My Wiring Project (w/ pics) (1 Viewer)

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Over the last few weekends I installed a bunch of electrical accessories, and figured that I'd show some pictures of what I did for ideas and pointers for anyone else planning similar upgrades. This was supposed to be a winter project because I wanted fog lights for driving in the snow, but the lights were back ordered for three months, and finally arrived just in time for spring. (I can't complain too much, though, because they were a Christmas gift and didn't cost me anything.) In addition to the fog lights, I also wired up a CB, an amplifier, new gauges, and extra 12V outlets.

To start with, all the new wiring goes through a fuse block that I mounted to the PS fender. For extra protection, there's an inline fuse between the new fuse block and the battery. Maybe it's overkill, but I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry.

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The fog lights are mounted to the front bumper, and their cables run into holes that I drilled in the valence (protected by grommets, of course). Behind the valence, their power runs go up behind the PS headlight and under the battery tray to meet up w/ a relay next to the new fuse block. I ran the wires through some split loom to protect them behind the valence. (They're the yellow wires in the first picture, above.)

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After the fuse block, all new wiring runs alongside the stock wiring harness and through the grommet behind the washer tank. You can't really see it in the photo because it's hidden by the harness, but since I don't have an AM/FM antenna I ran the wires through the hole that the antenna cable used to use, without modifying or damaging the grommet in any way.

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On the inside, the wires enter the cab next to the blower. Remove the glove box, and with a little hunting around by the top edge of the kick panel you'll find them when they poke through. Along with the first wire that you push through you'll also want to run a few pulls for the other wires--it'll make for a lot less hunting around after the first one's through. I used 6' sections of speaker wire for my pulls. They're stronger than twine, and smooth enough that they don't get hung up. (Besides, I found a spare length of speaker wire that a PO had left in the truck, so I figured I'd make use of it.)

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I installed a 12V cigarette lighter outlet in the glove box for my power inverter, and plan on running another line for a second outlet in the back of the truck. Whereas the rest of the wiring is 16 gauge, these wires are 10 gauge. They're powered directly from the battery (via the new fuse block), in case I need them when the truck's off and the keys aren't in the ignition.

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After wasting a lot of time fishing wires behind the dashboard across to the driver's side, I had the bright idea of removing the entire dash pad. This made everything much, much easier and more accessible. The dash pad comes off really simply: first remove the glove box, the bezel for the heater/ac controls, and the instrument cluster. Then remove the rear-most screws from the little plastic vents at the outer edges of the dash pad (one screw on each side), and loosen the four nuts under the front edge of the dash pad. (There are two at each end of the dash pad; two accessible from behind the glove box, and two from behind the instrument cluster.) Finally, pull the pad straight back, and it'll slip off of the two clips holding down the middle of the pad. Once that's out of the way, you can work on the wiring from above. I used another section of split loom to keep all my new wires nice and tidy behind the dash and took the opportunity to replace the rotted out foam around the dash vents.

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Because I never listen to the radio, CDs, or tapes in the truck, but still wanted an iPod hookup, I figured I could do without a head unit and just run my iPod directly through an amp. With the dash pad out of the way, I mounted the amplifier vertically, front and center. For extra clearance, I removed the original stereo brackets from under the dash pad, but might have gotten away without doing so. The amp, itself, is powered from the original stereo's harness (minus the connector, which a PO removed), but I ran the power line through a switch that I installed in one of my spare blanks. This way, the amplifier is only powered up when the truck is on and the switch is flipped. Sound gets to the amplifier from the iPod through a 3.5mm plug that I installed in the same blank as the switch. I set the gain on the amplifier so that my iPod, when fully cranked, is only just beginning to make the speakers crackle. This way, I can control the volume from my iPod alone, without having to fiddle with another volume control like I'd have to do if it were wired through a cheap head unit.

