Guest Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I've got completely stuck trying to thread the wires down through the headlight fitting On one side of the car. It's weird as I got all of the wires through on the other side in about 5 minutes! If I had to guess, I'd say the rubber grommet that I fitted to the bottom of the bracket whilst fitting all the front suspension is not a great fit and is stopping the wires coming through. I got a single wire down by pure chance (long green one for the indicator) and have tried all Sorts of tricks to use that wire to pull the others through by sticking them to it but that hasn't worked. I also tried getting some thick cotton threads through the hole from the other side (which I succeeded at) with a view to again using these to pull each of the wires through but still no luck. I've been trying for over 2 hours to make it work and am about ready to give up. Another possibility that I looked at was to take the headlight bracket back off again, thread the wires through it and then refit it back on the car. Problem is that the bolt head is being fouled by the anti roll bar at the front. Would I be right in thinking that if I undid the bolts for the brackets holding the ARB In place that I could slide it down and out the way a bit to get at the bolt to undo it? Is this likely to work or is there a better solution? Thanks in advance, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCol Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Similarly, I found threading the wires through difficult... In the end, I cut the connectors off, got the cables through OK and then soldered the ends back on (covering the joint with heatshrink of course) before plugging them into the block thingy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myothercarsa2cv Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I bunched the cables together with some leccy tape but staggered the connectors so only one at a time goes through (if you see what I mean). Untape once through, tug the excess through, et voila. If you think it's difficult now, wait until you try to get them out again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Indeed .... getting them out ... then in again with a little corrosion inside the tubes on a ten year old car is a real nightmare. Spray a bit of something like ACF50 in the tubes after you finish. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Both good suggestions so thanks for those. I'd quite happily cut the ends off and resolder them. Would just have to get a soldering iron but they can't be much can they? Completely understand the second idea regarding taping them up and staggering them. Unfortunately there are issues with this. I stupidly sprayed some rubber lubricant onto the grommet in the hope that may free things up. This now means that every cable that has been down the tube (all of them) is greasy and no tape will easily stick to it. that said, I did get one taped onto the long green wire that comes from the indicator pod exaclty as you described and I still couldn't pull through just the one cable. I think basically there isn't enough space on that side of the car for the connectors to come through so it might be a case of bare wires only in which case cutting them off would probably save me another couple of hours of my life that I'd never get back 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Good shout on the AC-50. Got some of that so will do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I've got a soldering iron if you are coming over on Friday 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grubbster Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 MOCA and SM25 - I think you are onn the older type headlamp brackets the new ones are far harder to thread wires through. Tom - I cut the pins off, removed the bracket, threaded the wires through (sleeved of course), refitted the bracket and crimped on new pins! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Thanks for the advice guys. I have since spoken to Derek at the factory and he has agreed to send me some new connectors (thanks Derek), so I'm going to have a go at cutting all the connectors off, recrimping and then soldering for good measure. £10 for a soldering iron from Maplin seemed like a deal too good to pass up but thanks again for the offer of another loan Charles Might see if I can get some sacrifical wires that I can stuff back up the tube from the other end (which seems to work much more easily) and then pull the wires I want back down through. I might even go so far as to solder the 2 wires together end on end so I know I dont have any sharp bits that could get snagged. Derek tells me they build the entire light assembly beforehand at the factory and fit them as they do the front suspension when the bracket is still loose and off the car. Apparently the build guide is going to be updated to reflect this. I'll let you know how I get on! Cheers Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigCol Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 the build guide is going to be updated Having been through it, I now see the grief of the Build Guide, the frustration of shortages etc as some sort of a rite of passage - you're not a real 7-builder unless you've been through it. Derek is a first class chap though who made my build significantly easier than if I'd been left entirely to my own devices! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I think the builds would actually be somewhat less exciting if everything was there from the start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grubbster Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 The pins are bettter crimped on rather than soldered Tom but it is a special crimp tool for econoseal pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 ....special tool? guess what, I have one of those 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grubbster Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Me too - but you're closer to Tom 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregs79 Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 the build guide is going to be updated Not soon enough for my build I'm guessing! :-( Just another thought, how about sending a wire coat hanger up from the opposite end and tape around that (provided it will stick given what you have said) and pull it through? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBKBABABTIM Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 I used garden twist tie, the stuff with very thin wire in the middle and green plastic flat coating. This passed though really easy then wrapped it round the wire with bit of masking tape over to protect it and to stop the connector catching as you pull it through the hole at the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Wooooooooo hooooooooooo, the buggers have finally come through. I managed to shove two wires back up the tube from the bottom, I then soldered 3 wires to one of them and the 2 remaining wires to the other. I taped around the soldering as it was a bit lumpy and I figured it could snag. I then did a lot of pulling back and forth of each of the sacrificial wires until the ones I wanted popped through the other side with them attached. Pic of my eventual solution here Now all I need to do is put the connectors back onto the wires which should be with me tomorrow. Gregs - my recommendation is fit the headlights to the brackets early on in the build and fitting the whole assembly to the car as you build up the front suspension. Will be a lot less painful. The only issue then though will be the headlights being in the way a bit when you fit the engine. Although you could briefly take the headlights off the brackets at that point and then refit After he engine has cleared the chassis rails and is in the engine bay. Don't worry about your build you'll be fine. You've been following my blog and I've tried to list all the tricky bits I've encountered. If I have just one bit of advice it would be to print off a copy of the pipe routing diagram I put on one of my posts. You won't find the info you need for the coolant pipe routing in the manual at the moment. Back on the subject of the wires, as ever, thanks to everyone for your help. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grubbster Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Tom I can't see your picture at the moment - are your headlamp wires sleeved with heatshrink? For IVA they should be (but CC don't supply any sleeving). If not then bext stick some on the wires in the engine bay and shoving it through the grommet a bit so it looks like they are Imagine my joy when I got to this point and discovered the mounting thread on the headlamp itself was knackered and I had to take it all off and start again ☹️ 🙆🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 In fairness that image won't show that. The headlamps came with a portion of the wires in a black sleeve. Having fitted it, I now have a black sleeve containing all the wires going from the headlamp itself to the point at which the wires pass into (through a grommet) and into the stalk of the bracket itself. The grommet was a pain to do and I couldn't make it work without cutting one side of it off. I intend to use adhesive to stick it physically into the 45 degree hole that is cut into the stalk itself. The only issue now is that there is a portion of the wires which are exposed between where the sleeve ends and the wires go in through the grommet. It's rather hard to do anything else as the sleeve is just a loose bit of tubing effectively. It could be that this is heat shrink which hasn't been shrunk as it were? I got told by the factory to cut a small hole in the sleeve (end nearest the headlight) to accommodate for the fact that the green wire (live that goes to indicator pod) also needs to be inside the same sleeving. Guess what though, I only found that out when I had the problems with the second side of the car. The other side that went more smoothly is currently configured such that the green wire is outside of the sleeve. Not sure whether to try and pull the green wire back through and have another go having put it through the sleeve it Simply wrap the whole thing up with electricians tape and hope they don't notice (factories suggestion not mine). Guess it depends how fussy they are down at the IVA centre. Tom Edited by - TomWoodis on 13 Sep 2013 17:21:51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 I'm not sure exactly what the IVA guys are looking for, but you can also use something like this which I use for wiring where I can't get to the end of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative nickhi Posted September 13, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted September 13, 2013 Tom, mine went through IVA a couple of months ago and I basically wrapped any visible wires with black electricians tape, as close to where they enter and exit the lights. Same for the rear light cables as there wasn't enough heat shrink on the cables before they entered the bodywork from the light block. As for the grommet on the cycle wings and headlight bracket I cut them in half and glued into place. Passed IVA no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Good stuff, I'll go with that approach then I think. Need to get some good adhesive to stick the grommets in with. Any suggestions on what to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative nickhi Posted September 15, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted September 15, 2013 Small amount of superglue worked best for me. I wasn't sure how 'keen' the IVA inspection would be so thought it best to ensure that the grommets wouldn't fall or get pulled out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now