Wiring tidy up
Discussion
With winter now here, it’s time to look at winter jobs. First on my list is tidying up the wiring in the foot well. It all works fine, but it’s a bit of a mess due to hacking into the old loom for my megasquirt installation, plus there’s a lot of totally unnecessary wiring in the footwell and engine bay. Here’s the current mess!
My megasquirt installation started as a fuel only PnP unit from V8 developments, which uses the existing Lucas loom and ECU plug. I then upgraded to wasted spark which uses a separate loom for the coilpacks, crank sensor and tacho drive. Plan is to remove all the unnecessary wiring, replace the old wiring to the engine bay for the injectors and sensors and build a relay and Power distribution board to tidy up what’s left. This is how its wired up at the moment (or at least my best gues).
I think all the orange stuff and associated wiring to the ECU can be removed which would leave it looking like this, which looks a lot easier to deal with. Just need to check inside the ECU to make sure I'm not planning to ditch anything important.
I have put together a wiring diagram for the new relay board and power ditribution, but then came across this Which might be a neater solution and can replace up to 4 relays. Anyone have any experience with these or SSRs in general?
https://www.holley.com/products/electrical/wiring_...
I have also considered replacing the whole lot with a new ECU (possibly Ms3) and loom, but I think the current plan is probably the best cost effective compromise.
My megasquirt installation started as a fuel only PnP unit from V8 developments, which uses the existing Lucas loom and ECU plug. I then upgraded to wasted spark which uses a separate loom for the coilpacks, crank sensor and tacho drive. Plan is to remove all the unnecessary wiring, replace the old wiring to the engine bay for the injectors and sensors and build a relay and Power distribution board to tidy up what’s left. This is how its wired up at the moment (or at least my best gues).
I think all the orange stuff and associated wiring to the ECU can be removed which would leave it looking like this, which looks a lot easier to deal with. Just need to check inside the ECU to make sure I'm not planning to ditch anything important.
I have put together a wiring diagram for the new relay board and power ditribution, but then came across this Which might be a neater solution and can replace up to 4 relays. Anyone have any experience with these or SSRs in general?
https://www.holley.com/products/electrical/wiring_...
I have also considered replacing the whole lot with a new ECU (possibly Ms3) and loom, but I think the current plan is probably the best cost effective compromise.
I’m a bit fussy so I’d want to rip it all out and fit a bespoke loom as I did recently in my Ms2 install.
Makes the job a lot easier and there are less splices etc to worry about.
Less complicated to have just one ecu controlling everything but I can understand if you didnt want to spend the money.
That battery area is one of my pet hates but it’s difficult to get it tidy with the battery still there.
May be able to make a chunk back by selling on the old stuff?
Makes the job a lot easier and there are less splices etc to worry about.
Less complicated to have just one ecu controlling everything but I can understand if you didnt want to spend the money.
That battery area is one of my pet hates but it’s difficult to get it tidy with the battery still there.
May be able to make a chunk back by selling on the old stuff?
Plan is to fit a new loom to replace the old wiring to the engine bay and fuel pump etc. I've managed to find a source for new 14cux plugs so this shouldn't be a problem. No point in replacing the ignition wiring as this is all new and wired to a separate plug on the ecu.
Hopefully with all the redundant stuff removed and the rest of the loose wiring tied back to a new relay board I should be able to tidy up the foot well wiring and get easier access to the ecu etc. The smaller agm battery should help with space.
The MSD solid state relay block looks like a tidy solution for replacing the relays, does the job of 4 normal relays so could be a neat solution. Not cheap though!
Hopefully with all the redundant stuff removed and the rest of the loose wiring tied back to a new relay board I should be able to tidy up the foot well wiring and get easier access to the ecu etc. The smaller agm battery should help with space.
The MSD solid state relay block looks like a tidy solution for replacing the relays, does the job of 4 normal relays so could be a neat solution. Not cheap though!
Edited by angus337 on Monday 18th November 23:06
Belle427 said:
I’m a bit fussy so I’d want to rip it all out and fit a bespoke loom as I did recently in my Ms2 install.
Makes the job a lot easier and there are less splices etc to worry about.
Less complicated to have just one ecu controlling everything but I can understand if you didnt want to spend the money.
That battery area is one of my pet hates but it’s difficult to get it tidy with the battery still there.
May be able to make a chunk back by selling on the old stuff?
One of the most satisfying aspects of an Ecu upgrade is tidying up the rats nest around the battery. Makes the job a lot easier and there are less splices etc to worry about.
Less complicated to have just one ecu controlling everything but I can understand if you didnt want to spend the money.
That battery area is one of my pet hates but it’s difficult to get it tidy with the battery still there.
May be able to make a chunk back by selling on the old stuff?
Here’s how Powers do it.
The bespoke loom uses this type of modular fuse box.
https://www.polevolt.co.uk/acatalog/Modular_Fuse_a...
We use ssr relays in industry and they are very good but can't comment on vehicle usage.
https://www.polevolt.co.uk/acatalog/Modular_Fuse_a...
We use ssr relays in industry and they are very good but can't comment on vehicle usage.
angus337 said:
The MSD solid state relay block looks like a tidy solution for replacing the relays, does the job of 4 normal relays so could be a neat solution. Not cheap though!
How do they manage to advertise this as tidying the wiringWebsite shows
Stand Alone Solid State Relay. Clean up your wiring with an MSD Solid State Relay Block
Gets worse when viewing the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAdYnvXPaH8&fe...
Video opens with the following comment
Are you embarassed to open the hood on your ride?
While showing the below mess of wiring
Then continues with
Clean up your firewall and tidy that engine bay with MSD Solid State Relay Block
While showing the below tidier yet still by no means perfect wiring
Below are the important things that the website and video fail to tell viewers
The MSD Solid State Relay Block doesn't tidy the wiring up
The person that wired the MSD Solid State Relay Block made a tidier job of the wiring due to using tape
Due to the termination being made with screw connectors all the cable ends will need to be soldered or have pins crimped to them and there could be problems when attempting to disconnect the cables at a future date due to the thread-lock (included in the kit) that has been applied
Once the MSD Solid State Relay Block warranty has expired, should one built in SSR fail, a complete new block will be needed to overcome the problem
The whole thing stinks
You may be interested in these https://www.rallylights.com/hella-hl87251-mini-sol...
SSRs will very likely keep dropping in price, standard relays can be replaced with these when they become more affordable
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff