I cut all the way through my engine bay harness with a cutoff wheel. - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum

Lej · 09-23-2015, 12:38 PM

I'm looking to relocate my 2 engine bay fuse/relay boxes into the cabin somewhere (or possibly inside) of the glove box compartment. I made one huge cut in the middle of the harness at the front of the car (inbetween the head lights) and 2 more cuts to free the fuse boxes from their jail of the engine bay.

I brought the whole loom inside the cabin where I was going to begin the process of soldering/shrink tubing and rewrapping the harness, but I ran into the issue of some of the wires being DUPLICATES. For example - After my cut, one side of the cut may have THREE all pink wires, with the same number of hash marks. Or an all black wire with a red stripe. TWICE. ...... Now SOME of them are different gauges, so I can match them up, but the others - I'm clueless. I realize I could trace them down to the interior kick panel fuse box, and see where they go and try to use an ohm meter and figure it all out.,,

Does anyone have any diagrams that could help with this? Or a little insight on it?

zombiewolf513 · 09-23-2015, 01:49 PM

Start with the obvious ones, the multiples run back and forth, so for those you could likely find in the FSM diagrams, but you'll probably have to trace some anyway to see where they go.

roboticnissan · 09-23-2015, 02:45 PM

sweet jesus all that stuff unplugs and comes throught the fire wall then you just plug it all back in under the dash!!!!

andisan · 09-23-2015, 02:55 PM

Wow that was ballsy, I would of labeled all the wires before cutting them, with at least numbers

KAT-PWR · 09-23-2015, 03:15 PM

HAHAHAHA
Damn sorry but if that was your best idea for beginning to tackle this project buy a new harness. Strip it outside of the car, delete what you don't need re-loom it and send all the shit where you want it to go.
Did you not even google "S13 fusebox relocation/tuck" before deciding chopping your wiring harness into pieces was the best solution?

I must be a white girl cause i can't even right now.

kruked · 09-23-2015, 05:43 PM

Oh em gee!!

e1_griego · 09-23-2015, 05:49 PM

You're not alone: http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=593678

rawgarage · 09-23-2015, 06:06 PM

I have a harness you can buy.... Text me 9792366891

CrazyTrance · 09-23-2015, 06:58 PM

Oh my fuckinggod. hit up that guy^^^^

Lmao

Mofuhcka · 09-23-2015, 08:43 PM

Stupid is as stupid does

MilkMan1218 · 09-23-2015, 09:38 PM

I am the person who owns the car, and yes hindsight I should have labeled the wires. I also know that with no auto knowledge I rebuilt my rb20 from nuts and bolts and it runs beautifully. I'm sure I can fix this up, it'll just take longer than usual. But hey, the least I can say is I've definitely learned of better ways to do this. Those who say I need a new harness are afraid of challenges, I live for them.

zombiewolf513 · 09-23-2015, 09:42 PM

Working with a fresh harness is a challenge in itself.

Took me about 6 weeks to rewire the whole car right without pulling my hair out by working on it non-stop

Document and label EVERYTHING

KAT-PWR · 09-23-2015, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MilkMan1218

I am the person who owns the car, and yes hindsight I should have labeled the wires. I also know that with no auto knowledge I rebuilt my rb20 from nuts and bolts and it runs beautifully. I'm sure I can fix this up, it'll just take longer than usual. But hey, the least I can say is I've definitely learned of better ways to do this. Those who say I need a new harness are afraid of challenges, I live for them.

No we just understand the valuation of time. If you value your time at say any price above $1 you would quickly understand that buying a new harness is the better route. Plus after you solder all of those connections back together which you said the harness is in 3 or 4 sections?.... times the number of wires in the harness which i just going to guess is over 50? So 200 or so amateurly done solder joints that will probably break as you man handle everything to where it needs to go. So even if by some magical stroke of luck that you accurately mapped the ENTIRE harness for the car it still probably wont work... And if we take the more likely scenario that you did not dead on nail the schematic across 3-4 bridges you fry stuff.
Anyone that can read and has a set of tools can put an engine together and have it run if its been machined properly and no corners were cut. I've done it, many have. But wiring on this scale is a whole nother animal. IMO more complex than building an engine.

