cwsttu

has anybody bought a universal wiring harness from a place such as painless wiring and used it on their FC? i was debating on if i should order this with my ecu and do it all at once, i would assume i could still run it off the cpu so i could have blinkers, hazards, brake lights and such, the kit i was looking at was this




18-CIRCUIT UNIVERSAL HARNESS
GM-KEYED STEERING COLUMN
#10201 - The 18-Circuit kit allows you to add accessories to the basic wiring such as power windows, door locks, stereo, etc. This kit includes GM (column mounted) ignition switch plugs and a GM (column mounted) turn signal switch plug pre-terminated and ready to install. Also has pre-wired plugs for headlights and the dimmer switch.

cwsttu

anyway any opinions, experiences with this or the likes? i just want to get rid of the factory **** and start anew

Icemark

I have used them on a couple of older cars and trucks for off road applications, and they seem to work just fine.

Painless does however seem to overgauge the wire and insulation. That is probably a good thing on an off road truck, but probably excessive for many road race applications, as it makes it more difficult to run and hide under stuff (the wires are just thicker).

Don't know what you are really asking after that.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

If you look at the harness, you will see that it is designed to totally replace the existing body harness. So it won't run off the CPU as it comes. It certainly COULD be modified, but at that point you would be significantly rebuilding the harness.

These harnesses really are designed for simpler, older cars or those that have been stripped down. The FC has a lot of "80's legacy" with it's electronic heater controls, integrated CPU, etc. which makes using a harness like this a challange.

If you are going to use a harness like this, start from scratch and rebuild the electrical system. Use this harness as a base, then seperate the FC specific parts of the existing harness (heater, idiot cluster, etc.) to run the other electronics.

Icemark

Yeah, thats true.. Aaron hit it on the head, and I should have said it.

Those harnesses are for replacing the body harness and electronics in the car. They are not designed to work with the existing Mazda electronics, but rather to simplify the entire cars electronics to 1970's levels.

So you would not use a Mazda body computer, but rather a couple of relays and a flasher can for the turn signals.

And a simple relay for the headlights, etc.

cwsttu

thanks guys , thats pretty much what i meant.. i wanted to wash away all the stock mazda wiring and use this as a base from starting from scratch... only thing is im still confused on how i would get things like blinkers or parking lights to work properly. would i wire this new harness into the existing cpu that controls all those functions, everything else i think i would have figured out such as headlights, window switches, and stuff like that, the heater or a/c or idiot cluster and stuff would be gone as well as the stock odometer and cluster, it will all be custom, im bout to order all this stuff and wanted to make sure it was worth the money or will work, but i think mostly that depends on the person wiring it up huh lol, its alot of work i know but you have to start somewhere, thanks for the tips and again once i get rid of all the stock wiring do i just redo this in the same manner but with only what i want keeping the stock CPU or do i have to buy an external custom blinker/horn/brake light cpu and customize it

that make sense?

cwsttu

whoops i reread what the icemark said... ok so where would i find these relays.. guess i need to find a place that explains how blinkers and such work so i can order the right parts

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

I believe that Haynes publishes an "Automotive Wiring" guide much like they publish the service manuals. Get a copy.

cwsttu

ill have to check into that.. i just need the basics and then i can apply them to my needs, thanks for the suggestions, by the way aaron tina is looking GREAT! im gonna shoot for the same perfection your aimin for

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

The wiring guide has most or all of the basics. Covers the confusing stuff that most people have trouble with (ignition, signals, audio, etc.). Also loads of troubleshooting info. Good investment for anyone.

cwsttu

well i just downloaded the pdf for the painless wiring kit number i was contemplating and from the instructions and step by step explanations im much more relieved about continuing this project, ill be mixing and matching alot of parts and such but im pretty sure i can pull it off no problem, ill get that haynes just in case though, hope a bookstore around here can order it for me