J171 NJO Cortez / 2+2 rebuild and modifications

[Rich]

I know what you mean about multiple methods for joining stuff, just removed a rawlplug from the GTM!

[Jin]

Another job ticked off, I couldn’t stand the flippy flappy fog light under the rear bumper, the bracket was so rusty it spent most of its time pointing at the floor anyway



So I got myself a good quality (Philips) red bulb, fetched the old fog light off and stuffed the bulb into the right hand side reversing light housing,



thought it would just be a case of re-routing the fog light wiring to the bulb holder but then I found the wiring “modification” on the tail light loom done to convert the metro loom to Astra tail lights, whoever was responsible had made a total monkeys breakfast of it so that had to be re-done first.







Then after a quick tidy up of some random wires just dangling around in the boot that I can find no use for I wired it all back in and jobs a good un.




I did find these too



Can’t wait to find out what they’re supposed to do but on the whole for a quick job my rear end looks much nicer

[Jin]

Dome some more, with the seats and carpet taken care of I wanted to sort the seat belts too, red isn’t my colour anyway



The big problem arose though because the lower loop bolt was well and truly seized into the plate inside the sill, I had already pop riveted in in place prior to trying to remove the bolt but that just got broke off, bugger

So I decided to drill the bolt head off and knock the bolt and plate through the sill, it worked in my head however the plate must have been down in the base of the sill structure so it was bearing against the outer sill, so owing to the thickness of the inner sill (an impressive 16mm) it wouldn’t push through because it would have had to turn through an arc,
Feeling a bit flummoxed I didn’t really see another practical was to resolve this other than to fill this hole in and utilise the second hole with a new captive plate behind each with which to bolt a single fixing point to from a 5 dr metro so this is what I did
I got some proper seat belt spacers that total just over 16mm, thankfully they are a perfect tight fit into the sill hole



The remains of the old bolt cut down flush


The old holes filled in with some gelcoat and some new speakers to fit the rear holes and with the exception of carpet the sides are done

[Jin]

More jobs done,
Mostly wiring L
In preparation for fitting my new front shocks last weekend (which arrived but were mis matched ) I tested the water to see how much of a pain they would be to remove, which meant removing the headlights which in turn revealed some very scary looking wiring, the combination of poor or no in insulation to the many many joins (most along the same length of cable) and the sheer number of loose stray wires with seemingly no use was quite intimidating.



First was the horn – well both of them
It would appear that at some point or another the original horn mounted behind the front bumper has failed so rather than replace it a new horn had been placed further up the engine bay right in my way to access the gearbox and the feed wire extended to reach, then an earth tacked onto the neg of the battery, so with a new horn fitted back down the front and the original earth wire re-used that’s 1 loose wire taken care of and one of the multiple of ring terminals from the battery neg removed too.
There then just followed a systematic strip down of all the wiring on the front of the car (ancillary circuits such as lights and fan etc., not engine related yet) and I dealt with the following

Passenger main beam wired to the driver’s side main beam, wire re-joined and full power restored with a clean of the fuse terminal
3 extra earth wires that took different routes round the engine bay from the battery neg to the same earth point at the front of the car, the same earth point that utilised the main thick lead from the battery neg anyway so why the need for these is a mystery? – all removed
Fan switch, the worst wiring I’ve seen in my life

The pos feed was taken straight from the battery (thankfully with a fuse) to the switch, the wire from the switch to the fan motor was intact but only just

And the switched live that should have powered the switch was just dangling around behind the headlight?
Pos feed from battery removed and all new wiring installed, now at least I have faith the fan will work when needed.
All in all it’s a lot of work without much to show for it but it’s a job that needed doing anyway , still more to do though















All new wires grafted in with new proper crimp on terminals, still work in progress as I'm waiting on new spiral wrap to arrive

[Hans Efde]

This sort of wiring I find in my car as well. It's a mess. It's now sorned it to save money for a few serious jobs as among others a new wiring loom. I am fed up with electrical gremlins or the chance of the car catching fire. My wipers have never functioned properly and during the last trip during the rain I found out they go to no speed at all when I switch on the heater.
Good you are chasing yours. It will become a very reliable vehicle this way.

[Jin]

Yeah, dodgy wiring drives me potty and i hate doing it too, but then again i would also hate breaking down so its essential, thankfully on this it just seems to be the ends of the looms that are poor, the rest appears to be ok but I've also spotted butt connectors at the fuse box and a few miles of insulation tape round the ecu wiring too so im not out the woods yet,
On top of that im re-modeling the door frames, making new wing mirrors, building a new front grill, replacing the cooling system and having a set of alloys custom made to the car, so im keeping busy

[manifold]

Dodgy wiring is more than an annoyance in a grp car. It's a potential fire risk too,

[kelvink]

Dodgy wiring is more than an annoyance in a grp car. It's a potential fire risk too,

It's every bit as much in a steel, aluminium or carbon fibre car too. Actually in a metallic car there's more likelihood of a short-circuit and hence a fire

[Jin]

your both right, i had a 2kg extunguisher in the quantum after i discovered its wiring issues, i really should do the same here too

thanks

[manifold]

Steel cars are less likely to go up in flames and.earths all over the place can become brittle. It doesn't just apply to cars either. Boats too. Seen too many boats a black charred mess.