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I installed the switch for the fog lights in the blank to the left of the steering wheel. It gets its power from the headlight line, which I tapped into behind the fuse box. I also went ahead and tapped in a headlight buzzer as per Dynosoar's directions (IH8MUD.com - View Single Post - Best Mods under $50...) and tapped a relay into the gauge circuit so I could add lights for my new gauges. (Note: I don't know if this was really necessary for adding just three small bulbs, but I felt better doing it than relying entirely on the existing gauge circuit to power the new lights. Plus, now I've got some extra capacity in case I need to wire up more gauges in the future.) The easiest way to tap into the lines behind the fuse box is to undo the two bolts holding up the hood release handle, remove the two bolts holding in the fuse box, and push the fuse box forward and down so that it dangles underneath the dash. Once that's done, all its wires are easily accessible for testing and/or tapping.

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The CB is mounted under the dash, and is wired directly to the battery via the new fuse box. It draws a trickle even when it's turned off to keep the current channel in memory, but I don't expect that to be a problem. The CB antenna is a 4' Firefly, mounted to the front bumper in place of one of the bumper bolts. (I know that it's not the best spot for an antenna, but my SWR is good and low, so I'm not too worried. We'll see how well it works on the trails and whether the stud survives its first love tap.) The Firering cable snakes into the frame rail, and then back out and up into the engine compartment along with the other wires. I put extra wire loom around the coax where it runs through the frame to help protect it from chafing.
 
Finally, I installed three mechanical gauges--oil pressure, water temp, and vacuum--in the open radio slot. I used a GlowShift panel and bent its tabs over behind the dash until it was nice and secure. Because the hole is a little bit wider than standard DIN, I painted a small piece of board to fill the gap. To get the sensors into the engine compartment, I cut a 1 1/2" hole into the firewall right next to the heater core. I was a bit nervous doing so because I didn't want to drill into anything important that would leak, but managed to do it w/o causing any harm. (Just be careful when you're drilling not to go more than about 1" into the cab, or you'll hit stuff that you don't want to hit.) To get the probes through the firewall, I had to use fish tape, but it wasn't an especially hard job. And to seal up the hole, I used a rubber stopper that I drilled and sliced to accept the hoses. For good measure, I also sliced a band around its circumference so it sits more securely in the hole.

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The oil pressure gauge was installed by a PO, I just moved where it was mounted in the cab but reused the copper tubing from his installation. I hooked the water temp gauge into the head in place of the stock pickup, as per JLH911's instructions (https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/295995-mechanical-water-temp-gauge-install-write-up.html), and teed the new vacuum gauge into the manifold vacuum for the VCV. After testing the setup for leaks, I tidied up the loose wires and put the dashboard back together. Since the new water temp gauge replaced the OEM pickup, I've lost the use of the water temp gauge in my instrument cluster--but seeing that I already had a dead oil pressure gauge (due to the mechanical one installed by a PO), I guess I can live with it. All in all, I think it makes for a pretty tight job. Heck, I even got to keep the sandwich holder!

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PS, I know that the gauges are mismatched cheapies. But they do the job, and they're what I had on hand. Someday I'll probably swap them out for something good, but I'm not in too much of a rush.
 
Thanks for the write up, you may have inspired a new project here....


A few questions:

-Where did you pick up that fuse block that's mounted on the PS fender?
-How exactly did you tap your 12v AC adapter into the fuse block?
-What size 12v AC adapter did you choose?
-Did the fuse block come with lines to bolt onto the battery terminals, or did you come up with your own setup?
 
-Where did you pick up that fuse block that's mounted on the PS fender?
-How exactly did you tap your 12v AC adapter into the fuse block?
-What size 12v AC adapter did you choose?
-Did the fuse block come with lines to bolt onto the battery terminals, or did you come up with your own setup?

The fuse block is a Bussmann 15600. I bought it online (and got ripped off with the shipping charge) before finding them at both my local Autozone and Advance Auto. :doh: They come with different numbers of fuse holders, depending on your needs, and cost under $10. (Unless you're stupid, like I was.)

My power inverter plugs into a cigarette lighter. But instead of taking up the stock lighter socket, I put one of these in the glove box just for the inverter. It's wired back to the fuse block with 10ga on its own circuit, and I'll be putting a second outlet in back of the truck in case I want to use the inverter there.

