Hello My Name is Tony and I have DWD, caught a bad case in the electrical way Options

[TonyAKAVW]

So the car that I'm doing my Subaru conversion on just had a major setback tonight. My body wiring harness is no longer installed (for the most part). I pulled the wiring from the front trunk and also from the dash area. Its going to get stripped of wiring that I don't need, and I'm going to add wiring that I do need that isn't there.

For instance:

Deleting:

> fresh air blower wiring (I'm going to weld over the fresh air inlet and not use it.

> side marker wiring (not using)

> dome light (not putting in a backpad, going to do something else for light)

> heater controls (Ripped out stock heater controls, going to do a custom variable speed control for the dual blowers that I'm going to install someday)

> Door switches (I consider this excess, useless wiring)

> Seatbelt relay and Logic relay (again, useless to me)

Probably more too...


Adding:

> OBD II wiring for Subrau engine up to dash board

> harness wiring for Subaru ECU (going to be mounted between seats at the firewall, on the floor.)

> wiring for windshield washer pump

> 12 volt distribution for engine bay, front and rear trunks and under the dash (for stuff like tools, etc.)

> DC and AC wiring for power inverter (to power a laptop, etc.)


So like I said I caught a bad case of Dirk Wright's Disease. I've taken it upon myslef to redo the wiring instead of use what was probably a 99% functional body wiring harness. Luckily most of the wiring will stay the same, but the way I do the fuses and relays in the cabin will change considerably.

I know I'm not the only one here who does this sort of thing. We need a 12 step program.



-Tony

[jsteele22]

Wow ! Is this my first thread hijack ?

I didn't realize that soldering was so out of favor. I'm just going from my own personal experience, where I know that my solder joints are good (having had plenty of practice) and I also know that my (and most DIY mechanics' ) crimp joints really suck. I agree that a good crimp is a perfectly fine connection, even better than solder for a high-vibration environment. But to make a good crimp joint, like lapuwali said, everything has to be just right - perfect (high quality) connector for that particular gauge of wire, appropriate ($$$) crimp tool for that particular connector, etc. What gets sold to the public at the FLAPS is not the same. The stuff that was used by a full-rate Porsche mechanic to "fix" my engine wiring harness is not the same.

Sorry if this sounds too pissy. I'm not trying to disagree with anybody, just vent some pent-up frustration from personal experience. I'm gonna stick w/ solder for now, but maybe some day I'll look into how the pros make crimp joints that don't suck.

Oh, and just a reminder : this thread was about Tony's cool plans for his car. Carry on.