Wiring for engine details

[rob1957]

Hello. I'm starting the Revell '66 Pontiac GTO . Looks like a 2018 release ?

           I need some elementary wiring tips for under the hood .

          Where does wiring hook up for the starter , the ignition coil and the alternator . Where does each component hook up to ?

          Would like to try these along with plug wires and coolant hoses which I have done in the past .

           This kit has nicely detailed dist. cap and spark plugs in cylinder heads.

            Thanks .

            

 

 

[Force]

Some goes to relays and some just disappear into the wiring harness and going through connectors in the firewall with a lot of other wires.

It's not that easy to explain as you need a bit of basic knowledge about electrical systems and components to know what I'm talking about, so here is a couple of wiring diagrams (the first is for a 66 GTO) where you can follow the colored wires.
On the positive side of the coil one wire (yellow) goes to the starter solenoid and one (light pink) goes to the ignition switch inside the car, the negative side (black) goes to the condenser/breaker points inside the distributor.
On the starter solenoid one wire (darker pink, purple on the generic diagram at the bottom) goes to the ignition switch start cirquit wich gets power when you turn the key to the start position, and one wire comes from the positive side of the battery (black, this large gauge wire is red on most cars as black from the battery is negative ground showed in green on the diagrams).
The alternator has two wires to the alternator relay (white and purple-blue on the generic diagram) and one (red) to the main positive supply at a connection point where several other positive wires go to.

Remember most wires are quite small gauge except for battery cables and the high tension ignition wires.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Force

[Zippi]

As far as your plug wires and distributor,  I started out buying the pre-wired distributors but from the advise from the good ole fellows on this forum I'm now making my own with the distributor that comes with each kit.  Sand the top of the distributor flat, dirll a small hole, twist 9 wires together at the end (30 gauge) and super glue wires into the hole.  Takes me about 5 min to make one up.   

[TransAmMike]

Well Bob, that certainly is an easy and quick way of doing it. 👌 Haven't done it this way but may have to try it.

[Zippi]

I saw a guy on YouTube explaining how to do it this way.  I like it, it's quick and looks good. 

[thatz4u]

google (engine type) firing order diagram, for realistic detailing

[Exotics_Builder]

Some basics

[iBorg]

This is starting to be a discussion that needs to be made a sticky.

[NOBLNG]

8 hours ago, Zippi said:

Sand the top of the distributor flat, dirll a small hole, twist 9 wires together at the end (30 gauge) and super glue wires into the hole.  Takes me about 5 min to make one up.   

I haven’t seen it done this way either. I have been drilling individual holes for each wire. Ima gonna try it on the next one. 
The first few engines I wired with the proper firing order. Now I just alternate every second wire goes to one bank....nobody but a picky contest judge would even check.🧐

Edited May 13, 2021 by NOBLNG

[TransAmMike]

56 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

I haven’t seen it done this way either. I have been drilling individual holes for each wire. Ima gonna try it on the next one. 
The first few engines I wired with the proper firing order. Now I just alternate every second wire goes to one bank....nobody but a picky contest judge would even check.🧐

Ha, I always start out wiring the proper firing order and get messed up after a few and say screw it, theres no one that's gonna look at it in my houshold and know the difference anyway.

It's kinda funny thinking about how many times in my way younger days I rewired a 1:1 car and when I started it the engine missed like crazy due to improper wiring order.🙄

[Zippi]

I hear ya Mike.  My problem was a lot of times I'd have it 180 degrees out.  

[rob1957]

Great, fantastic , thanks everyone for offering advice . Those schematic diagrams seal the deal.

 I'm going to take a shot at that dist cap that Bob has done . Looks good .

 I've used Detail Master Dist kits in the past , they're nice with the photo-etched wiring harness . A little pricey , $10.50 .

 Thanks again everyone !

[TransAmMike]

27 minutes ago, rob1957 said:

Great, fantastic , thanks everyone for offering advice . Those schematic diagrams seal the deal.

 I'm going to take a shot at that dist cap that Bob has done . Looks good .

 I've used Detail Master Dist kits in the past , they're nice with the photo-etched wiring harness . A little pricey , $10.50 .

 Thanks again everyone !

The Morgan Auto Detail (a forum mumber here) pre-wired distrubutor is a nice piece for 4.50 and 5.50 for the HEI one.

[rob1957]

I'll do a search for Morgan Auto Detail .

iBorg, what is a sticky ?

[Rodent]

25 minutes ago, rob1957 said:

I'll do a search for Morgan Auto Detail .

iBorg, what is a sticky ?

https://www.madmodeling.com/

 

[peteski]

15 hours ago, Zippi said:

Bob, I'm not sure if this is your motor or not, but it very clearly shows something that very often shows up on model engines:  The unfilled seam line on the bell housing and transmission body.  ON real cars, those are solid castings with no deep seam running along the top and bottom.  It is so simple to fill that gap with glue or putty and it would greatly improve the realism.  Modelers spend so much time cleaning the car body:  sanding mold parting lines, filling sink marks, smoothing joints, yet they totally ignore seams on the engine parts.  The model engine in that photo looks really good and well detailed until your eyes notice that deep seam on the bell housing and transmission.  I just don't get it.  Thus could have been taken care of with couple of swipes of putty, and just a but of sanding.

 

8 hours ago, iBorg said:

This is starting to be a discussion that needs to be made a sticky.

Do we really need more stickies here?  Instead of stickies, moderators recommended adding appropriate tags to the threads (since tags are searchable), but it appears that tagging had to be done in the initial post.

BTW, "sticky" is a topic (thread) that is pinned to the top of each forums topics list. 

