I'm 16 years old and working on an 83 rangie. Its a carb 3.5 V8 so it will probably not be as hard as if i had ECU. I want to keep the electrical system very simple using only the essentials... lights, guages etc. I am going to use a Painless universal wiring harness and their toggle switches for headlights, turning signals, wipers, guages and other accessories/auxilary components. I am not very experienced with wiring so I'm not sure what else I'll need to do. Any advice would be great.

Thanks

How good are you with a multi-meter and ohms law?

Because if you've got those two sorted, the rest will be time, patience and being as methodical as you can. It is a massive task.

I've just rewired a large chunk of my 1985 (was a carby V8, now diesel) I installed kill switches on both batteries after an electrical fire caused by a starter solenoid short.

I'd suggest getting a Haynes or similar manual with the wiring diagrams and doing small sections at a time.

as someone with alot of wiring experience
search on the internet for 12v theory and primers
if this is your daily driver i would skip it
why do you want to rewire
do you want more circuts
if so run an aux fuse box from the battery
(fused at the battery)
read read read search read more then read
guys with 5 times my mechanical expertise hire me to wire their trucks / buggies
not that im a genius its just complicated stuff
ask most offroaders to go over their wiring skematic and you hear grones
it takes awhile to learn but well worth it
2nd the multimeter

Test light and low current fuses will be your friend for testing!

If Shopboy can replace wiring harnesses without a whole lot of electrical knowledge, you can rewire an older Rangie!

Something that hasn't been touched upon yet is the importance of making and retaining LOTS of notes about what you've done and what color wire means what.

Don't trust that AFI guy, he couldn't wire a table lamp :flipoff2:

Don't trust that AFI guy, he couldn't wire a table lamp :flipoff2: But he can make a 110 run in 2 hours that took me two weeks ,and had me stumped thnaks AFI your the best ....


yea 4 years plus did not learn me anything about wires
ps understand the difference between electron flow and hole flow (not even pt has this mastered yet ):flipoff2:

As I remember, you used the process I DIRECTED you to use to fix that damned 110 :flipoff2:

If you really want to rewire the entire vehicle then do it in stages. With a plan to integrate everything together at a central point. Use quaility connectors.

JP

Anyone know where i can get a wiring diagram for an 83 carb rangie?

Anyone know where i can get a wiring diagram for an 83 carb rangie?

Where are you?
If you're in the UK then a Haynes manual will be the best option.
Elsewhere in the world they will have an equivalent repair book with electrical schematics in the back.

Do you realise how much this will cost you in wire, connectors, relays, tools and a good quality multimeter? I have a multimeter with a AC/DC clamp meter. It's worth it's weight in gold but at around $US150 it's one of the cheapest ones.

Tell us again what your aims are?
I can't see much point in a complete rewire, but certain parts of the lucas system can sure be improved upon.

I'm trying to simplify the whole electrical system. When i got the car all the electrics inside the car didnt work. (gauges, windows, radio, speakers etc.) I already got rid of most of the non-essential wiring. The only things left in the cab is the wiring on the steering column and gauge wires. Once i removed the dash do i could make a simple metal one i saw that i probably would not be able to sort all the wires, especially from the speedometer cluster. I just want to create a simple way to work all the necessary electrics. Like in an older series rover where the switches and all that are on a panel on the dash. I probably wouldnt completely rewire the whole thing but definetly everything in the engine compartment and dash. And yes i do have a multimeter.

That's understandable, but there's probably not a lot you can do away with.

The underside of my dash is so crowded with wires because everything heads to the fuse box (and sometimes to dash lights) then back out again. A fusebox somewhere else would shift the bundle of wires elsewhere but not actually simplify the system.
My next hack job involves relays right behind the headlights. It won't simplify it, but it'll give me another 2-4v at the bulbs.

Very few of the switches in my rangie worked when I got it either. I found cleaning contacts and switches were all it took to get most of them working again. Right now the only thing that doesn't work is the air-con, but that's intentional.

Keep in mind when trouble shooting on these that most switches interrupt the earth wire, the power runs right to interior lights and such all the time.

http://www.pangolin4x4.com/pangolin4x4/projects/wimpy/emptyenginebay.jpg

http://www.pangolin4x4.com/pangolin4x4/projects/wimpy/emptyenginebay.jpg
And, search here for the poor stereo install that we got into the shop a coupla months ago. The poor fellow who owned the truck set it on fire trying to install a stereo!