Project 80: Codename Grey Ghost

[clivehorridge]

My pleasure Clive, are they not there yet? posted on the 16th.
The holes in my bumper are much to big to fit those lights so I've got some chequer plate I will use to mount the lamps in and cover the holes, the lights are quite a bit smaller than I expected

Sorry for that Chas, still it won't look out of place, I'd do the same if it were mine.

I'm in work tomorrow, they may arrive then. Regular letter post is about 10 days or so, im not expecting them till the New Year TBH.

Thanks again mate, do appreciate it.

Sorry for the thread jack Chris, back to normal....

 

[Chris]

Yes the combo ones are nice. But given the overall size I think they will be nice, but tiny.

 

[clivehorridge]

TBH Chris, they're not "needed" at all, I've got the halo side lights with some added 24 panel LED 'side' lights so there's plenty of DRL available and the standard turn indicators are enough on their own.

Still, it is Christmas...

 

[Chas]

I really only bought mine as the repeat indicator lights in the bumper had gone fubar due to corrosion and I needed something to fill the holes, pics will follow when I eventually get round to fitting them.

 

[hopeless wanderer]

Hi again Chris, sorry to have to pick your brain again on the wiring.
I can get a 140amp alternator to feed the charging system, my worry is the maximum input amps stated on the Ctek is 80 amps. I know you have a 120 amp alternator is 140 amp gonna be ok or am I gonna kill the Ctek and smart pass?
Oh and Merry Christmas and thanks in advance

 

[Chris]

Now I am not the best person to really explain this, but in simple terms the 140 amp alternator will probably NEVER supply 140 amps. It doesn't work like that. Essentially, electrical items suck. They call for the amps they want rather than get force fed amps. Think about a hose pipe. It has water coming out of the end. If you're really thirsty you could put your mouth around it and suck hard - getting more water than was coming out to start with. The point is that you don't supply amps, you consume them. Sorry to the spods if that's a rubbish analogy, but the fact is that the alternator would probably only ever supply 140 amps if you had the winch running, two flat batteries and your headlights on. Remember that 140amps would be running round the whole car if it were being PUSHED out. All you fuses would blow and your wires would melt. It's supply by demand if you like to the items that can take it.

What you should do is change your alternator charging cable though. Should you be in a position where you batteries call for big amps the OEM cable might be a point of resistance. It's a pretty weedy thing. I put some nice thick cable in there.

 

[StarCruiser]

That's pretty spot on Chris, I'd say 5.9 for both artistic impression and technical merit. [emoji4]

The only thing I would add is to put a suitable size fuse or fusible link at the point your new beefy alternator charge cable connects to the battery. Reason being that in an accident with mangled wiring, you don't want that charging cable starting a fire which is why the fusible links are there from Mr T.

 

[Chris]

Not disagreeing there, but the OEM cable doesn't go through those fusible links. The alternator goes directly to the pass side and is then looped over to the driver's side. The fusible links are power OUT to the vehicle systems. There's no charging fuse that I know of. Mine is a now a split charge of course with 12v start so there IS a big fuse between my batteries but only to protect the second battery cabling not the cranker. In a crash I'd imagine there would be any number of ways to short the batteries, so I'm going to avoid crashing best I can.

 

[StarCruiser]

If that is the case, maybe Toyota have decided that in a collision that cable will be unlikely to short. The other way a cable is protected is to size it large enough so that the battery is depleted before the cable attains sufficient temperature to cause a fire. Starter cables and winch cables are treated like this. So if routing and size of cables are suitable then no protection would be required.

 

[Chris]

They probably thought that if an 80 was involved in a collision, it's the other guy you should be worrying about first ...

 

[StarCruiser]

Yes, pretty valid point there Chris.
'Bang…ow, what was that…,? Oh there seems to be a crumpled mess in front of me…'

 

[Chris]

Thought for the sake of completeness, I'd better post a pic of my Cruiser Flaps on here. Don't want people missing out.

 

[Pumpy]

Looking very smart there Chris

This may sound like a daft question, but bear with me is the window rubber all one thing, been looking at mine today, it looks like a real thin bit of rubber trim around the edge of the window rubber, I can't work out if it's part of the window rubber or a seperate item - it'll be obvious when I take it out no doubt, but I'd rather know before hand!

 

[Chris]

Yes it's all one big thick rubber all the way round honest

 

[clivehorridge]

A quick back-track through this thread reminded me that you had fixed windows in the Grey Ghost. Are they standard on the GS or did you (or PO) swap out sliding windows?

I always thought of the fixed windows as imports...

Gullwings look ace Cris, beautifully made and a perfect fit.

 

[TonyP]

Flaptastic

 

[Chris]

Solid windows are standard on the UK spec GS Clive. But they don't come with those odd little bars across the window that you get on imports.

 

[clivehorridge]

Solid windows are standard on the UK spec GS Clive. But they don't come with those odd little bars across the window that you get on imports.

Noted, thanks Chris...

 

[Ian Chuter]

Solid windows are standard on the UK spec GS Clive. But they don't come with those odd little bars across the window that you get on imports.

Those odd little bars are for holding in/back, the lovely flower print curtains that I had in mine when I got it

 

[TheValk]

Great vehicle Chris.
Could I get info on how you fixed the "saggy seat"?
Should this be in private email?- if so, how does that work?
Many thanks.