Ok, im half way through with the rewire.

I am using 10guage wire from the battery to the bought relay. Dumbass me just saw that the connectors I bought support minimum of 14gauge wire. So I had this idea, run the 10 gauge wire all the way to the back of the trunk, then splice in some speaker wire so it will connect to the relay. Sound good? I wont lose any juice right?

2nd question, how in the heck do I get the wires from outside into the car? I thought about running it along the firewall, and then somehow getting it to come out through the driver door side. But my question was, wont it squish the wire when I shut the door?

K, thanks alot guys for the answers to those 2 questions, thats all I need to know and I will be finito with my just installed 3rd gen pump.

 

K, found a connector for the relay that will fit 10 gauge.


Now I have one big problem before I can finish it all up.. HOW do I run the wire from the engine bay to the trunk????????? Thanks alot.

 

i haven't done any wiring on my rx7 yet but on my 240sx i ran it through the rubber gromit that seals off the cable for the hood release. Look for any holes in the firewall by the driver foot well. that way it goes straight from the battery to the cabin. Make sure if you drill a hole in the firewall in this area that you wrap alot of electrical tape aroung the wire so it doesn't short out on the metal hole you cut.

 

there are 2 big harness holes in the firewall, one on each side, drivers side is hidden in the pic but you can kinda see where i ran the wire through the pass. side grommet, i just used a drill to make the hole then a screwdriver to feed the wire through.

If you want to make you own hole, get a grommet from the parts store, a company named HELP! make assorted sizes.

then the easiest way would probably to run it under the carpet, along the door step, pretty much along the stock wiring harness throught the side panel and on towards the rear
edit: forgot the pic

 

Well guys, wish me luck.... I ended up cutting a small hole in the electrical harness rubber that is directly below and left of the master clutch.

Well, I ligt tested the connection and it worked. Now....I just finished all of my soder and shrink wrap, and electrical taping, and running wires from here to there...now I am on the last step before putting it all together. I am going to jumper it, then test it........*crosses fingers*

 

Well... let me start off by saying... ever since I purchased this car for my sister I have been slightly dissapointed. Sure the seats were comfortable like a motha' but the poower seemed to lack. I could not tell a major difference from this and my own 85 GSL-SE.

Well, I re-wired the fuel pumpo, hoped for it to work, and BASM-OLA@! It worked, FIRST TRY!! And then...I pushed the gas pedal down....o.m.g...what a freaking difference it made. Clearly night and day! I found that power I was searching for!

So I had to take her for a spin! Took her out and flew like a bat. Now I must say, it would buck after 4rpm or right after, and then buck again around 6 or so. But after each buck it would shoot off faster. I am figuring it is my idle problem. It idles at 1.5-2k right now and needs adjustment. I added a 4gauge ground to the strut tower, and will eventually add one to the engine as well. Anyone have any idea why it might hesitate then right after hit the road harder? Could it be because I just installed a 3rd gen fuel pump?

Overall, Im glad as heck that it worked. This was my first time dealing with electrical and sodder and got it all right on my first try. And again...WOW on the power afterwards, it is just plain awsome

 

sounds good! Glad your car is better now. What write up did you follow?

 

I followed the 1300cc write up.

I used 10 gauge wire and 16 gauge speaker wire. It was fairly easy, but quite paintstaking. It ate alot of time. I was scared as hell because I soder all of my connections with alot of soder and taped and wrapped them alot, so if it did not work i would have been in some dooky.

The car still isnt ready to hit the road yet. I need to buy a power window switch and pick up a powerwindow relay for the passenger side. Then both door handles need to be fixed (drivers side wont open from outside, little plastic piece broke off rod; and the passenger side has no keyhole). The last things that need to be fixed are the tires and get an allignment. I plan to get those for my sister as her bday gift.

 

Why the hell does everyone here call it "soder? It's solder!

 

umm...because it sounds like soda!

DAMNIT! My Idle Screw is rusted, i cant move it one bit at all. damn. What part do I need to buy?

 

Speaker wire?!

You guys are killing me...This is probably too late but I might as well say it anyway...

10 gauge is WAY overkill unless you are talking about a serious (think 1000HP) fuel pump. 12 gauge is more then enough and far easier to work with.

Speaker wire is for speakers, period. I know, there's not really a technical difference between most speaker wires and regular hookup wire, but if I saw a car with speaker wire used on a fuel pump I'd instantly assume that the car was a hack job.

If you are going to use 10 gauge, use the proper connectors. Shrinking the wire to a smaller gauge completely negates the benefit of the larger gauge and creates another joint and a high resistance area. That's one of the reason I suggest 12 gauge. Connectors are easier to find. Remember to coat each crimp with dielectric grease inside and out.

