Ok... Next we have the completed part of the dash removal to fit the EL/ED column, the ED trip computer, the EL cruise and EL variable int wipers...

Success in the end

All went well as you've seen above, I made up two looms... We pulled the dash out of our spares car on the sat and then sat arvo I taped up two looms, one for the cruise and the second for the trip computer... So I pulled the dash loom out of the spare car and made my looms to run along the Ford Factory loom with all the take offs in the right places...

The sat we got the dash out and I discovered that damn leaking heater core and did all the dash wiring for the cruise, trip computer, power window trigger off the unlocked doors... Sunday we had visitors so I got the EEC wires run, these being Pin 34 (which was in the exisitng plug so I just added the pin into the dash plug) for the trip computer and possible EL cluster, Pin 36 for a possible El cluster, you will notice this wire is in a negative braid for its length so I ran my wire down inside this braid also to prevent any unwanted noise/inductance on it... and I ran a spare which for the time being is in pin 15 BBM trigger... I though hey this triggers at 3800rpm which is close enough to 4000rpm which is where ED's develop max torque which would make a great shift light trigger... One day... Maybe... Any way if I decide to do it the wire is there...

I also hooked up pin 33 and 53 which are the thermo fan trigger wires out to my already positioned EL thermofan relays... So once the cam is in I can plug an EEC-IV straight in and fit the thermos and its like a factory EL then...

As I was left to have whole week to think of possible future mods and run the wiring now I decided to do a few things... I added wiring to enable the use of footwell lighting (run with the dash loom and neater than the previous wiring)... And also added a kill switch... And for the sake of optimising the antenna button (now as I don't have an elect ariel) I ran it in series with the amp trigger for I can turn the subwoofer on and off as I please, mainly for listening to music with the car off and not wanting to go flat... Otherwise having a switch there with no use is more pointless...

I tidied up some things... Changed a hep of the speed nuts from the a*** type threads to the fine type threads... Got the dash in on Wed night... And then was left to have dramas with the fitment of the EL column... So I left it for the night and as I had Friday off I had a fiddle with it then... The EL column upper was 90 degrees offset from where it was meant to be... No big deal for the wheel fitment... But was a big deal for the clock spring fitment... I was nearlly going to modify the clock spring but then realised if I offset it by 90 degrees then the blinkers would cancel in the wrong place... So the last result was out with the angle grinder and to grind two flats onto the 90 degree offset sides... which worked a treat... The steering wheel still taper locks on the remaining tapers so there is no drama there...

Second drama was the hole centres in the EL column are different to the ED column where it bolts up to the pedal box... So I had to remove it again and pull the bracket off the ED column and swap it out with the EL one... For this I kept the plastic EL handle, the EL spacer, the EL spring and only swapped the over to the ED bracket... Note that the bolts in this thing are reverse thread... To avoid cutting the the EL bracket off (as it wraps right around the column) you can pop the circlip out and slide hammer the bearing out (gently) and separate the two column halves again and slide it off that way...

After this I trained the new barrel and then hit the key and off it went... Tried the kill switch which worked great and proceeded then to re-fit all the trimmings back to everything... Took it for a drive and like (was it Honda's ad on TV?) said "isn't it nice when things just work"... The trip computer worked first time and the cruise worked first time... To confirm something BenJ was unsure about when he fitted his EL cruise module, the EL cruise will work with the ED cluster where you don't have a "speedo out" pin as it says it requires... It works fine with the "speedo in" pin of the cluster...

So enough of the jargon now and some pics hey?




And a couple of other pics, first of the crimp thing on the cruise cable


This one here of the cruise module tucked in beside the booster... These things are a very tight fit when you are running the dual diaphragm booster... Only just makes it, obviously the crappy plastic ones on the EF/EL's were not as fat as this sucker...


And a bit more to come...

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Last bit is this... the EL cruise cable was easy to re-route as it was intended for the BBM manifold... Its a darn shame the accelerator wasn't a few inches longer to follow it perfectly... But this is how a re-routed the pair of them:



Now I hear you saying... Why the hell did I do this? Simple... I'm sick of replacing bloody cables where they clip to the rocker cover is a wank of an idea as the motor vibrates and moves, right where are they are clipped is where they always start to break the outside plastic off... I've replaced 1 cruise cable, and am now due for an accelerator cable... So what I have done is not perfect but it has to better than what it was before... Sick of them braking... As I said if the accelerator cable could be a few inches longer to run exactly parallel to the cruise cable... But it works alright for now...