[Force]

For those who don't like to use pre-wired distributors and want to do the spark plug wires themselves in the correct firing order Replicas and Miniatures Co Of Maryland sells drilled resin distributor caps you can use...or you can drill the kit distributor yourself...and use wire of your choice.
I prefer to do correct firing orders as I think it's a bit hard to get the right look if you do it random, many part the wires in half on the distributor cap and route the left wires to the left side and the right wires to the right side, but no engine looks like that as 2 wires have to cross over to the other side of the engine for the firing sequence to work.
A couple of examples, if you have 15426378 firing order like on most Ford V8's number 3 and 5 wires cross over to the opposite side, and on 18436572 like on Chevys and lots of other engines it's 1 and 6 that change sides.
One thing, it doesn't really matter where you start on the distributor cap as long as the sequense is right, because where the number 1 should go depends on how you put the distributor in and it can vary a terminal or two from the theory, so if you are 180 degrees off, you can yank the wires out and put them in correctly in the right order on the cap...or take the distributor out again, turn the engine 180 degrees and put it in right, because when cylinder 1 is at Top Dead Center you must put the number 1 ignition wire to the terminal the rotor arm points at, then the next in the sequence and so on...and remember if the rotor arm turns clockwise or anti clockwise and how the cylinders are numbered...if you get that wrong it will not work.
Yes we do models and it doesn't matter much as our engines don't run, but it gets the right look.
 

[Straightliner59]

I did a tutorial a few years ago, on making your own "pre-drilled" distributors. Over the weekend,  I will try to repost it, adding hashtags.

[Zippi]

7 hours ago, peteski said:

Bob, I'm not sure if this is your motor or not, but it very clearly shows something that very often shows up on model engines:  The unfilled seam line on the bell housing and transmission body.  ON real cars, those are solid castings with no deep seam running along the top and bottom.  It is so simple to fill that gap with glue or putty and it would greatly improve the realism.  Modelers spend so much time cleaning the car body:  sanding mold parting lines, filling sink marks, smoothing joints, yet they totally ignore seams on the engine parts.  The model engine in that photo looks really good and well detailed until your eyes notice that deep seam on the bell housing and transmission.  I just don't get it.  Thus could have been taken care of with couple of swipes of putty, and just a but of sanding.

 

Do we really need more stickies here?  Instead of stickies, moderators recommended adding appropriate tags to the threads (since tags are searchable), but it appears that tagging had to be done in the initial post.

BTW, "sticky" is a topic (thread) that is pinned to the top of each forums topics list. 

peteski,  it's mine.  I just got into modeling about 3 months ago so didn't even think about it.  What is a good putty to use to fill cracks, dents, etc.?

[Tom Geiger]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

Bob, I'm not sure if this is your motor or not, but it very clearly shows something that very often shows up on model engines:  The unfilled seam line on the bell housing and transmission body. 

Point well taken Pete but in this photo the seams on top will be hidden in the completed model. No need to fill them.

 

[Zippi]

Tom the seem is noticeable on the bottom as well just not as bad.  Lesson learned fellows.  Still in the learning mode.    

[Force]

2 hours ago, Zippi said:

Tom the seem is noticeable on the bottom as well just not as bad.  Lesson learned fellows.  Still in the learning mode.    

I usually put a sand paper on a flat surface like a piece of glass, a table top or something like that and take the engine block halves and cut off the locating pins as they are not needed, sand the edges on the parts until they are flat, put some tube glue on the edges and let the glue set for a short while so the plastic will melt slightly, put the parts together and adjust until it looks good and press the parts together and hold with a clamp or something until the glue dries, it doesn't matter if there are excessive glue and plastic around the edges as that's kind of the meaning with this procedure, so leave it for now, after it dried I brush the seam with a thin bottle glue wich solves both the tube glue and plastic slightly and let it dry, sand the seam and it will be unvisible...and no putty needed.
This is a trick I learned many many years ago for two piece parts that don't should have a visible seam and I allways do it like that, so it will work on gear boxes, rear axles and things like that.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Force

[peteski]

Force's procedure is a good one.  As far as gap fillers go, use the same stuff you would use for filling gaps or sink marks on a model car body.  Modeler's putty (any brand), 2-part Bondo filler, CA glues, filler made from the parts tree runner chips dissolved in liquid cement or MEK, etc.  Whatever your favorite method is.

I understand that the top gap will not be visible on a finished model, but it sure  is visible on the "beauty shots" you took.  I always make sure make sure that any part of the model that will be photographed is properly finished.  Whenever building any model sub-assembly, try to compare it to the 1:1 version to see what it should  look like (things like texture, color and everything else).  That is what will make your model look most realistic.

Edited May 15, 2021 by peteski

[peteski]

Please delete - got confused by the new forum layout (and the hidden "edit post" button), but where the "quote" button is readily visible (and easy to click on). 

Edited May 15, 2021 by peteski

[TransAmMike]

4 hours ago, Force said:

I usually put a sand paper on a flat surface like a piece of glass, a table top or something like that and take the engine block halves and cut off the locating pins as they are not needed, sand the edges on the parts until they are flat, put some tube glue on the edges and let the glue set for a short while so the plastic will melt slightly, put the parts together and adjust until it looks good and press the parts together and hold with a clamp or something until the glue dries, it doesn't matter if there are excessive glue and plastic around the edges as that's kind of the meaning with this procedure, so leave it for now, after it dried I brush the seam with a thin bottle glue wich solves both the tube glue and plastic slightly and let it dry, sand the seam and it will be unvisible...and no putty needed.
This is a trick I learned many many years ago for two piece parts that don't should have a visible seam and I allways do it like that, so it will work on gear boxes, rear axles and things like that.

Good info here.  Ditto, exactly what I do.