[Jazzbass]

UPDATE

Riddle for you: What is

1. Red
2. Ugly
3. A POS
4. Idling in my garage right now

If you said TD's car, step right up and get your Rice-a-roni gift pack! That's right, after many, many, many, many hours in the garage, the goddamn thing is running. And, on the first try I should add. My insane amount of prep work really does pay off I guess.

Some pictures.



This is the new right side of the engine. It shows where the majority of new engine/system harness is now located. This is the main area where the brand new main harness meets the existing DME harness. You know, the one from the 86 in the 84.



The left side. Notice the... well... nothing. All wiring from this side, including the rat's nest under the driver's feet, has been removed.



The dash showing the back of the fuse panel wired into the car. Like I showed in earlier pictures, the fuse panel is completely removable from the car for upgrades, testing, and repairs. Note the cool-ass switch panel in the middle (made by Charlie) and the lack of gauges.



The fuse panel in position with the minute gauge showing the engine has been running for exactly 5 minutes, thus halving its remaining life span.

Well, the damned thing runs. The only thing left is to hook up the gauges (already wired) and we're done.

[Jase007]

You Da Man !!!!!

[Ryan]

Wiring harness is worth more than the car ... Nice job Jazz

[KFJ]

Somebody owes you BIG time. Nicely done Chris.

[Mike W]

Nice job Chris... wish I had your skills/know-how.

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by Jase007

You Da Man !!!!!

Originally Posted by Ryan

Wiring harness is worth more than the car ... Nice job Jazz

X2 - cool end to one very onerous job! He owes you big time!

[Jazzbass]

Thanks, guys.

BTW, a big thanks to Charlie who came up from Blacksburg and helped me all day Saturday with this. Charlie is the only other person I know here who is as OCD as I am, so everything he put in (which was a lot of the interior wiring) is grade A work. Charlie and I put in 10hrs on this POS Saturday.

Thanks also to }{ who stopped by and reassembled almost all of the mechanical crap strewn about the garage so I could start this thing up tonight.

[Jazzbass]

Some thoughts on this project, in case anyone is ever dumb enough to consider doing this themselves

Never, never, never get into this without a couple months to spare. This is a LOT of damn work. I am an EE, worked on automotive wiring systems in school (that was actually part of my area of specialty), and worked as a technician for years before I became an EE. IOW, I'm very comfortable around this stuff - wires, connectors, soldering, crimping, schematics, etc. That said, I have spent at least 80 hours of my time working on this. That's right - two full work weeks. Why? Well, several reasons:

1. Finding good connector and wiring components is not easy. I remember component selection being a huge PITFA when I was a design engineer, and it's good to know things haven't changed. Looking through catalogs to find the parts that meet the specs, can be installed with the equipment you have, are of the quality you require, and (most importantly) can be purchased, is a pain.

For this project I insisted on using only top quality components: WeatherPack and MetriPack sealed connectors. Industrial grade high reliability switches. New ATC fuse blocks and Bosch relays/holders. Open barrel connectors for everything. Finding, testing, verifying spec and ordering takes a lot of time.

2. Design. Like your typical EE geek, I spend many hours in front of my PC designing the new electrical system for the car. I didn't just start pulling and replacing wires & connectors half-assed. The first step was to completely understand what the factory had designed in order to know what to remove and what to keep, and how to wire what was kept. The decision to keep the DME relay is an example of this. There was a debate about removing it before I went to the schematics for the vehicle and the DME itself to understand how it was being used. Turns out, its pretty necessary. Another good example was replacing the coil +12V supply run by a local shop when they installed the battery kill switch. They used 18ga wire for this. Porsche used 14ga (actually, 2.5mm^2) wire. There was a reason Porsche used a heavier gauge wire, and I was surprised to see such a small gauge wire in there.

There are two result of all this: 1) I have a completely accurate wiring design for this car that tells me where every single wire, connector, ground point, and electrical component is and does - right down to the color and gauge of the wires. 2) The car started on the first try and nothing blew up. In projects like these, you either spend your time in design or spend it in troubleshooting. Your choice.

3. The unexpected. This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an unmolested car. In fact, it was more like Jody Foster in The Accused. Everywhere I turned I found crap like bad connections, improperly repaired connectors, Frankenstein's wiring harness (84 body + 84 engine + 86 DME harness), senders that weren't where they should be, and electrical components simply not hooked up correctly. Each time, I had to step back and play archaeologist. Why did the PO (or PMechanic) do this? Is there a reason (using the rear hatch release wires for the cool suit) or were they just lazy/retarded (see pics of the "repaired" reference sensor). This was a major source of frustration and time usage.

4. Quality. Everyone who knows me knows (and makes fun of me about) one thing: I'm an OCD perfectionist. I rewired this car to a level that you simply would be insane to pay for from a shop. No quick and dirty crimp connections using yellow/blue/red connectors from PepBoys. Evey crimp on the car was at least a three step process: crimp, crimp strain relief (or weather seal), solder wire end. Ring and spade terminal, where used, also got heat shrink applied. Lots of time making sure wire runs went along the main part of the harness, the wires were the right length, and wires exposed to the elements were in looms. Everything zip-tied into place so as not to fall off during a race.

5. Non-electrical fabrication. This was a gigantic time sink. Ripping out the old harness. Fabricating, from scratch, a new fuse panel. Altering the dashboard to accept the new panel, including building new brackets to hold the panel and reinforce the dash. Drilling/grinding out stuck fasteners and picking apart old wiring harnesses. Mounting new aux power ports. Building a completely new main gauge panel. And on. And on.

In short, to do a new wiring harness in a car, and do it "right" (at least in my OCD terms), is not a weekend job. It is a 6 weekend job, working 12hrs each weekend. Now, this was my first time doing this so there was a lot of time "learning". I'm guessing if a shop were to do this, they'd spend considerably less time as things like component selection, design, and fab stuff would be BTDT. But - completely my guess - I can't see how any pro could do this project in less than 30-40 hours. This is really a labor intensive project.

That said, it does look pretty damn cool. No more rat's nest above the pedal cluster, and you can actually change fuses (and the DME relay) without diving head first under the steering wheel. The whole system when from 10 relays and 20+ fuses to 1 main relay (2 more for lights, but 99% of the time the car is run without them) and 12 fuses. All connection points inspected, most replaced, and the few that are left inspected and reinforced/replaced is necessary.

Maybe one day I'll do it to my own car .

[Andy Clements]

Nice work Jazz....I was starting to wonder with the '86 in an '84 headaches you were sorting. I particularly like the steering shaft as a wire spool holder, and the timeless classic carbon fiber switch cover. The switch panel adds a nice touch, but you better make some labels..........we don't wan't TD accidentally turning his cool suit off during a race!!!!

[}{arlequin]

Originally Posted by Jazzbass

UPDATE

Well, the damned thing runs. The only thing left is to hook up the gauges (already wired) and we're done.

it's like an in-law that you never want to see again, huh?


i like the shades-of-bentley swirling on the switch panel
this job will be hard to top.