Noble M500 Upgrades & Overhaul

[Peter Gidden]

[ashley]

We'll see....

[Peter Gidden]

So next job is dash centr panel. Starting with sat nav.

Requirements are minimum 5" unit, with ability to plug in external GPS receiver, external speaker, and no on/off switch. And Garmin, as i use Basecamp on my PC for planning routes.

Kenwood i thought. And after lots of research, i discovered that even Kenwood's flagship in-dash unit at £1500 does not allow custom routes to be uploaded.

After more research, only 1 Garmin fits the bill. And it was discontinued in 2012. Hmmmmmm.

[Marmalade]

Great thread, please keep us updated, I had always fancied a Noble at some point, your findings make me very nervous of ever buying one.

[Peter Gidden]

Gamin's Nuvi 5000 was primarily aimed at the US SUV and truck cab markets. Has all the options i wanted, and after much searching managed to pick one up, BNIB, but very old stock.



Plugged it in, got free update from the installed 2009 maps to current FOC. Also picked up a 2nd one as a spare off ebay.com.

Then spent a whole evening designing and uploading a boot screen, and learned how to dismantle the unit to remove the front bezel:



Got hold of external GPS receiver and external speaker.

The original dash panel was a bit pants from the outset:



And was never going to cater for my plans.

So i had a new one made in autoclaved, pre-preg carbon. 1.5mm thick and weighs less than 100g. Not cheap at £300 but exactly what i wanted.



So now to design the layout. I didn't want any toggle or rocker switches, so decided on momentary push button switches. Large internally illuminated for main circuits, and smaller ones for dash programming.

Using resistors and diodes, the illumination of each switch will have two levels, one for when lights are on, and a brighter one for when circuit is switched on.

Found a manufacturer of the switches in Canada. More expensive than the Chinese copies on ebay, but worth the extra money.

Sorted a latching relay for each of the 5 main circuits:



Engine start button is courtesy of Silver Horse Racing in USA. Made in the USA, and a Ford approved accessory:



A CarTek electronic battery master cut out switch and a Lifeline electrical extinguisher switch will complete the dash furniture.

The dash layout design was done in Photoshop. Once happy, i reproduced the layout on graph paper.

The whole lot was sent off to the only carbon fibre specialists i will use, Reverie, for routing out.

As expected, the result is perfect:



The dash is going to be printed, so i had Reverie flat off the panel ready for printing. To ensure no ill effects from the final lacquer reacting with the printing ink, several samples will be printed on a piece of waste carbon and sent to Reverie for lacquering. Once i have the results, the dash will be printed.

Meanwhile, onto the design of the wiring. This is going to invlove a complete rewiring of the dash loom. The Noble spade plugs/sockets will be dumped in favour of Deutsch plugs, the standard plug in all forms of motorsport. Two reasons: reliability and pin density.

Deutsch pins are individually machined, and use a special tool to create 4 crimps around the pin. The only way to guarantee every crimp is perfect is to use the correct tool, so £200 lighter, and here it is:



Plugs and pins have been ordered. Off to see the printer later this week.

[autobody]

Looking good Peter.

[Peter Gidden]

So whilst the test printing for the dash is being done to check compatibility with the proposed lacquer, i've started on the wiring.

Looks like i've got more to do than just add my new wiring:





All the OEM sh1te wiring will be removed and replaced at the same time.

[ashley]

That's OEM?!

[Peter Gidden]

That's OEM?!

Yep. Classy stuff!

[ashley]

Jeebus...please tell me they at least wired the M600 properly?

Can't believe they production released a car with electronics in that state, and to think of all the years I've dreamy of owning an M400...not so sure now....dream shattered

[Marmalade]

Jeebus...please tell me they at least wired the M600 properly?

Can't believe they production released a car with electronics in that state, and to think of all the years I've dreamy of owning an M400...not so sure now....dream shattered Image Replaced With URL For Quote http://www.jonrb.com/emoticons/cry_blownose.gif

Completely agree, at some point I was thinking it would be nice to own a Noble, seeing all this makes me very wary now

[thomp1983]

although it looks untidy the use of insulated crimp terminals is widely accepted in applications where vibration is a factor as they don't fracture the way soldered joints can when subjected to vibration, there still used for some jobs in aerospace and electricians can use them to join cables too but sadly they do just look like a bodge

[ashley]

http://www.is-rayfast.com/products/term ... owire.html

[madbasshunter]

For work I have to use crimp connectors even the IMI training utilises them as does the telematic systems for insurance purposes, but we do use decent crimping tools unlike nobles staff by the looks of it

[ashley]

[Peter Gidden]

For work I have to use crimp connectors

You still at Halfords?

[synXero]

Saw an orange M600 on my way home from Thai boxing on Wednesday.

Wait was it orange?

Maybe the xxxx wiring set it on fire and it just looked orange?

[thomp1983]

http://www.is-rayfast.com/products/term ... owire.html

i agree ashley the above is one of the proper ways to do it, i tend to use amp connectors personally, think most of the wiring joins on my bike have been replaced with them but the '2 still uses most of the oem connectors with any joins/extra wires being soldered in but insulated terminals properly crimped are acceptable for stereo/speaker wiring if not a bit lazy proper iso ends should of been soldered to the cars harness making the relevant headunit specific harness plug and play.

pete is that the stereo wiring from the factory or has it been 'modified' before your ownership?

[gerbil1028]

Only crimps in mine is the gauges for ease of setup removal later if breaks ect

[Peter Gidden]

pete is that the stereo wiring from the factory or has it been 'modified' before your ownership?

Factory OEM.

Looks like the loom wires were built into the loom with 20cm spare length, and then bought in ISO plugs with tails were crimped to the loom wires.