Yeah CJs tuck harnesses, I believe his real name is Carlos zapien. He posts a lot of his stuff in the shaved/tucked thread on HT. His communication could be a little better, I kinda had to bug him and remind him what I wanted before I’d get a response sometimes but he did come through with the stuff I needed. Just give him a detailed list of the # of pins, plugs, seals, etc that you’re looking for and he has most of it.
I just used a set of crimpers I’ve had for years. They’re nothing special and they really didn’t create the double crimp type of crimp that the OEM pins had but I tugged on a couple as a test first and the wire broke before my crimps gave out so I’m confident they shouldn’t cause me any problems later on.
Yeah, I just messaged him on FB. I’ve actually been in contact with Rywire to see if they could help. I stopped by and met a friend there who was having some stuff done. Ryan sounded like he’d be down to help with what I needed but later on when he found out the details he said it wasn’t worth his time (which I TOTALLY understand) but he’d sell me the materials to do it. Now I’ve been emailing him back and forth for a week but he’s not really answering my questions or moving things forward.
If I can get the crimpers for under $50 I think it’ll be worth it. I know I’ll find other ways to use them for years to come. I’m just not sure which ones I need.
What exactly are you doing? If you’re just going to be altering the harness slightly or adding a sensor or two I’m sure you’re more than capable of doing it yourself, given you have the parts available. Cj has probably 95% of the stuff you’d needbut he is pricey, which I feel is fair since he is sourcing it all from the manufacturer and buying in bulk.
I’m curious, what crimper are you looking at buying? Something capable of the double crimps like OEM?
When I started stripping and re-routing my headlight harnesses I realized that a lot of this wiring was just old and brittle, plus many of the wires have been tapped into and/or cut/spliced at some point. So, I’d like to cut all of these wires about 1’ forward of the firewall then solder on all new wire and pins (I’ll reuse most of my existing connectors). Originally my thought was that I couldn’t source the OEM wire colors on my own and that it was worth it just to pay Ryan, not that I couldn’t do it myself, just that I wouldn’t know where to start with gathering the parts. If I can get the materials from CJ then honestly I’d rather do the work myself, that way I know it’s exactly how I want it. I think he’ll have everything I need except the H4H connectors and pins, they’re a little strange.
As for a crimper, I have no idea. I’m not even sure what sort of crimper I need if I have the OEM pins. I have a normal pair of electrical crimper/pliers but they aren’t made for the OEM style pins. Ryan said he would sell me one but he never gave me a name, brand, part number…etc so I have no idea what to look for. I guess I’ll ask CJ.
Colin - are you looking to replace the wiring with oem colors? If so then you can do it 2 ways. The easiest way will be to go to the junkyard and find a good harness that hasn’t been modified. Cut it from the inside of the car and simple solder it to your existing harness. The other way is not so easy because finding the OEM color wiring is not easy.
Or you can do it a third way which is to simply buy black,white, or any color of wire and replace the damage wires with the connectors that need to be replaced. The only downside from this will be that if a few wires come loose you will have a little trouble finding its original location.
Maybe the junkyard way will be easier and you will maintain the oem colors. You will probably have to visit a few yards to get a nice wire harness.
Yeah, I’m aware of those options but honestly don’t like either of them, lol. The junkyard idea is sort of a last resort for me as I think it’d be VERY time consuming to do right. Seems like most of the cars I see at the junk yard are beat to shit and pulling wiring from junk yard cars sucks. I’m hoping CJ can get me what I need.
Colin, what about replacing the wires as a whole from the headlight harness back? It’s definitely more work but I’m not a fan of soldering at all which is why I’m only replacing entire sections of wiring. When you do it like that you can use one solid strand of wire with new pins on both ends and you don’t have to worry about the breaks in the harness causing a problem later on. I asked Cj if he has OEM wire colors which he does but he charges $1/foot which adds up really quick which us why I chose to get my wire from junkyard harnesses. It’s a bot more work but saved my probably $100 or more.
Hmm, $1/ft will add up. I don’t think I want to go thru the trouble of replacing the entire lengths of wires though. These wires go into the main loom and get quite complicated after that by going to different areas and many of these wires even have factory splices/connections inside the loom. I don’t mind having a solder joint here and there since I’m confident in my solder skills - I’ve yet to have a single problem and have soldered a handful of items on my car as needed.
