Well, I kinda of "rushed" the swap a couple years back and really regretted/learned from it. I especially hated the driver side wiring...almost everything in the harness was left unused with the Haltech install and there were multiple connectors dangling about.
I waited and waited to start this mess but I was dreading it...and now I know why.
HOLY CRAP what a mess! I want to get rid of every unused wire and leave the bare essentials such as:
-All front lighting
-Wipers
-Charging harness
-Starting harness, etc

Once everything is removed and tidied up, I will be tucking that harness in the wheel well. The goal is to only have the Haltech harness and spark plug wires showing (give or take, depending on how **** I get). I am still choosing the bay color scheme, but it should turn out great...

Once the wiring is taken care of, I will be redoing my motor mounts to a solid cross member, going to a massive single turbo, and properly ducting the VMIC.

I am way to excited to get this finished up and back driving when the nice weather hits (who am I kidding? BC is always nice...)

Anyways, this is what I started with:



After tear down and such:





And dash removal in prep to get the harness out:


Will be keeping a steady update, I will make sure of it. I will be working on it almost every day off and spare time after work. I am hoping to have the wiring done on the driver side in a week or so as I'm still a newbie at what does what in that harness...

-Jordan

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your work!

Stay patient

 

can you take a picture of the engine mounts brackets?? im just asking

 

Current ones or the one I'm going to make? Current mounts are Motive Fab ones and, in my opinion, shouldn't be used unless you plan on rewelding them after a hard track day. They held up on my setup because I just drove on the street and didn't abuse them really.

More pictures soon, harness is out of the bay and being re-wrapped and then will be making its way to its new home under the fender area.

 

No more harness





Re-wrap...decided no to cut many connectors as I got scared that I might clip the wrong one and have to replace it later lol

 

Seems to be over with finally! I still need to mount the fuse box and zip tie the remaining harness and get a long battery cable. Went pretty decent other than the many times figuring out how to route the harness in the wheel well.

I ended up tucking it higher in the well more then what the picture shows:



Gromet needs to be sealed up once the battery cable is fed through (wire with the blue connector on is temporary since it is my Haltech power for when its cranking):



And with the cover on...nice, it fits! Will be undercoating once the engine is out:



Up next is engine removal and motor mount. Not sure If I'm following through with the mount as the ones I'm using seem to be fine, but it would be nice to do. I'll also be filling unused holes to give a cleaner look and then painting.

 

You can run the harness threw the chassis above the wheel well. Then put the relayes that are lined up right in front were the horn is, in front of the left tire behind the wheel liner. Hood cable goes threw the rail also. Engine bay fuse box can go under the dash. FYI ing incase you were going for a cleaner look.

 

Haha...
Soo wow apparently i've been stalking you without even realising
Rew swap keeping the twins for now, v mount, recently decided to go non power rack, going to try and save for the haltech too.
man even down to painting the uim black haha

Mine got put on the back burner thou as I moved house and changed job getting back into it next month thou hopefully

 

Pretty much did exactly that minus the routing through the chassis. Its tucked up higher in the well and the wheel well cover fit with no issue. I had to take the harness out many times so if I had to fish it through the little chassis slots I probably would have shot my self. No wires are in the bay other than the alt. The harness is strung along and is clean looking and can be removed with ease.
Thanks for the fyi though

 

Engine was removed yesterday before the massive downpour of rain...





I've started degreasing the bay and hopefully will have it ready for paint soon.
Anyone have any ideas for color? Car is staying black, but thought I'd be unique a paint the bay a different color...then again, this isn't a VW lol...

I'm still on the rocks what I want to do with the motor mounting solution. The ones I'm using have never given me any problems so I might keep them as I have no way to bend the half inch flat bar that I wanted to use for the cross member.

