Ey guys, New to the forum but have been hovering around for a fair while. Got myself my first Z and am definitely gunna need a hand with a few things. Its a 90 TT MT (previously AT). Previous owner was a mechanic and had rebuilt the engine HERself.. after running for 10 -12 000kms there was a short with the speedo wiring. So naturally she wanted to fix it but also do a few other things, like deciding to move all electrical boxes inside the engine bay to the passenger footwell. Now 70% (her estimate) done she needed to get rid of the car for personal reasons and now I own it. I did as much fishing as I could about what needed to be done but there was only so much she could tell me. Things to be finished: finish re-running alternator wiring, earth almost all points in the car and then reassembly. Most of the wiring ends in a relay/clip and very few loose ends. Car looks good from the outside, straight, no rust but inside is a mess (although most wires are labelled). It also seems like there has been a fair amount of time and money spent on it. Now what i need now is to know my options. Do I try and finish off someone elses work. Do I buy all new wiring harness and try installing it. Get an auto elec to tie off all the loose ends, put all the relays in the right spot etc. If so I'm in Sydney so would love a recommendation for one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys. I have linked the album, quite the eyeful haha. Cheers http://imgur.com/a/aEOfK
Haha had a feeling the first comment would be whether she was hot or not. Not quite f&f standards but wasn't bad at all.
I just did my head unit, boost gauge and brake lights and that was a enough to make me frustrated. Looking at Those pics you put up, Man that just made me feel sick. If I where you I'd save $1500 and get an auto elec to come in. But not just any one, it would have to be one that has worked on these cars before. Someone here will lead you in the right direction to someone in NSW
Pull out all the wiring and replace it with harnesses out of a wreck. That is the only way you will get that thing running again.
Anti would be the.... ....prince of relocating things! I'm somewhat surprised at his suggestion as he normally leads the charge in relocations. He has offered sound advice.
What a mess..................... I gather you bought the car as in the pics. I would do as suggested. Another loom and reinstall. I hope you did not pay too much for this mess. MichaelZ
Thats the thing, it is a complete mess. But when I look past the initial shock of wiring it seems it is close to being finished. Thing about installing another loom is that I will either have to re-relocate all the boxes back into the engine bay or rewire it to where they are now, so pretty much doing what has already been done. Paid 2700 which I think is fair for all the other parts of the car. Eg wolf ecu, garrett turbos etc. Its not gunna be my DD and have the time to tinker and work when I want. Think my best bet is to have an auto elec pretty familiar with z32's have a look. I only need the wiring tied off i want to put the rest of the dash/cluster back together. For my own learning purposes mostly. So anyone with a friend/recommendation for an Auto elec in Sydney, preferably close to the city please do not hesitate. Thanks again guys :br::br:
It might cost you a pretty penny to have a sparky play with it, looking at the pics. He will be tempted to want to buy a new harness to save $$ but once he finds out you want to continue - he might start adding up costs to make sure that's what you really want to do. You mentioned time? It would be much cheaper if you could start reorganising the wiring as best as you can and marking off accordingly - this would save you lots of $$$ with the sparky - try to use him for what work you cannot do but in the meantime you could start cleaning up the looms. Its very easy to do a resistance test with a multimeter (see lessons on you tube), then bundle accordingly with a few strategic loops of tape for the areas designated- if you have time, this could save lots of $$$. You can re-tape any bundles that are complete and resistance tested but otherwise leave them as the sparky may have to replace a wire still. Sorry cannot help you much here My experience: Most good sparky's are booked out well in advance! Ones that are available to do the work are often expensive/ timely and useless I know its not what you want to hear - but choose wisely, even if it takes time to wait for the right sparky. You could also post an ad to see if theres any Z forum local guys who know their elecs and are willing to take it on - you save little and he makes a little (some forum guys know just as much as the average sparky) Good luck anyway JC
Farout that thing is a mess. Andrew at ASR Automotive is a qualified sparky, as is Mark at MRC and also his offsider Dave. Anyone attempting to repair that is going to have to invest a significant amount of time; it'll into the thousands at workshop rates. Not to put a downer on things but if you want advice mine is part it out and start again.
