Sunbeam S7 Deluxe - Crankcase Breather

I recently met up with a nearby Sunbeam owner from Lancaster County (across the river).  We compared our machines and discussed improvements and modifications.

One thing that my friend noticed was the crankcase breather on my Deluxe.  I wanted to avoid fouling plugs, and a disturbed mixture, so instead of routing the breather back into the air cleaner, I used a road tube.  Since there isn't much opportunity for a "draft tube" like on a car, another method was in order.  The standard breather "check" valves stopped working of course.

I obtained a brake booster check valve from Dorman products and mounted it alongside the frame rail, just above the side engine damper.  Since the valve's inlet port diameter was quite large, it needed to be reduced.  So I put another hose inside that one.  The outlet tube then goes along the frame rail behind the silencer.

The larger port is the inlet, the smaller one on the side is the outlet.

Part #: 80189

The brake booster check valve insures that crankcase is well vented.  The front of the engine stays clean, and the vapors are deposited well behind the rear wheel.

FIAT - 500 Pop - Gentex Auto Dim and Homelink Mirror

I very much like the Gentex automatic dimming rear view mirror that comes standard on my Subaru.  Why not upgrade my FIAT 500 Pop with the same technology.  The Gentex website supplies very little support for do-it-yourself modification.  No pinout or specifics on how to use their products is on their website.  I obtained a Gentex 313 out of a Nissan on eBay for a very reasonable price.  Considering these go for >$200 in some cases, I did rather well.  The challenge was finding the correct pinout.  After skimming some forums and matching up (within reason) what I had purchased, I was able to determine the correct pinout.  The device I had used 5 wires.  Since the FIAT 500 already has outdoor air temperature, I left those wires disconnected.  The result was the temperature reading OC (for open circuit).  If I find a sensor someday, I'll set it up for indoor temperature and just chuck the sensor in the car somewhere.

I take no responsibility for what you do here.  Don't burn your car to the ground, do something stupid, or otherwise try to blame me for what you try to modify.  I'm an electrical engineer, and I know what I'm doing.

This is the resulting wiring diagram.

(Gentex 313)

I chose the dome light power source in the FIAT for the power supply for the Homelink wire and ground for the system.  This perhaps wasn't the best choice, but it was convenient.  I found that the dome light times out if you leave the door open for too long a time.  Its no big deal, since closing the door re-activates the power for the dome light.  I tapped into this power supply by soldering wires onto the dome light traces.  The galvanized substrate solders easily and did not deform the plastic structure of the dome light assembly.

I chose the cigar lighter as the power supply for the compass and auto-dim functions.  It draws 500mA and doesn't need to operate until the key is turned on.  This meant fishing a wire from the dome light area down to the cigar lighter power supply.  I had already tapped into the cigar lighter for my ham radio transceiver, so tapping into it again wasn't bad.  I had to gently follow the existing harnesses down the A-pillar carefully avoiding entanglement with the air bag deployment system.  The wire was then run alongside the main harness on the firewall and down the center console into the cigar lighter wiring.

The resulting modification is great.  I now have Homelink control over my garage door openers, the very cool auto-dimming mirror, and a compass (if I want to turn it on).  The other aspect is that the standard glass mirror mount works without modification.