Leigh's '81 VH SL/X Project

[Immortality]

I believe the thick pink wire is the coil positive feed from the ignition switch. The 3 wires with individual spade connectors are normally in a single 3 pin plug and it was common for that to burn out from excessive heat as that one has.

Personally I'd use as much of the VS loom as possible as the VH didn't use relays for a lot of systems and simply ran it all via the ignition switch which was the cause of said plug burning out above. You really want a relay for the starter as well as the headlights (another common failure on the early models was a burnt out headlight switch)

 

[gtrboyy]

Firewall plastic connector gets brittle over time that plugs inside come loose,move around & contaminated by crap in engine bay eventually become gremlins....gave me grief when first bough sle.Took bit of time to work that out lol.

vacuum gauge can use dicky nozzle back of intake manifold...has small vacuum line that usually goes to t-piece between vacuum ball/heater control unit.

Orange wire be accessory 12v for choke or whatever,,,can check later with test light.

Plug at firewall looks all a/c related like air compressor,fan etc.

You want hotwire engine loom to run or basically wire it up like how it was with 6cyl harness to run?

Then later on if don't like it add in relay harness after customise factory bay harness or bluewire gear hidden.

Did you toss 6cyl engine loom?

 

[Leigh_G]

Did you toss 6cyl engine loom?

Nah I've kept all the VH gear, including loom - it's definitely helped me figure out what things connected where.

Thanks for the tips on the plugs and vac hose! - I went and bought a brand new 6-way plug today so I'll just chop off the old black one and re-crimp the VH stuff into the fresh connector.

You want hotwire engine loom to run or basically wire it up like how it was with 6cyl harness to run?

I was expecting to have to chuck a few relays in the loom somewhere - that's my current challenge - where to whack them.
I bought a VL washer/overflow, to free up the tower for the VS fusebox.. but even that's not a straight bolt in jobby, gotta chop old VH washer brackets which sucks a little.. as well as needing new tabs on the tower for the VL bottle. Not hard, just more time..

I also picked up a VL fusebox, and I think this is a better path to look at, chucking all relays and fuses up on the passenger side right above the main firewall loom plug - I don't wanna get bogged down for too long re-doing the entire loom, especially when most of it bolted straight up (albeit having some extra length before entering the firewall) - I'd love to get this car cruising before crap weather kicks in, and can always tinker with a loom cleanup over winter.

This battery feed wire is annoying me - I looked under the car today and can pop it out of the top of the trans tunnel, but I am cautious about distance to headers as it passes just below the top of the block/head - it looks damn close to heat! I met a bloke who popped his batt bulkhead connector into the passenger wheel-arch and ran the cable along the chassis rail, before flipping under the rail and across to starter... but I'm also hesitant to have it in a wheel arch where road debris could hit/split the lead? arrrrgh...

Bought a brass adaptor to run two oil pressure senders - low and behold, it fouls on alternator so back to the shop for a refund tomorrow - A PITA exactly as you predicted @gtrboyy lol

Forgot to ask last night, but there's also this pair of wires I need help identifying.. They come out of a hole on the drivers side firewall, but lower down than the instrument loom plug. It's the same hole that the mechanical speedo drive lead comes from.. The sheathing makes me think they're not OEM (sorry, I should probably just jam my head up behind the dash and trace them.. lol)


Lastly, I messaged the bloke who bought the Stato donor and he still had the VS gear selector linkage and was happy to pull it off for me - what a relief!!

 

[vc commodore]

I didn't realise VL washer bottles were different to VK, until I had a look...

I have a VK one in my VC and the radiator side of the washer bottle I was able to use a nut and bolt to secure to the body...Didn't have to weld any tabs in place....

Here's a picture of mine...Unfortunately it is difficult to see the mounting point

 

[Leigh_G]

I didn't realise VL washer bottles were different to VK, until I had a look...

Ha! I actually didn't either till just now.. I found the VL overflow bottle fouls a little on the upright bracket that holds the top of the VH washer bottle..

I might look for a VK one then - even if I don't put the VS fusebox below it, I reckon they just look much neater than the VH ones..
See, here I am getting distracted again instead of finishing the main task at hand hahaha

 

[Vin999]

Ha! I actually didn't either till just now.. I found the VL overflow bottle fouls a little on the upright bracket that holds the top of the VH washer bottle..

I might look for a VK one then - even if I don't put the VS fusebox below it, I reckon they just look much neater than the VH ones..
See, here I am getting distracted again instead of finishing the main task at hand hahaha

bottles are the same, its just VL's deleted old bracket and had the higher indent to accept resi.

 

[Vin999]

See, here I am getting distracted again instead of finishing the main task at hand hahaha

Wow reading your posts, getting flashbacks of what's it like to be a conversion virgin again, a long time ago now it seems.

Lil words of advice without taking the lead from the other’s advice your following.
Take a step back and try and get an overall picture on what direction you’re going in, especially the overall efi part as in what you want bay to look like at the end and what parts go where, don’t proceed until you have worked that out, as many ways to do and few have got/gone with aftermarket loom @ plug n play and connect from a few places like V6 Conversions and Mark’s 4x4 but expensive.

