Wiring loom insruments and fuse box
From GTM Workshop
The Libra utilises the K Series Rover Metro wiring loom instruments and fuse boxes. Auxiliary wiring looms are used at the front through the tunnel and at the back. The standard K Series dashboard loom is retained. The colour code used is those of the K Series Rover Metro. The rear auxiliary loom runs from under the dashboard forward through the front bulkhead of the monocoque and through the tunnel to the back of the car. Both the front and rear auxiliary looms unplug to enable the front and rear panels to be removed complete with their own lamp wiring looms. By using its own wiring loom at the back and making connections under the dashboard the completed car is very neatly wired. The standard Rover Metro steering column switchgear is retained within the Libra. No wires run through the passenger compartment.
Wiring loom and electrical component assembly Lay your K Series Rover Metro-wiring loom out on the floor and identify the basic arms of the form. The main body of the form runs across the car inside the dashboard. This pad of the form has the fuse box attached to it and the plugs for the steering column switches and the dashboard loom. The fuse box is on driver's side of the car. Running forward from this loom on either side of the car are two legs, which on the standard car run forward to the lights on either side of the car. They can be identified by a large grommet on either leg. This grommet is approximately 60 millimetres in diameter. The grommet is used where the wiring loom goes through the front bulkhead of the car on the Rover Metro and is used in exactly the same manner on the Libra.
On the passenger side of the car just before the wiring loom goes through the large grommet forward there is also a leg of the wiring loom which on the standard Rover Metro runs down the passenger side of the car to the rear of the car. This leg of the wiring loom has approximately 40 wires in it. This rear leg leaves the wiring loom that goes across the dashboard at a junction and then approximately 100 millimetres from the junction spurs leave the wiring loom with black plugs on them which on the standard Rover Metro are used for the electric windows and central locking. A further 120 millimetres along there is a purple and white lead approximately 200 millimetres long that has a single spade connection. After this lead allow approximately 100 millimetres and cut the wiring loom at this point all the way through the 40 wires. The rear end of the wiring loom is not used at all on the Libra.
As on the standard K Series Metro the legs of the front wiring looms run through the bulk head of the Libra through the standard grommets and down towards the head lights on either side. A small auxiliary wiring loom is used on the Libra to wire the head lights etc and then comes through a grommet on the passenger side of the car in the radiator ducting to a plug to enable the bonnet to be removed without having to undo all the head light wiring etc. The main auxiliary loom on the Libra connects to the standard wiring loom on the passenger side of the dashboard runs through the standard grommet on the passenger side and then connects to the standard wiring loom at several points before going through the tunnel to the rear of the car. At the rear of the car the Libra wiring loom connects to all the auxiliary equipment and then through to the back passenger side of the car where it is plugged into another auxiliary wiring loom which runs to the lights at the rear of the car to enable the rear panel of the car to be removed without the necessity of undoing all the electrical wires to the lights.
Hole saw the two 60 millimetre diameter holes in the front bulkhead in the position indicated on the drawing. These holes take the standard Rover Metro grommet. Clean them up with profusion paper to obtain a good seal, as any water running off the screen will run directly over them. Cut the small hole adjacent to the fuse box mounting as shown on the diagram. Hole saw the 45- millimetre diameter hole to the left of the steering column as shown on the diagram. Drill two 4 millimetre clearance holes on the top flange of the dashboard in the position show on the diagram and indicated on the moulding by the two small depressions. Very carefully centre drill and drill the two holes on the front face of the dashboard which align up with the two holes just previously drilled to enable a screwdriver to go up through the front of the dashboard to fit the instrument pack. Open up these holes to the shape indicated by the depression on the dashboard. Do this work very carefully, as it will be seen when completed.
Loosely lay the cable forms in the car in the position previously described to make sure that everything roughly fits in the right position. Start under the dashboard with the fuse box which comes from the stan-dard Rover Metro and fits from the underside of the dashboard and is located by two number eight self tapping screws. The main body of the wiring loom runs in front of the heater and across to the passenger side. The wires for the switchgear on the steering column run through the 45-Dia. hole previously cut along with the wires for the brake light switch and throttle off normal switch.
