AIX #29 - Progress thread

[Fbody383]

If they were my wires, I would put them in the trash.

You really don't need much to keep the car running. I took out everything that wasn't needed. I did keep almost any length of wire over a foot and just put it in a box for future projects.

I bought a subscription to www.alldatadiy.com mainly for the wiring diagrams and ended up printing most of the engine/charging/start circuits.

[Casey_SS]

Yeah I wanted to go that route in theory....it's the reality of the massive amount of time required to do it right plus the likelihood of having to troubleshoot electrical gremlins afterwards that made me ditch that part of the plan.

I just don't generally have good luck messing around with wiring and absolutely despise troubleshooting a hacked up harness. Figured I'd play it safe with so many other things changing on the car at the same time and tackle that down the road if I change my mind and decide it's worth the effort.

[Fbody383]

....it's the reality of the massive amount of time required to do it right plus the likelihood of having to troubleshoot electrical gremlins afterwards...

Fill it full of gas, park it in the yard and fire it up.

Start with the stuff you know you don't need. If you cut a wire and it dies, put that one back.

Or... wait until the excruciatingly long off season... to do the above.

[gt40]

Yeah I wanted to go that route in theory....it's the reality of the massive amount of time required to do it right plus the likelihood of having to troubleshoot electrical gremlins afterwards that made me ditch that part of the plan.

I had that same issue when I gutted the Mustang. Tear into a dirty, grungy, 250,000 mile harness and pray I didn't screw it up, or pull it out intact and install a Painless Wiring harness. Guess what route I took?

Expensive, But I ended up with a new, clean harness with brand-new connectors that only took an hour to install. Worth every penny.

[AllZWay]

I don't regret cutting and pairing of all my wiring...but it was a tough job since I moved my fuse box to inside my glove compartment and had to cut out several feet of wiring.

I think I easily cut out 20+ pounds worth of wiring. Done slowly like Dave mentioned it can be done and isn't all that difficult, just tedious and time consuming.

BTW... The car is looking great.

[BryanL]

If your engine harness is still together take it all out and sell it on ebay or ls1tech. You will get enough for it to buy a streetrods harness on ebay. Only a few wires needed for the fuel pump and brake lights.
Are you wanting to run your stock gauges? If not then you can really ditch alot of the wiring.

And Mitch don't SMYT.

[Casey_SS]

That was actually my original plan except I wanted to use the Techrod harness ($400). Problem it created is a need for aftermarket gauges ($800). That's $1200 I don't 'have' to spend to go racing. What I have now functions perfectly fine it just weighs ~10 lbs more and is aesthetically less pleasing. Big deal. I just want to go racing.

At a time when the budget is gasping for breath from the cage, firesuit, helmet, gloves, seat, harness, transponder, etc. etc.....I think I can suck it up for now and just deal with the factory harness. Putting 40+ hours into stripping it means the car won't be ready for ECR, which I'm trying really hard to make.

That's my logic anyway....it's admittedly a compromise situation. Appreciate all the input....good tips and advice all the way around. Thanks guys.

[HoustonNW]

At a time when the budget is gasping for breath from the cage, firesuit, helmet, gloves, seat, harness, transponder, etc. etc.....

I obviously went the other way and bought a car, justified it with the wife by saying that "everything is there".

So when I started looking at the safety equipment, the same wife asked me "I thought you said that everything was there?"

I think that I'm in the doghouse 'till 2013 or so.

[AllZWay]

That was actually my original plan except I wanted to use the Techrod harness ($400). Problem it created is a need for aftermarket gauges ($800). That's $1200 I don't 'have' to spend to go racing.

That is exactly why I started out with the factory guages and factory wiring too.

I am slowly replacing guages now.

[GlennCMC70]

Seat time, seat time, seat time.

The rest will fall into place.