Friday, June 20, 2014

It's Wirery...

We are finally making some headway with the rewire.  Sure, it appears that there is still a long way to go, but in all actuality, the hardest part is done.  Terminating all of the ends is the easiest part, it's running the wires and making it appealing that takes the time.



The biggest issue that I found with the Rebel Wire Harness is the fact the the wires protrude out of the back about a 1/2".  The instructions say to bolt it down but I wasn't too keen on potentially pinching a wire.  Plus, I wanted a way to unbolt the harness from the inside without the need for a 2nd person to hold the bolts on the other side of the firewall.  So after 10 minutes of some 3D modelling and another 5 hrs of printing, I had this ABS 3D printed part...



...which fit perfect.  The standoffs were included so that the part could be directly bolted to the firewall and not compress the insulation and firewall pad on the inside.




This picture really shows how far the wires stick out...




Once installed, it should never have to come back off.  The panel bolts directly to it using (6) 10-32 screws and overall it is remarkably sturdy.



I started laying out the loom and cutting it to length.  Everywhere a wire exits the main harness, it will be eventually covered with heat shrink tubing.  Before that happens though, it is import took make sure all of the wires are run correctly and that you do not have to run any addition wires.  Take it from me, it is a pain to try and fish a forgotten wire through a finished harness. 

Again, I cannot stress it enough, it's all about preparation....