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Thread: What to do with excess wiring

  1. #1
    Senior Member EZ$'s Avatar
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    What to do with excess wiring

    OK, so the continuing saga of the FAST fuel injection wiring install. There are a ton of wire leads that I'm not going to be using, like the crank trigger, distributor, distributor power, fan relay 2, A/C input, and the four wire fuel pump plug that is for FAST's fuel pump, which I'm not using. I see no situation now, or in the future, that I will ever need these circuits, and although FAST's tech support says they normally tell people to "just wrap them up, and tuck them somewhere", I can't think of anywhere in the engine bay that I would want all this wire. I'm thinking about unwrapping the electrical tape, taking all the leads for these items, cutting them off, and folding the end of the wires back, individually, and putting a piece of heat shrink tubing to prevent any of the leads shorting out. The question is, am I creating an issue that may come back to haunt me, or is this a prudent way to proceed to eliminate unnecessary wiring in the engine bay? I have to shorten about every sensor lead, as they are way too long, so I figured I'd do it all at once. Any down sides?

    On another note, can anyone tell me why I can't copy the text in a post to post on the other forum? every time I try, I highlight the text, right click, and all it gives me an option for is to PASTE. What has gone wrong? I've done this a bunch of times with no issue, but it's just fighting me at this point.
    Rick

    Mk4 with Mr. Bruce FIA body, 331 w/ Speedmaster Stack Injection, Full Width Roll Bar with high brake lights by i.e.427, IRS, ABS, PS, PB, FAST FI, First start 3/30/20, First go-kart 7/5/20, paint by Ken Pike

  2. #2
    Papa's Avatar
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    Rick - To copy text, just highlight what you want to copy and press the Ctrl and C keys on your keyboard. Click where you want to paste the copied text and press Ctrl and V keys.

    Dave
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  3. #3
    Senior Member EZ$'s Avatar
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    Thanks Dave. I finally got the copy command to come up instead of the paste command, but it's good to know an optional way to do this.
    Rick

    Mk4 with Mr. Bruce FIA body, 331 w/ Speedmaster Stack Injection, Full Width Roll Bar with high brake lights by i.e.427, IRS, ABS, PS, PB, FAST FI, First start 3/30/20, First go-kart 7/5/20, paint by Ken Pike

  4. #4
    Senior Member CraigS's Avatar
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    I don't see a problem w/ chopping those extra wires. I would want to make sure that none of them have another branch, IE a 5v or 12V power lead that feeds several items and you cut it off too early and kill something else. Also be sure your ends are located somewhere that you can get to them later just in case.
    FFR MkII, 408W, Tremec TKO 500, 2015 IRS, DA QA1s, Forte front bar, APE hardtop.

  5. #5
    Senior Member phileas_fogg's Avatar
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    On my Holley system, I had a Fan 1 wire, Fan 2 wire, & some other sensor wire in a 3-pin connector. I wasn't using the latter two, so I just de-pinned them from the connector. You may find your FAST system lends itself to de-pinning rather than cutting.


    John
    MK IV Roadster #8631
    Ford 302, Holley Terminator EFI, T5z, 3.55 Rear End, IRS, 17” Halibrand Replicas (9” front, 10.5” rear), Nitto 555 G2’s (275/40ZR17 front, 315/35ZR17 rear), Fast Freddie’s Power Steering, F5 Wilwood Brakes, FFMetal’s Firewall Forward, Forte’s Hydraulic Clutch & Throttle Linkage
    https://www.ffcars.com/threads/phile.../#post-4776313

  6. #6
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    I put a home depot sealed junction box under the car near the battery box to hold those loose ends. Also saved the cut off wire to use in case I needed those circuits in the future.

    EDIT; In addition to the shrink wrap on the end of the cut wire, if the circuit is fused, with no other purpose, I intentionally popped the fuse, painted the end of the fuse red, and reinstalled it so that it is very obvious that it is an un used circuit
    Last edited by Derald Rice; 05-29-2019 at 08:23 AM.
    MK2 #3319.... On the road since 2002 with a lot of upgrades

  7. #7
    Senior Member EZ$'s Avatar
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    Craig, I'll try to err on the side of being too long, rather than cutting a lead where it may damage another circuit. I think i'll scan the wiring diagram, and print it out in a larger size so that I can actually see where everything goes without using a magnifying glass! I was going to put all these leads in a large piece of loom, leaving a reasonable length of wire for each. Something like that I can tuck away out of sight.

    John, the only actual plug is for the fuel pump circuit. It's designed for use with FAST's fuel pump, which I'm not using. There's also a single plug that is branched off of that circuit that I'm actually using to power my fuel pump, so I just want to eliminate the large plug. Everything else is just long leads of wire.

    Derald, I think I'm just going to use a piece of large wire loom to hold all the leads for the circuits I'm not using. The main harness enters the engine compartment through the top of the passenger footbox. With the way I did my heater, also over my passenger footbox, I can just stuff that loom under the heater, and secure it in place. The idea of saving the cutoff wire, and marking the end of the fuses that aren't being used, are both great ideas.

    Thanks guys.
    Rick

    Mk4 with Mr. Bruce FIA body, 331 w/ Speedmaster Stack Injection, Full Width Roll Bar with high brake lights by i.e.427, IRS, ABS, PS, PB, FAST FI, First start 3/30/20, First go-kart 7/5/20, paint by Ken Pike

  8. #8
    Senior Member EZ$'s Avatar
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    I managed to cut back all the circuits that I'm not using now and, I can be pretty certain, I won't be using in the future. heat shrink on each wire. The ones in the engine compartment were bundled into a piece of loom with a relay, and they tucked under the heater over the PS footbox perfectly. Most of the sensor leads were so long that I couldn't leave them like they were, so I laid the harness out, measured how long they should be, pulled the harness back out, and shortened all but the coolant temperature sensor relay. Soldered and heat shrink tubing used to keep the existing plugs on the harness. Hopefully I did a good job in maintaining the integrity of the harness. I'm in the process of tracking down odds and ends that I need to complete, and then I can, fingers crossed, try a first start. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on whether you think it's a good idea to be able to buy food, my work schedule has exploded. The next couple of weeks will not allow me to do much on the car. Once I catch up with the jobs, I'll try to finish up, and either burn it to the ground, or get it running. Hopefully the second option! I'll try to get a picture posted up. I've been horrible about taking pictures.
    Rick

    Mk4 with Mr. Bruce FIA body, 331 w/ Speedmaster Stack Injection, Full Width Roll Bar with high brake lights by i.e.427, IRS, ABS, PS, PB, FAST FI, First start 3/30/20, First go-kart 7/5/20, paint by Ken Pike

  9. #9
    Senior Member EZ$'s Avatar
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    OK, here's that photo that I promised. FI harness 99% complete.

    IMAG1277 by Rick Paul, on Flickr
    Rick

    Mk4 with Mr. Bruce FIA body, 331 w/ Speedmaster Stack Injection, Full Width Roll Bar with high brake lights by i.e.427, IRS, ABS, PS, PB, FAST FI, First start 3/30/20, First go-kart 7/5/20, paint by Ken Pike

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