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Who would be interested in a MegaSquirt engine harness for the S30 and S130?


FricFrac

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The stock engine harness is basically garbage. I have yet to see an original one where the shielding on the Dizzy side is still in good condition but given that it's exposed to the elements it's not fair to expect it too be. There is basically no shielding on anything other than the O2, the fuel pump control (don't care with MS) and the dizzy. An auto engine bay is full of EMI that can cause problems with any electronic fuel injection system. Look at a 240SX wiring diagram and you'll see that the manufacture shields almost all of the sensors. I've been researching a few other after market engine harnesses for other engines to see what the other guys have. The 2JZ, etc have a lot of after market stuff and they boast Raychem this and MIL spec that but only bits and pieces are they way they should be. I've seen a lot of "quality" harnesses that boast MIL spec and yet the sensor signals travel over a single vinyl coated wire. So again out of frustration we are left to do it ourselves. Fortunately this is my area of expertise and I'm currently developing a EMI hardened engine harness for the S130 and will be designing one for the S30 chassis. The basic design will allow for a plug and play to the stock body harness (on the S130 at this point in time - haven't done my homework on the S30 yet) to control the stock fuel pump relay and fuel pump circuit (the S30 harness will have it's own fuel pump control). It will have its own fuse system and relays. The main intent is performance first (EMI hardened and the highest quality cabling, etc) and asthetics as an important secondary. You should be able to pull out your stock S130 harness and plug this harness in with an excellent fit and finish. If you ever want to go back to a stock setup simply unplug the aftermarket and plug in the new harness - no cutting into anything. Currently the design has all sensors shielded and cabling for your Wideband 02 with fused power and shielded input. The knock sensor and CHTS are not used with MS3 but are included (shielded of course) in the harness should you wish to use them. There is the capability to unplug the injectors from a built in adapter to go from batch fire to plug directly into the 3X board for sequential injection. An optional crank fire or disrtibutorless ignition harness is also being developed. Since each configuration may have slight variances as to where sensors are located each harness can be built for the particular application.

 

Working on a custom car can be frustrating under normal circumstances but trying to chase electronic gremlins can be a nightmare even for an Electronics Engineer. The purpose here is to have a harness that starts you off from a solid base so you aren't chasing your tail and you can concentrate on the rest of the design of your car. Let me know what you guys think and what you would like to see from a properly engineered quality custom harness.

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I will be going the MS route for my 73, and been having nightmares thinking about basically rewiring the entire car for it. The only current option is to pay someone a truck load of cash to do it for me or do it myself. I would love to see what your offerings will be for the S30 chassis and pricing.

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Cheap is a relative thing. These are cheap if you consider the labour or the cost of similar products. They aren't cheap if you are expecting to get a harness for $100. I figure once I've got a system setup there will still be 20 to 30 hours labour to build them plus the cost of materials. I intend on keeping the cost lower than most custom harnesses which range from $700 - $1500 and up. It's unlikely that I will build a "cheap" version using lower cost cabling, etc. If I'm going to design and fabricate this I want it to be up to my standards - design, materials and fit and finish. Expect the entire kit to run around $550 which doesn't actually cover my labour cost.

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It may be a challenge to build a single harness to accommodate everyone's needs as there may be significant differences in crank triggering, ignition output, and control options. But perhaps you can add significant value by offering a base harness, I don't know as I have not yet put enough thought into my own future MS build.

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It may be a challenge to build a single harness to accommodate everyone's needs as there may be significant differences in crank triggering, ignition output, and control options. But perhaps you can add significant value by offering a base harness, I don't know as I have not yet put enough thought into my own future MS build.

 

There are some portions of the harness that will be the same or very similar but the idea is to build the harness to the customer's specific need. Each harness will be hand crafted and built to the requirements of the end user. There isn't really any significant time or cost savings to making a bunch of generic harnesses although many will be very similar.

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Hello..my name is Yasin..but you can call me Slow N Rusty...my car is dire need of your EFI help and abilities..my goal is to unleash. Can you help?

 

Lol my first victim.... er client.... Don't worry bro you can't get me any more motivated on this than I am :) The first harness is coming along nicely and I've made a few tweeks on this harness MAYBE even fire it up tonight. Once I have that done I'll start laying yours down then I can finish building your MSIII. Closer and closer....

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Lol my first victim.... er client.... Don't worry bro you can't get me any more motivated on this than I am :) The first harness is coming along nicely and I've made a few tweeks on this harness MAYBE even fire it up tonight. Once I have that done I'll start laying yours down then I can finish building your MSIII. Closer and closer....

e6518dc1_TwoThumbsUp.jpeg

Yippee.

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Alas Wednesday is Soccer night apparently.... or apparently I forgot about it although my wife almost sent me to the wrong field. I really did need to do a few more things in the harness for the Wideband O2 power, etc. We have a Datsun club meeting tonight but I'm that close to testing it out. I'm hoping to get the insurance pulled off the 370Z and insure the 280ZXT tomorow or this weekend :)

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FricFrac...wire harnesses in auto/truck/heavy equipment are how I make my living. If you have drawings, specs, etc, I might be able to help you out.

 

FYI...MIL-spec is really going to drive the cost up and not really needed in a car. Not like we have people shooting at us.

 

If you are interested, we can talk off-line and go from there.

 

They would all be professionally made and 100% tested for continuity.

Edited by ZUL8TR
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There are some portions of the harness that will be the same or very similar but the idea is to build the harness to the customer's specific need. Each harness will be hand crafted and built to the requirements of the end user. There isn't really any significant time or cost savings to making a bunch of generic harnesses although many will be very similar.

 

There is something to say about economies of scale. Set-up for a production run is costly in labor, so any 1 off product is going to be more expensive. Additionally, connectors and such are always big $$$ when you are buying to build 1 vs 10. I've seen connectors go for $15+ for a single, only to drop to $0.60 in a production run. When you toss in all the others needed, that's HUGE savings.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love your idea. If there is minimal difference in the options you would offer and they can be incorporated into a single harness, then you might want to seriously look at that and take advantage of volume discounts. Put together a list of buyers, with deposits, then do a production run to fill the orders. Rinse. Repeat.

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I'm not trying to make a mass produced harness. I'm interested in making a high quality harness for people who are looking for a profesionally engineered and constructed harness with high noise immunity and professional fit and finish. Anyone can make a harness. I can spec up a harness and have them manufactured and make a decent profit depending on demand. I have the contacts for fabrication, etc but it has little interest to me. I'm doing this in my free time so it has to be something interesting to me.

Edited by FricFrac
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