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Wiring harness repair kit - eliminate your electrical gremlins!


FricFrac

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I've managed to source connectors for the stock engine wiring harness for the early FI S30 and S130 cars. I'm just posting here to see if anyone else would be interested in a kit and I'll order in some extras. The kit will include nine EV1 connectors for the fuel injectors, cold start valve, idle air and thermal switch, a three pin connector for the TPS and the seven pin AFM connector. I'm redoing all the connectors on all my harnesses and I ordered in extra connectors for a few members on the forum who requested a kit. Price will be $50 shipped in US/Canada. There is well over $100 worth of connectors so this is a great deal. If you have a 280Z, 280ZX or engine swap EFI and you haven't replaced the 30+ year old connectors on your car yet you need this kit! A lot of the problems on the car have to do with corroded or loose connectors. Cleaning the male side of the plugs is possible on the AFM, injectors, TPS, etc however cleaning the female side on the connector is difficult and doesn't often last. The reason is that the male connector is easily accessable and are usually solid brass. These can be cleaned/polished to new condition. The connector side is plated and the disimilar metals cause corrosion and the plating is destroyed in the process. Cleaning the corrosion is difficult because they are physically difficult to access and with the plated material missing the base material will quickly corrode and the problems will come back.

 

A lot of the problems associated with the idle and running of the car are associated with the AFM connector. Often the clip from the connector is missing causing poor a poor connection which can cause intermittant faults which are often difficult to track down. The replacement AFM connector includes the new body and clip as well as new pins to get rid of the many problems this connection causes.

 

I would also highly recomend replacing the stock negative battery cable with a heavy cable to the starter and one to the chassis. I also recomend a ground cable from the chassis where the battery cable mounts to the ECU and from the ECU to the ground point for all the sensors on the manifold near the Idle air valve. Replace all the connectors with this kit and you have an excellent base for your electronic fuel injection system.

 

Replacing your connectors isn't going to solve all your electrical problems but it will give you a good solid base and eliminate a lot of potential problems and prevent future problems.

 

 

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The clips on the newer Volvo/BMW connectors are designed such that they can be removed by pressing the wire with your finger then pulling the connector off. The old style connectors require a tool to pull back the wire. I prefer the newer style since they are much easier to remove.

 

It'll be interesting if you can find connectors with a rubber boots. I pulled those from cars in the JY and swapped them onto new connectors.

Edited by rossman
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  • 2 weeks later...

Yay the connectors are in! Well sort of... they sent me the wrong TPS connector which apparently is on it's way - grrrrr. Anyhow I'm super happy with the connectors - they are actually better than I thought. They are better than the stock connectors in a few different ways. First they have a silicone gasket inside the connector to keep water out. They also use a silicone plug on the wire going into the connector to keep water from getting in on the wire side. They also have a squeeze release mechanisim so you don't have to mess around with the clip to get the connector to release. You also don't need to worry about loosing the clip! The AFM also has a rubber boot similar to the original stock one. The pins are also a lot nicer than the stock pins. They have a secondary spring which helps increase the clamping force on the terminal giving you a better contact and less chance of having an intermittant fault.

 

I found the connectors Ross Man pictured but they were more expesive and didn't seem to have any features that these EV1s don't have (eg water proof, squeeze release).

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I suppose it's all relative. Basically you chop off the old and crimp/solder on the new then slide the pins and connectors into the sockets and you're done. I'll do a video with a few pointers on how to change them and if people want pigtails I can do that as well for a moderate fee. With pigtails you chop off the connector and connect the two wires together and solder them. It really depends on your soldering skills. Soldering is pretty easy to learn and after an hour of practicing you should be able to solder pretty well. There are a ton of tutorials on soldering and it's a good skill to have that doesn't require a lot of practice to be practical at anything you would normally solder with your vehicle.

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Ok I made a little video up to give you some pointers on repairing your wiring harness. I did the AFM which is the most complicated of the ones we'll be replacing. It's a little embarasing because I messed up the connector trying to keep the video time short but I left it in. It's a good reminder to make sure you've got everything in place before you solder or crimp your connector on. I do this sort of work all the time and I should know better - shows you what happens when you rush :) Anyhow if you have any questions the video doesn't answer feel free to ask!

 

Edited by FricFrac
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Thanks for making the video. I'm in the process of installing Weather Pack connectors on my custom fuel injection and ignition harness. I have not done it before so I was a little apprehensive. This video helps immensely!

 

Cheers,

Ross

 

Thanks for the reply Ross. Glad the video helps! Like I said I was kind of embarased forgetting to put the seals on the wire before I crimped them on but I left it in the video as it's a good reminder to everyone watching make sure everything is in place before you crimp/solder you pins on. Maybe that will save a few people from making the mistake :)

 

 

 

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Finally sucsess! The TPS plugs are in and they are the same quality build as the EV1 and AFM connector and they are even the right size :) Everyone who was waiting on the kit being complete your wait is over. Please send me a PM and I'll we'll figure out payment options, shipping etc.

 

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I had a question as a private PM with some concerns about the heat shrink and the glue melting out of it getting all over the heat shield and making a stinky sticky mess. I appreciate the poster not wanting to sabotage my thread but I'd like all comments posted here so we can develop this to be as good as it can be for everyone using the kit. That's the whole idea! I'd like this thread to be a resource for repairing your harness not just to sell kits but to figure out how to repair our old harnesses. Anyhow here's my response regarding the heat shrink I'm currently supplying - good to know info.

 

"The heat shrink I have is a meltable inner wall rather than the hot glue old school stuff. It should be good inside an engine compartment. Great pointer though and something to watch for. The engine bay may heat it up enough to make it soft but it shouldn't run. Most heat shrink you can score and heat it up and it will split where it's scored but this stuff won't. I appreciate you sending me a message but feel free to post in the thread. I want this to be the best kit I can make it and it comes from questions and feedback like yours!"

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I received my package of new connectors yesterday Kurk. Hopefully I'll get to assembling them in the next week or so. The clips are so cool and ridiculously easy to use :) Nice snug fitment too, 100x better than the old junky ones currently on the 30 year old harness.

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  • 1 month later...

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