Wiring Wednesdays!

[64pontiac]

Ok, so not to steal anyone elses fun ideas (Tubular Tuesdays!) but we have been burning our retinas out looking at a rainbow of wires today and thought I would switch my eyeball burning to the computer screen to take a break!

Here is some wiring nightmares for you. Our RS-V camaro has a 2009 Cadillac CTS-V dash, so naturally we need most of the Cadillac body harness and the mess that follows it. Once we laid it all out, we could start to eliminate hundreds of useless circuits. I will let you know how it goes.....I have as much documents as possible from GM on the electrical system, but I have my fingers crossed!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/wiringstart.jpg

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/wiring1.jpg

This harness takes up more space than the car itself!!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/wiring2.jpg

This is what we have deleted so far...... it looks like alot until you look at the rest of it!
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/wiringdeletions.jpg

[64pontiac]

Once its all done, we do a pretty nice job of it (thatss what I think anyways, until some of you hotshots post pictures of your wiring and then we can all be humbled!)

Here is a Mast Motorsports engine harness that we cut up and rerouted around the motor.... we use AMP connectors at the firewall for all the signal wires, and a 22 port weatherpack under the fender for all the power wires. The end result is a pretty clean engine bay, and once we finish our cnc'd coil cover/faux valve covers you wont see much for wiring.

I thought those AMP connectors would be a nice option until I had to buy a bunch of overpriced crimpers!! But its really nice to have a huge selection of crimping tools. I hate those cheap insulated terminals that get used too much! We hooked up a great deal on weatherpaks too, so all our plugs are nice! I also have a huge selection of the expandable sleeving and split sleeving, which finishes off the wires nice!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/mastharnessreroute.jpg

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/mastreroute2.jpg

A couple leads are still hanging on the motor, like the o2 and lower sensors, still have to plug them in and clamp the wires down nicely
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/mastharness3.jpg

[Romulus]

diggin' it. I would either love working through that harness or it would drive me batty. I'm thinking both.

I have an empty spare bedroom covered in my harnesses trying to map the extra doo-da's.

[GregWeld]

Nice work on the harness....

When I'm doing this -- whether I'm doing a huge fireworks show with 1000's of shells.... or a car harness.... I just keep in mind one thing regardless of how much is spread out in front of me..... I only need to do ONE WIRE AT A TIME.... :wow: :wow: :willy: :willy: :rofl:

[64pontiac]

Ya it's a bit deflating when even after over a hundred "one wires at a time" it doesnt look any different!

Lets see some more wiring jobs!!!

Love to see ideas!

[Revved]

I think this post is great for the guys that think their wiring job is a nightmare. Look at a picture like this and realize that no matter how bad you think your wiring job is- someone always has it worse! :lol:

Congrats on the wiring- The finished product will be worth the time!


I just pulled the dash on a 70 Chevelle last week that had an alarm system, Dakota Digital dash, Vintage Air with Electrical Controls, and an Accel DFI system, all poorly installed with butt connectors and splices everywhere. It was such a mess I literally had to cut the dashboard out of the car!

[64pontiac]

Revved, I feel your pain!

We had a custom bring in a 49 ford for a vintage air install, and there was household maurettes for connectors under that dash!!!! we had to rewire it.

Just take the time, do one circuit at a time, and use good quality connectors and stay away from those cheap insulated butt connectors!

I want to hear some feedback from someone that has used ISIS. I want to put this in one of my clients cars..... but I still haven't heard alot about it. Anone use the new touchscreen from them?

[CamaroAJ]

looks like what i'm dealing with. '01 camaro into a '69 camaro. i'm keeping almost everything though so there is a lot of rewiring of the harness to move stuff around to fit.

[64pontiac]

Got the ctsv harness down to the bare essentials!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/ctsvremnants.jpg

And this is what it gets finished to as it goes in piece by piece, in sleeving and heat shrink.

