Tucking S13 wiring harness

[DriftSpecial180]

ya, its a bummer. thats the harness that has the wiper controls right?

[motegineon]

i did mine as well:









thanks !

[FaLKoN240]

After I relocated mine, my hood release has problems springing back.

It got rubbed a little bit by my tire initially, but it's not electrical, I don't know why it's broken.

[upSLIDEdown]

You've got it pretty high(motegineon)... You might have trouble getting the fender to go back on. I dunno. I had mine like that but it still wasn't high enough. BTW, for those of you that do this method, some of my zipties broke at one point and I started rubbing through the harness again. KEEP AN EYE ON IT. I ended up buying some stainless steel zipties at Harbor Freight to hold it up there. Then I got new wheels and went lower and had to relocate it through the engine bay. You guys with the harness over the strut tower really should have taken the time to do it right. Mine is run right by the frame rail, and the only wires I had to extend were the 2 wires for the parking light, and redo one little ring terminal ground. Looks SO much cleaner. My main problem was I actually rubbed through the rubber grommet taking the harness through the firewall. It rubbed it and popped it out of the firewall, then ripped a chunk out of it. I ended up with a much better solution and it should never rub again. Here's a couple of quick pics. The flash made it look a LOT more... textured, than it really is.




Basically what I did was take the grommet out and make a "false firewall" to cover the hole. The grommet is like 4" in diameter, but the harness is only about an inch thick. My grommet was ripped to shreds from rubbing, so I need another solution. The reason I couldn't use a new grommet is the firewall needs to be flat where the hole for the grommet is, and needed the beat the fuck out of that area to stop the rubbing.

So, I went Advance Auto Parts and picked up a few sticks of a product by JB Weld ( I think it's called Stick Weld or something). It comes in a little plastic tube. It's basically a 2 part putty form epoxy. It's in a little log roll shape, and the outside is light grey, the center is dark grey. You break of a section of it and knead it until it's one uniform color, then apply wherever you want. The problem with this stuff is it dries very quickly, so you have to have everything exactly the way you want it and work VERY quickly. I bought like 4 tubes of that and what's called a body patch. It's basically a very thin piece of mesh designed to repair holes in body panels so you can bondo over it (it's made by Bondo).

The patches are adhesive backed, so I cleaned it really well with Brake Cleaner to get the adhesive off, then scuffed both sides of it with like 220 (or was it 100, I dunno). Then I scuffed the edge of the hole in the firewall where the grommet once resided. Then I proceded to "reform" that area to my exact specifications with a precision instrument I like to call 'Brutus' (my BFH). I beat on the firewall until it was concave enough that I though it wouldn't rub. Then I beat it some more. I pulled the harness all the way to the top of that hole. Since it normally goes through the center of the grommet, therefore the center of the hole, pulling it up to the top gives you another inch or two clearance. That's where I was rubbing the harness, not in the middle, but the back, because it had to come down to the center of that hole to pass through the firewall. Anyway, I pulled the harness up to where I wanted it (all the way at the top) then took a 1/2" extension and beat on the area right behind where the harness would be to kind of "notch" it (for lack of a better word). This lets the harness sink back in the firewall a bit and be even more out of the way. It also helps to keep the harness still and immobile. I took a short piece of 1" heater hose and sliced it lengthwise and wrapped it around the back side of the harness where it pressed against the firewall, just to be safe. Then wrapped the entire section in electrical tape (3M of course). I drilled one hole on each side of the "harness notch" and put a stainless steel ziptie around it to hold it in place.

Then I made a template for the mesh out of paper. I made it over hang the edge of the hole about 1/4"-1/2" all the way around, and cut out a notch for where the harness went through. Once I got that exactly the size I wanted it, I traced it onto the body patch and cut it out. I cut it a little bigger than the paper to be safe and then trimmed it down. The mesh patch needs to be pressed up to the hole and "formed" to the shape of the newly beaten firewall (kinda curved), that's why I made it a hair bigger than the template. Once that fit perfectly and I was sure there was enough clearance for the harness, I was ready to actually make the "false firewall."