 

don't put the harness up there... Run it on the outside upper lip of the wheel well. I did the same thing a couple years back and ended up shorting out all sorts of stuff because my tire rubbed through and it arc'ed. Said siyanara to my igniter and coils and had to re wrap and put in sections of the harness. Get it in a safe place...because you never know how much your wheel will actually compress on the road etc..

 

If I didn't put my cover back on, I'd take another picture right now. I moved it about 3 times since that picture was taken. It sits higher than the wheel goes (will hit the lower frame first). I basically did it the same as this guy, if you see anything wrong with where this is routed, then I'll for sure take the time to relocate it higher:
http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=2874.0

 

it's not such a huge deal with the FC than with the FD, the FD really has almost no room in that area as you can actually see the plastic skirt from the engine bay, the FC has a rather large gap there with metal flaps to lay the harness on which is well above the wheel.

edit: well upon closer inspection, i mean there is more room above if he would pull the fender off and lay it above that seam instead of below it.

this is the top edge of the seam:

 

^ just make sure it's secure and isn't sagging in any place. That looks good though. Better safe than sorry...

 

Fenders have to come off anyways, the harness is just routed and has a few zip ties holding it till everything is installed. I still have the power wires for my Haltech to do, so nothing is set in stone. I appreciate any help I get, so keep on me if you see something shabby! I really don't want to re-wire the harness due to a tire slicing it up...haha

 

well i'm not a huge fan of drilling into the frame but you might have to to put some retaining clips up higher, the sheets are pretty bare of anything to retain the harness.

 

I made a few little holes for some zip ties, seems to hold it good and I can't see anything as small as I made will effect frame integrity

 

Not a huge update but I spent a few hours cleaning the engine bay, scruffing with a scotchbrite pad and gave her a coat of paint.
I wanted to do something different in the bay so I went with purple for some random pieces, I think it looks good. Love it or hate it, doesn't matter to me! haha.
Also started tearing down the engine in hopes of getting it cleaned up soon. I will also be doing the rear main seal, pilot bearing, new oil pan, and brace while it's in this stage. The transmission will be next. I will be cleaning it and painting it up along with wiring up my IQ3 to the speedometer mechanism (I bought a mechanical to electric thing to help the Haltech out).

 

Took off most of the red paint, not sure if I want to go all black or to leave the housings aluminum.



Also put on a different oil pan along with a brace. I had a brace on before but it still leaked due to a poor oil pan flange. I had a bitch of a time with the motor mount bolts but they are all tight and I am hoping there will be no more leaks.
I know the adapter mounts aren't "ideal" but I haven't had a problem yet and I don't have the means to make the subframe I want at the moment. We'll see how it works from here.

 

Did you weld the brace to the mounts?

This could cause a hell of an oil leak...

 

No, but the brace is made for the stock FD mounts. Had to trim the adapters as they hit the studs.
I hate the mounts but will re-do them once I get equipped with a better welder and bender.
Haven't done much as I would like to complete one area at a time and I'm waiting for my new rear main seal, rear stat oring, and pilot bearing so I can reassemble and install the engine in the bay.
Also painted my rails. That should be it for my purple phase lol
(sorry for crappy picture)

 

I lik the black and small purple accents. Kudos!

 

what did you cut out of the harness?

that drivers side harness is the most annoying thing ever. i dont know what i can clip or keep.

 

Thanks, I wasn't sure how the black and purple would turn out but I actually really like it.

I didn't cut to much out of the harness, mostly rewrapped it as I chickened out. The link near the top (norotors.com) has a write up on what each S4 connector is and what it does.

Engine will be back in the car soon. I was trying to find a blind hole bearing puller to pull my ruined pilot bearing but could not find a cheap one...So I used BREAD! Took 5 minutes to get out. I read about it on LS1tech (yes, i secretly want a LS1 7 one day haha). They had mixed reviews about it yanking out the freeze plug, but I did it anyways, seemed to only pull out the pilot bearing and seal (not sure whats inside the eshaft).

 

Oh, I love it! Hahahaha