Please post any ideas, comments or criticism... Bye for now...

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Hello... *Waits for the echo*

Is there anybody out there? I thought there might others interested in sort of thing? Maybe it is a tad too in depth for most people? Nothing like the feeling of knowing you're getting really really carried away and going completely bonkas with a mod haha...

Oh well... It has been done and is possible for any possible onlookers... I proved that it can be done very easily... Variable in wipers, I have discovered can be added without a column change, using the ED combo switch, the arms look like they are interchangeable off the EL combo onto the ED combo... So more boxcar owners could do this more easily... Then all you gotta do is wire the 6 wires for the timer in... There is easier ways of doing it... Only reason I went full hog with the column was to suit the EL cruise better with the set - button...

Cheers,
Tim

Hey Ash,

I had this one just to get the car going...

When I get an au momo wheel I'll get an AU airbag (black one), remove the rubber pad and detonate it and then pop rivet the horn pad back on... That way its not there and can't ever accidently go off from not being connected (although the plug shorts it when you unplug it)

Cheers mate,
Tim

So they still have a square shank?

Are the clock springs different, and if so do I have to mount a BA combo switch (which means I have to remove the headlight switch, or not use one of them), which might mean a BA upper column section? Just to get the covers on and mount the combo switch/clock spring?

Might turn out to be a big mod, and maybe really hard... Advantage with what I've done so far is its cheap and simple... I'd have to find a BA column and see whether the two halves can be merged...

Cheers Ash,
Tim

Good to see your attention to detail as usual Tim.

I like your work mate. I get remotivated when I read your updates.

Keep up with what you are doing.

Cheers
BenJ

Hey Ash,

It all depends whether the BA wheel will work with the EF/EL clock spring (if the wires come out in the same spot?) If it will then yeah its not worries... If I have to run a BA clock spring, it might not mate to the EF/EL clock spring... Unless you or someone else can confirm this?



Thanks for the remarks Ben... There is always plenty of modding to be done

Cheers guys,
Tim

Cheers mate...

Definitely a massive surround... thats for sure...

It would be nice to find an aftermarket cd player that had inputs so you could set it up to work with factory buttons... Like just change the resistors in them to whatever the cd player required... If I could do that then that would be very nice...

hmm... definitely something to look into one day... wait for a BA wheel to turn up somewhere and see if it fits...

Thanks for that trouble...

as my internet is currently maxed and slowed, I currently struggle to view anything other than Fordmod's simple pages...

But I did load up the Clarion website and their cd-less headunits state half way down the page "OEM steering wheel remote wired interface capability"

So when I have downloads back tomorrow I'll do some more research... It might be possible and if it is I'll def go this way... I just can't go with having a whole of heap of buttons there that don't do a darn thing... Hence the EL cruise buttons over the AU ones...

I'll look into it anyway and see what works...

As always thanks for the input Ash

yeah cheers... nice to have it finally done and be able to clean up all the s**t I had lying around for it...

Next mods will be the cam and the Lokka I still have lying around... The old man is just waiting on the return of the businesses dial indicators for the cam and the diff spreader for the Lokka...

Cheers for now...

Tim

Sucess on using factory steering wheel radio controls with aftermarket radios:

http://www.thecat.net.au/about.htm

Might be worth changing to an AU set up now with AU combo switch, AUII/III cruise buttons and buying a headunit that will work with the cat...

This would be a very neat mod to do...

Cheers ash...

Looks like 6 wires in that clock spring...

And a different plug on the combo to the EL one too?

Anybody want to sell some AU parts?

Clock spring, combo, AUII/III switches and plugs off dash loom for combo switch

Cheers,
Tim

and the AUI combo switch looks like the same plug as the EL... But maybe extra pins for the cruise on off... Looks like we are calling for another patch harness and set up some EL gear now... First to find some cheap parts...

haha I have those atm...

I'll look into all this... Hassle some important people and see what good it does me... Chase some cheaper parts and have a stab at bodgying something up to half work...

If it does it'll be awesome and extremely neat...

The cat has two options, wired, or wireless... The recommend putting the IR sender in the roof light... I'm not taking the hood lining out to get that in there... I'll go for a wired option...

Yeah will do... and sort out what there wiring is...

Red is power
Black is earth
Blue is connected to antenna (to sense radio mode)
Brown is Red/Blk Trace (looks like the wire in the on/off buttons?)
Green is Orange/Blk Trace (where the hell is this?)

I'll get there anyway... something to keep me amused...