Build prep progress... pics, dial up go make a coffee and come back :)

Well I thought I may as well actually do something on the car seeing as how time is going by much quicker than I expected.

I will keep it short, my msn space will have some details of all of this in the next few days I hope.

Fuse box relocation
I plan to re-locate the fuse box to the footwell next to the ECU along with, PTU and fuseable link on the drivers side.

As I have unwrapped nearly every wire in the engine bay, this wasn't so bad. I couldn't find any wire labels or solder sleeves so I made my own labels and will just solder and tape when I do that part. This didn't take long at all, I just cut, labeled, cut.. labeled.. I think 42 times. From memory 9 wires actually trace right back to the ECU to two of the plugs just next to the ECU. Some go to the lights and the rest run along the front of the car.

Labels...






Below in the pic you can see where they run back through the passanger fender in through the firewall and to these connectors.


Unwrapped passanger side loom from fender..


Wires which run to the headlights from fuse box..


tags..



I focused the camera on the firewall hole where you can run the wires though after unwrapping the tape and pulling the gromett off. You can see the brickwork from the fence through the hole.


Engine loom...


Driver side loom.. where it runs into firewall as well..




When I started to trace the 9 wires back through the firewall and pulled them through, I started to wonder if I could trace the rest across the front of the engine bay.. back through the fender on the driver side and through the firewall, up along the bottom of the dash under the carpet etc.

I then went along and unwrapped all the rest of the loom after taking off the driver side fender. Right back to the firewall and through the bay to the fuseable link. I will probably move the fuseable link through to the passanger side footwell as well. This will really neaten up that part of the engine bay.

When I started pulling off the bottom panels under the steering column to see if I can access the loom feeding into it, it does look tight, but possible from the looks of it.

Dash Removal
I then got sidetracked and started to pull my dash off to fix my heater core after.. almost 2 years now

Passanger side dash is off..


Driver side dash is off...






Pulling the actual dash off took very little time. I put back most of the screws so I don't forget where they go. Now.. pulling the heater core thingies out... that is a PITA!

I read the tech saying to remove the center one first (the air con one) and that didn't work so I just used force and pulled the one on the left (with the circular fan) downards and ripped it out. I then saw some radiator type thing in the center box. I couldn't get this out at all!! I didn't know it ran to the two aircon pipes feeding the engine bay through the firewall.

What are these from left to right??


I stripped the casing off it (all the clips) pulled off the foam and plastic and bent it downards, got the dremel and sliced the pipes off to get it out.

What is this??






I figure I have no need for it as I have removed all of my aircon already but it looks as though the case it was in has to go back is that right? Can I remove anything else here? Like could I move the fan thing and join it straight to the one behind the center console .. heater core box?... if it would fit that is?

Can anyone tell me what the first thing I pulled out was? on the left with the round fan thing in it.

Is the heater core in the very center? I didn't get around to pulling that one out as it got to dark.

Besides fixing the lifting dash what else should I or could I do here?

I am going to get the alarm system changed obviously as I hated this one but I will leave that for a pro to install.

Here is some random pics:

ECU..




what is this under the ECU?


Storage


My old neat wire slap up obviously going to be all done properly soon



Sorry if some things aren't clear, it's late

 

Looks like fun, one day I will get around to doing that

I started but rooted my back being bent over in the eng bay, So I called it quits.

 

looks messy as shit :LOL:

 

that all adds up to one massive bloody headache .. holy j ...!!!!

 

Good luck withit Paul. Looks like a juicy headache.... Hope you got

plenty of Advil around.

 

At what point did you start to think...

I hope I can remember where all this shit goes.:unsure:

Best of luck connecting it all back up again:thumbsup:

 

Holy sheet

Think I'll be leaving my fuse box right where it is!!:wacko:

Best of luck with the reassembly:thumbsup:

 

The heater box should have two metal lines running through the firewall

I am doing similar things to my 86 atm and the aircon box does have a very similar looking core inside it to the heater core, but the giveaway is the water lines through the firewall

 

Cresra might make an offer " As is / where is"

 

Were you aware that they actually all unplug out of the fuse box?

 

thanks for the pics method and cresta thanks for letting us know that, i wo

nt be chopping it up too much as im sure i will get it mixed up.
.
cant wait to get the zed back on the road

 

paul, I did my heatercore... some answers for you

Firstly, the round thing with the fan attached is the blower. This is essentially whats blows the air past the heatercore or the aircon stuff.... also, when I repaired my heatercore I didnt need to dismantle any of my aircon system so I never saw that radiator thing. But yes, I would say its part of your aircon system...

