Project 80: Codename Grey Ghost

[Chris]

Well did lots of work today on my day off, mostly for the front end rebuild thread but s I was lying under the truck already I figured it's only take a few mins to swap out the starter motor. Went without a hitch. Took me 15 mins. Not done the mod to the timer circuit yet but I did remove the change over cable that takes the series connection from the DS battery to make up 24v just in case I forgot and turned the key. Interestingly, before I put the new starter in, I tried the ignition with the lead removed. Didn't think I could cause any harm. As soon as I turned the key to on, there was a buzzing that sounded like something not latching - like a relay or something. Flicked the key and on 12v it fired instantly. JW you might have a comment on that one. Dunno if somehow the starter still got 24v despite removing the link cable but couldn't see how the lead to the motor could draw any more than 12v.

I shall do the time mod tomorrow if I get a dry spell. No pics, really nothing to see at all. Look under your bonnet and you'll see the same as me.

 

[Chris]

Quick update on 12v start. Motor already in. So today I went in search of the 24v change over time connection as per JW's thread. Soon found it and with a long screwdriver, persuaded it to come apart. Not much slack to work with.

Savaged an old connector to get two pins out of it that I could make a jumper out of. Bared and soldered the ends together, stuck it in the red/white and black/white pins and secured with tape.

View attachment 11407



View attachment 11408

That's it really. It sounds very different when you start it. You can actually hear the starter motor whizz up. It starts much more like a car. There isn't the same planet turning wind up you get on the 24v start. But hey, it starts.

 

[Chris]

Happy with the 12v start mechanism now so it's time to cut the driver's battery loose. I have tomorrow off to do the cabling, but here's a sneaky preview of what I hope to do if it's not hissing down.

I made a bracket and picked up off the inlet manifold near the PS reservoir. Solenoid comes all pre wired on a plate which I just bolted to the new bracket with a Mega fuse over top which not only strengthens the back plate but gives the solenoid and controller a little protection. I shall replace the over length 6mm bolts with something nicer too.






As I said, I have not put the cables in yet, but I plan to take this one here



which is the connection to the DS battery already and simply couple that to the output side of the split charge which is only a couple of inches away. You can see it in the background.

I will run a new cable from the old 24v junction point (It says Batt B+ on the cover) over to the bundle of cables that include the glow plug supply. I shall disconnect the bundle from the DS terminal and add a junction box on the side of the battery box.



I'll make a new short piece to replace this cable here




into the feed side of the Mega fuse with a short link from the output into the split charge supply here.



And then another short link to couple the fuse block to the input of the solenoid here and here and that should be that.



I'll look at upgrading the alternator supply cable too as it's always a good idea and maybe add an extra earth too.

The controller is already in place and just needs the sticker on there once I have run the control cable to it.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

More or less what I did on mine but I removed the 12/24v change over solenoid which is now redundant and mounted my split charge solenoid there instead

 

[Chris]

Yes, I shall pull mine out too Jon and have it as a spare for the bog gobbler.

I presume that all the other leads such as the earths cam come off there then Jon? No more jumpers needed or anything?

We have a huge frost this morning and severe black ice. Thought I'd give the truck a test start. Had to prise the door open, turned the 12v starter over and Brmmmm chug chug chug. Nay problem

 

[Bat21]

Oh look..
View attachment 11289

A shiny new 12 volt starter....

If it's one of these, they're now out of stock

 

[Chris]

Yes that's it. Dunno if Jon had any other sources up his sleeve. I usually have sauce on my sleeve. But IIRC Jon blagged another one for spare and that might have come from somewhere else. They are a heck of a price.

I wonder if it might be cheaper from the main dealer ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Oh I shouldn't.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Yes, I shall pull mine out too Jon and have it as a spare for the bog gobbler.

I presume that all the other leads such as the earths cam come off there then Jon? No more jumpers needed or anything?

We have a huge frost this morning and severe black ice. Thought I'd give the truck a test start. Had to prise the door open, turned the 12v starter over and Brmmmm chug chug chug. Nay problem

There's a block earth from the solenoid which I redid and ran to the battery and also I added a - to - from the DS to PS so if the DS is switched in for starting or winching it's not relying on the little OEM body earth wire or block for that.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Wood Auto were out of stock when I first wanted a 12v starter and I had to wait ages for them to be in stock. I guess they got a few in and have now sold out again. My 'spare' is an OEM part from the usual place and cost a lot more than a Wood Auto one does.

 

[Chris]

Cheers Jon makes sense. I shall follow suit.

 

[Chris]

Well yesterday I joined up all the dots where my fingers had been pointing on the pictures and .....

