Superspec Dash Wiring

[Guest andy philp]

Superspec Help needed does any one now where the feed to alternator small ring terminal comes from. I assume it goes through the Light in dash this is not working and there is no voltage to lamp or alt. Supply must come from ignition somewhere? Also oil warning lamp and tacho not working tech line is not much help

[Guest Dredd]

The tacho is useless anyway, RHSC are supposed to be working on a fix for it. The lights on the dash are sensitive to having earth supplies on the connectors. I've had to fit an additional one to make the lights work. The wiring is very sensitive, especially if yo are using the supplied choco block connector. My ignition wire kept falling out. I've use multi block plugs and sockets from Merlin now and things are much more reliable. I've found that as long as I've connected as per the wiring diagram then all seems fine.

[mellors55]

My wiring works OK if wired up as in the RH wiring diagram. Although this is not always 100% clear in some places.

I have used 2 large lucar connector blocks instead of the RH screw connectors. This is more reliable and allows easier removal of the dash. (lost count how many times I have done this so far). I also needed a good earth return to get reliable operation of the warning lights.

 

Best of luck

John

 

Anyone got any ideas about how to get the tacho working???

[Guest Dredd]

The tacho is useless with the current wiring. Richard is having his electrician look at it, although he's been looking at it for a while now. I guess the problem is that the tacho is fed from the flywheel speed sensor throught the ECU, unlike the 'old' days when a coil pulse was used. I'm looking at a temporary pod mounted 'coil' aftermarket tacho until the problem is sorted. The engine is about run in and is getting quicker each time I take it out (or is that my confidence growing?), anyway, the engine note is misleading with the exhaust so near and loud it is difficult to guage the gear change when pushing along.

 

Now that I have a speedo that is about right (differen gear from one supplied), I have used the gearing chart posted on this site to give me an indication of rev limit by speed in each gear. A bit hit and miss but will do for now!

[Guest Deviousdavey]

Derek, just after a bit of advice on the instrument pod, I'm currently having a few problems in this area, firstly is mounting the damm thing in the scuttle, secondly is problems with my alternator (not charging....but i'm lost there completely) and the third is my fuel guage isn't working (and i've put about 10 litres of fuel in, so I would have thought that would have moved it from the full position??

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Guest Dredd]

Firstly, you will need tomake up a couple of brackets to hold the lower part of the dash in place. I positioned mine on the top two studs but the bottom two come up short, so I used two strips of SS and bent them to hold the edge of the cluste rin place.

 

My fuel guage didn't work either. Eventually I remived the sender unit from the tank and found a loose solder connection. I re soldered and it works fine, albeit backwards

 

Not had any probs with the alternator mine seems to be charging although my battery does flatten if left for a while without starting it. The ignition light does go out promptly.

[Guest Deviousdavey]

Cheers for the reply Dredd, I'll wait until she runs low on fuel then I'll wip the sender out and check the wiring. The reason I asked about the alternator was because I noticed you talking about a poor earth on the intrument pod.... could this be my problem??

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Guest rhetorical-oracle]

Not had it running just yet, plan on trying this tomorrow night, so I'll see what happens with the tacho, just got the battery on charge tonight as it's run a little low from testing the electrics.

 

Here's the things I've got working so far :

 

1) Dave, if your dash was like mine it didn't come with any studs to fit the instruments, as RS said they had stopped putting the studs in as it was too much trouble! Anyway I drilled from the front of the dash an put pins through from the front, I then tacked them at the back and ground the heads off the front of the dash.

 

2) I found the fuel gauge reads full even when the tank is empty, I removed the sender unit from the tank, and checked the resistivity of the sender, I move the white wire that is soldered to the potentiometer and resoldered it at the other end this reverses the resistance readings and causes the fuel gauge to run the right way empty to full. (also note that the sender unit is charged and the tank is earthed so if there is any contact from the middle of the sender unit to the tank then the gauge reads full. Found this out as the steel cover I'd made to cover the sender unit was causing a circuit from the sender to the tank causing no resistance and making the guage read full! Oops!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Phill

[Guest Dredd]

Basically, on my wiring diagram there were earths in connections where I didn't have the wires on the loom. So I conncted additional earths to the instruments as per the wiring diagram.

[will]

Did you receive the new instructions from RH regarding the Tacho and other bits and pieces a few weeks ago. I've wired my cluster up as per the new instructions and everything seems to work fine. I'm no expert when it comes to Tachos but my engine sounds like it's running a bit advanced and is reading 1500 when idling, I would have said that this was about right.

 

Petrol gauge still reads in reverse... but I quite like the idea... If any one fancies taking it for a joy ride they'll look at the fuel gauge and leave it alone because it's empty or run out of fuel because they think it's full

 

I earthed everything separately too.

 

Will

[Guest Deviousdavey]

Will, i'm loving your positivity in the fual guage department (I like the idea of it being a theft detterent too). The last time I received any instructions from Robin Hood was about two months ago, so I may not have received the latest ones (anybody got an electronic copy or could fax me one).

 

As for the tick over, I seem to be ticking over (once warm) at just below the 1000 rpm mark, and it sound quite sweet.

 

Another question, is anybody fitting a handbrake warnong switch to their Super spec, not sure if it's a requirement for SVA or not?

 

Dave

[Guest Guy]

is anybody fitting a handbrake warning switch to their Super spec, not sure if it's a requirement for SVA or not?

 

If you have an electric warning switch for low fluid level in your brake reservoir then you need to have a way of testing it from within the car i.e. a test switch, most people use a switch on the hand brake simply to light the light on the dash. The swich in the reservoir must also have a test feature i.e. you push the cap and the dash light should come on, (mine was tested at SVA).

 

If you have a transparent brake reservoir with a max and min mark so you can see the fluid level you don't need a switch or a lamp on the dash and hence you don't need to test it so you don't need a switch on the handbrake.