The instrument pack has its own auxiliary wiring loom which in turn jacks into the standard Rover Metro loom at a point adjacent to the fuse box there are two plugs one large black and one small with only two wires. Another plug which is attached to the instrument pack wiring loom runs through the small 25 d hole previously cut next to the fuse box and the wires jack directly into the fuse box on the underside. The fuse box should be mounted with the large red relay to the outside rear portion of the car wires from the steering column also jack directly into the bottom of the fuse box.
There will be many wires and plugs associated with facilities used on the K Series Rover Metro that are not used on the Libra. For example the electric windows, central locking, radio etc. At this stage do not do anything with these extra wires. Run the front legs of the wiring loom through the 60 millimetre diameter holes previously made in the bulk head and lay the two legs down the inside face of the radiator ducting mould.
Lay the large GTM Libra wiring loom on the floor and attach to it at either end the auxiliary looms that are used for the bonnet and boot cable forms. The bonnet cable form can easily be identified as it has the plugs on it to fit into the headlight bulbs and the spotlight bulbs. The rear cable form only has wires sticking out to attach to the rear lights. By jacking these cable forms in it easily identifies the front and rear of the wiring loom halfway down the wiring loom you will plugs and connectors which are used for petrol tank sender, petrol tank pump and handbrake. Unjack the front and rear auxiliary cable forms and position the main GTM Libra cable form through the tunnel out under the front of the battery mounting mould. At the rear the cable form runs above the petrol tank down the passenger leg of the engine frame with the connector for the auxiliary wiring loom approximately 150 millimetres from the end of the leg.
Working within the passenger side front wheel arch hole saw a 40-millimetre diameter hole in the position shown on the drawing. This hole is to allow the bonnet auxiliary wiring loom through into the radiator ducting mould. The plug for the junction to the main Libra wiring harness is positioned just inside the radiator ducting.
The Libra wiring loom comes out of the centre of the battery mounting and up the passenger side to the point where the bonnet moulding comes through the radiator ducting and plugs in at that point. The loom then splits and then one half goes inside of the passenger radiator ducting and in through the standard grommet to a point inside the monocoque where it is joined to the previously cut off standard K Series wiring loom. The leg that goes up into the monocoque can easily be identified because it has 5 un-terminated wires plus a black wire with a 6-millimetre ring connector. All these wires are fed through the standard Austin Rover large grommet. The other leg of the Libra cable form runs across the top of the radiator and down the other side of the radiator ducting mould.
Now that the wiring looms are in their approximate position start connecting up the wiring looms from the dashboard. Connect up the standard K Series dashboard-wiring loom to the instrument pod and the switches on either side of the instrument display. Connect up the two plugs that connect the dashboard loom to the main K Series loom. Connect up the long white connector on the dashboard loom to the bot-tom of the fuse block through the hole previously made. Run the legs of the main wiring loom that connect to the stitch gear on the steering column through the previously made hole and connect up to the switchgear. Connect up the leg of the steering column switchgear to the underside of the firebox, run the wile for the throttle off normal switch if fitted and the brake light switch through the same hole as the wires going to the steering column and connect up. It may be necessary on certain models to extend the wires off the brake light switch green and green purple to get sufficient length to reach the switch on the pedal box. Connect up all the white plugs on the main K Series loom under the dashboard to the top face of the firebox.
On the passenger side of the dashboard it is now necessary to connect the five wires of the Libra main wiring loom to the cut off wires from the standard K Series rear-wiring loom. The colours follow through from the standard K Series wiring loom to the Libra wiring loom. Unfortunately there are two green purple wires in the K Series wiring loom and it is necessary to join these two together before connecting to the green purple wire in the GTM form. Similarly there are two grey black wires in the K Series form and the wire we require is the one that connects through to the handbrake warning light in the dashboard. Bus through the wire to the handbrake warning light and connect this wire to the grey black wire in the GTM form. The five wires can be connected using the white plug provided in the kit. The remaining wires in the K Series wiring loom should be capped off using the heat shrink insulating material provided. This material is best shrunk into position using a hot air blower. Attach the black earth ring connector on the GTM wiring loom to the black earth ring connector on the K Series Rover wiring loom and insulate with insulating tape. All the other wires and plugs on the K Series wiring loom are not used and therefore should be tie wrapped back onto the loom in a neat manner to prevent them shorting or rattling under the dashboard.