andisan · 09-23-2015, 10:21 PM

I'm sure it would be easier to just buy a whole new harness, there is a lot of people selling them anyways, body and engine

Johny5 · 09-23-2015, 10:45 PM

Kyskyskyskys

KiLLeR2001 · 09-23-2015, 11:00 PM

This type of wiring job is for expert level 100. Since you decided to cut the harness in this manner, you are clearly at level 1.

s14gmo · 09-23-2015, 11:00 PM

Work smarter not harder! Just buy a new harness and go from there. Goodluck!

MilkMan1218 · 09-24-2015, 12:05 AM

Well there are only 26 ish wires that are duplicates. After tracking them down they are mostly lights, signals, windows, windshield wipers, stuff like that. As for amateur soldering and man handling, it's pretty simple to solder a good connection, especially since it's basically welding with wires. As for the man handling, that won't be necessary since the dash and support bar is off. I'm not some barbarian going in slinging piles of solder on two coils and just throwing stuff around. Finally, it's not like I cut into the engine harness, it's a race car all I need are lights and a motor.

kunt_masha · 09-24-2015, 08:43 AM

Prp Tip: You can unplug and push the harness through the firewall in 30 minutes..

LockOn! · 09-24-2015, 09:29 AM

1. Throw in garbage
2. Replace with new harness the right way.

No way in hell you are going to get all the wires together correctly. Even if you do, every connection is another chance for failure in the future. Unless your a literal pro at soldering and sealing connections, this will fail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MilkMan1218

it's a race car all I need are lights and a motor.

This is the exact attitude that is ruining these cars and the reason the "doing it wrong" thread is a thing.

kruked · 09-24-2015, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kunt_masha

Prp Tip: You can unplug and push the harness through the firewall in 30 minutes..

This was already mentioned in post #3 if you would've read all of the post.

VV

Quote:

Originally Posted by roboticnissan

sweet jesus all that stuff unplugs and comes throught the fire wall then you just plug it all back in under the dash!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LockOn!

No way in hell you are going to get all the wires together correctly. Even if you do, every connection is another chance for failure in the future. Unless your a literal pro at soldering and sealing connections, this will fail.

It can be fixed, maybe not by him, but it can be done.

slow40sx · 09-24-2015, 10:58 AM

yeah, definitely get a new harness, and in the future I would recommend searching before you touch anything, also maybe glance at it all before you start cutting things, the fuse boxes aren't in any jails, they are held in with bolts and they fit through the large cut outs in the bay and there is a large plug under the driver side that bolts together the front half of the car harness to the back half, a quick visual inspection could have told you that especially with the dash out of the car, so I would 100% get a new harness and go from there

Lej · 09-24-2015, 11:26 AM

Hey guys, it's OP. So yeah, posted this for Milkman (the owner) .. I told him there was for sure a better way... seeing as the factory didn't have to reattach it in the middle to get it in there in the first place. And the fact that FULL uncut engine bay harnesses are for sale on Ebay.

I knew it was a stupid idea, BUT - my one question is ... How do you pull that white box through the firewall? (The one that is originally on the driver side in the kick panel attached to the fuse box.) Does it go through the side of the car and AROUND the firewall? Or is there actually a hole to pull it through?..

Pic for reference:

zombiewolf513 · 09-24-2015, 11:38 AM

The SMJ goes out by the left wheel. it fits. it fits.

Lej · 09-24-2015, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zombiewolf513

The SMJ goes out by the left wheel. it fits. it fits.

Cool - that makes good sense. Wish he would of done it that way! haha.

Biggamehit · 09-24-2015, 10:04 PM

Wow.....

Sent from my 402SH using Tapatalk

gostrider · 09-25-2015, 08:44 AM

I have one for sale 80$

AzS13hatch · 09-26-2015, 05:19 PM

I highly suggest not using solder on your harness. That is one of the worst things you can do in this situation if you plan on still using your cut up harness. Use non-insulated butt connectors and heat shrink over them. It is easier and much more reliable and long lasting.

