Stu's 1972 4 Door

[Stu]

I took the 'turbo' exhaust manifold and downpipe to a local shop that does ceramic coating and got them coated in a satin black. The goal is to keep the corrosion to a minimum and get as much heat out of the engine compartment as possible. The manifold is very close to the brake booster and reservoirs so I did a bit of simple CAD and designed a heat shield. I sent the flat file DXF to Send Cut Send and got a bent heat shield in 0.63" 5052 aluminum and some strips for mounting, shipped to my door for about 35 bucks. I stripped the vinyl off a clamp and it fit perfectly around the bottom boss on the reservoir. I used one of the bolts on the booster to hold a rear bracket. It is pretty tight to the manifold and will have to see if anything bangs into anything in use.













With the completely rejiggered exhaust, the O2 sensor lead was wayyyyyy to short. I found that the Bosch 13228 sensor has a 3 foot lead on it and is the perfect length to reach to the connection on the stock harness.





I got impatient and had to put on some of the refinished front trim back on (by SSS Restorers)

[Stu]

My main power from the battery in the trunk runs under the car (on a 150A breaker in the trunk) and comes up along the right side frame rail. This connects to a mega fuse block from a mid-90s to early 2000s turbo Saab. The four feeds will go to the fuses/distribution in the cabin; BAT/ACC/ON/CAN-AM.



With the removal of the stock fuse box and wanting to have ACC and ON not running straight through the ignition switch, I am adding BlueSea fuse blocks controlled by Bosch 70A relays. I used copper strip to connect the relay to the ACC (bigger block) and ON (smaller block) to keep them close to each other (vs stubby wire with terminals). I got lucky and the Bosch relays use the same 2 connection "T" shape plug that the seat belt switches use, so they will be harvested from the old harness. The bigger block not on a relay is constant power. The short block on the side is for grounds. All of this is mounted to 1/4" textured ABS sheet mounted under the glove box.



I was planning on mounting the ECM and CAN/AM relay box under the passenger seat but the wires were just too short and I did not want it poking out under the seat. The ECM bracket, CAN/AM box, and Nissan Consult plug bracket are mounted on the firewall using another piece of the 1/4" ABS. I painted all of the brackets to help it blend in and might paint/cover the ECM in the future.



I was hoping to 'hide' everything but once the car is on the ground and carpet is in, I don't think you will really notice it much. Also, it will be easier to access for connections and as long as I keep the wires tidy, it should not draw too much attention. I put some sound dampening foam/pads on the firewall before bolting it all in.

[ostaylor]

The quality of your work and thoroughness of your thread posts is amazing and inspirational Stu - Once I start my assembly, this is one of the threads I am going to read front to back to get great ideas from.

[510rob]

I love it when people take the wiring as seriously as they do the other parts of their build. The devil is always in the details.

[cwd240z]

Great work man, looks awesome.

[Stu]

I love it when people take the wiring as seriously as they do the other parts of their build. The devil is always in the details.

Great work man, looks awesome.

The quality of your work and thoroughness of your thread posts is amazing and inspirational Stu - Once I start my assembly, this is one of the threads I am going to read front to back to get great ideas from.

Thanks everyone. Early in my career I was a manufacturing engineer and messy wiring on assembly tools and the production line drove me crazy for the downtime and troubleshooting challenges. A few side taps here and there are OK for expediency, but dangling wires make me twichy Having an assortment of the correct connectors and crimp tools makes it 'easier' to do it right.

I can see why so many people get stuck on the wiring stage of a project, I think I have a pretty good understanding of the stock and SR20 harness, but damn, this feels like a lot sometimes,

[ostaylor]

If it worries you, it scares the shit out of me! Thankfully my middle son is writing wizard. I hope I get some time from him when the time comes

[Stu]

I know some people like the way classic cars have lighting that is relatively dim and 'cool', but every time I see one on a dark road, I think "damn, I can barely see that thing". To increase the visibility of the back of my car, I converted the outside 'turn only' position to a tail/brake/turn by using a trailer wiring adapter and dual filament socket. The light sockets all use the same key pattern, so adding a dual filament socket does not require any modification to the housing. Intermotor S847 or Dorman 84809



Basically you splice the new socket into the existing tail light wire from the adjacent socket, then intercept the turn signal wire(s) with the trailer adapter. You also tap into the brake signal. This makes the turn/brake filament turn on when the brakes are applied, blink when only the turn signal is on, or alternate on/off if brakes are on and the signal is turned on (like a four wire, single bulb, dual filament trailer light). You now have four tail lights, four brake lights, and the outside position is still turn.





I stripped the harness all the way to the corner by the filler so I could trace all the wires and mount the trailer adapter in the corner



forgot to take pics of all the rewire before I re-wrapped the harness and tucked it all away





Here are a couple of videos of the tail lights with the trailer adapter and the front turn signals with the Blinker Genie. The taillight vid was while it was still relatively light out and it all looks better in the dark, but you get the idea

Tail lights

Front marker lights

[RONSLYCHUK]

Great information Stu. Thank you.

[cwd240z]

Really like that rear lighting modification, the layout/function is similar the LEDs in mine. Nissan should've wired them like this from the factory.

[Stu]

After two months of not so enjoyable comedy of errors, I finally got my driveline shortened and installed. The local shop has been slammed for the entire summer, I measured wrong the first time, they did not put new joints in and had to bring it back, the shop assistant got deployed, and they are a mainly commercial shop so I constantly got bumped. When you use an original driveline with a newer transmission with a built in oil flinger stopper, you have to remove the old metal sleeve or your driveline will be right at two inches too short and you get to take it back and hope the shop is merciful and remakes it for you free of charge.



I filled the transmission with Redline MT-90 and installed my shifter. I got a ring made from Send-Cut-Send and bent it to hold down the stock shift boot.



The shift knob is not nearly that huge and is about the size of the shifter in my Mini Cooper.



Cleaned up and routed a bunch of wires in the dash. When wiring the center gauges that have the warning lights, I could not get the alternator light to illuminate correctly and it was driving me crazy. I traced all the wires multiple times, put a resistor (100 ohm 5W) in parallel with the LED to make sure the field would get triggered properly, and it would still not illuminate. It is a brand new alternator so I did not think it would be bad, but took it back to the parts store, and it tested bad. Got a warranty replacement and, phew, it all lit up properly.



Installed the upper dash metal pieces, dash pad, and heater controls. Since I added the Honda heater valve, I needed to put in a longer cable. Used a generic lawnmower push-pull cable and cut and modified to length.







I got to looking at the fancy wiper delay module I made with the Ford rotary switch and realized it would not really fit in the dash and the control board was not going to fit under the seat easily. Basically I ditched it and bought a vintage wiper delay. I wired it in right at the switch so it can be removed if needed. I like the rotary dial since it seems like it will be easier to adjust while driving. I also got one of the slider style boxes, but I'll see how this one works (not like this car is my winter ride).







Hoping to get the gauges fully installed this weekend (they have been in and out 100 times)

[ostaylor]

Big update Stu - good progress. I've never heard of Send-Cut-Send, I'll have to Google that.

[Stu]

Wanted to button up the dash so finished gauges, stereo, and the remaining wiring of the ECU using the CAN/AM relay box I bought a while back (this thing is awesome and saved me lots or time).





I reused the stock harness, but I download the S15 SR20DE wiring diagram from Wiring Specialties as a reference and it has been super useful







Gauges all ‘done’

[72ultraorange]

Stu, absolutely amazing work! Thanks for sharing all the details - the dash and wiring look awesome! Congratulations!

[icehouse]

You sir have amazing detail skills!!!!! Your build is so inspiring!