Rebuilding the harness

[SteveJ]

It's difficult to say because we don't know what year Z you're working on. 

[Barefootdan]

Just now, SteveJ said:

It's difficult to say because we don't know what year Z you're working on. 

Oh shoot! 1975 🙂

[SteveJ]

5 hours ago, Barefootdan said:

I am wanting to tackle a project like this once my engine rebuild is complete. There are so many electronics that currently do work that I feel like starting with a fresh slate is just way easier. Half of my connectors are dry rotted and when pulling the engine, broke. I initially started buying easy to source connectors (fuel injectors, fusible link upgrade) but I am not very happy with where it is headed. Previous owner has crimps in random locations, and I am tempted now just to run new lines from pin to ecu. That leads me to a complete refresh....

 

When doing a modern harness update like this, what would prevent me from using modern style connectors? Amazon has bulk packs for dirt cheap that offer watertight connections if needed. I figure there are still a handful of relays or switches where connectors are not used (i.e. harness plugs directly into the relay rather than with a pigtail). For these, I would try to get lucky and reuse my current connectors, or upgrade to a modern switch as a replacement. 

 

Sorry if this comes off as naive, but it doesnt seem like too complex of a task, but just extremely time consuming! Are there major roadblocks (probably under the dash) that I am overlooking? 🙂 

Anticipate having to replace the connectors on both the harness side and the component side for many components like the headlights and front turn signals to name a couple off the top of my head. You'll have to replace all of the connectors between the engine and dash harness, unless you want to source a lot of Yazaki connectors. That's about 70 wires at that junction. You will need to pull the dash and remove the harness to change all of the terminals and connectors. Otherwise you won't have enough room to work.

Don't scrimp on your stripping tools or crimping tools. 

Try to match wire colors with the existing wiring. You might have to clean up the wires to figure out what colors you need. I haven't found a source with a straight line for the tracer. I have only found spiral tracer. Here is one source. It may help you budget: https://www.sherco-auto.com/striped-tracer-wire.html

If you have space, get 2 4x8 sheets of pegboard. Take your existing engine harness and string it up on the pegboard (zip ties and pegboard hooks). Then use the other to build the replacement harness to make it where you copy lengths.

As for re-using connectors, the round ones are Yazaki. Look up Eastern Beaver as a source for those terminals. I hope you have a good budget. For the spade terminals, look up Vintage Connections.

Write out a detailed plan. Post it here, but in a new thread. We can look at what you're missing. The plan should also have your budget, supplies, etc. Make sure you can afford the endeavor.

[Barefootdan]

3 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

Anticipate having to replace the connectors on both the harness side and the component side for many components like the headlights and front turn signals to name a couple off the top of my head. You'll have to replace all of the connectors between the engine and dash harness, unless you want to source a lot of Yazaki connectors. That's about 70 wires at that junction. You will need to pull the dash and remove the harness to change all of the terminals and connectors. Otherwise you won't have enough room to work.

Don't scrimp on your stripping tools or crimping tools. 

Try to match wire colors with the existing wiring. You might have to clean up the wires to figure out what colors you need. I haven't found a source with a straight line for the tracer. I have only found spiral tracer. Here is one source. It may help you budget: https://www.sherco-auto.com/striped-tracer-wire.html

If you have space, get 2 4x8 sheets of pegboard. Take your existing engine harness and string it up on the pegboard (zip ties and pegboard hooks). Then use the other to build the replacement harness to make it where you copy lengths.

As for re-using connectors, the round ones are Yazaki. Look up Eastern Beaver as a source for those terminals. I hope you have a good budget. For the spade terminals, look up Vintage Connections.

Write out a detailed plan. Post it here, but in a new thread. We can look at what you're missing. The plan should also have your budget, supplies, etc. Make sure you can afford the endeavor.

Thanks Steve! I don’t think I would go for the task if I’m planning on an oem style harness. Finding oem style connectors would eat a ton of budget and buying a bulk pack of modern connectors seems much more accessible. But does this route (modern connectors) have any other unforeseen problems?

 

Luckily I do have the room and feel the car is in a perfect time in its life for a refresh. The engine is out for rebuilding, the dash is disconnected for rust repairs. 
 

I’d be happy to document the process in my build thread, hopefully some find of value even if it’s not a factory style reproduction 🙂 I think this will be my winter project. 

[grannyknot]

http://vintageconnections.com/Products/Kits

 

[SteveJ]

7 hours ago, Barefootdan said:

Thanks Steve! I don’t think I would go for the task if I’m planning on an oem style harness. Finding oem style connectors would eat a ton of budget and buying a bulk pack of modern connectors seems much more accessible. But does this route (modern connectors) have any other unforeseen problems?

If I was aware of them, then the problems wouldn't be unforseen. 😉 Anyway, that's part of posting a detailed plan is to see what you might be missing. I might have the bandwidth to compare your plan to the BE section of the FSM and wiring diagram, but unless I know exactly what you're thinking you need to do, I can't guess at what you overlooked.

If you replace connectors on the components/dash harness, make the engine harness slightly longer to compensate for losing length where you replaced connectors.

Helpful hint: After you download a PDF of the wiring diagram, go to the Autodesk website and download a copy of Design Review. Design Review is made to create drawing markups on native Autodesk DWF files, but it can also open JPG and PDF files. This would allow you to make notes on the connectors you need throughout the engine harness. If you need some guidance after downloading both, I can help you then.

[foosman]

I'll second Vintage Connections as a good supplier, their stuff is top shelf.  I've also had good luck with these guys for wire, although their striping is spiral like everyone else it seems.

https://4rcustomswire.com/

[Barefootdan]

Thank you all for the help! I’ll be sure to reach out when I begin