So, I finally managed to get some time to dive back into the project. The big task was wiring. As much as I love having all parts of the car done my way, wiring gets a little tedious and overwhelming, especially when you stack up an overall clean-up, fuse box and relay tuck, and a new engine.
For the clean-up, I pulled the interior, and began removing all the wires for the power seat belts. I removed all of the control wires, but left the power wires that go to the center console area and tied those into a terminal block.
That gives me quick and easy access for future electronics. The wires that I left give me a 10A fused accessory switched, and a 30A accessory switched on a breaker, and I also tied in a ground wire that went to the seatbelt control. From there I removed the wires to the door switches and the seatelt motors, then rewrapped the wire with braided split loom.
I also redid my main battery cable, I saw a little insulation from the wire scraped where it passed under the seat brace on the floor, so I used a piece of pex as a conduit for a little extra protection.
I also went though the dash wiring, removing the wires for the flip up switch, aside for one power, illumination and another wire to trip a relay for fog lights in the future. I also removed the consult port and the headlight timer wiring.
I had a little pile, trying to make more room for the main, fuse/relay box from the engine bay. To make that fit, first pulled all the wires for the flip-ups and air conditioning. I then put the horn relay and a relay for my fog lights into the main box, in place of the additional headlight retractor relay and the ac relay. Also pulled the wire for the 30a fusible link for the ac to be used for my cooling fan (it had an inline 30a fuse). I shortened all the wires to place the box into my glove box space.
Since the SMJ isn't the plug for all the wires forward of the firewall, I made a seperate harness for what was left in the front of the car (lights, signals, horn) I use a deutsch dtm 12 pin, using every pin.
I love the deutsch connectors, they use solid pins and let me use the crimper I bought for my engine wiring harness.
Its a DMC mil-spec crimper, you have a piece that sets the depth for a certain pin type, so all you have to do is insert the wire into the pin, put the pin into the crimper until it stops, then squeeze and its a perfect crimp every time.
Also anything that came out I made sure to remove completely, so I had to do a little de-pinning on the SMJ connector. The small ones were a little tricky, I had to grind down a small precision screw driver to get them out. Also you have to make sure to remove the retainers from the sides of the plug.
For the fuse box mounting I used piece of 1/8" kydex sheet that I laid out using a cardboard template, cut out, and formed it using some wide sheet metal pliers and a heat gun. I cut the mounting tabs off the fuse box flush and drilled some holes to mount to the kydex with zip ties.
The top two holes bolt to the dash bar where the ac box once mounted.
I also added another terminal block, using the constant power, accessory power, and illumination circuits for ease of future gauge wiring.