Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I'm 16 years old and working on an 83 rangie. Its a carb 3.5 V8 so it will probably not be as hard as if i had ECU. I want to keep the electrical system very simple using only the essentials... lights, guages etc. I am going to use a Painless universal wiring harness and their toggle switches for headlights, turning signals, wipers, guages and other accessories/auxilary components. I am not very experienced with wiring so I'm not sure what else I'll need to do. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Mate. Good luck is all I can say.

I recently fully rewired my 77 Rangie. I pulled all the old stuff out and started from scratch. I am an electrician, that does not help much with auto wiring but it does help with reading electrical diagrams.

Make sure you can read the electrical diagram in the manual

Make sure you label everything as you pull wires out.

Suggest using relays for the headlights & highbeams rather than direct wiring as they were done at the factory.

like walker said label everything get a few different colours of tape so similar things can be colour matched and make sure you mark the bits of the loom that arnt going to be used so you know you can delete them on your new one.

I'm doin this to an old datsun 1600 atm, but also going EFI at the same time. steep learnin curve

I rewired my IIA completely, and made my own harness. But given that a IIA comes from the factory with 2 fuses, just about anything is an improvement. I seriously overengineered all the cable diameters (or doubled-up on cables) so I have practically no voltage drop anywhere.

Put a bank of relays in the engine bay for headlights, horn, etc etc. Rover didn't use anywhere near enough relays (or often fuses). My 110 had (from the factory) 4 fuses (and 4 circuits) for the headlights, but no relays.

Most of the stock switches are not too bad, once running through relays. The wiper switch switches the negative, not the positive - a generic toggle switch will not allow your wipers to have a park function.

Buy a proper crimping tool from an automotive electrical supplier (not the crap ones that most places sell). And solder all critical joints as well as crimping the connector on. Buy lots of heatshring before you start.

Also, don't do what I did and leave out the voltage regulator when wiring up the temp and fuel gauges (then wonder later why they always read too high!).

Anyone know where i can get a wiring diagram for 83 carb rangie?

No, you will need to get hold of a workshop manual. All the online manuals only start from 1987 onwards.

I also overengineered all my wiring. The 77 Rangie only came with 3 fuses. but I put all the fuses and relays inside the car.

This was the wiring before



This is after

I have one, will email it to you later

Awesome job there walker!!

I'm about at the stage in your first pic!
slowly getting there!

Probably not a good idea using all one colour though, makes fault finding harder, its good to use another loom to hack up and have as many diff. colours as possible. although if using painless that shouldn't be a drama

cloughy wrote:Probably not a good idea using all one colour though, makes fault finding harder, its good to use another loom to hack up and have as many diff. colours as possible. although if using painless that shouldn't be a drama

Yep, you are right about better using different colors, but for the main power stuff it was going to be too difficult and expensive to buy small rolls of 20A wire.
For all the sensors & low amp stuff I bought 7 core trailer wire which gave me 7 different colors and I have re-labeled my wiring diagram accordingly. Not the best solution but it should help if there is ever a problem.

walker wrote:Mate. Good luck is all I can say.

I recently fully rewired my 77 Rangie. I pulled all the old stuff out and started from scratch. I am an electrician, that does not help much with auto wiring but it does help with reading electrical diagrams.

Make sure you can read the electrical diagram in the manual

Make sure you label everything as you pull wires out.

Suggest using relays for the headlights & highbeams rather than direct wiring as they were done at the factory.

How long did it take you all up walker? Pretty neat!

Took me about a week, working on it at nights plus a weekend.

wouldnt mind doing it too my pro is WHERE DO YOU START and i would have no idea what im doing. need a kit made up would be good
sweet job walker want to come to the gold coast on a workin holiday

dan