general interior electrical amenities upgrades on the 1993 Middle East model 80 (1 Viewer)

[John Young]

On some of the other threads I've talked about ripping the dash apart to get to the leaking heater core, biting the bullet on depressurizing the AC system, and then starting to put things back together again. As I've gotten into it, I've found some really awful wiring by the PO's. I also have to accept responsibility for some hacking by my mechanics in Dubai who I asked to install a modern head unit and a lock/unlock fob. I decided I was going to try to clean up things as much as possible and do the wiring in a more sensible fashion. One thing has lead to another and I seem always to find something else that needs doing.

Most recently, I decided to add one of those new-fangled 12" monitor rear view 'mirrors' that hang on the stock mirror, which then requires adding another camera to the back and snaking wires from front to back in the headliner. This got me looking at the speakers in the back. Which got me looking at the old amplifier installed next to the subwoofer at the back rear right corner. I knew I had to replace the speaker, and looking at the amplifier, it looked pretty doubtful that it was in working order, and anyways hooking into it looked pretty complicated. That got me looking at the little 2.5 inch rear speakers that are driven by the OEM amplifier, and lead to a decision to delete those speakers and use a conventional amplifier for the subwoofer speaker. Seemed like a waste not to put something in place of those little speakers and after talking it over with my son, we decided that putting a couple more switched lights in the back would be a good idea.

Here's a photo of the stock speaker grille, a the start of the conversion:

I then used some tin snips to cut out the hole entirely:

And press in the remaining tabs of steel mesh to make a relatively smooth opening:

The hole happens to be just the right size to accept a nice little white LCD 12v light source:

I looked at putting a switch on the back pillars of the truck but decided it be better to put the switch on the fixture itself. This required a little more drilling and then fettling with a dremell moto-tool, but after painting I think the result is very nice:

 

[John Young]

I've also decided to put in a small auxiliary fuse block under the hood for the various things I am adding. I decided the passenger side is the best place:

I'm getting rid of this sort of thing:

It's a good time to do it:

I also chose to move the new door lock/unlock box inside the drivers side door rather than in the driver's footwell. I don't have the blinking turn signals when I lock or unlock but I really don't care about that. This truck is not too hard to spot in a parking lot. Everything is crimped and I'm starting to feel better about the electrics.

BTW, here is a photo of where the rear speaker cum LED lights are going:

I'm planning to use the old speaker wires to send power to the new lights. it's only 3 watts for each.

 

[John Young]

Well, a few little misadventures since my last post, but progress is being made. I kept blowing fuses. Turned out I had forgotten how barrier strips are wired. Bottom line, the light are installed and work great!

The light is really very bright and because it comes from two directions it really changes the character of the back portion of this 80. Bright enough to work on something back there. I'm very happy with this modification.

And they remind me a little of the intercoms on Star Trek's original series:

 

[John Young]

It turned out that putting the rear camera in for the new-fangled rear view mirror was more involved than I thought. I wanted to install it inside the truck, rather than outside, and that necessitated thinking through the routing for the wiring. I settled on mounting the camera on the underside of the center brake light.

I've noticed that the top part of the rear door is often a trouble spot for rust. I was not anxious to make matters worse. I decided to route the cable for the camera through the same opening as the wiper fluid hose.

Basically what I did was to put in a new large grommet that would accept both the wiper fluid fitting and would pass the connector for the camera--the old grommet for the wiper fluid is actually still on the fitting, just behind the new grommet. Then I used black RTV gasket maker to fill in the space in the new grommet so hopefully it is watertight.

Here's the view on the underside of the back of the truck:

One last photo of all the various parts that get bolted together:

I found a grommet assortment kit to be very useful because I did not know how may grommets or of what size I was going to need. The kits seem to vary quite a bit in terms of quality. I wish this one had been metric, but there were enough different sized that I could find something workable in each location.

