wiring harness removal

[Robert Adams]

Need some help!
Trying to remove wiring harness through the back of the tunnel and just can't seem to get the connections through, obviously I'm not doing something right.
In the case of the roundish connector I removed the white guide and flattened the pins then taped it to the harness. STILL NO GO! Still to big.
Is one supposed to remove all the connectors down to the bare wires? Sure will make for a difficult re-install.
I was able to remove the square-ish connector because I already had made a tool for removing the bucket wiring connector which is similar.

Any thoughts or guidance from those who have done this before will be greatly appreciated by the many that are in my same predicament.

THANKS!

[crustychief]

I removed a harness from an 84 and did not have to remove the plugs. I just carefully laid them against the harness and taped them tightly to the wire bundle. I also taped a length of line to the end of the bundle so I could "back up" if I needed to, which I did several times. Good luck.

[HelmetHead]

I removed a wiring harness once and onlyl once. It is a Total PITA!!!

I ended up photographing each of the connectors that wouldn't go through the tunnel from multiple angles and then took each wire out (tape them together) so you can put the connectors back with the appropriate wires..

My suggestion would be to leave the harness in the tunnel unless you absolutely have to remove it.. Imagine the difficulty of getting the harness out x10 to get it back in the tunnel.

My latest project, we bundled up the harness in the front trunk and near the torsion bar tubes in the rear and wrapped them up with aluminum foil prior to painting..

[abisel]

I had absolutely no problem removing the harness from the tunnel in my '73. The main harness connects to the fuse box of which I labled and disconnected. There were no circular plugs or flat plugs to pull through the tunnel, just loose wires.

I pulled the harness out of the tunnel from the rear. Are you doing the same? Or trying to pull the harness out the front of the tunnel.

[Robert Adams]

I was trying to pull the harness forward from the rear to the front. Seemed like a lot less wires to pull through the tunnel going in that direction. The first obstacle is the rear opening into the tunnel. Then there is an open area before it enters a tube under the seat braces. Somewhere forward of the seat braces the tube stops and the wire is exposed again. Did fine up to trying to get the connectors through. Sounds like the only way to get them through is to remove them?

[abisel]

Take a look at it again. You may find that the wires that come out of the tunnel at the forward end are easier to disconnect and will pull through the conduit easier going rearward. There would be some wires for the hand brake, brake light switch, etc to watch out for, but they are single wires.

[crustychief]

Definitely pull out from the rear of the tunnel.

[MTemp]

I have taken out (and reinstalled) a 66 swb and a 72E. Swb goes out from back to front, lwb the other way. So as yours is the latter then disconnect the rear harness from the front fuseboxes and pull back out from the rear. Leave the front/dash harness attached to the boxes unless you want additional 'fun'.

Mick

[LUFTKUL]

Bumping an old thread to relate my experience.

Pulling full harness out of an '88 Cab. Front, dash, and DME harness are a pain, but doable without cutting anything.

There is a special place in hell for the engineer who designed the rear wiring harness tunnel. I didn't realize it is a 3"X2"(at best) tunnel inside the tunnel with the opening to the sub-tunnel set over to the side and inset at the front and rear from your access. This means when you are pulling from either end you are pulling at an angle with lots of other welded tubes trying to wedge your wire bundle.

I ruined my rear harness section by trying to pull to the front. DO NOT, like me, try to pull the harness with the extra rubber "sheath" of the rear wiring harness that goes over the torsion tube. It will bunch up and get everything stuck in the tunnel. I taped the opening of the sheath and lubed it and it still bunched up and jammed inside the tunnel. The sheath is not an issue if you pull from the rear.

I highly recommend identifying the wires in the bundle from the rear harness at the fuse block, make notes, and disconnect. Then pull from the rear and leave a pull string if you are putting something back.

[timmy2]

From '69 and newer pull them out the back.

[GG Allin]

I'm a little confused about what I'm reading here. No tunnel to speak of here an an '88. All I had to to is pass the harness behind the rear suspension cross member then down. Once it was in place there I removed a roughly two inch grommet from below the rear left seat and passed everything through that hole in to the passenger compartment. At this point I need to figure out where this smaller black section on the left leads to. It appears to head out under the front hood, I suspect the fuse box. The plan at this point to to disconnect it from there and pass in back in to the passenger compartment.

[timmy2]

GG Allin,
That is just the Motronic ECU harness.

Originally in this thread, the OP was asking about the main through body tunnel harness. It runs from the tail lights and rear fuse panel through the tunnel to the dash and trunk areas with a few stops along the way.
And should be pulled out the back of the tunnel.

The black cable you are asking about runs to the dash and fuse panel on your car.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by timmy2

GG Allin,

The black cable you are asking about runs to the dash and fuse panel on your car.

Yeah, that black portion is proving to be tough to trace back. There are several black wrapped looms that pass through above the pedal cluster . They pop out to the left of the brake booster. From there everything is incredibly tight.

[Geneman]

bumping this thread again. trying to remove main harness from the tunnel in a 77 coupe. ( now a full race car: I do not need this thing at all.). I have everything cut off of the harness on both ends (trunk and tunnel exit in rear) . but it still will not budge pulling from either side. is it clamped down anywhere inside the tunnel? must I remove the shift rod to get at any of these clamps/holds?

[timmy2]

Take a look beside the gas pedal.

[Geneman]

thank you Timmy. will do. is there a secret I should know?

[timmy2]

Sometimes carpet goo/glue gets on the vinyl sheathing.
Look where the harness goes into the tunnel and up under the trunk floor to where it pops out through the grommet.
There may be metal plastic covered tab(s) in the tunnel that is holding you back as well.

[Geneman]

thank you Dennis!

[75 911s]

One of my episodes I show removing it from my 77. I had to take the 11 pin connector apart to flatten it enough to get it around the Torsion tube. It's tight up there.

[timmy2]

Great video.
He has both ends cut off completely at trunk and tunnel. Something is holding it up.