not allowed in vintage racing?
I assumed the data logger takes steering, throttle, speed, etc inputs and transposes them over the track to aide driver development. That's not really vintage.
Engine data is logged by the lap top with inputs from ECU. ( at least that's what I think).
I'm assuming sensor inputs into the ECU aren't protected.
But then I'm a newbie and this is all to keep my age riddled brain alive by firing off excess plaque.
The Gauges are mostly going to be Stewart Warner mechanical because, Vintage. Doubt there's a rule about it but it just seems like what I want to do. ( I also want to drip Caster Bean Oil on the exhaust manifolds so others can smell what real vintage racing is about). I might even send to Castrol for a couple of Castrol R decals. Think that will offend the Quaker State oil company? 
Driver development isn't vintage? Are you only allowed to let your wife run a stopwatch with a clipboard?
Sensor inputs into the ECU aren't usually run through a fuse, but the feed to those sensors probably is. You will definitely need a feed for your injectors, and it's your call whether that's on the same circuit as the ECU or not - if one loses power, it's probably not important that the other one continue to function. I'd get the wiring diagram for that ECU or the whole car if you're cutting down a production harness and make a list of all your circuits. That was the first thing I did when I rewired my Land Rover, a list of all the circuits cross-checked against the need. And I threw some extras in there, such as auxiliary lights in case I ever wanted to run them - such as your laptop or camera power. If you ever run at night (I've seen vintage night races, I know they're real) you'll want to provide power for lighting for those mechanical gauges. And what if you want a shift light? What about a rain light? Is that tied to the wiper circuit? Or is rain not historically accurate? ;)
Keith Tanner said:
What about a rain light? Is that tied to the wiper circuit? Or is rain not historically accurate? ;)
Modern rain could be historically improbable 
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