Wiring a mini from scratch (how much wire?)
Turbo Mini Forums

Righto, Ive never done this before, and being a bit of a perfectionist want to do it properly.

At the minute, Im confident about all aspects besides indicators/hazards, so Im gonna forget they exist for now and battle on with everything else first.

What I havent the faintest about is how much, and what size wire I will need to do this, Im not bothered about over buying as it will always come in handy, but just need ballpark figures so I place an order, looking at a standard mini loom im guessing miles lol

Has anyone on here done this before and have a rough idea whats needed? Id like to get several colours too if poss to help me keep track of whats going where..

Also, was gonna use these folk:

www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk

unless anyone knows a better/cheaper place?

Cheers

Joe

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

VWP or AES, both similarly priced.

Both have masses of colour choice on the newer "thinwall" stuff but not so much choice on the traditional stuff.

Both have current vs size tables but be a bit cautious of the current ratings of the thinwall, when several are bundled in a loom, the real rating goes down quite a bit (all to do with heat disipation).

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

I used vwp for all the wiring for the mig, came the next day so really good service.

The wire itself is really cheap but it's all the things like fuse and relay boxes that knock the price up. Think i've spent about 350 on wiring for the mig! I've probably got enough wire for 2 minis though and might have gone over the top a little

Righto, Ill probably be doing my friends car too this winter, so would rather order excessive amounts thanbe stuck

planning in using the thinwall stuff for lightness

So if I say bought ....


10m of 0.5mm black
10m of 0.5mm red
5m of 0.5mm brown
5m of 0.5mm slate

(for the gauges/dash lights etc)

10m of 1mm green
10m of 1mm blue
10m of 1mm orange
10m of 1mm yellow

(to cover indicators, horn, side lights/fuel pumps/engine wiring etc etc)

5m of 2mm blue/red
5m of 2mm blue/green
5m of 2mm pink
5m of 2mm white
30m of 2mm black (For stock too)
30m of 2mm red (For stock too)

(headlights/spots/wiper motor/fans)

4m of 6mm brown

(alternator/charging circuit etc)

6m of red 8.5mm
2m of black 8.5mm

(for battery and body/engine earths)

im guessing i should have enough to get on with lol

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Have you got an existing loom Joey??

Might be worthwhile getting a second hand one to:

A) use as a template
2) give you and idea of the length of wire and colour combinations you need.
D) Give you an idea of the number and type of connectors you need.

Obviously a custom loom is going to have a lot of difference but there's no point trying ro re-design the bulk of it (inidcators and hazzards!!)

Thats about £60 + vat of wire so far, not as bad as I first thought? or have I underestimated things a little?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

What fusebox do you guys use?

whats on the mig sturgeo?

Ap, yeah, I have several looms hanging about the workshop, all having being butchered at some point so they will help, but as i dont know what year cars they are all from, tracking down the correct diagram in the hbol can be a bit of a mission!

Andy, your probably right, its says the 4mm stuff is for up to 39A, and as my alternaor is only 45A, and will prob never be maxing out, so id guess yes?

also, im gonna order a load of relays to, does anyone have any recommendations or are they all much of a muchness?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

ordered some switches, relays, flashers, fusebox, connectors, heat shrink etc too, totaled £242.41, ouch!!

i hate electrics....thank god its payday tomorrow

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

these for fuse boxes FBB8U
these to neaten up the relays RB4U

for indicators/hazards things get a little more tricky.
one of these hazard switches 517202 and i think i've got seperate hazard and indicator flasher relays.

edit: oops only just read your last post, i told you it all adds up!!

Edited by sturgeo on 25th Aug, 2009.

ah, being a cheap cnut i bought the RSI relay sockets, didnt spot that!

i shudder at the thought of hazzards etc, ill leave them till last haha

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

lol, my mates just emailed me this haha

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Basic-wiring-harness...id=p3286.c0.m14

bac

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I recon you'll need about 250m of wiring if you are wiring a standard loom

Too late now, but I have done about 80% of a loom on my car only to decide its a hateful job and I'm going back to a standard loom.........

I also think you will need a lot more colours and length of wire than you have ordered.

Me too Tom, Im not planning on using a different coulour for every circuit, but just enough to help differentiate

Sprock, its was to be a tarmac rally car, but due to costs, its will be a trackday car for now, basically just lights, engine and dash really, the minimum to keep it road legal

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

i stuck to this for the majority of the loom except for things like the dash.
http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/tech0014.html

good link, that will be going on the garage wall

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I mainly used a butchered MPI loom with fuse box. Stripped out everything I didn't need (and used that wire for other jobs) re-terminated everywhere and jobs a good 'un.
I did get rid of the big fuses and relay pack and put in a more conventional relay board.

Edit - the MPi wiring diagrams are good to follow and are even in colour. I ended up with one flasher relay doing both hazards and indicators and bought a hazard button from VWP which came with full wiring instructions.

Edited by graemec on 25th Aug, 2009.