Wiring harness removal

[squidmarks]

I'm stripping my SC down for painting. As I've shown before here, she's up on a rotisserie and I'm now stripping everything off. I had most of the wiring harness removed before I raised it on the rotisserie but thought I'd leave the engine wiring and pulling it thru the tunnel until I got it up on the rotisserie. I now have the engine wiring harness loose and ready to pull thru, but realized that there is no way the connectors on the engine wiring harness are going to fit thru the channel b/w the seats. I didn't realize that there is a wiring cradle inside the tunnel that doesn't fit much more than the wire bundle itself.

What have people done in the past when de-wiring? Remove the engine harness connectors? Some of them look like they're going to be a major pain in the ass to get back together, but I suppose that is probably going to be my only option. I could just wrap up the engine wiring harness and front trunk wires, but that will make the clean up/sandblasting job tedious.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Geoff

[Mo_Gearhead]

Geoff, Had the same problem when I did my car.

I took plastic, gallon milk jugs ...split them with a razor from the opening down one side. Inserted wiring bundles, wrapped it all in duct tape.

Media blaster (walnut hulls in my case) had no effect, they just pushed them aside as they went along. Worked great!

(be sure to TAG all ends first)

[Mo_Gearhead]

That's them hanging down from trunk. Did same in engine area.

[squidmarks]

You had to disconnect all wires from the fusebox, too, then right? That sounds like a lot of labeling. I took another look at it last night after posting my message and thought there might be a chance I could pull the engine harness thru the tunnel. I might give it a try.

Geoff

[PcarPhil]

I just pulled the wiring harness out of my '85. I 'thinned out' some unneccessary circuits up front by removing them completely. Then I cut the harness in 2 or 3 spots, also upfront, and labelled everything. Then I pulled the harness back through the tunnel pulling from the engine bay side.

Cutting the harness wasn't absolutely necessary but I figured it would be easier than disconnecting all wires from the front fuse panel. I'll need to solder about 12 total wires or so (2 or 3 bundled sets) which won't be too bad.

Also the front lighting of the car is separate from the rear harness so you won't need to worry about that.

This '85 harness is going back in my '81 but I'll be stripping and pulling a few unneeded circuits out of the harness before I reinstall.

Good luck. It was a pain pulling the harness through the tunnel. Make sure you attach a pull string or two through the tunnel when pulling the harness through.

[Mo_Gearhead]

Yes, EVERY wire end was removed and labeled. On my car (69) I did not see how those round, wire end 'plugs' would physically pass through the holes in the body. They appear too large.

Did the factory pull the tunnel wires, THEN attach the ends? In my case. it certainly appeared so and I did not want to cut any of them off and have splices.

[Fritz Peyerl]

Hi Geoff.

I am a new owner of a 1972 912T and just found your website and seen your engine rebuilt pictures. I am impressed how clean your engine turned out. What method did you use to clean it?
I done a 912 engine, but it did not turn out that clean.

Fritz Peyerl
1972 911T silver gray
1966 912 Irish green
Turner Valley, Alberta
Canada

fpeyerl@telus.net

[gsmith660]

When I first put my car together in 82 the Harness that I bought from a local Mechanic was cut in the engine compartment and taped together so it would go thru the tunnel I just recently stripped my engine compartment and desoldered all the wires to paint and got new shrink tube for the harness when I was done it looked like new and took about an hour and a half to complete

[Ho Hum 74]

I just pulled the entire harness out of a 91 C4. This was the most painful thing I've ever done and I've rebuilt a motor before! It took 4 of my mates an entire day to get the rear out and the front trunk area done. Had to remove ALL sorts of things, fuel pump, fuel tank, dash, etc... It took me another 4 hours to remove the dash wiring. Gruesome task.

By the way, everything fits through the holes provided by the factory if you take your time to work it out.

[squidmarks]

Originally Posted by gsmith660

When I first put my car together in 82 the Harness that I bought from a local Mechanic was cut in the engine compartment and taped together so it would go thru the tunnel I just recently stripped my engine compartment and desoldered all the wires to paint and got new shrink tube for the harness when I was done it looked like new and took about an hour and a half to complete

Yeah, it looks like cutting the main wire bundle going to the engine compartment might not be too bad if you staggered where you cut the wires so when you didn't end up with a huge ball of crimp connectors/heat-shrink tubing when you re-connected them all.

Geoff

[squidmarks]

Originally Posted by Ho Hum 74

I just pulled the entire harness out of a 91 C4. This was the most painful thing I've ever done and I've rebuilt a motor before! It took 4 of my mates an entire day to get the rear out and the front trunk area done. Had to remove ALL sorts of things, fuel pump, fuel tank, dash, etc... It took me another 4 hours to remove the dash wiring. Gruesome task.

By the way, everything fits through the holes provided by the factory if you take your time to work it out.

I can see what you mean, its tough to see how all that wire and connectors can fit thru that tiny little hole!

[gsmith660]

I soldered each and shrink tubed each one side by side didn't have much choice since it was already cut there but I didnt end up with a big ball since I took care with my solder and didn't use large amounts and use shrink near the same size as the wire so when I shrank it down it was near the same dia. as the wire.

[squidmarks]

I ended up cutting the wires to the engine wiring harness. It was still a btch to pull thru the tunnel - I can't imagine trying to pull it thru with connectors still attached. I now have the entire wiring harness removed from the car - nice feeling.

Hmmm, now, what next...brakes and suspension, I suppose...

Geoff