Yeah thats the type of thing I was looking to try and do. There are very few loose ends, everything has been wired into the relays just need to know how/where to finish them off. I plan on trying to fit everything back into the split tubing. There is matching white alternator wiring on both the passengers and drivers footwells that im 90% sure are meant to be ran together. Im hoping to trace all the wiring though finding it a bit hard to read the wiring diagram. I have been trying to find a reference to work against in regards to reorganizing everything but photos of behind the dash are hard to come by. Had a little hope that I could grab hold of someone who might be able to teach me a few things too haha. I will definitely wait for the right auto elec, because it will be towed to the shop and i dont plan on doing that many times.
What is your location? You have mentioned that the relocation of some of the components has been completed. How confident are you that what has been done has been done correctly?
The condition is not relative to age, however age does increase resistance over time. If the wiring is pliable, that's a good sign, if its brittle, then the wiring may be at the end of its life span and could present problems over time. This will give you an idea of how much trouble you can expect or whether it should be relatively pain free. Start with the standard wiring first, then progress to the custom components as it will save you time and you will then know what typical connections have been altered first - this will help as you go. Watch for connectors - most are brittle now even if the wiring is good - (20+yrs) replace any that look suspect, because they are too difficult to play with later. Always try to crimp and solder rather than just crimp if you can (time) Make sure you have those coloured wiring diagrams I posted up not long ago. They can help a lot when looking at a birds nest of colours - the turtle wins the race You should be able to get a lot done if you have the time and this could save hundreds if not thousands, besides at least you will know your wiring inside out and you will know that it has been done properly All you need is a multimeter to do most of it! Good luck JC
No, you won't. The factory harnesses will bolt into their standard locations and plug unto each other. That's it, done, no rewiring at all. The only way I got through my rewire was because a) I knew where every single wire was and b) I knew where every single wire was because I labelled it all. The thing is a mess... you can either pay someone thousands to finish it, or polish it off yourself and be forever chasing your tail trying to find the source of a problem. Either way, if something goes wrong in the future you'll be the one pulling the dash trying to find a broken connection that you didn't know was there because neither you or the pro that finishes the job put it there. And don't get me started on bullshit soldering...
Personally I think you've got two options. Do as Rob suggested, part it out, keep what you want and transfer that to a known good one (as in good running). Or pull the lot out and start again from scratch. It will take you forever to verify the work that has been done, and all it will take is one wire connected wrong and things start shorting out or worse, fire. If I was a sparky I'd take one look at that and tell you, know worries, I'll do it, but we gut the entire car and rewire everything from scratch. Otherwise I'd walk.
Shane's got a good point. A smart workshop won't finish someone else's half finished job because they can't stand by the result if they haven't done the job from start to finish.
Exactly. And the only way they could quote it is if they did rip it all out and start again. If someone says they'll see what they can do with it, my advice would be to run... lol!
Well... someone with enough time could take it on as is. They simply wouldn't stand by the end result, which is only fair.
Thanks heaps for the advice guys, I appreciate it all. What I meant was that if I was to go with a new harness and leave the boxes in their new location would i need splice the new harness up? Totally agree about getting someone to try finish it off with no idea of exactly what has been done, don't think that will go down very well.. Hoping to meet up with previous owner and will try squeeze out some more information. I'm leaning towards the new wiring harness and I think it is something I could do myself...One thing I am worried about thou is the fuse/relay boxes that you can see in the pass footwell, I'm not actually sure what the box on the left with the red lights and masking tape is??.. Still might need to get some help knowing what I need to leave in/take out if I install a new harness.. Thanks again to everyone who replied
There will be no splicing. You will need to find a wreck and take from it as many harnesses that have been modified in your car. It will simply be a remove and refit job after that. There are actually 10 harnesses throughout the car - front end loom, engine loom, one for each door, etc. At a glimpse you will need the front end loom (the one with fuse boxes), the dash loom and probably an engine loom if the PTU has been relocated too.
