(ELECTRICAL) How to deloom your FB's engine bay - PICS included.
 

Hey all,

Thought I'd share with you about 30 hours worth of work:

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/1.jpg

As you can see, the entire wiring loom has been removed from the engine bay.

The more observant would notice that this is a RHD car, Australian assembled. It's an '81 GS overseas. I hope nobody expected information about delooming a GSL-SE, I can imagine that would be about ten times more intensive than this.

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/2.jpg

Red: Emissions wiring, from the passenger side via the computer, to the main emissions power loom. Although New Zealand has a larger land mass than the United Kingdom, we only have four million citizens. Emissions gets removed, and binned.

Black: The original earthing system - battery negative to strut tower, strut tower to middle housing bolt.

Blue: Starting system - battery to starter, battery to fusible link box.

Light blue: Fuse box.

Yellow: Everything else, from park lights to horn, headlights to retractor motors. The water level sensor is in there too.

I started by pushing the entire loom back from the passengers side to the drivers area, in the end it was sitting on the drivers floor. I didn't even have to unplug relays, the hole in the firewall is so large the entire loom will fit through it. From there, I unravelled the 23 year old plastic wrapping and layed the entire loom out on the floor of the car. I then separated the wires that were needed forward of the firwall into one loom, and the others into a different loom

The "forward" wires were pushed through a hole in the floor under the drivers seat, and fed forward as far as they could go - about near the front wheel, in a straight line. From there, each "circuit" was lengthened, one at a time. I started with the headlight retractor motors, on the passengers side. It rapidly consumed metres and metres of wire, and I had to frequently visit the electrics store!

After the retractors came the headlights, then park lights on the passengers side. Looks like this now:

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/3.jpg

It's fed through the stove-pipe bar at the front of the car. The loom is first insulated in tape wrap after being soldered, then shrink wrapped, then covered with conduit, then tape wrapped again. I'm figuring it'll last at least 30 years.

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/4.jpg

even the headlights were completely rewired with 35amp wire. This will run a nice 130w/90w mix on the open road - doubt I'll need spotlights.

I should point out that this car has two 800amp gel cell batteries, one in each storage compartment.

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/5.jpg

This is the wiring loom collected on the other side (drivers) before loom assembly.

http://javert.orcon.net.nz/6.jpg

This is the finished result, before the entire loom is attached to the top of the inner guard (fender) with plastic cable ties and low-gauge soldered wire loops.

Totals:

An extra 75 metres of wire (over 200 feet) needed to complete the loom. 15amp, 25 amp, and 36amp positives with 50 amp negatives for the headlights.
3/4 of a big roll of medium-sized solder.
4 rolls of insulation tape (black)
25 metres of conduit (80 feet)
One soldering iron tip worn out
One 80w soldering iron returned under warranty
two dozen cable ties

My next post will be about the Ford 8:8 inch diff currently at the rebuilders to be shortened to fit the RX-7 - I'll show you the work involved and the money required to build an unbreakable setup :)

That is such a great job, makes me feel like I have not done enought to my 7.
That amount of work deserves more than 2 thumbs up. wow!
Can't wait to see what it looks like when the engine bay is completed.
Have I mentioned nice job? :D

It gives me a headache even thinking about all that work. :D Very nice job though.

thanks guys :) I should have mentioned - I included a redundant length of 7 core trailer wire, each strand is rated at 19 amps, so I can run a couple of spotlights or some thermo fans in future. Always pays to plan ahead.

nicely done...the finished product should look great

Very nice. Thanks for pics and the materials list. You could have a totally stock RX-7 and simlpy doing this wire job would make it pop at a show.

PS: Damn you for not having to have emissions. :D

Wow... that info will come in handy for me this winter when i start the teardown/rebuild of my 7.

Especially since she is going to be gutted of all non-esential items.

I give another 2 thumbs up.

~Sup

very impressive work Jon....this is gonna help me a lot as im planning on doing the same to my car this winter...ur planning ahead idea was good. got any more tips and suggestions for me? and also what kind of wire did u use to wire the battery? or should i say batteries and why 2?

P.S: cold u sugggest any components that mazda put in that i would be better off without that i should take out while im in the process of doing this?

Very excellent. That wire map will defenately come in handy soon.

Hey thanks :)

Tips.. hmm... well you need a lot of patience, and you should probably lablel the wires a lot better than I did. I managed to get away with it because I've done other wiring work on RX-7's and I know what colour wires go where. You also should grab a good wiring diagram as well.

I haven't connected the batteries up yet as there is still a bit more wiring work to do within the car itself, but they will be wired together using cable from a welding supply store. I've bought some 4 gauge wire which will connect the alternator directly to the starter, then the welding wire will run under the car then up into the storage bin area (actually the rear seats - this car was a 2+2 from factory). I'm running two batteries for redundancy - this car will have a LOT of electrical gear in it when it's done, including at least three computers, half a dozen LCD screens, and two very large amplifiers.

Don't even attempt to use the original fusible links - they're crap. Replace with a fuse box from a modern car.

I'm not sure what you want to remove from the loom - I binned at least 30% of it, including hot start assist wires, ignition wires (will be running direct fire via. a Haltec ECU) and of course all the emissions crap.

I can't stress how much you need to plan ahead - decide where things will be, and what extras you're going to use. Always put extra wires in the loom for use at a later date.