Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

Late night last night and got it down to 2 wires to reconnect and a bunch of mysteries solved. The last big one i think is i have lost awareness as to how the sunroof connects into the rest of the harness and there's a relay attached to that loom that has a connector that's already in the main harness so i'm not entirely certain how it's working....making sense of things but it just never bloody ends.....

[ottawa coupe]

Getting closer.... gotta finish up the diff lock, find the sunroof connections, complete the connections at the fuse block and then start wrapping and testing....

It's been harder than i anticipated but i can at least say that if i decide to put in a 2.7t down the road, i've put the hard yards in now and it'd be one harness to deal with....
20250117_192200.jpg

[ottawa coupe]

Slightly tidied up from the above pic this morning. I have completely wrapped the 2 doors and bundles the rear harnesses together. Gotta wire in the grounds for the diff lock and then wrap things accordingly.

But remember how i said that this is never ending and that just when i think i am done, i find another issue? Well, it happened this morning.... i realize that due to the battery relocation, the 3 wires that provide positive from the battery to everything that isn't the starter or alternator need to be pulled out and rerouted...

So close but so far....

[ottawa coupe]

20250118_175231.jpg well, no magic smoke came out when i connected this mess to the battery, so the most important test is a success i suppose! I have a few single wires to connect but of course, don't remember where they go so back to the wiring diagrams...

Will get it all tested in the next couple days and then finally wrap this mess up.....

[ottawa coupe]

Well this is continuing to be friggin painful!

Things are waking up but they are not without issue. One big one seems to be serious corrosion on the rear light connections that is causing issues. I also just realized that i forgot about the rear wiper. So i need to swap wiper switches and add a couple of wires i think.

My back is killing me from doing this on my garage floor, i am bringing this mess to a long table in my basement.

I am also getting all scientific and writing a checklist.......

Electronz r fun

[ottawa coupe]

I hate my brain....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16706589553...VGZRJSC176SSSB

Google suggests it's only 1-2" longer than a vr and a vrs fit pretty nicely?

Say to hell with it and make this a never ending project??? Lol.

Edit: admittedly, i have had a few stiff drinks tonight but i am very curious. There's a dude who put a w12 in a coupe in hungary and i am waiting approval to a fb group for a guy who manual swapped a w12 into a b7......

this vodka inspired fever dream does not stop the plan of getting this thru a safety inspection with the 12v and getting a license plate. But i think reasearch will have to continue in the background lol. The way it works here ( for now) is that once i get a plate, it's open season on modifications.

What it boils down to i think is that if, once the car is plated, i wanna do a swap, i will have done 90% of what is needed for a 2.7t swap. Alternatively, i HAVE a 3.6 vr6 as a spare for my racecar on my shelf.

If i win the lottery, to hell with it, w12.....

[ottawa coupe]

vodka fueled w12 fever dream over, i am back working on what i have. a big issue i have is that the contacts for the tail lights are severely corroded, as are the bulb holders. luckily i ran across a pair of bulb holders on ebay for a reasonable cost. where can i find the part numbers for the female contacts in the connectors? i think it may be just better to replace them. i have been vigorously subjecting them to vinegar/salt solution in an ultrasonic cleaner and lots of junk is coming off but a significant amount of plating has degraded as well. if i have everything on a table, i may as well fix it all?

i have separated the coupe wiper stalk so that i can transfer that wiring into what i am using. slowly getting it all worked out but it definitely seems to be a bigger hill than i initially thought..... that said i am glad i am doing it now as opposed to after putting it in the car!

[newsh]

Goor work man!

Just FWIW, the coupe rear cluster bulb holders are available on Tradition, I got myself a pair in one of the GBs last year.

[hashluck]

vodka fueled w12 fever dream over, i am back working on what i have. a big issue i have is that the contacts for the tail lights are severely corroded, as are the bulb holders. luckily i ran across a pair of bulb holders on ebay for a reasonable cost. where can i find the part numbers for the female contacts in the connectors? i think it may be just better to replace them. i have been vigorously subjecting them to vinegar/salt solution in an ultrasonic cleaner and lots of junk is coming off but a significant amount of plating has degraded as well. if i have everything on a table, i may as well fix it all?

i have separated the coupe wiper stalk so that i can transfer that wiring into what i am using. slowly getting it all worked out but it definitely seems to be a bigger hill than i initially thought..... that said i am glad i am doing it now as opposed to after putting it in the car!

Me too, worth the investment ONCE you have cured any water leaks!

[ottawa coupe]

Well, i've spent that last week in bed with nasty bug, finally starting to feel human again. No progress in that time except to say damnit on the bulb trays from tradition. Shoulda thought of that. I paid the same price on ebay for used and it's going to be at least a month before they get here.....

gonna try to get back into this but i gotta put some time in with the family and work first.....

[ottawa coupe]

Thought i was getting better but suddenly another week has passed and nothing done cuz i've been half dead.... cautiously optimistic i am finally on the mend....

while everything is on the bench, i was thinking it might be a decent idea to clean up the light switch/wiper stalk assembly. What grease is used inside? Is it regular dielectric or is it something else?

Thanks

[ottawa coupe]

So, i started poking away and i am just getting frustrated. I am pretty sure my batttery connections are less than stellar, i'll sort that tonight. But i am having problems with lights. Turn signals, low and high beams work but running lights and fogs aren't . This is weird because i didn't touch that stuff at all. I am going to have a few hours this weekend with no one at home so i am going to just dig in. I am still missing rear bulb trays so maybe that's part of it.

frustrating as this is just taking far too long now lol.

[ottawa coupe]

Well progress. Fixed battery connections and i have 12v getting to all the corners for the lights. There's a short harness that goes from the main bulb tray to the outermost bulbs on the rear lights. Anyone happen to have a part number or better yet, a pair of them? The terminals in them are QUITE dead. Front running lights issue was because both 5w filaments were broken....

a handful of other switches to look at and then i'll simply check for power at various points and it SHOULD be ok. The rear lighting just took a serious beating due to leaks it seems.

getting somewhere, finally.

[ottawa coupe]

Well, i believe things have woken up to an acceptable extent. I still need to dig out all the door lock parts though.

20250208_143605.jpg

The last electrical booboo is the license plate light. Thar be dragons left by the previous owner.

20250208_144147.jpg

the wiring is fixable but does anyone have the coupe specific plate light they wanna sell me? Thankfully it is the same worldwide but still, coupe specific so none found either on ebay or tradition.

the part number is 895 942 021

failing that maybe some sort of adhesive led strip would work? I don't want to just leave a bulb in there like they did as it will melt things eventually....

[ottawa coupe]

No actual progress other than the bulb trays have arrived. I decided to buy new from tradition as it turns out the ebay ones are coming from ukraine. Didn't see that little detail before i pulled the trigger. So who the hell knows when i will get them. Oops.

I have tracked down a license plate light thankfully.

this is taking temporary move to the back burner as i get some work done on my s6 and racecar.

But i must say i hope for 2 things on this project now: i hope it is done by the fall and that next winter is like this winter. Which is to say: this winter is the first one in a while that has been a properly classic canadian one. There's 20+cm of snow on the ground, it's been consistently cold and there's another 20-30 coming tonight. If it were a coupla degrees cooler in december, there'd easily be 2 feet on the ground.

basically the perfect winter for this classic donut machine. I hope next winter is just as good for it lol.