I did the factory look of donor car motor connections in bay as I didn’t want to cut things out like radiator support/resi bottles as it’s an SLE now it’s a efi SLE bay if you get what I mean, no damage done. Also sle has the old heater/air con blower motor in bay on the pass side and can’t move so I had to think hard how I could fit things without damaging the original features.

I used the complete donor fuse/relay bay box next to original resi bottles (due to coneections with h/light wiper/washers) in driver/light direction and moved to smaller v8 canister clamped to rad body strut. The original motor loom connects into it and the starter/earth/main fuses/battery loom also connects there to the bulk head fittings/cable which are under the guard protected by a sheath and had no problems with cable. The stripped relay box loom goes to connect with original loom plug and a few wires into cabin.

Why try to invent the wheel when holdens already worked out things that can go into many other cars the same. I was going to put battery on drivers side with VT battery tray next to relay box but would lose the original resi bottles and had nowhere to fit them due to fan motor on passenger side. Could have used VT/VX resi bottles under pass guard next to filter box but naw I didn’t want that ugly look of a mongrel car bay.

Your trying to incorporate suggestions of relays in other spots, making new patch looms, bulkhead cable connections under firewall hump and then trying to incorporate rear fuel/trans wiring as well, that is really the hardest way to do things for a simple look, and can be confusing hence why people buy new aftermarket fuse/loom with about 6 wires ready to connect into old car.
I went for the factory look with factory original parts which looks hard but much simpler to do as I have kept everything into bay with engine loom connections like the donor car.

 

[Vin999]

Mine is clutch fan , will go to thermo later on with engine upgrade/power but fan/cowling cools very good for now with an original VK V8 3 core copper rad which can handle stray currents unlike the alloy radiators which should have an sacrificial anode plugged into them for the current attraction of that metal. I use a simple small trans cooler behind grille, I didn’t use the radiator outlets for the trans, the biggest killer for the auto trans is heat/temperature, so not sure what you're doing there and whether going thermos or clutch fan and what you have with the online alloy radiator.

A brass T piece with 3 same thread m/f outlets for oil pressure/sensor fits, try sourcing a T piece not just a long one which fouls. My twin horns are still in original position and ignition module next to them sideways under guard rail bolts with wiring around strut to join main loom top of rail under air/con/fan into cabin. Old bulky VN loom grommet was cut/ditched and smaller flush firewall one was used. Might pay to fire sleeve the loom at the rail/firewall and the starter loom wires.
Also if you want to use your old dash speedo, your old trimatic cable is short, use the longer T400 cable along with what you use to adapt speed senser.

From memory the front donor V8 half is a tight fit, though I had complete unis changed to the larger 1 tonner wb ute ones. I used the rear donor shaft shortened n balanced with new uni’s. Be aware your donor V8 shaft uses a bigger CV joint than any VL b/w shaft you source for free, the smaller uni’s/centre bearings are adequate. If you need any tailshaft work especially balancing old ones see Jim @ Adelaide Tailshaft Services @ Dry Creek.

Since you changed complete driivetrain @ engine/trans/tailshaft/diff, might pay to check pinion angles as engine does go back down at rear a few degrees along with the trans and what ever shaft you use.... also good idea to replace with just standard factory ones the engine/trans rubber mounts for harmonics/vibrations/smooth ride over any harsh aftermarket ones.

 

[vc commodore]

Ha! I actually didn't either till just now.. I found the VL overflow bottle fouls a little on the upright bracket that holds the top of the VH washer bottle..

I might look for a VK one then - even if I don't put the VS fusebox below it, I reckon they just look much neater than the VH ones..
See, here I am getting distracted again instead of finishing the main task at hand hahaha

I found out by just googling images of the VK and VL engine bays....If I saw correctly with the VL, there appeared to be a bracket point upwards, that the washer bottle bolted to....Here's a picture with what I am referring to

The vk one seems to bolt flat to the inner guard section, as seen in the picture that I posted of my car



I didn't remove my washer bottle bracket in the engine bay, when I fitted the washer bottle in my VC....However if you want the clean look, by all means remove it.....

 

[gtrboyy]

Personally I'd use & modify the vh 6cyl engine loom to get it up & running..just lengthen & route it neatest way possible....also vs engine loom routes to same side so I'd wire it up mostly the way it was with 6 pot.

Really only need relay for 12v ecu/injectors & f/pump...starter relay is good to put though for any early girl.Then depends if clutch fan or going thermofans.

I do like my engine bays to look pretty but most of all functional & easy to work on in case have to work on in the future...you'll understand down the track why I choose certain parts & done things haha.

One of the reasons I ditch vn-vs oil pressure switch is mess & brass t-piece to run factory vh sender don't fit...pita that looks shite.

Ditch it run tachiometric relay to turn f/pump on...they run off - coil signal so basically hit reds it primes pump then turns off & won't run pump on again untill engine starts.....if it stalls stops pump.Get them from LPG places or aftermarket & can hide it on tunell/glovebox.

Another tip drill out rivets on plate for trimatic shifter & remove it completely....you'll then be able to see into tunnel & easier access to to do power cables etc.....need shifter out anyway when drill trimatic selector arm to match 4l60e selector rod.

Fairly sure my vh sle had a vl overflow/washer bottle setup when I bought it.

The white wires or whatever they are look aftermarket add on *shrugz*

Don't think you'd be needing speedo cable anymore.

One job at a time...make a list!!!!