last weekend pics



I'm in the process of wiring the haltech, had to make a phenolic spacer for the UIM, bought a drill press to make that a bit easier to do (you can see it's unfinished in the pics, probably going to buy a band saw to make cutting the periphery easier, but it will work as it sits)



also some pics of the 350 and the fiero with the cover pulled pretty far down not much to see. While at DRE bought some redline oils and I now have a bag of leftover hose ends resulting from poor planning and my tendency to constantly change my mnid https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/wacko.png



enjoy the pics, if any of you have a bosch 3 wire TPS you can sell me, PM me, looks like thats what the TWM tbody uses.

how much for you haltech tps? https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png Looks sweet!

I dunno, I probably shouldnt sell it until I have something to replace it with. Otherwise I'll end up adapting the haltech TPS somehow.

Another update for those of you bored and/or interested:



yesterdays progress



Started crimping the new haltech connectors, found an old tool I used when RC cars were my addiction to crimp battery connectors, works well for these little bastards. I'm also soldering all the connections. The big mess on the drivers side is the F harness, I'm disassembling it and removing all unused wiring (AC, PS, AAS, A/T junk (yeah, they have automatic trans stuff even in my manual harness!), and some engine related things like ignition, initial set, diagnostic etc... haltech is replacing all that). One thing I learned when I started taking apart this harness is that my harness has been saturated with brake fluid from my master cylinder which decided to piss all winter while the car sat. So after further inspection the paint damage was found and you see it in the last pic, what a bummer. I might pull the engine out again and strip+paint the firewally, but I'm thinking about holding off til next winter before I do that. I want to drive the car this summer https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

I get scared when I see that many wires, but I'll give my best fake knowledgable response:



Wow, looks like you've got your hands full, but from my experience, you're on the right track!

Soldering a properly crimped connector is a NO-NO!!!!

From: http://www.marvin3m.com/connect/index.htm



5. Should Connector Terminal Pins be Soldered?

Some field repair people feel that after a 'good crimp' is performed on a new connector, the terminal pin should be soldered to the attaching wire. Maybe they are used to dealing with 'bad crimps' or feel they need the additional piece of mind. But is this the right thing to do?



The most common aspect of connector replacement in pinball is the GI (General Illumination) connectors. These fail the most, and require replacement most often. The generally accepted crimp-on .156" terminal pin to use for GI circuits is the trifurcon style terminal pin (i.e. Molex part# 08-52-0113, Digikey part# WM2313-ND). This terminal pin grabs the circuit board's header pin on three sides instead of just one. Though the current handling capability is not increased, the vibration resistance and durability of the pin goes up dramatically.



If a trifurcon pin is properly crimped, there is NO need to solder the connecting wire to the terminal pin. The only positive aspect of soldering a properely crimped terminal pin is the "wire pull out force" goes up. Current ratings do not go up with a soldered pin compared to a properely crimped-only pin (that information is directly from a Molex technical advisor who I talked with on the phone).



Now if there is a bad or improper crimp on a terminal pin, solder can increase the performance of a crimp. For example, a gas tight crimp is critical to long term performance. If there are voids between the wire strands or between the strands and the terminal because of a bad crimp, oxides can form (oxides are of higher resistance than the clean metals). Granted, in most applications the performance increase is negligible versus an unsoldered crimp, even a bad crimp. And the potential of doing "more harm than good" is very high when soldering a terminal pin (unless the user follows the terminal soldering method outlined below).



The risk of problems when soldering a terminal pin far out-weigh the benefit in most cases. For example, Adding solder to a terminal pin can get solder on the "locking tangs", making it unflexible. This in turn can ruin the connector housing, and make the pin nearly impossible to remove.



Soldering a terminal pin can also cause the terminal pin/wire insulation joint to fail. Or in the worse case, it can melt the insulation back beyond the pin, possibly causing a short. Also, in extreme situations, Iain documents the melted plastic insulator can wick down into the wiring, and cause the wire to become a sort-of capacitor. This can cause some difficult diagnostic problems!



Another problem with soldering terminal pins (as documented by Bobukcat) is having flux wick down and end up being left on the connector surface. This can interfere with connectivity to the header pin.



Lastly, though unlikely unless extreme heat is used, the plating on the terminal pins can be damaged by soldering.



