Well, after I got my car back from the ******** that took it, I found out that they had done a number on my wiring harness under the hood, cutting any and everything they could that was going to anything they wanted to take out. This included the electric fan wiring, alternator wiring, sensor wires, headlight motor wires, ignition wires, etc. So, for the past few days or so, Ive spent a couple hours each day cleaning this mess up. I started out by just taking the harness all the way out from under the hood up to the firewall, then I took the stock "tape" and coverings off most of the main harness from the firewall all the way out to the other end. Now that I had all the cut wires exposed, I was able to organize it a little better. I spent a lot of time comparing what I was looking at to my 85 and to the wiring diagrams I have on my computer. I figured out where everything went and connected to, and began soldering wires together again. I soldered more wires than I care to mention, then used heat shrink tubing on the connections. After that was all done, I took a brand new roll of electrical tape, and began to re-wrap the whole damn thing. So, basically I think Ive fixed the whole damn wiring harness now, so in theroy I can hook a fuseable link block up and a battery and the car should work again and not burst into flames...

Anyway, I was just happy and thought I would share. I even have some pictures . Notice how neatly its all wrapped? Notice how nicely all the "branches" are arranged? I think Im rivaling Mazda when it was new .

What I started with. Some of the cut wires are seperated from the rest here.

After some quality time with a wiring diagram.

Showing the work at the begining of the harness by the firewall

Wires that still need homes because the parts they go to were stolen (ignition, fuseable link block, etc)

Passenger side of the engine bay with the harness back "in place"

Gotta have wires for the headlights .


You can also see where Ive sanded down the bay on the passenger side inner fender getting ready for paint. I still have a lot more of the bay to do, but its coming along nicely. Im just hoping that my wiring doesnt burn it to the ground, lol .

~T.J.

 

one step closer! lookin goooood

 

Whew..Lotsa work..Did you already re-wrap the entire harness with tape? It would suck if you wind up having to chase down a short or fried wire and have to un-wrap the whole damn thing again..Maybe wait until you get her put back together and tested before you wrap it tightly?

 

Yeah, I already re-wrapped it. Im being optimistinc that theres no shorts... Maybe Ill go out and hook up a battery temporarily and find out...

~T.J.

 

So what was the werd on the insurance? Get some fundage to restore that pupp or what?

 

Wow, im impressed. Good job

 

Nice! And its not yellow. J/K Good job man.

 

Yeah, what's the word on insurance, hope you get enough dough to rebuild the car. Nice work by the way.

 

How long did it take you?? Looks clean.

 

Thanks for the comments . It was a lot of work, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be when I first started. I just kept telling myself that it was practice for the stand alone ECU Im gonna have with the turbo engine, lol.

As far as money for restoring it goes, it only had liability when it was stolen, so theres no money coming my way from that. The only way I might get any money from it is if the people that stole it lose the case that Im going to file against them for restitution money. Otherwise, its just gonna be me funding the restoration the whole time. Oh well, it will be done eventually, one way or the other .

~T.J.

PS - Yeah Carl, you will be happy to know that Im going to be using black and white as my color scheme, so when its done, there will be black wire loom over the wires, rather than yellow. I figure Im sacaficing some HP, but Im hoping the stage 2 turbo will make up for it .

 

About 3 days, working a few hours a day one it. I couldve done it in one day if I worked non-stop I suppose, but it was so tedious that I couldnt stand working with it for too long at a time. I would start getting all mixed up with the wire colors and what goes where... "ok, so the yellow with red stripe goes here, and I need to check where the green with blue goes, oh and does the black with white go to the same place as..." etc, lol. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. I should have more to post later as Im now in the process of scraping off all the undercoating that was over sprayed into the engine bay so I can sand down the other inner fender as well as the firewall. Then, I just need to sand the little bit of the front and Ill be all ready to paint.

~T.J.