68 911L Electric

mxracer21cb · 07-13-2006, 09:34 AM

Hey Guys,
Starting back up the 68 911L resto that was put off through the spring and fall by less important things like college. Anyways, I was having a bunch of trouble with the sporto until I took a few steps back by smoking a few wires to the alternator. I rewired the car based on notes, pictures, and a wire diagram from a shop manual (that has no reference to the L type) and got the motor running. Well obviously something was wrong and I shorted a few wires. The alternator was just sent out to be checked (hopefully it is still ok) but what I really need is somebody who has one and/ or is extremely familiar with the 68 911 L wiring to help me along through this. Im not sure what all of the components do or how they are related other than your basics? and some of those I might not know

! Well this might be a shot in the dark but you guys have already helped me out so much on other parts of the car. Thanks again for your time.

Chris

Early_S_Man · 07-13-2006, 10:22 AM

Chris,

Sherwood Lee's site has the diagram you need in PDF format ...

12 fuses up front, right? L59 is the diagram you want ... 911L is the same as 911S chassis-wise and electrics-wise:

http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars/L59.pdf

Grady Clay · 07-13-2006, 11:31 AM

Chris,

First, WELCOME to the Forum.

At this point you need to proceed slowly and carefully. Damage has been done apparently. No more is permitted!

I can e-mail you a high-res diagram but the ones available on-line should be OK.

There are many of the same age 911s here so you shouldn’t have any difficulty with information. You will need to devise a plan. The absolutely necessary first step is to assess where you are. Diagnose first, repair second.

What were the original symptoms?
What have you done?
What is the current state of everything?
No detail is insignificant. Please report any errors or mistakes you know or think you made. We all make them and this isn’t a time for modesty.

Fortunately a ’68 is a very simple 911 – electrically. The process will be to determine the fault(s) by elimination. Do you have a multi-meter? If not, an inexpensive Radio Shack will do just fine.

The most important issue is to not cause any farther damage.

Can you post images? That will help insure we are talking about the same thing and correctly diagnose each problem. Based on your description there may be more than one.

After answering the above, the next thing is to document and remove all the fuses, the red wire at the battery(+) and the battery(-) ground strap. We don’t want any more damage. Many repairs are easy but the main wiring harness needs to be protected in this situation. You can keep the battery charged with an occasional trickle charge.

You can e-mail me via my Pelican Profile page. There is great benefit for you and the Pelican community solving this here. Warren, myself and many others can lead you to a sucessful repair.

Best,
Grady

304065 · 07-13-2006, 11:46 AM

Chris,

Now that THE experts have chimed in, my '66 911 has a similar wiring layout to your 68 and I have spent many, many hours working on it.

So WHAT, exactly, is your problem? Exactly. Which wires, what color, where? You can't be too specific, even to the point of photos.

Some background reading for you:

Before there was BHKZ: SWB engine electrics

mxracer21cb · 07-14-2006, 11:43 AM

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all the reply's! I have a shop manual I can use for the wiring diagram for some help and never knew that the S is the same (thanks). The alternator is fried for sure and is being fixed right now. See, I thought I wired the car up correctly and the car even ran strong (on blocks) but I my dad stalled it when messing with the carbs and soon after the wires to the alternator started smoking from the key being on. It was a while ago and I cant remember what components were getting hot, but in a mad dash we took off the battery and pulled some wires and tried to keep anything else from melting. I have a lot of things hooked up know, but dont want to damage anything else so I want to start from ground zero. I changed the fuses out today and noticed the 7th one was smoked. (Does that tell you anything) There is also a component in the back that I am not sure is stock that runs to the coil that I am unsure of its purpose. I can send you some pics of "the mess" and depending on what everyone is up for I can explain to you guys my current connections and maybe you could correct me or just pull it all and start from square one? I really do appreciate the help though.

chris Arena

mxracer21cb · 07-14-2006, 11:51 AM

304065 · 07-14-2006, 12:00 PM

Warren, that looks like an Delta Mark Ten, doesn't it?

Grady Clay · 07-14-2006, 01:29 PM

Ooo, you have some nice original parts there. Take care.

Don’t drive with the cold air hoses to the heat exchangers not in place. You will overheat the engine. There are several Pelican threads on this.

John, yes that is a Delta MK10B. With the ballast resistor in place, he can change back to Kettering ignition with a push of the button (red on left side). Very useful. I recommend someone service the CDI and replace the almost 40 year old electrolytic capacitors. With a through inspection and some service that Delta will last another 40 years.

mx... I see you have a Sportomatic. How well does everything work? This will complicate the electrics somewhat as Porsche didn’t document the Sportomatic’s electrical in the same manner as the regular 911s. Does the clutch properly operate with the shifter?

BTW, you have a spring missing on the right carburetor. What is the wire to the air filter cover? I see too many “extra” wires. Please segregate the wires in an image.

Do you have the pieces for the smog pump?

Please post more images.

Best,
Grady

Early_S_Man · 07-14-2006, 02:09 PM

Welcome back, Chris! It has been a while since you asked about the Mark 10B last year ...

Glad to hear you are making progress on the 911L!

That pic showing the odd Voltage regulator has me wondering ... if it is really a suitable substitute for the OEM Bosch?

mxracer21cb · 07-15-2006, 06:49 AM

Hey,
Yeah, I had the motor running and actually did have trouble with the sporto. But when I smoked the alternator I took a step back to just getting the motor up and running again. As for that wire on the carb it is just the lid light wire. I will snap some better pics and tell you what is running to what now. The smog pump I took out back in the beginning and as for the heat exchangers, they were rusted and had a lot of holes so they are sitting in my shed and I just bought regular headers for them. I will get back to you guys with some pics!

Thanks
Chris

mxracer21cb · 07-15-2006, 08:20 AM

Well here are some pics

the mark ten just has one black wire that goes to ground and a strip with a Red, a Yellow, a Green, and a Grey wire (all that run to the coil except for the red witch runs to some sort of relay? is that what that tan thing is?)

The fuel pump has a single black wire that runs to a connector that splits it to two wires (red and black) which the black then runs to the sporto unit connected on the carb and the red goes through another connector and into that (what I think is a relay from up above)

Does everything seem right up to that? Please help with component vocab and function, I hooked these up only the way they were when I got the car. There were a lot of broken off or disconnected wires when I first got the car so here are some questions...

where does this wire go? and what is that "Elecman" component?

where do the other two black wires that go to the sporto unit on the side of the carb come hook into to?

where does this blue wire go? it splits off of another tan wire that hooks into that "Elecman" component? there are also two tan/brown wires that come from front of the car and have really no idea what they are for?

where does this other connection go under the car by the transmission. The wire that branches out from it goes to the tranny and I assume this would too but it wasnt hooked up when I got the car. Could be one of the many sporto problems

.

Wiping the sweat from my head as I finish this book I realize this is asking a lot for someone to digest all this info and get back to me with all these questions. Well I figured I would put out as there as much as a could and leave it in your court. Thanks again guys and sorry for the book.

Chris

Early_S_Man · 07-15-2006, 09:04 AM

Chris,

In the first pic ... the tan thing is a ballast resistor, and the black box next to it is the questionable Voltage regulator I was asking about.

Here is a thread about early electrics that would be worth reading and bookmarking:

Before there was BHKZ: SWB engine electrics

MrJTP · 07-15-2006, 09:37 AM

Chris, I also have a 68 Sporto. If you don't have the factory manual with the Sporto supplement I can scan a few pages and email them to you. Like Grady said, they are not normal schematics but more like operating diagrams. They show the wiring but you need to study them since they have a different diagram for each shift lever position.

Tony