On monday, I hope to start my cross country trip from Baltimore to Seattle. I have been planning on doing this for 4 years.

I bought my 92 back 5 years ago. Estate sale with 50,000 miles on it.

Having sat for a couple of years with the PO estate, I figured it needed a complete look over before driving out to Seattle.

So I took it a local shop in Baltimore where I rent the lift after hours. Spent a month replacing suspension bushes, fromt frame mounts, removed snd flushed the radiator.. Replaced all the hoses and belts. Pulled and cleaned and modded the overflow system. Pulled the fuel injectors and replaced all the fuel lines, from the tank to under the hood. Replaced the water pump, fuel pump and all the temp sensors and the thermostats. Did the bleeder mod on the overflow bolt on top of the radiator. Dropped the rear subframe to rebuild the calipers and parking brake. Removed the exhaust system and replaced the gaskets and removed the cats. Put on new Cooper tires. Replaced the entire ignition system, as well as all the vacuum lines.

Took it out for a test run from Baltimore to Washington DC, As I merged onto the capitol beltway, both drivers side tires blew out at about 100 mph.

To avoid flipping it, I rode the Concrete retaining wall for almost a mile to slow down. Shattered both rims, wiped out the front and rear fenders, and bent the front snd rear subframes.

I live in Africa during the winter, so I said **** it, and towed the car to my garage and forgot about it for 2 years,

Then, I started all over again. Bought a donor car, pulled the front and rear subframes. Rebuilt them completely.. Replaced the drivers side spindle, caliper, brake caliper and rotor. Replaced both shocks on the rear drivers side. That took another two years, as I am only in Baltimore for a month a year. And I was in the midst of rebuilding my 928 and my TVR.

Last fall, I installed the new front and rear fenders and bumpers. Repainted the car. Put a set of 17” Allesio rims and new tires on them.

Since then, I have driven it about 150 miles. I am now building a new FI harness.

Then Monday I should be able to leave for Seattle. I have been waiting for this for 4 years now for this trip. First time I will have driven it for more than 50 miles at a go.

Subframe time

New paint

Finished

First road trip. Sugarloaf Mtn. Vinyards, Md

It’ll buff right out, someone here said

I just have to finish installing the engine for the 928 before I Then I will fly back east and drive it across as well. But that has already proven itself when I drove it from Vancouver, BC to central America to Baltimore.

Any tips on prep work before I take off? I am taking a pretty good tool set, electrical repair kit, and a set of relays. As well as a FSM.

 

Bottles of all fluids, multimeter, and since you have Marelli ignition, distributor cap and rotor. Safety wire, tie wraps, 12v air compressor or can of fix-a-flat, spare belts for water pump, fan, alternator fuses, bulbs. My theory is if you have it, you won't need it!

 

Scott, I take my hat ff to you. Enjoy the trip.

 

and it did! I feel thats something I would say, after 7 car accidents my truck looks like it survived the Iraq war.


My only suggestion would be to MAX out your Automobile Association membership for towing milage, and prior to the trip take the car for a local druve 50+ miles and absolutely stomp on the pedal really push the car, this will flush out any immediate problems before your way out there. Red line a day keeps the mechanic away.

 

Jon,

I was wondering about a spare distributor cap. Got wire but forgot about zipties. Already packed most of the other stuff.

 

Have you already changed it? If you've put a good new cap on, then I wouldn't think you'd need a spare. If its the old cap, why not change it before leaving? Same with belts and things like that, change them now, not on the side of the road later.

 

I changed the cap about 4 years ago. I had the infamous Marelli meltdown right after I got the car. I had to replace the RH downpipe because it melted and sagged. It also took out the RH Cat so both Cats were replaced by pipes then. Also did the wires and plugs then. And removed the air injection system.

The car has had about 75 miles on it since. Last week I replaced the coils. I cannot believe how much of an impact on the smoothness of the engine, both at idle and running, the coils made.

 

FI harness initial fitting done yesterday. Fired right up first time.

I am leaving the original harness in place for my trip, just in case the new one throws a fit.

I have not yet decided how to terminate the wire sets. For each bank, there are 7 wires on the positive side that need to be terminanted at a single connection point. I am thinking of going with a barrier strip and heat shrink connectors. Or, I could stagger 5 positive connections along the length of remaining positive wire.

I am a marine electrician, so I like having readily available access points for testing, so I am leaning towards the barrier strip. There is a perfect mounting spot for it forward on the back side of the air cleaner. I have just finished a complete rewire of my TVR, and have replaced all the connectors with marine grade wires, barrier strips, relays with sockets, and heat shrink adhesive Ancor connectors.