Just for reference, this is what I'm talking about

http://www.maneywire.com/butt-connec...1462-l-en.html

Cpreston · 09-28-2015, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AzS13hatch

I highly suggest not using solder on your harness. That is one of the worst things you can do in this situation if you plan on still using your cut up harness. Use non-insulated butt connectors and heat shrink over them. It is easier and much more reliable and long lasting.

Just for reference, this is what I'm talking about

http://www.maneywire.com/butt-connec...1462-l-en.html

That is misinformation big time. Absolutely nothing wrong with soldering your harness if you know what you're doing, and is in fact better than butt connectors.

Anyway, I recently had this same problem except I cut my engine bay harness in the driver side fender to relocate it into the engine bay. Like you, I just cut the harness assuming all the wires would be unique in one way or another (size, color, striped, dotted, etc.) and as you found out, they're not.

I labeled all the ones that were unique with numbers and letters. Doesn't matter what you label them as long as you label the corresponding wire the same.

For the rest of the wires, I looked at my service manual and located all of the connectors on one end of my harness and knew that all of those wires had to go to those connectors. So I would start hunting the wires, say I started with the pink wires, I just looked for pink wires going into connectors at that end of the wiring harness. Once I found what connector and pin the wire went, I looked through the wiring diagrams in my fsm for ones with that connector and that pin. Once I found the wire on the wiring diagram I obviously was able to see what the wire went to. Say I found the wire that went to the headlight motor, I would label that wire then go to the headlight motor, find the wire and then find the other end of it with my multimeter.

And for all the wires that are duplicates, you have to find all but the last one. If you have two Orange wires and you find out what one does, you don't need to know what the other one does because it'll be the only orange wire left.

Hope I didn't word that too confusing. And if you decided to buy a new harness instead I do not blame you at all but I'll leave this comment anyway incase someone else makes the same mistake

AzS13hatch · 09-29-2015, 02:10 AM

Read this
http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/09/...htmare-part-1/

I'm not an expert on wiring but I have done quite a bit of it. Feel free to take my word and let it go in one ear and out the other, I really don't mind. Just trying to give the advice from professionals as I have read it and comes from a highly trusted source. I started using solder a long time ago but have moved on to the connectors as they are much easier to work with and then I saw this article and was happy I did when making my chassis harness.

09-23-2015, 12:38 PM	#1
Lej Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: SC Age: 44 Posts: 34 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I cut all the way through my engine bay harness with a cutoff wheel. I'm looking to relocate my 2 engine bay fuse/relay boxes into the cabin somewhere (or possibly inside) of the glove box compartment. I made one huge cut in the middle of the harness at the front of the car (inbetween the head lights) and 2 more cuts to free the fuse boxes from their jail of the engine bay. I brought the whole loom inside the cabin where I was going to begin the process of soldering/shrink tubing and rewrapping the harness, but I ran into the issue of some of the wires being DUPLICATES. For example - After my cut, one side of the cut may have THREE all pink wires, with the same number of hash marks. Or an all black wire with a red stripe. TWICE. ...... Now SOME of them are different gauges, so I can match them up, but the others - I'm clueless. I realize I could trace them down to the interior kick panel fuse box, and see where they go and try to use an ohm meter and figure it all out.,, Does anyone have any diagrams that could help with this? Or a little insight on it?

09-23-2015, 02:55 PM	#4
andisan Nissanaholic! Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Lompoc CA 805!!!! Age: 40 Posts: 2,063 Trader Rating: (12) Feedback Score: 12 reviews	Wow that was ballsy, I would of labeled all the wires before cutting them, with at least numbers __________________

09-23-2015, 03:15 PM	#5
KAT-PWR Nissanaholic! Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: US Posts: 2,040 Trader Rating: (11) Rides Gallery: KAT-PWR Feedback Score: 11 reviews	HAHAHAHA Damn sorry but if that was your best idea for beginning to tackle this project buy a new harness. Strip it outside of the car, delete what you don't need re-loom it and send all the shit where you want it to go. Did you not even google "S13 fusebox relocation/tuck" before deciding chopping your wiring harness into pieces was the best solution? I must be a white girl cause i can't even right now. __________________ MRP Manufacturing

