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I understand what you are aiming at but I would highly recommend you do not leave those loops in the harness. You are inducing chaffing into the harness wires as well as TOO much relief. Plus there is no way to cover the plug for moisture protection. This build up would not meet military OR aviation mil spec build ups standards. As far as repairs etc there are standards for that as well as far as a splice down line and others. I know it sounds silly but just google Mil Spec Harness or Ohm Racing build ups and you will never see anything like these pig tails. Just my input and advice since you asked for it earlier LOL.
Not going for a mil or aviation style harness. Just something that will fit my needs on the track in the capacity that I race. Mostly just wanted to clean up the engine bay since I just wanted to. As for moisture protection, the bulkhead will have a raychem shrink boot, I’m not too worried about moisture. My car sees the track 3 and 4 laps at a time and seldomly in the rain. I’m confident that for my personal car, this will be just fine. Also my first ever harness, after 25+ years of being a mechanic LOL, so I’m taking my time and learn as I go. Appreciate the input.
 
Interesting, yeah I looked up a few more auto motorsports harnesses and did see they do something similar as well... I have absolutely no idea why they do this and could not find anything supporting it on any websites either other than its "easier" in the future LOL. Learned something new today that is for sure... I personally would never do anything like this and there is a reason when quality is needed over "easier" it is not done that way but, hey, that is just me. Build it once the correct way and you would never need to re-pin it from the damage these tight bends can induce. Glad this was brought up though as I had no idea automotive mil spec had deviated so much from actual design of these connectors and wires.
It’s mostly for ease of installation of engine at the race track. My personal take was just to make the engine bay cleaner and lose some weight in the front of the car. You should check out @racespec on IG. And HP Academy has some really good podcast episodes going in depth with motorsport harness builders. Really, really good info. You should check it out.
 
When the day comes that the wiring becomes a liability, a new engine wiring harness built with mil-spec technology would be excellent. For me its not about the weight, its about reliability.

We lost an engine due to a weak injector connection in a 1G while at Willow springs. We lost a night/day and had to skip Sonoma raceway. The team was trying to put me in the seat of a RX7 for the track time - but it turned out better not to, as I was battling sleep deprivation and fatigue.
The yellow top thats now in my 2G was the spare motor we brought with us as a backup. Our 4 man team managed to get the swap done, and get us back on the next track at Button-willow.

Epic thrash.

Long story long - wires are important.
 
When the day comes that the wiring becomes a liability, a new engine wiring harness built with mil-spec technology would be excellent. For me its not about the weight, its about reliability.

We lost an engine due to a weak injector connection in a 1G while at Willow springs. We lost a night/day and had to skip Sonoma raceway. The team was trying to put me in the seat of a RX7 for the track time - but it turned out better not to, as I was battling sleep deprivation and fatigue.
The yellow top thats now in my 2G was the spare motor we brought with us as a backup. Our 4 man team managed to get the swap done, and get us back on the next track at Button-willow.

Epic thrash.

Long story long - wires are important.
Obvs the wiring is important. That’s why I’m taking my time and doing it as best I can with what I have and on as much as budget I can. I plan on building another one when I build the new motor next off season. Glad you guys got it fixed and out there.
 
Jelly - love the work. Keep the details comming
I appreciate your experience and input. I just got a raychem shrink tube assortment. Just trying to learn as much as I can. Then when I have a little more budget, I can use this one as a template to do a full on motorsport style harness with concentric twists and all the good stuff. This is essentially a prototype and R&D.
 
Interesting, yeah I looked up a few more auto motorsports harnesses and did see they do something similar as well... I have absolutely no idea why they do this and could not find anything supporting it on any websites either other than its "easier" in the future LOL. Learned something new today that is for sure... I personally would never do anything like this and there is a reason when quality is needed over "easier" it is not done that way but, hey, that is just me. Build it once the correct way and you would never need to re-pin it from the damage these tight bends can induce. Glad this was brought up though as I had no idea automotive mil spec had deviated so much from actual design of these connectors and wires.


At my last job we made literal aviation/MIL-spec harnesses and cabling with those D38999 connectors and you %100 do this. The allowed bend radius on the 18-22 AWG (We used M22759/11) wire used in these is that small. It's still like 5x the diameter of the wire. You don't trash a $10K harness in the middle of the desert because you bent one pin and you don't have the 1/8" of extra wire you need to re-crimp it.
 
