KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

Just wondering if anybody did this to their car other than the Main ECU harness, I was thinking of doing this in the future to simplify everything and wanted to see if anybody has done this.

afgmoto1978

iTrader: (6)

Yep, don't do it if you don't have too, hehe.

SLOASFK

iTrader: (5)

I'm considering reqiring the chasis of my car as well. So much of my body wiring harness seems to be fubared. I'm doing everything I can to avoid it, but I may have to sooner than later.

So please, fill this thread with ideas and write ups

CMonakar

I'm nearly done with mine, and wouldn't do it again. IMO the work/benefit ratio is horrible.

DMoneyRX-7

iTrader: (2)

i would love to go behind the dash and fix everything the previous owner screwed up. actually, that is going to be my next project. but someone did rewire their harness. not just rewrap, but used new wires and what not.

KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

Another reason why I thought of this is that I am planning to go Motec and will be getting rid of the stock cluster and will be using a digital data logging display that will be using GPS for the speed sensor.

So I figured when I do convert to a Motec unit and the digital display, I should just do all the wiring.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

The FD doesn't have very complicated wiring. Unless you are having lots of problems you shouldn't rewire the car.

Mazda did a much better job than most people can do with wiring.

Is it me or are people on this site just thinking anything that is stock must be modded?

SLOASFK

iTrader: (5)

mod mod MOD!!!

Hey, like I said, the only reason I would even consider it is because I'm having a ton of electical problems right now. The shop my car's at had to circumvent all of the stock fuel pump wiring just to get the thing started. The wiring around the center console is chopped up pretty good, half the gauges in my instrument cluster don't work, and these are just the things I've found out without having driven my car yet. Yes I've owned the car for almost 2 years and never driven it once.

If the new gauge cluster doesn't fix the cluster problems, then I'm afraid it's going to be nessecary for me to rewire it.

Does anyone have a diagram of the stereo wiring color codes? The molex for the stereo was chopped off of my wiring harness, and I want to put in a CD player.

badddrx7

iTrader: (7)

I have held in my hand at one time or another every main wire on all three of my FDs. What I done is remove the rear wipers, ABS, pwr str, AC, Heater, stock fans etc etc and therefore remove the Big Three ( the front harness from driver side around to pass side, the dash harness and the rear harness ) and associated sub harnesses. I brought them inside, tore them down and stripped every unused wire out of them, re-taped and color loomed. While in there I incorporated a new stereo unit wiring plan too.

Unless you've done it you would not believe how many wires that come out this way. I probably had three 5 gallon buckets of wiring to toss out.


Later

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

That is the right way to do it but most guys don't want to tear the car down to the level required to get all the harnesses out.

If someone was just thinking about wiring from scratch they would likely fail or spend way to much time and money for the results.

Brent Dalton

iTrader: (31)

I hate wiring!!! This is what I removed from underneath the dash one night in my silver FD. It was a combo of stuff the last couple of owners had "installed". After seeing how most of the stuff was put in, I am suprised that it hadn't burned to the ground.

Monkman33

iTrader: (28)

I have re-wired a kit car that was already finished... and let me tell you this:

DONT DO IT IF YOU DONT HAVE TO!

Now that I have that off of my chest. Doing everything yo ucan to check over every modified portion of your electrical system to assure good connections and to assure that all wires ran will not short out. And if they could short, do they have an appropriate fuse installed inline, near the source of current?

If one does no fully understand electronics nad the safety behind it, then one should not attempt to install electronic devices or mess with electronics altogether. I have seen a car burn to the ground because a guy ran a 20ga. wire without a fuse. It was ran between the unibody and the carpet and eventually it wore through and shorted. It smoked like hell then started up like a christmas tree. Sadly, all he needed was the 7.5A fuse I tried to hand him, but he said "it's such a small wire, don't worry about it."

If you are the type to do things right and have an itch to re-wire a char. Grab the wiring schematics and go to town. IF you do it right, you'll love yourself. If yo udo it wrong, trouble shooting will now be a nightmare because that probably means your harness no longer matches factory diagrams.

Just my .02

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

I agree. Apart from issues caused by the under hood wiring getting old and brittle, the wiring on this car is relatively simple and very solid. There are very few electrical problem posts that are not due to either crappy after market stereo or alarm installs or simple blown fuses. The only real electrical weakness that I can see is CPU #2, which sometimes fails (and I suspect that bad alarm installs cause this too - one certainly killed mine).

Also, I would never buy a car that had been rewired - even partially, and I suspect many others would not either.

bean-bandit

I've removed my ABS and want to know if I can strip all the wires running to where the ABS computer was in the boot form the harness? Is it as simple as unravelling the harnes and stripping the wires out or would I need to rewire aspects at the ECU end?

Surely the ECU sees its not there so it can all be pulled and re-wrapped.

badddrx7

iTrader: (7)

Yes, you can remove a ton of sheilded and large power wires from the harness where you removed the ABS. Thing is you will need to remove the interior panels to get all the wires out, along with the passenger side inner fender plastic liner. There is a LOT of wires associated with this.

I found it fun just to strip out the ABS stuff when I did mine. Car was completely gutted though



Later

Gorilla RE

iTrader: (1)

Just for *****-n-giggles price a new OEM body harness!! You'll **** your pants....

3rdgensleeper

iTrader: (10)

lol yeah one man was said to rewire the entire car.... but he was never heard from again once he got started.... some say they saw him on lord of the rings, in the background saying something like "my precious"....

JSmith0101

iTrader: (6)

I would stay away from GPS for speed, not so much for the whole +/- mph thing, which is a huge deal in it's own right, but for the whole tracking thing. If you can't get signal, you're fucked, and AND if you go into dense cover you're also fucked, because it will take away your reliability. Also, going through tunnels would be a no go.

There are setups out there for electric speedos, some use magnets and sensors on the drive shaft, others use the actual speed sending gear on the trans.

afgmoto1978

iTrader: (6)

Not that bad if you got a mazdaspeed account.

Behold from the bowels of the FD wiring a little minion is born!

FDeez

I've also read an article in Racecar Engineering about rally cars using optical ground speed sensors since any sort of wheel or transmission speed (optical or magnetic) sensor would be inaccurate because of all the wheelspin during drifting.

Oh, as for wiring. That's a crazy $#!+load. It makes me think twice about building a roller from the ground up.

bean-bandit

Cheers baddrx7, my cars been stripped down to the chassis for a full cage and seam welding - so its nice and easy to access the cables, just thought I'd check before hacking away at all those wires!!