 

[John Young]

Since I was doing all this in the back area already, I started to think that it would be nice to have a power point back there. It turns out that there is a hole in the right rear pillar just right to give you some space to put in some receptacles. I bought this set from Amazon. I liked it because it had a switch, a 12v power point, two USB's and a volt meter. My thinking was to switch the whole thing off and on right there so that you could draw power without having the ignition turned on. The voltmeter should help prevent you from discharging the battery (unless you happen to leave it on, in which case the volt meter and the USB will be drawing some current.

Here's how I did it:

(I did wash the panel before going too much further)

Once I had cut the hole with a dremel moto-tool I temporarily screwed it in and then masked it off. This area of the panel is not flat so I filled in the gaps with black gasket RTV, which is nice because it does not have a high shine and it matches the panel pretty well.

After smoothing with my finger I peeled off the masking while the RTV was still wet (something I learned doing silicon sealant in bathrooms). Ended up pretty nice I think.

Here's the wiring on the back:

I chose to solder to the lugs rather than using spades (which I've always been a bit suspicious of). I also used a little RTV to prevent the screw in devices and hold down screws from coming loose.

One other note: The switch has an LED indicator light that is on when the switch is off--so you can see it I suppose. I measured the current at 12 volts and it was a bit over 10ma. While not a lot I decided I did not want any constant drain, so I did not wire up the indicator light.

 

[greentruck]

There are lots of readers lusting after your rear AC...

 

[John Young]

There are lots of readers lusting after your rear AC...

I didn't realize that it was something specific to non-US markets until a friend in Abu Dhabi mentioned it to me the other day. I suspect that the expansion valve has not been changed to R134A but that is something I will check after I get this back on the road. This truck also has a small cooler between the driver and passenger seat that runs off the AC system. The ones in the 100 series are much better than the ones on the 80, but I also suspect that the expansion valve for that may not have been changed either.

 

[John Young]

I got the back end of the interior back together again, and I is really nice to see it this way after being apart so long. This photo was taken with the two new light on but no other lighting.

I need to take out and wash the rear carpet, maybe even replace it, but that will have to wait. The old CD changer had some bolts sticking up and was on a mounting plate. I'm thinking a lock box bolted in there might be a nice addition.

On the rear AC, I actually never had tried it out. Here's what the control panel looks like above the drivers side rear passenger:

I started up the truck and turned on the AC in the front, but no joy getting the fan to start for the rear AC. That is a project that will have to wait until the truck is driving again. I suspect it is an electrical problem. The AC fuse had badly burned the fuse block in the driver's footwell some time in the past. Maybe I will have a look at the troubleshooting flow diagrams in the FSM.

It really is nice to see the truck slowly coming back together after a long delay. I had a bad heater core in the dash, and not having a heater in Virginia is a little more of a problem than it was in the Middle East. It was the AC work that made me hesitate, but now that I've got an (antique) vacuum pump and fiddled a bit, AC stuff doesn't seem so bad after all.

 

[wngrog]

Very clean work. I will have to do a stereo at some point. My 1991 Saudi truck has no speakers except one in the dash.

 

[White Stripe]

I tried a backup camera in the rear glass like that. I got too much glare from the glass.

 

[John Young]

I tried a backup camera in the rear glass like that. I got too much glare from the glass.

I did it like that in my 1998 model 100 and didn't have an issue. There is still some tinting back there from its time in the Middle East. And on the 93 its got even some darker tint, but not as shiny. I suspect the 98 may have polarizing film. I will try to remember to post again about this once the 93 is on the road again. Part of the reason I'm trying this is that this is a combined front and rear dashcam as well as a rearview mirror. Also I am putting in a 6.8" android head unit that has a rear camera mounted on the license plate holder (off center because it is a Middle East model with the OEM rear tire carrier, and it sits so low in the dash that you'd have to stare down at the floor while you are backing up to make use of the rear camera and I have not felt too safe about that.

