what's best way to fix injector plug wires

[hardflex]

Is there an easy fix for the wires where they attach to the plug which goes into the injectors on a DJet. Can the copper connectors be removed from the plastic plug and soldered/crimped? If not, is it possible to solder it in the plastic without melting it? I'm so close to making it purr I can taste it. I even went to get my spare wiring harnes to install it, but there was one wire broken loose on the other cylinder bank of that harness.

I'm in the final stages of minor reconstructive surgery on this car.

Installed front sway bar
relocated fuel pump to front
replaced plastic fuel lines
replaced floor pan under seats
reweld engine lid mounting hinge
installed adjustable MPS (this is a 1.7 with 93mm pistons and extractor exhaust, so it ran lean with no modifications. Years ago I tried 2.0 injectors, but it ran too rich then. I settled for the 1.7 injectors and a variable resistor/rheostat in line with the CHT. I put many miles on it, but I don't think it was mixture correct throughout the range. Now that Brad's page is here I'm going for another stab at it.
Replaced ECU with updated model with idle mixture adjustment.
New White paint with Blue stripe down the center.
New 8 spoke wheels with Michelins all around.

So I'm anxious to see what all the work has wrought. any help will be appreciated.

PD

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by hardflex
Is there an easy fix for the wires where they attach to the plug which goes into the injectors on a DJet. Can the copper connectors be removed from the plastic plug and soldered/crimped? If not, is it possible to solder it in the plastic without melting it?

The easy fix is to send a note to Bowlsby, who shows up here on this BBS from time to time. (Or try his last name @ aol . com ) Send him your old harness and a decent sum of money and you'll get back a harness that, to my eye, is better than yours was when it was first installed in your car.

If you don't want to do that, then you can pull the metal contacts out of the plugs. You have to reach in from the "front" side (that goes onto the injectors) with either a special tool or a very stiff and slender piece of metal. A buddy of mine used an electronics "pot tweaker" screwdriver, and had to grind it down to fit.

If you look at the front side of the plug, you'll notice that the holes for the contacts look like upside-down 'T' shapes. A tab on the contact hooks into something inside of that 'T'. Push the wire forward a little bit, put your release tool into the leg of the T, and try to push the tab toward the rest of the connector. Pull on the wire gently. It should slide right out; if not then keep fiddling until you get the tab pushed out of the way.

The metal contacts are crimped on. 1/8-inch barbed female spade terminals are very close to the original parts, though they fit just a little oddly. They are crimped on and not soldered. Whether or not to solder (or just crimp) new contacts is somewhat controversial.

--DD

[John Rogers]

About a year and a half ago I bought several connectors from NAPA and remade all four injector connections and the trigger points connector. I had to open up the wire harnesses and find the full path of the wires and then made replacements that were color coded a little better and also a little longer than stock. I resealed the wires with shrink tape and have not had any problems since. The only draw back was it took a full saturday to do it! Good luck.

[hardflex]

I was able to get them out and soldered the connection. It may not be permanent but at least it's working for now. It turned out I had one stuck injector and one broken wire on the driver side, so i was only hitting on 2. I had a spare injector and the wire fix has me hitting on all four again.

I've emailed Bowlsby about fixing the entire harness. It's probably about time.

Thanks the for help Guys

PD

[Robert Helt]

I totally agree with DD !! I sent all 3 of my old wire-harness's to Jeff Bowsby. My FI harness, alternator harness and ignition harness. They were OEM and very old. My kids car: 76'-914
You are going to shell out some good change for the 3 harness's but TOTALLY worth it.
They are better than OEM factory. Thats the way you fix your engine wire-harness's.

[sacook]

ditto on Bowsby's harnesses -- top shelf work and well worth the money!!

[Robert Helt]

Regarding these wiring harness's, there is no "quick-fix." I've tried everything to fix those wires that break when you bend them. For our cars that are over 25 years old, its time to replace the harness's. All of my problems disappeared when I did it.
So, my advice to ya is don't "jerry-rig" it, just replace em' with Jeff's harness's and that puts the problem to bed for the next 25 years !!

[SteveStromberg]

I bought one of the first sets of Jeff's FI wires. I reccommend them to anyone that is having problems with their FI harness.
Steve

[Robert Helt]

Hey, Steve. When you got Jeff's harness, FI, did he put a serial number on it, date it and such like you are buying a piece of property with a deed of trust?

[bowlsby]

The FI harnesses have had labels with serial numbers for the sole purpose of validating the warranty. But you know, in all the replacement harnesses now in service, I have never had a single return, so the serial number will no longer be provided. The labels also have the model of the harnesses as there are several different ones and they are not interchangable, so there will still be a label with the model indication.

Thanks for the kind words Dave, Steve, Bob and Stephen, and for the encouragement. I am glad I was able to help keep your cars going. I will have a website up soon which will show the full details of whats available and how to get them.

Happy New Year!

[Robert Helt]

Jeff-I was joking alittle!!
The wire harness's you manufacture should have that label with serial number, because you can keep track of them to the cars they are going in.
Remember, you are probably the only guy on this planet doing this, cuz remember-I searched 2
years for FI harness's until we found you.
I firmly believe because of my situation, most of the 914 folks will call you up and commission your work. Make no mistake, when I showed my harness off to GPR Dave over here in SLO, he was impressed-but does not know how you could mass produce it and at what cost. So, keep the labeling up-Jeff......

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Jeff did have one "almost-return". One particular customer found that Jeff's FI harness wasn't powering the FI at all! The customer was really peeved, and called poor Jeff everything but white.

...And then realized that he himself had caused the problem, by squeezing the metal contacts with pliers to make sure they held tight to the pins on the relay board. And had squeezed them completely closed, so they didn't slip onto the relay board pins.

Boy, did I feel... Uhh, I mean, did that customer feel stupid!!!

--DD

[Robert Helt]

DD- boy, that guy missed it good! Curious Dave, have you tried Jeff's harness on your automobiles?

[don hopkins]

Jeff,
Is your website up? don

[Rrrockhound]

Jeff's site