Tidying and securing wiring under dash

[Quickstep192]

I'm looking for advice on how to tidy and secure the wiring up under the dash.

I undertook a little project to add a fuse for the dash lights and found a ton of cleanup work to do. During the process of tracing, removing and running new wiring, I pulled a lot of wire down from the dash. Now that it's time to put it back, I'd like to get any guidance I can for keeping it neat and securing it.

I think I've got a pretty good idea of how I'm going to make it neat, but I don't really see any places to secure it. Any suggestions?

[tschall]

On my '86 Cab 911, there are at least 5 bendable tabs with rubber/plastic sleeves under the dash in various locations across the width of the dash. Some are utilized by the existing harness(s), some hold only a couple of wires. All are available to either add a small 2 -3 wire bundle, or you can use small cable ties and/or flexible FLAP bundle wraps and then hang or add them alongside existing. The result should be, hopefully a well labeled, clean environment. If everyone who ever worked on these cars were mandated to properly label each wire, wow what a simple world it would be!

[walt]

I have used some cable tie adhesive mounts under the dash to secure loose wires. Works well.

[T77911S]

word of caution
Porsche wiring is not that great.
tying wire bundles tight could cause a fire if the wires cant cool or they get hot and melt when they are bundled tight.

[timmy2]

Originally Posted by T77911S

word of caution
Porsche wiring is not that great.
tying wire bundles tight could cause a fire if the wires cant cool or they get hot and melt when they are bundled tight.

^^^^^^Good advice.^^^^^

Old and brittle insulation doesn’t like to be moved around.

[JSV798]

A couple of years ago I finally got round to tackling the mess under the dash of my car after 25 years ownership! When I first got the car I removed quite a bit of wiring that didn't appear to do anything but shied away from removing it all as the car had an after market alarm and central locking that did work. The catalyst was non-working indicators; there was so much wiring in the way I decided to move it. I discovered that there are a few holes in the bulkhead with plastic plugs so that I could reroute the alarm cabling on the front side of the bulkhead out of sight. This involved quite a bit of cable cutting and re-soldering this time using heat_shrink cable sleeve rather than taping over soldered joints. The result was a much tidier under dash and less worry about any of the soldered joints shorting on the metal bulkhead and the alarm and central locking still work.Here are before and after shots:





There are still cables under the dash but these are mostly original. So suggest you do something similar; from memory there are a couple of small plugged holes not far from the ignition switch but bear in mind my car is RHD and another one somewhere in the centre. You will need some rubber grommets in the holes to protect cables from chafing.

[Uwon]

I tried to tidy up the under-dash wiring and I had the advantage of starting off with a clean tub and transferring complete wiring from an ‘86. The bottom line is that there is not enough slack to run wires parallel to each other to avoid all those criss-crossings. I finally gave up, put up with the spaghetti for a couple of years and then the light went on........so easy, really.
Go to post #308 for the details and measurements.

Evolution of a Carrera RST





Cheers,
Johan

[Quickstep192]

Wow, that is NICE. I don't know if I have the patience or lower back strength to template that out. But holy cow, what a major improvement.

[Uwon]

It’s a four hour job. Hope you had a look at post #308. You will spend far more backbreaking evenings trying some unsuccessful wiring spaghetti cleanup. Haha....
johan

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Uwon

It’s a four hour job. Hope you had a look at post #308. You will spend far more backbreaking evenings trying some unsuccessful wiring spaghetti cleanup. Haha....
johan

Do you think the dimensions you showed in Post #308 would work in a '73?

I'd love to give it a try. Even if the wire is tidy, what you've done looks so much nicer!

Can you share a bit more detail about how you secured it? I see the one bracket, but surely there are more attachment points than that.

I'd appreciate any guidance.

[Uwon]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

Do you think the dimensions you showed in Post #308 would work in a '73?

I'd love to give it a try. Even if the wire is tidy, what you've done looks so much nicer!

Can you share a bit more detail about how you secured it? I see the one bracket, but surely there are more attachment points than that.

I'd appreciate any guidance.

I looked at the ‘73 PET and mentally compared it to the ‘78. Looks pretty much the same except for the location of the brake master cylinder-‘73 down by the pedals, ‘78 in frunk above footwell. I used one of the thru bolts for the master cylinder to secure the home made S-bracket to hold the driver’s side panel. There has to be another bolt or hole somewhere in the vicinity on your car that you can utilize.
For the right side panel, it is simply friction fitted against the bulkhead and held up with my after market extra A/C outlet. In your case, an L-bracket mounted on the bulkhead would do.
You should cut the cardboard panels and try their figment. Won’t take you long. Bet you’ll be off right away to Joanns Fabrics for interior matching vinyl and thin foam rubber baking, Michaels for a panel of core-board, And Home Depot for some aluminium 1 1/2 “ wide flat stock.
Cheers,
Johan