As for the heatercore, judging from the pics you still have a long way to go. You have to remove that think black metal support bar that runs under the dash and just keep digging. The heatercore sits in the black heaterbox which is directly behind where your vents and stereo sits. You basically have to remove the black heaterbox and then remove the heatercore. You have to get right down to the firewall. If you cant see the firewall and the metal heaterpipes coming in from the engine, you havent gone far enough..

Good luck, I have heaps of pics if you want some. Give me a buzz if you want some tips...

Cheers

 

lol yeah I wonder that, but really, everything only goes back in 1 way

 

Thanks, that radiator looking thing also had two lines running to the firew

all which I have completely removed now. They ran to the AC compressor and condensor which I no longer have now.

 

nope but either way they would all have to be cut and shortened or

lengthened. It is also easier to label them as is than unplug and write down where they went. Matching 1-1 2-2 etc is easier than unplugging them IMO

 

Thanks for the tips Mark. I am going to make a start on it again now. I wil

l let you know how it goes. That black bar is just sitting there as well. I had to remove it to get the other stuff out so I can just lift it on / off whenever

Does the heatercore come out easily? Or do you have to undo clamps etc for the hoses?

Thanks

 

Heater core is out >> pics inside 28 of them but should be dial up friendly

Well I went back into the garage earlier to get the actual heater box out.

The tech article I was following was pretty much useless the whole time, I think it was from the faq section on tt.net, things were backwards with that and I don't recommend following it.

There was only 3 bolts which hold this in. I undid these bolts thinking it would come right out. How wrong was I

Well after being forceful with it for about 20 minutes I was wondering what the hell would be holding it on! I looked into the engine bay and noticed I still had the two heater pipes connected I pulled these off and once they were off the heater box slid straight out.


Here is some pics of everything removed







There is two little brackets you have to take off, they are off in the pic, all they do is hold the core in place and hold down the cable which opens and closes the tap.


This is the computer thing attached to the core which must control the motor etc.


Some pics of the screws removed to take off the computer.


The thing which makes all of us hate the car at times I couldn't tell where it leaked from, there was only a tiiiiny bit of coolant still in it, I am guessing it leaked from the tap as the core looks fine. I might just fill it up later and test it but will definately buy a new one. I am going to try to find a good aftermarket one as the nissan ones fail to often from what I have read over at tt.net. Some people have had to change theirs 3 or 4 times ever since their first one croaked it. They said the first one lasted 80k miles and the new ones from nissan have only lasted 3 - 5k miles etc. Enough to put me off them, maybe they are making them cheaply now?????






The taps removed from the core, just 8 screws in total.


Remove this cover to show the spring etc.


Remove this spring to pull the core upwards.


Remove the screw under the foam to get the taps off.


The plugs which you have to remove to get the core out, they all only go back in their original spot so you can't confuse these. I marked a few that were on other parts of the core just with a marker by putting say one dot on the plug and one dot on the box, 2 on the next, 2 on the box etc.





This is the bracket on the passanger side which you have to remove to get the hc box off.


The bracket holding the hb on at the top just under the windscreen.



The bracket on the driver side next to/behind the clutch pedal




These are the three studs holding the brackets on.






Some pics of the heater box out of the car.

 

man that looks hard. do you need it. i mean if it fails so much cant you ju

st bypass it? also when you did your wiring relocation did you need the dash off to get to the wires?

 

I would say you can do without the aircon but you need a heater by law.

To do the wiring relocation, I would recommend having the dash off if you are going to pass things from the driverside to the passanger side. You basically need to have the loom fully unwrapped, passanger guard off and footwell stripped back. That is just for the main fuse box. I just cut and labelled all the wires for the fuseable link on the driver side. 26 Wires all up on that side I had to cut. I am giong to start tracing the wires now to see if I can eliminate all of them from the engine bay except for the obvious ones like lights and EFI harness connectors.

 

I would never want to bypass it

My heatercore must be as old as the car. Built Nov '89. No problems. if mine failed tomorrow, I'd just wear the cost and replace it. Bypassing is only good for a temporary measure.

The problem would be shivering like hell driving in the bloody cold temps of Canberra come winter (It gets cold enough here now in Autumn to have it on at night). I'm sure other states/areas are just as bothered with cold temperatures.

Its also good for defogging the windows, getting rid of unnessessary heat from coolant (every bit helps ) and keeping the car just that little bit more roadworthy. If you ever needed to sell the car (god forbid) I think you if you had no heatercore you will have more problems finding buyers as most people would probably choose to have a heater.