Main wiring harness replacement issues

[GSXV8Killa]

I bought my 97 GSX as a shell supposedly only needing motor and trans installed among other minor things but this was far from the truth. Long story that I won't go into but after thousands of $ later with a new motor and tons of mods we realized the engine harness is all hacked up, missing connectors and spliced together. After further examination the under dash harness is in just as bad shape if not worse with some cheap alarm half a$$ wired in. The car turns over but has no spark. It's just a horrible mess so I am going to pick up a new under dash and engine harness but I've never replaced anything like this before and I am wondering how difficult this is going to be or hopefully I am over reacting and it won't be as bad as I think. I am just looking for some feedback to ease my mind about this task. Maybe some tips or pointers that might help me along the way. Thanks in advance.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

I bought my 97 GSX as a shell supposedly only needing motor and trans installed among other minor things but this was far from the truth. Long story that I won't go into but after thousands of $ later with a new motor and tons of mods we realized the engine harness is all hacked up, missing connectors and spliced together. After further examination the under dash harness is in just as bad shape if not worse with some cheap alarm half a$$ wired in. The car turns over but has no spark. It's just a horrible mess so I am going to pick up a new under dash and engine harness but I've never replaced anything like this before and I am wondering how difficult this is going to be or hopefully I am over reacting and it won't be as bad as I think. I am just looking for some feedback to ease my mind about this task. Maybe some tips or pointers that might help me along the way. Thanks in advance.

Changing the harness' isn't really a pain - the biggest problem with any of this is removing the dash which can be difficult if you've never done it before. There are several bolts that you will need to crawl under the dash at a weird angle to give, so advice tip #1 is to remove the seats if you're going to be crawling around down there to give you room to lay down a bit and not dislocate a vertebrae.

The engine harness is ridiculously simple. Once you have the dash removed and the proper AC components removed (I don't recall if you -must- remove the AC/heater components to get to it), you simply pull the wiring harness plugs through the firewall. From there just unhook, possibly unbolt a ground here and there, and viola. Engine harness is straight forward. To install, just go in the reverse.

The dash harness is a little spidered into everything. You will go through a few zip ties, a few bolted down grounds, and quite a few clips that you'll end up cursing before they come loose.

Over all, with a little patience, removal and installation is simple enough. Just make sure you have plenty of time and perhaps a drink or two. If you run into anything you're not sure of, post pictures and we should be able to identify the issue.

Resources :

A Great Writeup on removing the dash.

A Fusebox Relocation Thread with -lots- of wiring information.

An amazing Writeup by Brian detailing the engine bay connections - just for reference.

 

[weebz1]

I'm in the same boat..I found several fried wires in my harness from power windows. and near my ecu there are some weird things going on with the wiring as well!

The dash is relatively easy and I personally think taking the steering wheel and turn signal and wiper switches out makes it much much simpler to work the dash out. Make sure to allow the car to sit for at least a minute after unhooking the battery before doing anything with airbag sensors though as they are designed to inflate with out battery power to them!

 

[GSXV8Killa]

Thank you for the links and the advice. I have already done the whole dash removal/install a few times. I had a stock 97 GST with a mint interior so when I picked up my GSX I switched entire interiors then sold the GST. I will definitely make sure I have a few drinks on hand just because it will probably make things go much smoother haha. Thank you again for any information you provided. It will be put to good use and is greatly appreciated

I guess one issue I am having is which harnesses I can use. I have different people telling me different information. My car is a 97 GSX MT. From what I understand I need a 97-99 turbo MT harness. Some are saying eclipse only. Others are saying talon will work. Then just use 95-96. I just want to make sure the info I have is correct and accurate. But if I could use a wider variety then that would help my search. I'm struggling to locate the harnesses I need

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

Stick with the 97-99 harness and you'll be golden.

 

[007jimmy]

from what ive read the talon harness is different when it comes to the tail light and turnsignal stuff under the dash. I only know about the tail light stuff though because i was throwing around the idea of a rear talon conversion

 

[GSXV8Killa]

Thank you everyone for the help. All advice is greatly appreciated and I will post my results once finished.