Shortening shielded wires
Shortening shielded wires
Hey guys,
Anyone know how the shielded wires (the coil wires and/or the CAS pickup wires) are shielded? Do they have a foil ground wrapped around the wire, is it a twisted pair ground cable, just lots of extra plastic around the wires, or something else?
I'd like to shorten the wires that go to the coils, but I don't want to cut into the shielding if Mazda used the aluminum foil style of shielding because I don't want to have to deal with trying to reconnect that after I cut 5 inches out of the middle of the wire.
Any thoughts or ideas?
- Andy
Anyone know how the shielded wires (the coil wires and/or the CAS pickup wires) are shielded? Do they have a foil ground wrapped around the wire, is it a twisted pair ground cable, just lots of extra plastic around the wires, or something else?
I'd like to shorten the wires that go to the coils, but I don't want to cut into the shielding if Mazda used the aluminum foil style of shielding because I don't want to have to deal with trying to reconnect that after I cut 5 inches out of the middle of the wire.
Any thoughts or ideas?
- Andy
Full Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 237
Likes: 0
From: Saskatoon
i was actually just looking at mine as i have the harness sitting here on the floor working away at repairing it and modifying it. my CAS, NE and Knock sensor are all shielded wires and are pretty cracked in places and after reading this i sliced a little bit of it away and heres what i found; it appears to be the insulated sensor wire is wrapped in a bare stranded copper wire and then wrapped in a foil then finally all wrapped in that old cracked insulator. i would have no idea how to repair that.
Just tossing this out there as an idea but i think they are exactly like coax cable. because stranded coax serves the same purpose which is to filter out external interference. im willing to bet that using just regular tv coax would do the same thing, in fact im going to go test that idea now with a multimeter.
wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable
Seriously im sure it will work as resistance which was a tiny bit less and and the centre stranded core was also a 22 gauge wire and it has perfect continuity... i just tested this on some old cheap made in china dollar store coax that i had lying around its pretty much the exact same thing so now i know how i can replace mine. Haha totally wasnt looking for this thread but im glad i found or else i would have wondered about this till spring when i need the harness back in the car.
you dont need to worry too much about typical coax connectors as you are only using the stranded core the shielding and that is only there to defend against external EMR on the car. so hook it up just as it was on the harness only cut to length.
heres another link for what you are looking for which is stranded core 22 gauge coax ( the 21 gauge they have is the closest and would work just as good only slightly bigger) :
http://www.radialeng.com/rcs/pdfs/ra...ideo-cable.pdf
Just tossing this out there as an idea but i think they are exactly like coax cable. because stranded coax serves the same purpose which is to filter out external interference. im willing to bet that using just regular tv coax would do the same thing, in fact im going to go test that idea now with a multimeter.
wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable
Seriously im sure it will work as resistance which was a tiny bit less and and the centre stranded core was also a 22 gauge wire and it has perfect continuity... i just tested this on some old cheap made in china dollar store coax that i had lying around its pretty much the exact same thing so now i know how i can replace mine. Haha totally wasnt looking for this thread but im glad i found or else i would have wondered about this till spring when i need the harness back in the car.
you dont need to worry too much about typical coax connectors as you are only using the stranded core the shielding and that is only there to defend against external EMR on the car. so hook it up just as it was on the harness only cut to length.
heres another link for what you are looking for which is stranded core 22 gauge coax ( the 21 gauge they have is the closest and would work just as good only slightly bigger) :
http://www.radialeng.com/rcs/pdfs/ra...ideo-cable.pdf
Last edited by cp1; Dec 11, 2007 at 02:49 AM.
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 6,279
Likes: 728
From: Florence, Alabama
solder the connection. wrap it securely. once this is accomplished bare the shields on both wires. connect both shields w aluminum foil. tape them and you are done.
i run two amps that are located in the driver's side package compartment. all the wires to and from the two amps are shielded using aluminum foil. tedious but works fine. i spent alot of time looking for the correct shielded wire for my app w no luck. i am sure it exists but i couldn't find it.
BTW, i spliced in a new set CAS fittings using the above method. just make sure that you electrically connect the splice/shield from both ends.
good luck,
hc
i run two amps that are located in the driver's side package compartment. all the wires to and from the two amps are shielded using aluminum foil. tedious but works fine. i spent alot of time looking for the correct shielded wire for my app w no luck. i am sure it exists but i couldn't find it.
BTW, i spliced in a new set CAS fittings using the above method. just make sure that you electrically connect the splice/shield from both ends.
good luck,
hc
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Jeff20B
1st Generation Specific (1979-1985)
73
Sep 16, 2018 07:16 PM
DocHoliday89
3rd Generation Specific (1993-2002)
5
Oct 12, 2015 07:42 PM
ZaqAtaq
New Member RX-7 Technical
2
Sep 5, 2015 08:57 PM
