you can unplug everything in the engine compartment (labeled of course) and pull everything into the interior still hooked up to the fuse box and remove the entire harness. the hole in the firewall is like 30 or 40 mm
OOO!!. good to know!! That sounds easier than going the other way...The under side of the dash is truly a rats nest of wires at this point. Too many hands over too many years dinking around in there.you can unplug everything in the engine compartment (labeled of course) and pull everything into the interior still hooked up to the fuse box and remove the entire harness. the hole in the firewall is like 30 or 40 mm
Regarding the wiring, I think you have the right idea. The blue book wiring diagrams are accurate but hard to read. I have used the Prospero diagrams available on eBay (search e9 wiring). I have heard others complain they are inaccurate, and the first one I ordered for a euro CSi had a misprinted reverse side, but the seller corrected the issue quickly and they did make further wiring much easier since they are in color. Alvaro also has a set of color wiring diagrams that I am sure are a lot better, they are a bit more expensive. Most of my disassembly comes with numerous photos to allow a rebuild, this component is at least something that is fairly easily rebuildabke with a diagram. You have the right idea recording WHERE each bundle runs - the connections are by the diagramWiring removal question:
I have so far cataloged, labeled and removed the wiring from the trunk to the rear seats. Getting the interior wiring out from here seems easy enough.
Wondering what the best approach is for the front harness (engine bay, front lights, etc.). I assume that most of that goes to the fuse box, so is it reasonable to remove the fuse box, and label each wire as I disconnect it? Does that facilitate actually pulling the harness from there into the engine bay? Seems a bit too big to go the other way.
Also, from what I can see the main harness runs from the fuse box back to the seat support, and then splits. One section continues aft for the left rear window, and the trunk (tail lamps, side markers, license plate lamp, trunk light, fuel sender), and the other section crosses over to the passenger seat , with a split that goes forward to the passenger door window, and a section that goes aft to the rear passenger side window.
The main harness then continues forward on the driver's side floor, splits to feed the driver door window, and then heads up into the rats nest around the fuse box.
I am assuming that that harness will also connect to the fuse box.
Is this correct?
And lastly who came up with the crazy approach of using a tiny little 6mm tube from the fuel filler, all the way to the evaporative canister locates at the far front corner of the engine bay (under the battery??? I'm surprised any fumes get that far up that little tube!
Sorry for double reply. Message Don about grommets, he will tell you where to source. w&N has a pedal rebuild kit which I got which looks nice and has all of the pedal parts id that’s something you need to refresh.OOO!!. good to know!! That sounds easier than going the other way...The under side of the dash is truly a rats nest of wires at this point. Too many hands over too many years dinking around in there.
I am planning on remaking the entire harness while the body is at the body shop. Too many old crusty wires and terminals.. So I am documenting the locations of the branches and where they go. I plan to make a plywood skeleton to hold the old harness in the approximate spatial position, and then rebuild it from there with all new wire and connectors.
Is there a source for the various firewall grommets?
.. I'll start collecting tools going forward. I assume there is a list of these somewhere..
Oh Darn! Does that mean we'll have to travel to the Netherlands to get them and avoid the tariff? Maybe drop in and visit my old friends in Portugal and finally get to Madrid and Bilbao...There is a list in the FAQ section on Tools. Just next to the FAQ section
I do have an (almost?) complete fully original (for the originality afficianados!) toolset; pm me if you're interested. Currently skiing with Family, so I can send pics early next week earliest.
Ahh. Makes sense. There is no cardboard panel in my trunk, so that's why I have those loose wires. The unterminated wires would make sense for a speaker.1. Trunk light mounts in center of trunk bulkhead on the thin cardboard panel
2. The four wires are for trunk light and speakers
3. Since side markers are on with license plate light they are grouped together and installed at the factory
4. A/C components came in a box in the trunk and were installed by the dealer. The wire from the temp gauge follows the a/c hoses and goes to the relay and also branches off to the compressor. Wires for the relay to power the radiator fan come from battery and radiator support.
5. Wires for seat belt were under the seat next to the tunnel and can be removed along with the warning module on the dash top.
You are certainly in deep!
Yep! Exactly what I plan to do.when you have your harness out you can make some changes - like headlights (low beam relay) and windows (relays + direct power).
Yeah, this is my primary reservation. The change I am considering would involve not only wiring changes, but also adds dependencies on electronic hardware that may be obsolete in the future, and on software that once it is copied and embedded is pretty much impossible to understand.I think that your window concept is intriguing, as is the possibility to reduce the wiring load. My only concern is any future revision. As you’ve discovered (and have many of us), previous owners have often intervened in ways we can’t determine. As I’ve added wiring, I have tried to add a label indicating what the wire is so the next owner knows what’s what. The relay adds are fairly well documented here and seem to be standard issue - once you understand how a relay works it’s immediately obvious what’s going on. Your proposed addition, however, would be somewhat of a one-off and may therefore be harder for anyone later to decipher. In addition the relay adds involves adding wiring (power to relay from battery, e.g.) but is relatively reversible. If your option involves removing a bunch of wiring, that’s nice for current cleanup but may also make future revision more complicated. Just my 0.02. As one example, I added fog lights to my car and since I don’t need a cigarette lighter, I’m wiring a second light pull switch in place of the cig lighter. That process involves running an additional wire to the switch - I’ve labelled both ends, and I will likely actually wrap the cigarette lighter in some light foam wrap and tape it to the underside of console so that it’s right there if anyone wants to reverse what I did. I spend my days dealing with revisions in my surgical work, and I try to assume that anything I do will have to be revisited by me or someone else later, and plan accordingly.
I think that your window concept is intriguing, as is the possibility to reduce the wiring load. My only concern is any future revision. As you’ve discovered (and have many of us), previous owners have often intervened in ways we can’t determine.
So after considering this a bit, and having the same desire to maintain some semblance of original wiring, I think I may just go the relay route, but with a twist. The relay approach basically just re-purposes the existing wires, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, since they are already in the harness, and the real issue is running power through the window switches and out to the windows. Not really overly concerned about eliminating wires to, for example, save weight.interesting, yes ... do i understand it, nope. above my pay grade.
what i am doing is running a new red wire from the battery (in the harness) to a 4 fuse block (to be mounted in the fusebox area) and use 2 cables to feed 4 front / 4 back relays (mounted near the motors on each side - front + back). most of the wiring will remain the same in the car - the up (green) wire will trigger the up relay and the down (black) wire will trigger the 85 pole on the down relay. so the green + black wires that go to the terminal connection will go to the relay instead and a new wire will go from the 86 pole to the terminal connection (to power the motor) ... on the rear, since there are 2 feeds to the terminal connection, i will remove the green + black wires from the terminal and attach them to the 86 pole on the relays and add a new wire from the terminal connection to the 85 poles of each relay. will add new ground wires to each relay.
so there is mainly new red wires going to the 30 pole of each relay and short green / black / brown wires.