It didn't work. I got all sorts of relays chattering and when I tried to start the engine, I got a noise like Millennium Falcon attempting to jump to light speed. Just like a flat battery really, half a turn then click click.

Damn.

Unlike some of you I am not an electrician but I can spell 'resistance' and 'warp coil failure'. So armed with not much, I started to use some logic to find out why this simply didn't work.

The long and short (ha ha no pun intended) was that I found there was very very poor continuity of the earth from the PS battery through the change over relay (12/24 thing) to the block. ON an earlier post I mentioned that the terminal was loose and there were signs of it getting hot. When I tested the alternator it was kicking out 14.5v and the DS battery was reading the same. But the PS battery was sitting at 13v. What in effect was happening was that the engine was starting off the DS battery with only a helping hand from the PS battery so when I disconnected them the PS wasn't giving a good enough current to turn the engine over. I clipped a jump lead onto the battery -ve and clipped the other end onto the engine and tried again. Woomph! No problem.

So today, I dropped into Vehicle Wiring Products and came away with 20m of cable (feint - How mooch?) and finished the wiring off. Batteries are now negative to negative with a new cable, the old cable to the DS battery now is connected to the split charge and the split charge feed comes directly from the PS terminal.

OK so 3,2,1 Vroom vroom. Yay. Sorted. Then an anxious wait as the PS battery got up to charge probably for the first time in a while and then ....CLUNK. In came the split charge and the DS battery started to climb.

I picked up some rubber bobbins yesterday to mount the whole charge plate bracket thing on so that it doesn't rattle itself to bits. All in all a pretty tidy installation. It looks great and is just how I wanted to approach this build. Plenty of planning and a proper job.

I can now run cable to the rear to run my sockets and fuse boards etc. I got some nice new battery terminals with proper studs on so that I can attach cables without having to cobble stuff together in the usual way. Just need to wire in the controller now so I can see what's going on and link them when I want to.

Next stop Donnington for more ideas this weekend!

 

[Gary820]

Well done.

Chris do you need more cable to run to the rear or is what you've bought enough?

 

[Olazz]

Wot... not going to the shooting show CJ ??

 

[Chris]

Nah, been before. Poorly organised with shocking parking etc. Last year some people only just got in, in time to come home!

Gary, should have plenty. I have all sorts in the garage including twin 50mm, but I needed something a bit lighter here hence me buying some. But you can never have to much knocking around.

 

[Gary820]

No worries. Get all sorts from work, batteries are in the boot so nice long starter cables come in the box with wiring looms and don't always need to replace them was just a thought with heading to donington.

 

[Chris]

Gary, I never turn down a offer of good HD cable. Got plenty of things still to wire in. Lots of my stuff is short pieces which is fine for bits under the bonnet. But when I run down the chassis, you really don't want joints in there.

I shall be there with my begging bowl..

 

[Gary820]

Gary, I never turn down a offer of good HD cable. Got plenty of things still to wire in. Lots of my stuff is short pieces which is fine for bits under the bonnet. But when I run down the chassis, you really don't want joints in there.

I shall be there with my begging bowl..

There's a 5m length with your name on, I'll chuck it in the boot and catch you on Sunday.
It's a power distribution cable rather then the quite large starter cables I've got so ideal for running to the rear for electrics (normally used to power most of the electrics on a Beemer) has a soldered on ring terminal at each end too.

 

[Chris]

Top fella. I'll get the teas in then.

 

[Chris]

Change to 12v start and install of split charge now all completed. Working perfectly although I think I like the T Max split charge controller more than the National Lunar one. Anyway, here's final shot of the unit wired in. I got some 8mm threaded isolation mounts from Bosal so the unit it vibration insulated from the engine. Sneakily reused a couple of the cables that come up of the 24v start including the DS batter earth loom. This is perfect to swap over to the PS battery to bypass the two short ones used for the change over relay


.

Been really tidy with the cables and I actually feel it's a proper job for once. The controller is all wired up too, but doesn't make a very interesting picture.

The PS battery has new terminals and new earths too. I do intend to run a slightly larger alternator cable soon. This one is probably fine, but it can't hurt to up size a little



DS battery gets a new terminal too and is now completely cut from the system except for the split charge in and the direct earth to the PS battery.



That's it for that section. Next will be to run power to the rear and start adding sockets and stuff.

TTFN

 

[Chris]

Following on from the 4x4 show, I picked up this. One piece transmission guard. On his stand, Will had three and they all went. So come on, who bought the other two then?

8 mm plate. Mine is already on. Fitted in minutes. Me likey. Nice to give the truck a good run. Behaved perfectly. Very pleased.