Honestly.....how hard is a re-wire?

[gmw9666]

As I plough though all my jobs I want to tidy up the wiring, with the car being modified I've got old loom, new loom and clearly the original wires that have been sliced and diced over the last 34 years

Trying to ID what is what to fault find is proving to take an age........so much stuff not connected or just cut wires so plenty of obsolete wires

So here is my question

Do I take the ice age it is taking to mend and make do or do I break out the wire cutters and rip the whole lot out and start again........how hard is it.........really? (or is there anyone in the midlands who is competitively priced that someone could recommend)

Here is what I've got once the bundles of zip ties have been removed

[Rockettvr]

I loves a bit of wiring me
Before

After ( not quite finished)

It depends on your electrical skills but that wiring needs sorting !
As I'm an electrician rewiring a wedge wouldn't concern me, but I wouldn't start from scratch, by the time you buy all the different coloured cables you'll need you would be better off either getting a bespoke loom made or if money's tight get a general purpose kit car type loom and adapt it.
There's several bespoke & kit car looms advertised on the web have a shop around and see what suits your skill set and budget
Good luck
Ron

[gmw9666]

Came across a company in Leicester (so not too far) that would come to my house, measure up, make a bespoke loom, fuse board, relays etc then fit it for £950 (£300 for design, £350 for loom, £300 for fitting - 1.5 days)

I would have to rip out all the old stuff but that's that easier bit

They even offer a digi dash option if I wanted to loose all the old gauges and replace with one of those all in one type units, for this add on circa £300 for high spec ACE / KOSO unit

[gmw9666]

Bobby Shaftoe said:

If £950 is for rewiring the whole car it sounds okay, but £950 for just an engine loom sounds like a massive rip off.

I don't think my materials bill came to more than £100, and that was with buying 30metres of every colour wire i needed and only ended up using a few metres of each

So for £100 quid in materials its certainly worth a go DIY.........would certainly learn a few things and if it all goes pear shaped get the pro's in........maximum loss being the £100

If I can strip out a Chimera dash, label everything, re place dash panel and refit and everything worked first time then I may just give this a bash

[gmw9666]

Bobby Shaftoe said:

I would think so yes, it's not difficult really. First step would be to find out which ecu you've got and get a pinout diagram for the connector.

If you need any bits i've got probably 50 odd Junior 2 pin power timer connectors (injectors, temp sensors and the like) and plenty of decent quality automotive spec 18awg thinwall wire in about 9 different colours. Happy to do it at cost as i don't think i'll be using it any time soon. Theres plenty of suppliers for fuse & relay blocks on ebay or car builder solutions and the like, quality seems to be much of a muchness for these bits.

IIRC the engine loom only uses 2 or 3 relays anyway, the other 50 million relays in the footwell are for the rest of the car.

Its running an Emerald ECU so have all the wiring diagrams / installation manuals etc for that, will get planning an be in touch :-)

[adam quantrill]

I reckon all out wiring is starting to get a bit brittle so if you're going to bit the bullet, now's the time to do it! Also uprate the gauge of the rear lights while you're at it because it's marginal - any faults can melt the wires before the fuses pop.

[gmw9666]

Ok I just scared myself, took the stereo cover square thing off

Scotch locks and what appears to be masking tape.......nice! Everything looks looped and looped again. Gauges running off the stereo power leads etc

Proper spaghetti western, I genuinely think removing and starting again with a proper neat job has to be the way forward. This has to be a fire hazard

[Skyedriver]

gmw9666 said:

Ok I just scared myself, took the stereo cover square thing off

Scotch locks and what appears to be masking tape.......nice! Everything looks looped and looped again. Gauges running off the stereo power leads etc

Proper spaghetti western, I genuinely think removing and starting again with a proper neat job has to be the way forward. This has to be a fire hazard

Done by the same guy who "did" my old Lotus Excel by the look of it

[gmw9666]

Skyedriver said:

Done by the same guy who "did" my old Lotus Excel by the look of it

There's loads of blue wire used for live / ground you name it. Consistent with the use of the original all black tvr i guess lol

I am literally standing over the car now......do I.....don't I

Decisions decisions

My only dilemma is the after market alarm, worried if I cut the power the alarm will wake the dead so may leave for a day time job

[Rockettvr]

gmw9666 said:

Ok I just scared myself, took the stereo cover square thing off

Scotch locks and what appears to be masking tape.......nice! Everything looks looped and looped again. Gauges running off the stereo power leads etc

Proper spaghetti western, I genuinely think removing and starting again with a proper neat job has to be the way forward. This has to be a fire hazard