I found a Sumitomo connector on Amazon that matches the OEM connector, so it made it very easy to attach the new harness to the original harness from the EFI controller. No cutting out the original connector.

 

scottpeterd,

Well done! I'd love to see some pics of the harness? I'm about to undertake the same job on my pre-HE and can't decide whether to buy a purpose-built replacement or make my own (my preference). Finding a complete set of the correct connectors concerns me. It would be good to see how you've done it on your later car.

Cheers

Paul

 

Paul,

The connectors are the easy part. Standard Bosch EV-1. You can get them with and without pigtails. I bought the ones with pigtails.

Your next decision is wiring toplogy. Do want to run all 24 wires to a common termination point, or use busses. There would be 3 busses per side, or 24 wires running to the termination point.

In either case, you have to decide how physically to join the wires. Just in marine electrics, I consider soldering a no-go. So you are left with crimp-on connectors. If you decide on a buss topology, you are looking at butt connectors slid over the buss wire. And that means removing the insulation from the buss wires at 24 points. Not an easy thing to do with 18-20 awg wire. Especially silicon jacketed wire.

That is why I am running all 24 wires to a common connection point using strip connectors, mounted on a bulkhead. It is how I do it in a marine environment. Engine harnesses do not run directly to controls and gauges. The engine harness terminates on a bulkhead. The control panel harness terminates at the connector.

So here is a pic of mine as of this morning. Today I will be doing the terminations.

You can get the Sumitomo connector that matches the original from Amazon.

 

Scott
Can you please explain to the challenged like me what is a bus, a barrier strip and a butt connector? Thanks

 

Early cars don't have Sumitomo connectors. The only connector other than the 12 injectors connectors looks like this.

 

Each bank has a row of injectors, each with an electrical connector. The FI connector coming out of the harness has either 6 or eight wires.

To connect the 24 fuel injector connections to, say 6 wires, you have to choose what is called a topology. In this case, you have a choice between a star or a bus.

the picture below shows the two types. The top type is a bus. Two wires run from the end fuel injector plug to the engine harness plug. Each successive injector ‘joins’ the run starting from the injector prior to it.

The bottom type is a star. Each pair of wires from the injectors run from the injector plug to a common termination point.

For the termination point a device called a terminal or barrier strip is often used.


Buss vs star topology

But connector. This is used for a bus topology. A series of these are slipped over the main feed wire. At each connection point, a wire is fed into one end, and it is crimped.

Terminal or barrier strip. All wires are terminated on this strip on one side. Jumpers may be installed between terminals, and power or signals attached to the other side

 

unless your installing a custom injector control system, your diagram is not correct,

injectors are fire in banks of three connected together , so four firing circuits in total for the x12 injectors






i built this one eight years ago..


BB

 

My diagram is correct. I did not say it was a circuit diagram for the V12. I said it was an explanation of topology choices for a wiring harness.

.Of course the injectors are clustered in groups of 3.

I was asked to explain the differences in layouts. And what a buss was, what a terminal strip and butt connector were.

 

When you do take your trip, another vital piece of equipment to take is a camera so you can share your adventures with us. Going across the top, bottom, or middle? Baltimore to Seattle, I'd assume the top, but you might be wanting to take the long way round. (And maybe you planned your route via classic Jaguar garages just in case...?)

For peace of mind, I'd also want to do a decent run, several hundred miles, day trip if you've never taken her more than a short distance from home. Wake her up, see how she likes extended cruises.

 

I plan on taking the top route, as this is a quick trip.

I have to finish the rebuild of my sailboat engine in Seattle so I can go cruising.

Then I have to get my 928 and my TVR across before the weather turns. I think those trips might be more southerly.

But, yea, I plan on lots of pics. It has been about 5 years since I brought the 928 from Vancouver to Baltimore via Central American, so I am looking forward to this run.

 

Hope it's not too quick for some sightseeing along the way. You'll be passing near places like Yellowstone, I imagine. Cruising along the Hayden Valley there, for example, in a drop-top Jag would be very cool. So long as no elk decide to hop in and join you....

 

Yellowstone was on my list. I have a cabin in northern Idaho is was going to stop in and check on.

But Im not sure I would even come up to the kneecaps of any buffalo or elk. Actually, last time I was there, in the north side of the park where all the elk congregate by the visitor center, Several elk were jumping over the cars in a cut-thru. One did land on the hood of my truck

 

Up at Mammoth, right? I was up there this time last year, and there was a bull elk with his harem. He was bugling, but not much. Strutting around like he owned the place, which he pretty much did, but luckily didn't jump on our car. That would not have done the paintwork any good, I imagine.


The King in the North (Part of the Park)