MG Midget Madness (i.e. It was either this or kill it with fire)

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

looks good!

That... All of that.... ask Bawb what is original estimate was to crimp and pin the ECU harness on FrankenB and what the actual time was?

(hint - 2 & 2 And that doesn't include the two days i had in building the engine harness itself!)

I asked that same question in BAW, well.... I asked Painless Harness and stock ECU harness

Looks awesome sweetie! 10 weeks! Jo0 can do it!!!!!!!

Squirrel!!!!!!! Is my biggest problem when wiring. That's why I generally crank the music or wear earbuds & wear a sign on my back that says, Fuck Off, Wiring! Disturb at your own risk!

My memory sucks anyway, but when I have to put it down for a few days I'm screwed when I get back to it. I have to go back and study the wiring diagrams and figure out what kind of stupid shit I have already done. It eats up a lot more time than necessary that way.


... and yes I'm a cheapskate old bastard and am determined to use as much of the factory harness as I can.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by GySgtFrank

My memory sucks anyway, but when I have to put it down for a few days I'm screwed when I get back to it. I have to go back and study the wiring diagrams and figure out what kind of stupid shit I have already done. It eats up a lot more time than necessary that way.

The memory problem can be fixed by drawing up your own interconnect wiring diagram as you take apart the old harness and/or rewire the new one. Doesn't need to be fancy, just legible to you. Take the time to do that, and the rest becomes a lot easier, and avoids the tedium errors.

Your diagram should capture this minimum info: (1) What connector & pin # the wire connects to on each end - create your own connector key/labeling scheme if it's not otherwise documented anywhere in an FSM somewhere, and (2) color of the wire's insulation.

Key point is to NEVER move on to a new wire until you've fully documented the last wire you were working on. That way if life interrupts the project, you have your diagram to help you pick up where you left off.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

The memory problem can be fixed by drawing up your own interconnect wiring diagram as you take apart the old harness and/or rewire the new one. Doesn't need to be fancy, just legible to you. Take the time to do that, and the rest becomes a lot easier, and avoids the tedium errors.

Your diagram should capture this minimum info: (1) What connector & pin # the wire connects to on each end - create your own connector key/labeling scheme if it's not otherwise documented anywhere in an FSM somewhere, and (2) color of the wire's insulation.

Key point is to NEVER move on to a new wire until you've fully documented the last wire you were working on. That way if life interrupts the project, you have your diagram to help you pick up where you left off.

Whaaat?

Proper prior planning? I no longer know you!

[TitaniumTT]

Actually... Pete nailed my biggest "issue" while wiring... If I see something that I don't instantly know what it's for, I get Squirreled. Last April while working on FrankenB, Whoop was trying to connect everything behind the firewall. Power and Gnd supplies etc, wire up the gauges shit like that. Not making it pretty, just trying to get it done enough to fire. Well... I spent a day going through that and trying to remember what everything was for.
Now it's all neat, bundled shrunk and labled

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

Actually... Pete nailed my biggest "issue" while wiring... If I see something that I don't instantly know what it's for, I get Squirreled. Last April while working on FrankenB, Whoop was trying to connect everything behind the firewall. Power and Gnd supplies etc, wire up the gauges shit like that. Not making it pretty, just trying to get it done enough to fire. Well... I spent a day going through that and trying to remember what everything was for.
Now it's all neat, bundled shrunk and labled

That is one of the things that makes it slow. Generally I label everything that will be hanging out of the harness or will be loose at any time, but sometimes my labels get ripped off or become illegible. If I don't remember for sure what it was for, it means finding it on the wiring diagram, or tearing the packaging off and tracing it back, all over again. Keeping it all straight is a major chore.

[JL1RX7]

Gunny they do make those things called a label maker. Even a cheap one will do the trick. Not just a wiring one, which can be pricey. Now the label tape will cost you more than unit itself. Just like printers they sell them cheap and nail you on the ink.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by JL1RX7

Gunny they do make those things called a label maker. Even a cheap one will do the trick. Not just a wiring one, which can be pricey. Now the label tape will cost you more than unit itself. Just like printers they sell them cheap and nail you on the ink.

Actually what I use is the mailing labels that come on sheets for printers. They are easy to mark and come with adhesive on the back. Cheap and they work OK, but sometimes they do get ripped off. Easy to remove too when you screw up and mislabel something.


Rear harness is now done and strung. It is mostly hooked up except for one ground wire which of course turned out to be just short once the wire was strung where it needed to go. There wasn't quite as much room behind the tank enclosure as I thought and stringing the wire behind it was a bit of a @#$%.

[JL1RX7]

Murphy always says one wire will short on you. Always in the hardest to reach spot ever.

[GySgtFrank]

Originally Posted by JL1RX7

Murphy always says one wire will short on you. Always in the hardest to reach spot ever.

True dat. I have to pull the harness back out a ways to get at it for lengthening. It will not be an easy operation as it barely fits in there.

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by GySgtFrank

That is one of the things that makes it slow. Generally I label everything that will be hanging out of the harness or will be loose at any time, but sometimes my labels get ripped off or become illegible. If I don't remember for sure what it was for, it means finding it on the wiring diagram, or tearing the packaging off and tracing it back, all over again. Keeping it all straight is a major chore.

When I'm building an engine harness for example, the ECU plug is usually already done, so I bundle wires together, run where they need to be, bundle and raychem. Get the whole harness run that way and then terminate it. Easy peasy when everything's bundled together

Chassis harnesses are usually backwards from that

Building FrankenB was backwards as well... sort of. Started with where I wanted the ECU to mount and added a few inches. Started with the injectors and ran one wire to the farthest injector, cut it. Put it on the workbench and grabbed 6 reds the same length and 5 other wires the same length. Bundled/twisted/braided together and put back on the engine at the predetermined spot where they would branch out. Took a length for the farthest coil, and repeated that process. Kept going with everthing until it was a mess of about 90 wires all ziptied together. Rachemed it, terminated it at the engine side, (that whole process took like two days) and gave it to Bawb to terminate it at the ECU side. Another 2 days of going back and forth to the wiring diagram which was visually backwards from where the pins needed to be.
Once that was done I could wrap the inside part fo the harness... then lay out all the wires for power and gnd.
So basically I've been working on the electrical of FrankenB for over a year now and it's still not done completely.....

Originally Posted by JL1RX7

Gunny they do make those things called a label maker. Even a cheap one will do the trick. Not just a wiring one, which can be pricey. Now the label tape will cost you more than unit itself. Just like printers they sell them cheap and nail you on the ink.

Yeah fuck that noise. Those are good for the engine side to shrink on and cover with clear heatshrink.... like we did on FrankenB, although we used the hand written ones as opposed to the printed ones. I would like to get one of those printers but they are bucks and I'm not doing enough harnesses. I wonder if Chris would hook me up if I gave him a list of lables.

I like Gunny's idea though of the printer paper lables, that's slick

Originally Posted by GySgtFrank

True dat. I have to pull the harness back out a ways to get at it for lengthening. It will not be an easy operation as it barely fits in there.

Fuck that noise.

[JL1RX7]

Guessing I need to try to "expense" some label makers for you both.

[TitaniumTT]

Yaaaaas!!!

[chibikougan]

$20 and $17.99 for the Tape..


http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...FYpffgod2qcFXg

[TitaniumTT]

printers?

[GySgtFrank]

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...Laser-Address/

.866 cents per label