Looks a bit daunting but don't forget your going to be throwing a lot of that away.
As bobby says slow and methodical is the way to go
Get a decent wiring diagram that you can follow
Plan everything in advance as much as possible ( what color cable you need , if there's any special connectors, how your going to run the cable etc)
Consider breaking the job into smaller units by running it as sub looms rather than a whole car rewire so:-
Rear car loom - rear lights,fuel pump, fuel sender,boot lock solenoid etc
A dash loom
An engine bay loom
Front car loom - front lights pod motors horns fan etc
All the looms can come together at the fuse/ relay board
Allow lots and lots of time then allow even more time and then a bit more - if a pro is going to take 1 1/2 days to fit a ready made loom in a car that you've already stripped down for him then how long is it going to take you to strip out all the interior and old wiring make up a new loom fit it then put it all back together?
Don't want to scare you off , it really is not that difficult if you break it down into manageable chunks and take your time
Good luck
Ron

[wooly350i]

I remember watching a vidio of the factory and seeing how the girls worked to make the looms by using a large wooden planning board to pin the wires to as they went to each switch etc.
Then on a trip to the factory it was good to see it all in the flesh, once the board is made to get the lengths right and all termination points it'll be plain sailing and then you'll be able to run a production line for us all.wooly

[gmw9666]

wooly350i said:

I remember watching a vidio of the factory and seeing how the girls worked to make the looms by using a large wooden planning board to pin the wires to as they went to each switch etc.
Then on a trip to the factory it was good to see it all in the flesh, once the board is made to get the lengths right and all termination points it'll be plain sailing and then you'll be able to run a production line for us all.wooly

oh sure, form an orderly queue everyone lol

[Wedg1e]

Can't add much to what's been said; like Bobby Shaftoe I built a new injection loom for about £65 in materials from Vehicle Wiring Products (was a few years ago now though)... TVR had used the standard Rangie loom I think and about 3 feet of it was coiled and taped up under the passenger side dash. I made mine just the length it needed to be, it was a lot roomier under there afterwards.

Almost all of the injection connectors are available from VWP except the 3-pin for the throttle pot which is part of a range also used extensively throughout the car. That could be a sticking point unless they're available elsewhere (or you change them for a different design). The main ECU connector body can be re-used, with the crimp terminals being the same as used in the other 'Junior Timer' connectors. Incidentally they usually have an Audi badge on so can be found in various other cars in the scrappy.

The wiring from the fusebox, down the spine of the car to the rear is probably about the easiest bit of the whole car: you could add a few extras for remote hifi amps, boot lamps that don't come on with the sidelights etc. and some nice beefy earths as well.
From memory you have the reversing light switch, courtesy lights, fuel tank sender, fuel pump, tail-lamps (and reg. plate), left and right indicators, reversing lamps, brake lamps, fog lamps, boot release, electric aerial.
It runs along the top of the tunnel, drops a couple of wires into the gearbox for the reversing lamps, splits left and right behind the seats, forks for courtesy lamps and boot switch, goes out through the floor near the drivers seatbelt reel for the tank and pump, into the boot behind the passenger seat for all the lights and aerial.
CAVEAT: well it does on mine anyway

[V8 Fettler]

Upgrade to canbus, it's the only way! Just think of all the ECUs, mmmmm.

[gmw9666]

no going back now........rear loom to the seats now gone

will strip the rest tonight

gulp!!!!

(I have the bad feeling I've just started a full strip down and rebuilt hmmmm oh dear)

[gmw9666]

Looking a lot better lol

Carefully extracted the emerald loom from under the dash / engine bay (quite a simple bit of kit actually) but took my time to do this bit carefully as I'll need to use this again

Then old alarm gone, rear boot loom, speaker wires, stereo, switches etc.

Just got a pile left in the drivers footwell when I'll sort tomorrow night along with the fuse board and fan / head lamp / front loom removal

I think whilst the engine bay will be pretty clear I'll strip this and respray before refitting

Quite liberating getting stuck in, I actually bought the car to use but clearly in heading straight into rebuild lol

Ho Hum lol

[gmw9666]

Any tips on dash bolts. I can see the one on the drivers side but can't for the life of me see any others?

Any tips?

[gmw9666]

Still got dash to do but under the bonnet looks heaps better

[adam quantrill]

That looks tidy!

[gmw9666]

Had Craig from Dyno Torque round thus evening

Giving me some tips to further clear up the engine area.

Things like, LS1 throttle bottle, removing the AIC as its not needed with the Emerld etc etc

Going full bore