The inverter in the picture is an older 300 watt one that I've had for years, but I might buy one of these to replace it.

The fuse block doesn't come with wires, connectors, fuses or bolts. It's just a hunk of plastic with one stud, six fuse holders, and six spades (one for each fuse). The stud gets wired directly to the battery (via an inline fuse holder, in my case), and from the fuse block I ran a new wire for each new circuit. If you're looking at something more fully thought out or heavier duty, you should look at what slcfj62 is selling. It looks like good stuff, but wasn't what I needed for my project.
 
Nice write-up, and a great idea hooking the ipod directly to the amp. Where did you connect the switched positive that comes from the gauges?
 

Thats pretty clever...Thanks!!!
I been looking for a grommet that I could use for some other holes in the cab I need to plug
 
Where did you connect the switched positive that comes from the gauges?

My gauges are all mechanical, so I only needed power for their lights. I pulled the positive lead directly from the battery (via the fusebox that I installed), but switched it via a relay that I tapped into the gauge circuit at the stock fusebox. That way, when the stock dash gauge lights come on, the new gauge lights do too, but they draw their power on a new circuit. Let me know if that didn't make sense, and I'll draw a diagram.

Seeing that there were only three new lights installed, I probably didn't need to go through the trouble of running the wires through the relay, but I was feeling really anal retentive at the time.

Also, in case it matters to you, the way I wired the new gauges, they don't dim with the rest of the gauges. That doesn't matter to me, though, because I always keep my gauge dimmer turned all the way bright.
 
One more question--where did you source the 3.5mm plug (stereo input jack) for your iPod? I've been wanting to install a jack like that for the same reason, but cannot for the life of me find that part, even at Radio Shack.
 
One more question--where did you source the 3.5mm plug (stereo input jack) for your iPod? I've been wanting to install a jack like that for the same reason, but cannot for the life of me find that part, even at Radio Shack.

Parts Express
 
My gauges are all mechanical, so I only needed power for their lights. I pulled the positive lead directly from the battery (via the fusebox that I installed), but switched it via a relay that I tapped into the gauge circuit at the stock fusebox. That way, when the stock dash gauge lights come on, the new gauge lights do too, but they draw their power on a new circuit. Let me know if that didn't make sense, and I'll draw a diagram.

Seeing that there were only three new lights installed, I probably didn't need to go through the trouble of running the wires through the relay, but I was feeling really anal retentive at the time.

Also, in case it matters to you, the way I wired the new gauges, they don't dim with the rest of the gauges. That doesn't matter to me, though, because I always keep my gauge dimmer turned all the way bright.

Yea that makes sense, I was trying to figure it out for the lights and for the electric gauges, I finally decided on the gauge wire that goes into the fuse box. However, I didn't run it through the light switch itself, that seemed too difficult at the time. I just have another switch on the dash that will turn on the lights.

I really like your amp idea by the way. I was finding it difficult to place my amp somewhere, I will have to relocate at some point. Did you have to move anything for that size amp?
 
Did you have to move anything for that size amp?

Nope. That particular amp fit there really snugly w/o having to move or jimmy anything. Anything larger would be a problem--though I suppose if your stereo slot were left open, there'd be room for the amp up top, where the head unit would have been. But in my case that wasn't possible because of where I chose to put the gauges.
 
THanks for the write up! Great pics too. At what point does it make sense to add a second battery for all your accessories? Would fog lights, CB, Amp and winch warrant going to a second battery? I love the fuse block that will clean up my wiring quite a bit.
 
New gauge cluster

Very nice, where did you find the gauge cluster housing bracket that fits perfecly in the radio hole?
it is very clean.
 
Very nice, where did you find the gauge cluster housing bracket that fits perfecly in the radio hole?
it is very clean.

I used one of these. But don't let the photo fool you. The hole in the FJ60's dash is a bit wider than standard DIN, so I filled the gap with some board that I painted black. You'd see it better if I took the picture with a better camera, but honestly I think I'm the only one who notices it in real life.
 

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