As for running wires, there is a grommet underneath/beside the brake booster. You can pass your wires through at that point with the aid of a coat hanger. NEVER, EVER run wires under the car as they WILL get damaged at some point. There's a reason OEMs always run wires in the cabin. If you MUST run under the car, loom the wires properly in plastic split-loom corrugated tubing.

As for your joints, electrical tape should NEVER be used to seal a joint. The adhesive will being to eat the copper wire over time and tape provides very little mechanical strength. You need to use adhesive lined heat shrink.

 

Aaron, this is the second time you've made this mistake. The speaker wire is used for a relay signal, not power to the pump. Speaker wire is the perfect wire to use, since you need to run two light-gauge wires from the front of the car to the back. I know you have no need to do this rewire, but at least read the instructions to avoid any more embarrassing errors...

 

Ah, that makes more sense. Doh.

Still, I'd rather pick "proper" hookup wire then speaker wire if anything just to avoid confusion later ("Why are the speakers connected to a fuel pump relay?!?").

 

Hey Aaron, I ended up finding connectors that fit 10gauge wire so that was all good, I ran the wires I think through the grommit you are talking about, and I used heat shrink at every point that I could, then re-wrapped it in electrical tape It worked like a charm on the first start.

It still idles at 1.5k and so I tried to adjust it but the screw will not budge one bit(either way)

Also, I think I have a boost leak because when I floor it and the boost hits on hard it hesitates. Could also be some grounding.

 

Thats why on all the re-wires I've done, the speaker wire is completety wrapped in tape, twice, then in the engine bay, its loomed. Looks completely stock to the naked and untrained eye.

EDIT: Pics.

 

sorry aaron
but i rebuilt my external engine parts for less than 800$ after the fire and we had the wire laying around so i just used that. however, this summer/fall I'll be replacing the engine with a rebuilt one and then hopefully install a stand alone computer and wont have a use for the wire anymore but for the meantime, I'll stick with what i have

 

As far as a difference in wire types.....I am a semi-retired audio engineer & have worked with most "kinds" of wires. I would say that an oxygen-free copper speaker wire would be superior to a normal "hook-up" wire for two reasons 1. PREMIUM speaker wire has more strands of individual wires. Electrons travel on the exterior surface of the copper strands & wire capacity is usually determined by the measurement of Circular Mils which is a calculation of the surface area of the exterior of the cylinder of copper - the wire. The more strands equals more surface area & therefore more capacity. 2. The oxygen-free status of the conductors & the insulators results in less corrosion over a given period of time & also means a lower internal wire resistance.

Now I wouldn't recommend just junking all of your wiring for some old speaker wire. I WOULD recommend using MARINE GRADE wiring instead. Marine Grade is much more expensive for a good reason. They generally have much finer strands of oxygen free copper and are tinned as well. Also the jacket & insulating materials are much better than any speaker wires. Also check out the marine grade connectors as well. They use heat shrink connectors with the adhesive in them.

I would also say NEVER use a SOLID copper wire in your vehicle.

Anyway just trying to be helpful.

Ramses666

 

Nobody will be confusing the cheap, skinny speaker wire I used for the fuel pump rewire (and other stuff) with the heavy duty speaker wire I used for the speakers.

 

Anyone got any advise for the stuck Throttle screw? I am thinking about getting a tap set to see if that will loosen her up.

 

Soak it in penetrating lube spray and hit it with an impact driver.

 

ok chief, will do! Have any remidies for getting the driver side window up? The window switch is missing the copper piece to make it go up, but they work. Thanks guys.

 

As an engineer, you should be aware of the difference between how currents behave in an AC vs. DC circuit. Read below.


That's not true. In a DC circuit, current flows through the entire strand, and thus the most important factor is the total cross-section of the conductor. An an AC circuit we observe the skin effect, but really only at higher frequencies. For example at 60 Hz it's negligible so we wire houses with wires containing one thick conductor.

More thinner strands definitely make the conductor easier to work with though.


That I don't quite believe. I've seen "premium oxygen free" speaker wire turn to powder in less then a year with a little intrusion of salt and moisture. The integrity of the terminals and their seal between the wire is far more important then the wire used. If crimp terminals are used, then they MUST be packed with dielectric grease before the wire is inserted. They also make sealed crimps where the rear jacket is heat shrink tubing. Once packed with dielectric grease, crimped and shrunk, these terminals are incredibly reliable.

Definitely. Marine grade is great stuff and the tinning makes it much easier to solder. Most automotive stores will sell a quality cross-linked polyethylene insulated wire which is almost as good (minus the tinning of course).

I would hope that no one here is that stupid.