Properely Soldering a Terminal Pin (if you must!)

With the potential problems of soldering a terminal pin known, some users may still want that additional "insurance". Or if a good crimp can not be performed (wrong tool or wire gauge?), soldering may be necessary to overcome the bad crimp. Molex reconizes that some user may not following their crimping directions, and may solder a terminal pin anyway. If this is the case, here is the ONLY terminal pin soldering technique Molex (relucantly) recommends. This information came from John Luthy, Molex's connector product division manager:



Before crimping the terminal pin, tin the end of the bare wire with some solder (best method is to dip the wire end into a hot solder pot).

Crimp the terminal properely (see the notes above!) using a good quality hand crimper (Molex WHT-1921 part# 11-01-0015, Molex part# 63811-1000, or Amp 725).

After the wire is properely crimped, using a temperature controlled soldering station (750 degree maximum), heat the terminal pin momentarily, right where the tinned wire is crimped in the terminal pin. The tinned wire's solder should heat and reflow, spreading to the terminal pin. Do NOT add any additional solder!

Talking to Molex representatives, they really discourage any terminal pin soldering (a good crimp does not require soldering!) But if it is done, the above steps are the technique to use.

good stuff banzai



mike

I havent had any issues with the risks mentioned with soldering the terminals, i'm using a small iron and theres no problem with **** running all over, I'm pretty good at soldering having alot of practice thanks to RC and computing...



The housing is nowhere near the pin when it's soldered, the only thing even at remote risk of melting is the wire insulation, and/or the sealing grommet that is on the wire, but I can have this grommet further down the wire while I solder it if it becomes an issue.



In this case, I really want the soldering, I don't have the exact GM Weatherpack connector installation tool which crimps these things perfectly, but the tool I do have does a OK job (better than taking some generic crimper or worse, pliers to it), but it really needs the solder to make a solid connection that can take some pulling without coming apart.



I havent come close to the detent tab with the solder, I try to have the terminal oriented vertically with the wire at the bottom so any solder that will run, will run down the wire inside the insulation rather than all over the terminal.





Another thing worth noting, while I have been taking apart my old harness, I've found a number of junctions that are crimped only (looks to be just a band of copper or some relatively soft material) for distributing switched +12V or grounds, and they are very loose, one fell apart in my hands. So, I have come to the conclusion that I will be soldering all these junctions because the crimps have failed, no wonder people have electrical/grounding issues in these cars. The harness build quality is not that great.

Good pixs. Brake fluid ruined my paint there too, before the new paint job. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/wink.png I have a big box stuffed full of old wiring too. Well looks like I will not solder those crimp connectors, I had been contimplating that when I did them and had chose not too.

some more pics from last night:

http://pengaru.com/~swivel/cars/rx-7/05-06-2003/



all the connectors are soldered, the digicam doesnt want to focus well up close so these are about as good as I can get... looks fine to me, and the connections are solid.



so far the injectors and TPS are wired up, just coolant temp, intake temp, MAP, CAS, and ignition left. I did power up the e6k and get it online to calibrate the TPS (and confirm the temporary rigged TPS works), everything worked great, didnt let the smoke out of the electrical system https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



left the cat pics in the directory, what a bastard.

And more from last night https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png



http://pengaru.com/~swivel/cars/rx-7/05-07-2003/





pulled the wires that have been cut out of the harness through the firewall, now they're hanging down in the drivers side footwell... I'll be removing them all the way down to wherever they terminate (in some connector at some point) and likely removing many of the computers they go to if I have not already, like the AAS and power steering computers for example...

yeah theres tons of little boxes to get rid of



mike

Man, as far as NA goes..I think you've got one of the best setups..I've been following your progress, and it looks sweet so far! Keep it up man...ya know, when we all finish our projects, we should have a "wiring harness" picture contest..to see who has the most,lol...i've got a shitload of wireing left over!

Yea sure is sweet, I gotta get one of those s4 rails and do that!!

You talkin about the S4 fuel rail?

yup

oh you're still using the banjo fittings then? I didnt see it in your pics, buried under the UIM https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

Yea I still have that gay shite, I just put a wanted add up https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

the banjo stuff isnt too bad really... You'll still have a crush washer seal even with the metric to AN adatpers... Probably best to have some AN ends welded to the S5 rail.