I opened the tubes of Stick Weld (or whatever it's called) and cut a bunch of small sections off, so they were ready to knead. I also had a cup of water handy to dip my fingers in, because it smoothes out much better if you fingers are wet. Once everything was ready and wiped down with alcohol, I was ready to start.

I took the patch panel that I precut to the perfect size and started kneading some SW (Stick Weld). Once it was one uniform color, I pressed half on one side and half on the other side, so it "sandwiched" the mesh. I started in the middle and worked my way to the outside. The SW is easier to knead it it's in smaller sections. Too big and it takes forever to get it one color. So I kept doing that until the entire piece was covered in SW. I also made sure the notch for the harness had enough SW on it so that the edge of the notch was smooth, no jagged metal poking out that could hurt the harness. Then I held it up to the hole and used some more SW to go all around the edge of it, pressing it onto the pre-scuffed/cleaned firewall. Kept doing this untill I was comfortable with the amount of overlap I had on the firewall.

Then it has to dry, which takes 24 hours IIRC. After it's dry, I fill the gap around the harness with clear silicone caulking so now water could get in (all the fuses/wiring are just on the other side of that firewall). Done and Done.

There was one thing I forgot to do that I wanted to do when I was doing this, but I got caught up in a rush and totally forgot. I was going to make a little "ear" or two on the mesh patch and put a couple tiny litle #6 screws through it into the firewall (make sure they're short because of the fuses/wiring behind the firewall). That way the SW isn't the only thing holding this panel to the firewall in case it happens to come loose one day. As long as the firewall is scuffed really well with 100 grit, I don't think it'll be a problem, but I wanted to do it anyway.

BTW, my hood release doesn't spring back either, and it's been rubbed through in at least one spot. I think that's why, don't think it has to do with relocating it, because mine didn't start acting wierd till it started rubbing.

Hope this helps some people out, I hadn't anticipated writing this much, I just kinda did. If anyone needs any clarification, let me know.

[thejapino]

isn't jb weld a little overkill? why not that expanding foam insulation you could buy at home depot?

[motegineon]

that last pic is with the fender on, all worked ok

[upSLIDEdown]

Originally Posted by thejapino

isn't jb weld a little overkill? why not that expanding foam insulation you could buy at home depot?

Because I didn't wanna take a risk of it expanding back into the fuse box/wiring. That stuff expands A LOT.

[YUNG DRIF]

Originally Posted by DriftSpecial180

Mine works awesome now, can finally go around right turns. but ummm, i forgot about the left side harness. no wonder my windshield wipers don't work. guess i have some repairing to do.

haaa, that shit happened to me too

[jy116]

man... hard to see how u can still rub even after tucking it way up like that red car.... wont the tire hit the frame b4 it gets up to the tucked harness?

+1 for vice grips:
Havent tucked the harness above the ridge thing... but im not super slammed like the hardcore folks. Will def do it tho sometime... That ridge i bent was tearing into my tires bad. No pic, but theres alarmingly deep slits cut into my new tires... coming fast down a hill and compressing the front could explode the tires in a snap! Lowered ppl, DO IT ASAP!

[TurbLu]

Dope thread - subsribing for future reference....

[DriftSpecial180]

Originally Posted by TurbLu

Dope thread - subsribing for future reference....

Glad to be of service

[articdragon192]

I just moved mine above the inner fender. it's tucked in between fender and inner fender. No rubbing at all, and my tires are tucked up front.

[naed240sx]

Originally Posted by 240FaLKoN

After I relocated mine, my hood release has problems springing back.

Same thing happened to me. Relocate the hood release to the engine bay and it will fix your problems. It's easy as hell to do, and gives the wiring harness more room if you don't plan on moving it to the engine bay as well.

[FaLKoN240]

Originally Posted by naed240sx

Same thing happened to me. Relocate the hood release to the engine bay and it will fix your problems. It's easy as hell to do, and gives the wiring harness more room if you don't plan on moving it to the engine bay as well.

Thanks for the advice, I may do just that tomorrow.

[yokotas13]

Wow, thats alot of jbweld. I did mine like that cause i was stuck somewhere lol....thats why its over my fender.