Here's the installation on the rear of the 1998:

From outside you can see it is quite reflective:

And here is a photo from outside on the back of the 93:

The film on the 93 is a little less reflective than on the 98, so we will see... (And yes, the 93 is really, really dusty. It's been laid up in the garage since January when we started taking it apart to replace the heater core (shudder!).)

I should add that this is kind of an experiment. I have two more 80's I'm working on in Dubai and I am anxious to get dashcams in both of them, and this large 'mirror' over the factory mirror is much less in the way. If this works on the 93 I will do the same on the other two trucks. Drivers and motorbikes in the Middle East can be a bit aggressive and as a foreigner I really would like to have the additional security of being able to show the authorities recordings of any incidents.

The damn thing was also pretty cheap at less than 120 USD. And it has some other fun features like a shock detector that starts recording if somebody bumps you while it is parked and you are not in it. Who knows if it actually works, or how long the battery is good for, but it is still kind of cool!

 

[John Young]

P.S. Now that I am thinking about this more, it should also be possible to put a small patch of polarizing film on the back glass just in front of the camera that should solve the problem. Self-adhesive polarizing film is readily available from every neighborhood cell phone repair shop. It used to be common to replace the polarizing film on the iphone displays. I started playing with it when I was trying to repair a dashboard LCD on a 2005 Mercedes. Quite an adventure.

 

[John Young]

Lately I've been routing the wiring for the various cameras and whatnot. The head unit requires the car to be in park to enter certain setup modes, which is annoying, and the second rearward camera (in the license plate holder that looks more at the ground) is meant to turn on when you put the car into reverse. I pulled the fridge console cover off with the idea of installing the wiring but when I started looking at it I decided I did not want to disturb the OEM loom.

There is quite a lot of wiring in there.

I decided instead to put two switches in the dash to operate manually. I needed to do a little panel for the USB ports anyways. I chose to replace the ashtray with a small ABS panel.

To provide some mounting support I covered the ABS in foil and taped it in place and then backfilled behind it with expoxy paste:

And the next day removed the ABS panel:

 

[John Young]

After mounting the USB and switches, here is the result. Red for reverse, I think.

 

[John Young]

Wiring-wise, the reverse light signal to the head unit needs to be pulled low normally, and the parking brake needs to be pulled high normally, so a couple of resistors pulled out of the 1990's era mobile phone transmitter we found in the truck did nicely:

And then a little wrapping with self-vulcanizing rubber tape (great stuff, and cheap too, at 4 bucks a roll at Home Depot):

I pulled the +12 volts and ground off of the cigarette lighter plug next to this little panel by making a little pigtail harness.

I'm happy to say that it all worked when I plugged all the cables together for a dry run. Next up is sorting out where to put the GPS antennas--one for the head unit and one for the rear view mirror / dashcam.

 

[John Young]

So now it is time to finish up the wiring for the fancy rear-view mirror and close things up and (hopefully) start putting the dash back in.

The fancy mirror-dashcam has a pretty hefty current draw. The USB adapter is 2.5 amps. It also requires placement of a GPS antenna. I was going to run both the power and the GPS antenna down the passenger side A-column, but when I tried to fish a line through it I got precisely nowhere. I already had fished the camera coax line from the rear up the side of the roof without too much trouble, and was able to fish a line from the passenger side roof by the front door to the center pod so I could have run a power line all the way back to the rear of the truck, but that was all closed up now and I really did not want open it up again.

Then I thought, well, there has to be power going to the ceiling pod because it has an amenity light and controls the moon roof. This truck happens to have the compass and sub-tank meter on it and some fairly diligent searching in the standard FSM's didn't show the wiring diagram specific to this pod. But some searching here on Mud did reveal this diagram:

Which was quite useful. The A1 connection going to the CIG fuse was most promising because it suggested a fairly good current draw was possible, and also that it would be switch on and off with the ignition key, unlike the A3, which seems to be on all the time. I used some alligator clips and tried it out and the USB adapter for the dashcam-mirror operated with no issue. I pulled the ground from A4 as likely the least sensitive to use.