09-23-2015, 05:43 PM	#6
kruked Nissanaholic! Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: someone's sisters' pants Posts: 2,288 Trader Rating: (37) Feedback Score: 37 reviews	Oh em gee!! __________________ I like my bikes how I like my b¡tches...naked! 2014 Triumph Street Triple

09-23-2015, 06:58 PM	#9
CrazyTrance Zilvia Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tucson, AZ Age: 36 Posts: 274 Trader Rating: (3) Feedback Score: 3 reviews	Oh my fuckinggod. hit up that guy^^^^ Lmao __________________ 450sx.com

09-23-2015, 01:49 PM	#2
zombiewolf513 BANNED Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: AZ Age: 36 Posts: 1,682 Trader Rating: (6) Rides Gallery: zombiewolf513 Feedback Score: 6 reviews	Start with the obvious ones, the multiples run back and forth, so for those you could likely find in the FSM diagrams, but you'll probably have to trace some anyway to see where they go.

09-23-2015, 02:45 PM	#3
roboticnissan Nissanaholic! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: SOCAL/NORCAL Age: 35 Posts: 1,867 Trader Rating: (12) Feedback Score: 12 reviews	sweet jesus all that stuff unplugs and comes throught the fire wall then you just plug it all back in under the dash!!!! __________________

09-23-2015, 05:49 PM	#7
e1_griego Post Whore! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Independence, Ore. Age: 39 Posts: 2,711 Trader Rating: (24) Feedback Score: 24 reviews	You're not alone: http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=593678

09-23-2015, 06:06 PM	#8
rawgarage Banned from the Marketplace Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: h o u s t o n Age: 35 Posts: 5,986 Trader Rating: (75) Feedback Score: 75 reviews	I have a harness you can buy.... Text me 9792366891

09-23-2015, 08:43 PM	#10
Mofuhcka Nissanaholic! Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Sacramento Posts: 1,810 Trader Rating: (2) Feedback Score: 2 reviews	Stupid is as stupid does __________________ @hcr32love 400whp NEO R32 Sedan

09-23-2015, 09:38 PM	#11
MilkMan1218 Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: South Carolina Age: 31 Posts: 8 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I am the person who owns the car, and yes hindsight I should have labeled the wires. I also know that with no auto knowledge I rebuilt my rb20 from nuts and bolts and it runs beautifully. I'm sure I can fix this up, it'll just take longer than usual. But hey, the least I can say is I've definitely learned of better ways to do this. Those who say I need a new harness are afraid of challenges, I live for them.

09-23-2015, 09:42 PM	#12
zombiewolf513 BANNED Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: AZ Age: 36 Posts: 1,682 Trader Rating: (6) Rides Gallery: zombiewolf513 Feedback Score: 6 reviews	Working with a fresh harness is a challenge in itself. Took me about 6 weeks to rewire the whole car right without pulling my hair out by working on it non-stop Document and label EVERYTHING

09-23-2015, 10:21 PM	#14
andisan Nissanaholic! Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Lompoc CA 805!!!! Age: 40 Posts: 2,063 Trader Rating: (12) Feedback Score: 12 reviews	I'm sure it would be easier to just buy a whole new harness, there is a lot of people selling them anyways, body and engine __________________

09-23-2015, 10:45 PM	#15
Johny5 Post Whore! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Dallas, Tx Age: 39 Posts: 3,221 Trader Rating: (9) Feedback Score: 9 reviews	Kyskyskyskys __________________ www.stewartleask.com

09-23-2015, 11:00 PM	#16
KiLLeR2001 Post Whore! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: オーランドフロリダ Posts: 7,955 Trader Rating: (46) Feedback Score: 46 reviews	This type of wiring job is for expert level 100. Since you decided to cut the harness in this manner, you are clearly at level 1. __________________

09-23-2015, 11:00 PM	#17
s14gmo Zilvia FREAK! Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: San diego CA / Charlotte NC Age: 35 Posts: 1,195 Trader Rating: (29) Feedback Score: 29 reviews	Work smarter not harder! Just buy a new harness and go from there. Goodluck!