Yeah just a thought. I guess if it was me, maybe I would just add a connector wherever I cut the wires and use all new pins. That way I wouldn’t have to solder anything. I really despise soldering…
I worked on my main harness today. I pulled both of the frame rail harnesses out of the cabin and worked on the inside firewall part of the harness. If I can route the drivers side connectors for the engine harness with the rest of the harness I won’t have to extend any of the wiring but clearances are really tight behind the pedal assembly so I may be forced to run them up near the top of the firewall by the fuel lines. I mocked up the pedal assembly and steering column and it looks possible but close enough I may not risk it. At least as I put everything back together its not such a HUGE mess like it was before.
It’s really not bad at all now! For a while there I was a bit overwhelmed sorting through it all. It’s all pretty much ready to loom up now. I still have to run the alternator, starter, and battery wiring but the majority of the confusing stuff is behind me. I’m still not sure if I want to use the thru-panel connectors I got for the larger wiring into the bay (starter/alternator) or come up with an alternative method.
I’m glad you look forward to seeing updates, I’m hoping to get out there and put in work all week since I’m off work!
When I did my wire tuck I took the wire loom completely off. At this ppoint zip ties will be your best friend to keep the wires in place. once you take everything out and pull the driver side wires into the cabin you can start removing wire by wire from the rest of the wires that go around the pedal assembly and through the firewall to the engine harness. At the end I had to shorten the wires because they were too long. I have my engine harness exiting through the middle of the firewall.
On the wiring that goes to the headlights, horn, turn signals, I feed them through the upper frame section (don’t know the actual name) but here is picture of mine. It provides a little more protection against dirt and water.
Which wires did you have to shorten? The ones from the drivers side engine harness are barely going to reach to the middle of the firewall the way I have them right now. I deloomed everything before when I first pulled it in (except for the drivers side frame rail wiring) but I didn’t separate out the drivers side wiring as much as I did with the passenger side. I’m guessing what you’re saying is that if I separate them all out I won’t be doubling a bunch of them back under the pedals? They run from ecu to engine harness so they’ll never even make it that far?
I thought about running my frame rail wiring inside the frame rails but if I ever need to access it in the future it’ll be a lot more work to get to them so I’m planning to just run them along the outside and make sure I get them loomed up well and protected from the elements. The fenders and liners will keep them pretty protected I think.
Yes you are correct. I separate the wires that go from the ecu to the driver side and through the firewall. I got them all out the plastic cover around the pedal assemble and at the end they were too long that I shorten them. At first I thought of just moving the driver side engine harness an re-route it back to the middle of the firewall, but i had the same problem as you did with tight space and worries about wires getting on the way. Plus, i didn’t wanted to have too many wires so i separate them and made them shorter. It really wasn’t that much work. You already went this far, so a few more minutes/hours wont hurt.
That’s the only down side of having the wires the way i have them. No access to them if you ever need to do some repairs.
I plan on running my headlight harnesses exactly like aftermath did. My reasoning is that if I hit a wall there’s more protection for the wires. But obviously with a hard enough hit you’re screwed either way.
I see, well thanks for your advice! The drivers side is so much more cramped, even with everything removed, that I just pulled the plugs over to see if they’d reach the center where the engine harness comes through. Since they did I figured I wouldn’t bother tearing into it much more but I’d really like everything to fit in that plastic channel behind the pedals due to clearance so I’ll get back into it again today/tomorrow and straighten it out.
I think I’m going to run them on the outside of the frame rails. If I hit anything I’m going to be more worried about the body then the wiring.
Same here Colin, Im going to be more worried about the body panels or frame than the actual wiring. lol
[QUOTE=rollinmyda;2306775]I see, well thanks for your advice! The drivers side is so much more cramped, even with everything removed, that I just pulled the plugs over to see if they’d reach the center where the engine harness comes through. Since they did I figured I wouldn’t bother tearing into it much more but I’d really like everything to fit in that plastic channel behind the pedals due to clearance so I’ll get back into it again today/tomorrow and straighten it out.
I think I’m going to run them on the outside of the frame rails. If I hit anything I’m going to be more worried about the body then the wiring.[/QUOTE]
Yea, just take your time and separate your driver side wires. It will be much neater and if any wire problems come in the future it will be easier to diagnose.