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by upSLIDEdown

You guys with the harness over the strut tower really should have taken the time to do it right. Mine is run right by the frame rail, and the only wires I had to extend were the 2 wires for the parking light, and redo one little ring terminal ground.

Keep in mind that the exhaust manifold is next to the frame rail. If you're going to run the harness there, make sure you use insulation.

I thinned mine out significantly and it was able to fit between the strut tower and the hood.

[DriftSpecial180]

I think he's talking about the upper frame rail... thats not that close to the exhaust manifold.

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by DriftSpecial180

I think he's talking about the upper frame rail... thats not that close to the exhaust manifold.

The entire engine bay on that side gets very hot, especially if you have a turbo.

The furthest away I could get the harness is in the picture below. Unless he has something special I don't know about, that's the best place to put it to keep it away from heat.

[upSLIDEdown]

I'm not turbo, so it's not THAT hot. And no offense to you guys running it over the strut tower, but that looks like asshole... sorry. I'll try to get a pic for you guys to show you, but it's run down low, right by the frame rail, then back up under the BMC and back thru the hole. The problem wasn't in the center of the fender so much as it was towards the back of the fender. I was rubbing it where it came down to go thru the grommet/hole. So I went through the bay, and that didn't solve it completely, so I did what I showed you. Now I have NO rubbing at all, except where I rub the bottom of the strut tower, which can't be fixed, so oh well. When my motor is done and gets put in (built KAT), I'm relocating everything in that harness inside under the dash (except the lighting wires obviously, which will be run THROUGH the framerail). MAJOR WIRE TUCKING gonna happen... ;-)

[jy116]

lesson for ppl tucking it up above the ridge: KEEP an eye on the harnes when u re-install your fender! I was rushing, and it was at night. I only did one side so far. I used existing holes on the left/driver side harness for my zip ties. Put my fender on, had to force it down into proper position to line up bolts... and guess what i see once its all bolted down...

FRIKKEN wires got pushed down below the ridge by the fender! So I gotta do it all over again! Its even lower now, but its way farther outside, maybe on the outer edge of the tire, but not touching... o well, just letting everyone know to check again before bolting on the fender.

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by upSLIDEdown

And no offense to you guys running it over the strut tower, but that looks like asshole...

Your only issue is cosmetics? I can live with that. Right now there are other mechanical issues to fix with so I can deal with being ugly.

[yokotas13]

same here
#1 concern for me was not to rub through it a second time

[emayearecee]

this helped me a ton, so i thought id bring it back to life. just in case anyother newbs need this for future reference

[FusionR240sx]

idc that i'm bumping this...
but what size wiring should i use to replace wires?
fuccin burnt thru mine last night on the way home after hitting a pothole hard as fuck and shaking it loose.

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by FusionR240sx

but what size wiring should i use to replace wires?

When replacing wires, always use the same size or larger. Never go smaller.

[i8yourfwd]

Suscribing to this thread.

Did you have to drill a hole through the firewall to reroute it through the engine bay? or did you just use an exsisting hole?

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by i8yourfwd

Did you have to drill a hole through the firewall to reroute it through the engine bay? or did you just use an exsisting hole?

There's a triangular section in the frame rail next to the green wiper amp. The SMJ is slightly too big so you will have to cut the hole a little bit.

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by !Zar!

Just bang your fender wells like it's a $5 ho.

Push the harness over the seam and ziptie.

Or be a pimp and relocate it to the engine bay.

I'm sure there are threads already covering this. With more information that just stating that it's easy.

YAY! I guess I'm a pimp! Re-routing through the engine bay works best, but it is a bitch because the harness doesn't fit through the holes in the chasis unless you dis-assemble the fuseboxes.

[BoostedCoupe]

I know i'm bumping an old thread. I thought i would show how i did mine. I didnt see no vert on here, and verts have a fender brace from the factory. so its a little harder to get the back of the harness up high.

[Creizai]

Originally Posted by BoostedCoupe

I know i'm bumping an old thread. I thought i would show how i did mine. I didnt see no vert on here, and verts have a fender brace from the factory. so its a little harder to get the back of the harness up high.

You should def go into the engine bay once you get bigger wheels.