09-24-2015, 12:05 AM	#18
MilkMan1218 Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: South Carolina Age: 31 Posts: 8 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Well there are only 26 ish wires that are duplicates. After tracking them down they are mostly lights, signals, windows, windshield wipers, stuff like that. As for amateur soldering and man handling, it's pretty simple to solder a good connection, especially since it's basically welding with wires. As for the man handling, that won't be necessary since the dash and support bar is off. I'm not some barbarian going in slinging piles of solder on two coils and just throwing stuff around. Finally, it's not like I cut into the engine harness, it's a race car all I need are lights and a motor.

09-24-2015, 08:43 AM	#19
kunt_masha Zilvia Junkie Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: coatesville, pa Age: 38 Posts: 342 Trader Rating: (7) Feedback Score: 7 reviews	Prp Tip: You can unplug and push the harness through the firewall in 30 minutes..

09-24-2015, 10:58 AM	#22
slow40sx Nissanaholic! Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 1,979 Trader Rating: (3) Feedback Score: 3 reviews	yeah, definitely get a new harness, and in the future I would recommend searching before you touch anything, also maybe glance at it all before you start cutting things, the fuse boxes aren't in any jails, they are held in with bolts and they fit through the large cut outs in the bay and there is a large plug under the driver side that bolts together the front half of the car harness to the back half, a quick visual inspection could have told you that especially with the dash out of the car, so I would 100% get a new harness and go from there __________________

09-24-2015, 11:26 AM	#23
Lej Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: SC Age: 44 Posts: 34 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Hey guys, it's OP. So yeah, posted this for Milkman (the owner) .. I told him there was for sure a better way... seeing as the factory didn't have to reattach it in the middle to get it in there in the first place. And the fact that FULL uncut engine bay harnesses are for sale on Ebay. I knew it was a stupid idea, BUT - my one question is ... How do you pull that white box through the firewall? (The one that is originally on the driver side in the kick panel attached to the fuse box.) Does it go through the side of the car and AROUND the firewall? Or is there actually a hole to pull it through?.. Pic for reference:

09-24-2015, 11:38 AM	#24
zombiewolf513 BANNED Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: AZ Age: 36 Posts: 1,682 Trader Rating: (6) Rides Gallery: zombiewolf513 Feedback Score: 6 reviews	The SMJ goes out by the left wheel. it fits. it fits.

09-24-2015, 10:04 PM	#26
Biggamehit Zilvia Addict Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Misawa Japan Age: 41 Posts: 713 Trader Rating: (11) Feedback Score: 11 reviews	Wow..... Sent from my 402SH using Tapatalk __________________ Facebook: Pink Ranger Drift

09-25-2015, 08:44 AM	#27
gostrider Zilvia Addict Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: CFL Age: 11 Posts: 638 Trader Rating: (7) Feedback Score: 7 reviews	I have one for sale 80$ __________________ *240 with illegal engine mod.*

09-26-2015, 05:19 PM	#28
AzS13hatch Leaky Injector Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: AZ/ South Korea Age: 35 Posts: 121 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	I highly suggest not using solder on your harness. That is one of the worst things you can do in this situation if you plan on still using your cut up harness. Use non-insulated butt connectors and heat shrink over them. It is easier and much more reliable and long lasting. Just for reference, this is what I'm talking about http://www.maneywire.com/butt-connec...1462-l-en.html

09-29-2015, 02:10 AM	#30
AzS13hatch Leaky Injector Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: AZ/ South Korea Age: 35 Posts: 121 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Read this http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/09/...htmare-part-1/ I'm not an expert on wiring but I have done quite a bit of it. Feel free to take my word and let it go in one ear and out the other, I really don't mind. Just trying to give the advice from professionals as I have read it and comes from a highly trusted source. I started using solder a long time ago but have moved on to the connectors as they are much easier to work with and then I saw this article and was happy I did when making my chassis harness.