Electrical & Wiring

One challenge with this job was figuring out how to get the TBI fuel injection system to run with fewer sensors than it originally came with. My first thought was to go with one of the one-size fits-all wiring harnesses for this conversion but there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong. I called a wiring company that said they could rework the old harness to make it work, but depending on exactly which computer it used it might need this or that and take 3 to 4 weeks to do.

Not having any time left I desperately searched for someone local who could wire it up and scan the codes if anything went wrong. I found Pete Thorsen, who did the whole thing in 3 days and took the time to debug it when the throttle position sensor and the thermostat were not quite right. I was really happy with the work he did. He came to my shop a few times prior to my delivering it to him so I could hard mount the computer and locate some accessories. We hid the computer behind the interior paneling on the right side and hid a full set of mini gages behind the paneling on the left side. The panels have small pockets in them similar to a glove box and when the pocket flaps are down everything looks completely stock. ( see floor board and carpet pics.)

The rest of the wiring we placed under the seat, including a 6-12 volt reducer for the "AAHHOOOGA" horn and a solid-state turn signal set up that has an inconspicuous switch mounted to the shifter. As the dashboard is extremely small and mounted to the gas tank there was no room to mount switches or gages to it other than the stock ignition switch. So the starter button and head light switches were also placed under the seat to keep them hidden.


Interior

Sometimes a guy just gets really lucky. While folks were stopping buy to look at the progress on this project, one of my friends said he had just the material for the flooring. He donated a piece of aircraft grade aluminized 3/4" plywood. (which probably would cost over $200 bucks a sheet retail.) This would help deflect and dissipate the heat coming through the floor from the headers and exhaust and look really cool if someone were underneath checking out that five-speed installation.

I then did some dumpster diving behind a carpet store for a piece of matching carpet. The scrap I found was brand new and big enough to do the area beneath the rumble seat as well. Note the side panels covering up the computer wiring and gauges. A check engine light was also located with the mini gauges for diagnostic purposes.