Wiring Question

G

gottagofast13

New member
I'm looking at building a new IT car that is perfect in almost every way, but most of the wiring has all been fried/damaged. Rather than moving all wiring from another car, can I leave the stock wiring in place but run everything through a "painless wiring" kit and still be legal?

I see no performance advantage to going this way (just a huge time/expense saver), but I figured I'd check before going down this path.
 
Those are "universal" type harnesses, that would be very different than the stock part. Ultimately, it would take a protest to find out for sure but that would kind of suck. I certainly don't think so.

The good news is that most modern cars have harnesses that are modular and unplug easily from a wrecked chassis. I know the Bimmers have tons of wiring for all the bells and whistles but they are really just a part that attaches to the tub.

K
 
According to ONE tech official that I know, the wiring MUST be in the car but does not need to be used. The stock wiring harness can be put in a zip-lock bag & tied to the cage (i.e. a '72 Pinto). Not sure if this is totally correct or not, but what is the difference in that & the wiring for a Mega-Squirt system? :shrug: You are still modifying or deleting part of the stock harness.
 
Knestis said:
Those are "universal" type harnesses, that would be very different than the stock part. Ultimately, it would take a protest to find out for sure but that would kind of suck. I certainly don't think so.

The good news is that most modern cars have harnesses that are modular and unplug easily from a wrecked chassis. I know the Bimmers have tons of wiring for all the bells and whistles but they are really just a part that attaches to the tub.

K
Click to expand...

????

not the Z3's it's got to be cut out whole, nothing modular there. The real problem wires are the ones with intermittent open circuits.

As for the OP add as many wires as it takes to make it functional, how else are you going to start the car when you remove the key switch?
 
Z3_GoCar said:
????

not the Z3's it's got to be cut out whole, nothing modular there. The real problem wires are the ones with intermittent open circuits.

As for the OP add as many wires as it takes to make it functional, how else are you going to start the car when you remove the key switch?
Click to expand...

I've never actually torn apart a Z3 but I find it hard to believe that they don't incorporate an engine harness, dash harness, rear body harness, etc. It's just not economically feasible to manufacture a car by crimping wires together inside the tub, I wouldn't think.

Now on the other hand, if it IS one part number, that sucks but it's how it is. And trust me - I know of what you speak on the intermittent open issue: I race a VW. We had a fuse block with internal shorts when we built Pablo II, just for starters. Then vehicle speed circuit that went dodgy somewhere between the sensor and the ECU. Then something shorted where a bundle runs over the strut top, turning one injector on full blast...

:happy204:

K
 
Knestis said:
I've never actually torn apart a Z3 but I find it hard to believe that they don't incorporate an engine harness, dash harness, rear body harness, etc. It's just not economically feasible to manufacture a car by crimping wires together inside the tub, I wouldn't think. K
Click to expand...

There are in fact multiple harnesses in a Z3. There's the main engine harness, the engine ignition harness, the body harness, the radio harness, and some smaller ones (like an individual harness in each door, for example.)

But the main body harness is indeed one enormous harness, that's for sure! Fortunately, the radio harness was separate so I could at least remove that one.
 
Knestis said:
I've never actually torn apart a Z3 but I find it hard to believe that they don't incorporate an engine harness, dash harness, rear body harness, etc. It's just not economically feasible to manufacture a car by crimping wires together inside the tub, I wouldn't think.

Now on the other hand, if it IS one part number, that sucks but it's how it is. And trust me - I know of what you speak on the intermittent open issue: I race a VW. We had a fuse block with internal shorts when we built Pablo II, just for starters. Then vehicle speed circuit that went dodgy somewhere between the sensor and the ECU. Then something shorted where a bundle runs over the strut top, turning one injector on full blast...

:happy204:

K
Click to expand...


The chassis wiring is one big lump that runs from headlights to the fuse box to the passenger compartment to the trunk. I suspect it's easier in a coupe because there's no trunk bulkhead. One part of the harness runs through the passenger compartment to the trunk (that's through two bulkheads) for the tail light, the same harness travels to the chassis computer under the passenger side of the dash and to the back of the gauge cluster.

If the e-36 sedan/coupe is anything like our e-36 7/8's, I'd just replace the wires for a custom gauge cluster, starter switches, and add a custom motor-ECU harness. I'd buy a dozen rolls of wire in various colors and gauges and just patch to the stock fuse box to make the essentials work, and cut the wires to the power fru-fru but leave them in. Actually, that's what I did do.
 
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