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/frontharness.jpg

and our AMP connection for the Mast motor harness, and the tci trans harness will be next to it

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb407/HPIcustoms/HPI%20Project%20RS-V%20Camaro/engineconnector.jpg

[brans72]

Whoa gott give you guys a hand for doing such a great job on harness :clap:. Mind post a few pictures up of the style of connectors not to use and correct style to use? Sure it will help a few people out there. I never heard much brought up in terms of if you solder any wires or conectors. Also like the look of heat shrink of the sleeving :unibrow:.So did you buy a terminal tool to remove wires or make up something on your own (post pictures) Just wanna thank you for posting all this wiring info up for us. Brandon

[64pontiac]

All the connections we make to our accessories are gm style weatherpaks. they come in single to 6 pin connectors, and you just need a delphi weatherpak crimper to use them. The engine harness plug at the firewall is called an AMP connector by Tyco, and it uses a special crimper (600 bucks if you buy it new, but you can find them on ebay) The AMP connector has 63 pins, but you cant send amperage through it, so its for signal wires only.

All the power leads run through a 22 pin bulkhead connector that uses weatherpak terminals, from American Autowire.

I will take some closeups for you.

the sleeving is called Techflex. we became a dealer for them and stock spools of all kinds of sizes, inlcuding a real slick split style loom that is braided and overlaps itself. This is great if you cant get the connectors off, or if you have leads exiting the harness everywhere. The non split stuff expands to 300 percent its size to slide over the wires.

Theres a juicy tidbit for you. NO more convoluted plastic loom guys!!!!!!!

[CamaroAJ]

you can also get metric pack connectors that the newer GM's use. i like those a lot more than weather pack since i started using them.

[64pontiac]

Where do you get them if you dont mind me asking....I only have a supplier for weatherpaks right now.

[CamaroAJ]

caspers electronics

http://www.jegs.com/p/Caspers-Electronics/Caspers-Electronics-Weatherpack-And-Metripack-Connector-Kits-Refills/757789/10002/-1

lately i have been using a lot of the GT connectors as well in my '69 camaro. depends on the size and number of circuits i need.

[Revved]

I think this post is great for the guys that think their wiring job is a nightmare. Look at a picture like this and realize that no matter how bad you think your wiring job is- someone always has it worse! :lol:

Congrats on the wiring- The finished product will be worth the time!


I just pulled the dash on a 70 Chevelle last week that had an alarm system, Dakota Digital dash, Vintage Air with Electrical Controls, and an Accel DFI system, all poorly installed with butt connectors and splices everywhere. It was such a mess I literally had to cut the dashboard out of the car!

I came across this old thread on a Google search and figured I would update the fore-mentioned project! It was just completed and delivered at the end of summer. The client flew out here to DFW and we road tripped it 2200 miles back to his home.

As mentioned the wiring was so bad that we ended up gutting the entire vehicle and rewired it toe to tail with an ISIS Power system with their InMax touchscreen. Power windows and Power locks were added. Stereo was upgraded to a touchscreen nav system so everything in the vehicle is now touchscreen operated. Underhood we had plenty of electronics as well with intercooler pumps, MSD, dual fans, etc...

First here was a shot of behind the dash...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/Dashboardbirdsnestwatermarked.jpg

And then under the hood...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/EFIWiringBefore_zpse0592652.jpg

And the firewall after everything was removed...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/DSCN5750_zps8380a5dc.jpg

Here is a shot of the trunk wiring going together..
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/DSCN6259_zps67f6e39a.jpg

And the Dash wiring going together...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/DSCN6262_zps90d16651.jpg

And the underhood wiring going together...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/DSCN6263_zpsb8978064.jpg

Here is a shot of the underhood in final assembly. All wiring and plumbing hidden...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/DSCN9735_zpsa90fcae7.jpg

Shots of the interior assembled...
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/IMG_1172_zpse4c6cf37.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/IMG_1206_zps70a2e6fa.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/IMG_1184_zps732496e8.jpg

Final engine bay shot.
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv328/RevvedAC/Wadsworth/IMG_0605_zps482ea124.jpg


Happy Wiring!