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At my last job we made literal aviation/MIL-spec harnesses and cabling with those D38999 connectors and you %100 do this. The allowed bend radius on the 18-22 AWG (We used M22759/11) wire used in these is that small. It's still like 5x the diameter of the wire. You don't trash a $10K harness in the middle of the desert because you bent one pin and you don't have the 1/8" of extra wire you need to re-crimp it.
And something that gets thrown around a lot in regards to motorsport harnesses is “MILspec”. When you look at what it takes for a harness to be considered MILspec, it’s not something that’s going to be done in someone’s garage at home, or even some harness shops. The level of assembly and testing for those MILspec harnesses is intense. I’m just trying to make sure my 3 lap killer has a good harness, save some weight, look neater and more professional and make sure the cars reliable. That’s it really LOL.
 
At my last job we made literal aviation/MIL-spec harnesses and cabling with those D38999 connectors and you %100 do this. The allowed bend radius on the 18-22 AWG (We used M22759/11) wire used in these is that small. It's still like 5x the diameter of the wire. You don't trash a $10K harness in the middle of the desert because you bent one pin and you don't have the 1/8" of extra wire you need to re-crimp it.
Lol of course you don’t, that is why there is a wire repair manual that provides repairs for pins wires etc LOL. Don’t tell me the company you worked for because I would never want to fly on that aircraft ever again if I knew. But we are jacking this guys thread and he is right, if he builds it just for a lap car it’s up to him, it’s not going to the moon as they say. Not building F35 jets here. Looking good on the build dude! Are you going to maybe bring it to shoot out by chance?
 
Lol of course you don’t, that is why there is a wire repair manual that provides repairs for pins wires etc LOL. Don’t tell me the company you worked for because I would never want to fly on that aircraft ever again if I knew. But we are jacking this guys thread and he is right, if he builds it just for a lap car it’s up to him, it’s not going to the moon as they say. Not building F35 jets here. Looking good on the build dude! Are you going to maybe bring it to shoot out by chance?
We’ll see. I feel ashamed to say that in the 22 years of ownership of the car, I’ve never been to Shootout. Maybe next year. We’ll see.
 
Lol of course you don’t, that is why there is a wire repair manual that provides repairs for pins wires etc LOL. Don’t tell me the company you worked for because I would never want to fly on that aircraft ever again if I knew. But we are jacking this guys thread and he is right, if he builds it just for a lap car it’s up to him, it’s not going to the moon as they say. Not building F35 jets here. Looking good on the build dude! Are you going to maybe bring it to shoot out by chance?

Oh the manual must include the additional wire length you need to replace a pin, got it. Funny you should mention F35's that what the harnesses were going in. :)
 
Finished the engine side of my harness. Not perfect. Pretty ugly. But my first time doing it, and I learned a lot so when I decide to make a new one in the future, I can apply what I learned and make a better one. But for now, this will do. Now to start working on the inside of the car which is way easier since everything is so straight forward. Got my new fuse box as well.
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Progress over the weekend. Engine side of the harness is complete and temporarily “installed”. Still have to run a couple wires down to the alternator and for the temp gauges. Just have to work on the firewall plate. Damn these cars with their dual firewall construction LOL. Going to get in the garage for a little bit today and continue finalizing the engine bay stuff. Then it’s interior stuff after Christmas since I should hopefully be getting some stuff that I asked for that will help getting the interior stuff done. I set an alarm for March 4th as the day I need to fire the car up to feel confident in making the first event at Lime Rock April 1st. That’ll be a shakedown of the everything that we’re doing including some maybe new suspension stuff I’m excited to talk about when the time comes. Stay tuned!!!
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Started working on the interior side of the harness connector last night. I must say, after doing the other side, this side is a breeze. If you’re going to get involved in doing something like this, TAKE NOTES!!! Write every little thing down. I made a sheet telling me everything I need to know. It’s involved, but it helps so much in the end. Still have some more to go and then have to figure out where I want the ECU to sit. Moving along.
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If you’re going to get involved in doing something like this, TAKE NOTES!!! Write every little thing down. I made a sheet telling me everything I need to know. It’s involved, but it helps so much in the end.
Great suggestion. Especially if you start the project and step away from it for a long time. ;)
 
Great suggestion. Especially if you start the project and step away from it for a long time. ;)
Huge help if you step away even for just a few days. I’ve been working on this since October I think. And theres times where I’m not in the garage for a week or more just cause of life stuff, kids, holidays etc, but having these notes and being diligent with them, making sure I don’t skip ahead or lag behind is crucial. I felt myself kinda starting to hurry through it yesterday, but stopped myself and was “take your time. Care about it.” And that slowed me down and made me make sure to write down that each step was done.
 
Time to start working on the dash. Plan is to make the dash modular. Undo two connectors, hardware. And the oil line for the pressure gauge a vacuum line for the boost gauge, and it all comes out. But first, making a new plate to mount the gauges and switch panel. Pic stolen from my IG LOL
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