Working within the radiator ducting on the passenger side, connect up the black heater blower unit plug, from the K Series Rover Metro-wiring loom. Connect the large black plug just in front of the heater blower unit to the mating plug on the Libra wiring loom. Further down the K Series towards the front drivers side of the car is the main heavy-duty fuse block assembly. This assembly will already be attached to the K Series loom. In the standard car the main power feed to the engine management cable form goes directly into the main fuse box at this point.
If you received your car parts from a salvage company it is more than likely that they will have removed the engine-wiring loom from the main fuse box by cutting the brown wire at this point. If it has not been cut, cut it to separate the engine management loom from the main K Series wiring harness and join in to the brown lead coming from the new Libra wiring loom using the connector provided within the kit.
Connect through the plug on the new Libra wiring loom to the plug protruding through the radiator ducting that supplies the headlight loom. At this point you will see that there is a main black earthing block on the K Series loom and a 6- millimetre earthing ring on the Libra loom. Loosely connect these two wires together plus a black wire provided in the kit and connect back to the battery- earthing terminal Connect the orange green and green plug on the Libra loom to the thermostat on the passenger side of the radiator.
Connect the purple black and black wires coming out of the Libra form to the horn Connect the black and green red leads from the Libra form to the black and green red leads coming from the K Series form. Now moving to the top centre of the radiator connect through the black plug with the three wires going into it from the GTM form to the mating plug on the K Series form At the same point connect through the two white wires to the two white wires in the GTM form and the two black and white wires to the two black and white wires in the GTM form. These wires are for the coil on the 1400 engines and are not used on the 1600 and 1800 engines using the 5AS loom. lt is however important that the two white wires in the Metro form are joined together and the two black and white wires in the Metro form are joined together. It is not necessary to connect these wires to the GTM form. Now plug in the plug to the radiator fan on the K Series form.
Starting where the K Series Rover Metro cable form comes through the bulkhead on the driver’s side run the loom down along the side of the radiator ducting to the front driver’s side of the car. The first arm of the cable form with the black and black white spade connector goes to the top of the brake hydraulic res-ervoir. The other leg of this spur with the black plug on it goes to the wiper motor which is positioned within the monocoque on the Libra and hence has to go through the bulkhead adjacent to the main wiring loom grommet and through to the plug on the wiper motor. A grommet is provided for this purpose and an appropriate size hole needs to be made in the front bulkhead. Here again it is extremely important to clean the hole properly with production paper to prevent leaks through this grommet when the car is in use. The next two red and black plugs plug into the pumps on the front of the standard K Series washer bottle which is mounted to the top of the radiator ducting mould.
The next connector on the K Series loom is a black earth connector and this should be joined to the end of the Libra loom that has come across the top of the radiator to the black wire with a 6-millimetre ring connector. Join loosely at this stage. Now connect the green white and black spade connectors on the standard form through to the green white and black connectors on the Libra form.
The next connector on the standard K series form is the connector that goes to the dim/dip unit. Connect this to a dim/dip unit and leave. Now working towards the end of the K Series form coming up the side of the radiator there is a black plug which connects through to a black plug on the Libra form. Connect through the two spade connectors from the standard form to the Libra form in the same vicinity. All the wires are now connected and require neatening together and the mounting of the horn main switch block and the dim/dip unit can be undertaken once the cable forms have determined the position. Remember that the mountings should miss the spare wheel when in position.
Following through the wiring loom as it goes through the tunnel from the front to the back of the car. Halfway down the wiring loom there are connectors for the petrol gauge sender unit and fuel pump mounted in the tank. Also in this position two wires come of the loom to go into the car for the handbrake off warning light system.
The wiring loom comes over the top of the petrol tank and immediately as it exits there are four black leads that are connected by an 8-millimetre ring connector to the same bolt on the gearbox that the main earth connector from the battery connects to. There are two black and white leads and two white leads that connect to the coil.