There is not a lot of space in the ceiling around the pod so I am running the power line out to the passenger side roof edge area where there is plenty, and I will stick it up with strong double sided foam tape and maybe a zip tie or two, and then put the headliner back in place.

 

[John Young]

Here's the new pigtail off of lines A1 and A4

While I'm at it I am replacing that bulb with:

At 3000K it is a very warm color, but I actually prefer that for map lights. The lights in rear are more of a pure white at 4500K.

I kind of temporarily banged the console in (the space for the wiring is tight) just to make sure everything was still working:

Thankfully it was. The image is a bit cloudy because I still have the screen protection film on it. I like that it is a bit of a fisheye so the angle of view is actually much better than the glass mirror.

 

[John Young]

Back on the interior, we gradually are making our way forward.

This amp is just for the woofer in the stock position in the rear. I've decided not to bother to put the disused OEM amplifiers back in the truck--just extra weight and they never will be used again.

A long time ago, I covered the center console top with camel leather (it's a hobby). But over the couple of years since I did that, I lost one of the little arms that limit the amount the top will tip back. Had to make a new one out of ABS.

I also had to repair the latch because at some point I had kneeled on it. Seems to be fine now.

 

[John Young]

Here' a a look at what the console covers up for those of you curious:

BTW, that cadmium sheet metal screw is something I put in. There was a hole in the black metal bracket, but not the body under it and the whole guts of the console are not all that firmly attached. I decided to drill a hole and put that screw in there to try to firm things a little.

The inside of the cooler (can't really call it a fridge) are somewhat insulated:

I replaced some of the failing foam tape in paces.

And here she is in-place:

Next it was repairing the driver's electric seat, as so many of us have had to do.

(This is the after photo after I used degreaser and thinner and accidentally some acetone, and then blew it off with some air.)

It was damn dirty under there. Everything coated with a sticky layer of that fine reddish-brown desert dust from Dubai. And inside the plastic worm gear housings it was more like tan glazing putty than grease. I did not have too much trouble putting the new (expensive) plastic gear from Gamiviti (found here on our beloved Mud). I probably should pull apart the other gear heads, but on the other hand the other gearheads don't get used nearly as much as the forward-backwards... and I've go so much else to do on this truck...

One lesson learned: I ended up disassembling the motor so I could get the worm gear completely out to clean off the old hardened grease. It's a bit difficult to get the brushes to retract so you can put the motor together again. If I had to do it over, I would leave the motor assembled and just turn it by hand using the flexible shaft on the other end and clean the parts of the worm I could reach through the plastic housing. It would not be perfectly clean, but I think it woud be ok.

 

[John Young]

One of the casualties of this long period of the dash being apart was that the top part of the dash got placed upside down on something sharp and got a hole poked in it.

At this age, the vinyl is pretty brittle.

The portion of the dash that got damaged does not happen to have sheet metal under it. So if you drill down you go through the vinyl skin, into some foam, and then out the back. (And when the dash is assembled, there is some strong plastic under it. Part of the foam pad does have sheet metal in it, just not this part.)

I tried fixing it with some grey silicone sealant but it really did not look very good. These things bother me a lot. I though about recovering the dash, but that seemed overkill. Finally I settled on using it as an opportunity to add a hard mounting point to the top of the dash for a go-pro or cell phone or tablet or whatever. I've written before about the magical 15mm SmallRig camera rod system components in the 100 Series forum and I decided to use that here by mounting a threaded end permanently in the dash.

There is a 1/4-20 threaded hole in the bottom which I could use to secure this to the hard plastic under the dash. I actually embedded a 1/4-20 bolt in epoxy putty. This is looking up from under.

And here is the finished result: