My fuse box relocation (project log)

[JFZERO ECLIPSE]

Beautiful looking car, and It's amazing how much stuff can be removed....If I were you I would opt for a complete ss clutch line from master to slave...Iw would get rid of 1 bracket and a bunch of hard line

 

[kmoore]

What would also help the look in there would be to paint (with some touch up paint) those hard lines matched to the rest of the car obviously. Would help blend in those lines with the rest of the engine bay.

 

[turbosax2]

Here are some pictures of my "map" of the ecu harness. I'll try to make a cleaner computer version later on.


ECU harness - a set on Flickr

 

[turbosax2]

Beautiful looking car, and It's amazing how much stuff can be removed....If I were you I would opt for a complete ss clutch line from master to slave...Iw would get rid of 1 bracket and a bunch of hard line

I'm not a big fan of the full ss clutch line - kind of defeats the purpose if you replace a hard line with a softer line. The only way I would do this is if I ran a custom clutch line on the timing belt side of the engine, but I don't know if that's such a good idea.

What would also help the look in there would be to paint (with some touch up paint) those hard lines matched to the rest of the car obviously. Would help blend in those lines with the rest of the engine bay.

That's not a bad idea. I'm really considering getting rid of abs though and making custom lines with an adjustable prop valve in the cabin. Hmm....abs or no? Still can't make up my mind If I did eliminate abs the lines would be ran low on the firewall and would probably be stainless steel tubing.

 

[romeen]

It's a lot of work but it actually sounds like a fun project. I enjoy taking things apart. It's a great way to learn.

Great work so far.

 

[kmoore]

That's not a bad idea. I'm really considering getting rid of abs though and making custom lines with an adjustable prop valve in the cabin. Hmm....abs or no? Still can't make up my mind If I did eliminate abs the lines would be ran low on the firewall and would probably be stainless steel tubing.

If you can honestly live with out it then go for it. It will only add to the cleanliness. And it seems like you're REALLY leaning that way anyway.

 

[turbosax2]

Heck, I can live without it just fine for street use. The problem in my mind is for road racing.

DGs Autocross Secrets aka Autocross to Win

I was convinced on keeping it, but I broke one of my wheel sensors and I'll probably break another (long story short, my axles are stuck in the hubs...), so that got me thinking again of whether to get rid of it or not rather than replacing the sensors.

Pros:
cleaner looks
less weight
adjustability (adjustable prop valve)

Cons:
have to fab brake lines, which I've never done
more chance of messing something up with the adjustabilty
hard to retain diagonal setup - may have to go to f/r setup
more chance of flatspotting tires and locking up

 

[turbosax2]

Made some progress last night. I just started taking all of the electrical tape and loom off the ecu wiring harness so I can see all the wires. Make sure you wear gloves when you do this as it can get sticky.


Small change in my plans. After talking to luv2rallye, I will be keeping "20. Capacitor (Noise Condenser)".

Originally Posted by turbosax2
I'm going to be relocating my fuse box to the interior of my car. I'm also going to relocate the power transistor and injector resistor box to the interior. Do the power transistor and injector resistor box have to have a good ground? I would assume they do but I wanted to check. Also, I have a question about the noise condensor on the intake manifold. Is its sole purpose to supress static from the radio? From searching through the fsm and CAPS that's what I have found, but when I unplugged it for awhile I didn't notice any change. If that is its only purpose then I am going to eliminate it during the rewire.

Originally Posted by luv2rallye
They don't need a ground but their bracket attached to a metal object (heat sink) helps with heat dissipation. (The coil however should have it's bracket bolted to the head or block for best magnetic flux density transfer.) The noise condensor suppresses high frequency spikes which helps all electronics - the radio being the most suspectable. I'd leave it in - needs to be connected right at the coil connector to be effective.

 

[turbosax2]

I finished removing all the tape and loom from the ecu harness.

Tips:
Wear gloves - it gets sticky.
DO NOT mess with the thick green covers on some of the wires. Inside is braided wire that acts as shielding for the wire. Leave it alone.
DO NOT mess with the spots taped in gray. Wires are connected under there, so leave it be.
Make sure everything stays labeled.
Keep the wires temporarily together with some masking tape so it retains its basic shape.
The white plastic piece and black boot where the harness passes through the firewall can stay on the harness. The tape in that area is hard to get off but just keep working at it and it will come off.

 

[turbosax2]

I have a favor to ask. Can someone please remove the connector from their brake fluid switch? I want to see if this will trip the Brake light in the cluster. I did a little testing on mine and my brothers and neither of ours tripped the light but I would like some confirmation.

 

[romeen]

I just tried it and had the same result as you, no brake light in cluster. FWIW, I also have a '99 but no ABS.

 

[turbosax2]

ABS or not shouldn't matter since the brake fluid sensor is the same in our cars. Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[Flash]

What else do you need to properly remove the ABS?

 

[kmoore]

What do you plan on doing with the wiring harness now that its out? Lengthen it and tuck it?

 

[gixrman]

Subscribing! to good not too. I forgot what a stock engine looked like!

 

[turbosax2]

What else do you need to properly remove the ABS?

The way I see it, there are 3 ways to properly remove abs.

1. Buy a stock non-abs prop valve and the 4 front brake lines from Mitsu. The brake setup would then be identical to a car that came from the factory without abs.
MB895931 Non-ABS proportioning valve.
MB895894 Tube from the new prop valve to the right wheel well.
MB895895 Tube from the new prop valve to the left wheel well.
MB895892 Tube from the master cylinder to the new prop valve, primary.
MB895893 Tube from the master cylinder to the new prop valve, secondary.

2. Completely replumb the entire brake system with an adjustable prop valve, split diagonally. The stock setup is split diagonally (left front and right rear are connected, front right and left rear are connected) so that if the master cylinder fails you still have some brakes. All of the brake lines would be custom made. Keeping the diagonal split is a difficult task that would almost certainly require 2 adjustable prop valves that always have to be at the same setting.

3. Completely replumb the entire brake system with an adjustable prop valve, split front/rear. Since it's now split f/r, if the master fails you have no brakes. All of the brake lines would be custom made.

For more information, check out these links:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/185112-convince-me-whether-not-keep-my-abs.html
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/handling-tech/233563-2g-awd-abs-removal-help.html
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/road-course-autocross/258970-pad-knockback-2.html#post151415913
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/handling-tech/236667-abs-controller-relocation.html
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/roa...irst-impressions-load-mods.html#post151250242

What do you plan on doing with the wiring harness now that its out? Lengthen it and tuck it?

Since I got the harnesses out the first step was to map the harnesses, then remove all the tape/loom, then remove unnecessary connectors.

I don't suspect I will have to lengthen many of the wires for the ecu harness, if any at all. Most will be shortened I think. I'm thinking along the lines of putting a few connectors just inside the cabin (next to the firewall) for the ecu harness. This way, if I need to pull the engine/trans I just have to disconnect those connectors and the engine can be pulled with the harness still attached to it. I'm putting them inside the cabin to keep a clean look and to protect them from weather. I'm still not exactly sure how I'm going to attack the fuse box harness, so I'm just playing it by ear for now. I will be referring to this article for guidance:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...0711-relocate-fuse-box-rewire-engine-bay.html

 

[turbosax2]

I finished the fuse box harness "map" tonight. Tomorrow I will be taking the tape/loom off of the harness and start removing unnecessary wiring.

Fuse box harness - a set on Flickr

 

[OddNotion]

I could probably draw that harness map out in Autocad and make a PDF of it. You could have the wires be actual colors......

+1 on keeping the brake hard lines. I'm pretty sure steel has more tensile strength than teflon.....

I would paint them to match the engine bay though, or some cool contrasting color.

Your engine bay will look wicked! I think between you and your brother, I'll have half of your engines under my hood!

 

[fulanititoo8198]

Wow that is how you strip a car.. nice work.

 

[turbosax2]

I could probably draw that harness map out in Autocad and make a PDF of it. You could have the wires be actual colors......

+1 on keeping the brake hard lines. I'm pretty sure steel has more tensile strength than teflon.....

I would paint them to match the engine bay though, or some cool contrasting color.

Your engine bay will look wicked! I think between you and your brother, I'll have half of your engines under my hood!

Erin, if you could draw those maps up that would be...just...WOW Trying to incorporate wire colors in would be a huge pita though because multiple wires go to each connector.

If I ditch abs I will definitely be making my own hard lines - no way I'm using ss braided lines for everything. ABS or not I will be making an effort to blend them in with the firewall. I'm trying to source a rattle can of paint that is paint matched to my car so I can clean up some of the surface rust in the engine bay, so I could use that to paint the lines.

The coolant bottle will be shipping out today, I'll email you later

Wow that is how you strip a car.. nice work.

Thanks!

 

[xtr3me]

My old 95 tsi tripped the brake light, never knew what it was then until i sold it . Also at random times the front brakes feel like they go out and the break pedal goes to the floor and you almost rear end people.

But awesome tear down, The build is going to be even sicker.

 

[OddNotion]

Drawing up the connector map would be fun, and it would look like I'm doing work, rather than reading this forum

It would require some ingenuity, but wire colors could work. The idea would be to show the colors of the wires AT the connector, but not any farther up the harness, because then it becomes a wiring diagram, and we have those in the factory manual already. Imagine one line to represent a branch of the harness (like your arm) and then right before the connector you could branch out into the individual wires as they enter the connector (like your fingers) then the connector could be a pretty accurate drawing of the connector itself between your pictures and DSMgraveyard's new wiring harness connector shopping thing:
DSM Graveyard - Your #1 Source for Used DSM Parts!

It would also be good to show the relative lengths of the harness and branches to scale. I'd need closer up view of your sketches and maybe some pics of the harness at each connector?

 

[turbosax2]

Sounds like a good idea to me! I'll take some better pictures tonight for you. For the connectors do you want a side shot like this? Obviously the wires will all be exposed now so you'll get a better picture of them. Do you prefer a certain background color behind the connector - white or black? Just let me know what you need and I'll take those pictures! Hopefully you can read my writing on the maps

 

[1glaserturbo]

Sounds like a good idea to me! I'll take some better pictures tonight for you. For the connectors do you want a side shot like this? Obviously the wires will all be exposed now so you'll get a better picture of them. Do you prefer a certain background color behind the connector - white or black? Just let me know what you need and I'll take those pictures! Hopefully you can read my writing on the maps

Forest green with a hint of crimson red please.....jk

Build looks like fun, wish I could pull the motor on my galant and do a lot all over....oh well

 

[OddNotion]

I'm trying to upload a rudimentary image I made of my drawing idea based on the picture you showed. I have to play with colors and image resolutions, because I've never plotted to a JPG before. A PDF will give better results.