Ahoy !
The efforts in the archives are more involved than I can attempt presently. Me: have to Keep It Simple-Stupid. The fuel rail and injectors are out for servicing so, I thought I’d clean-up the valley a bit. Electrical connectors are good and the wiring is not cracked. But, would like to elevate the harness and do a re-wrap.
Routing at Intake Manifold Level - I’ve seem some archive photographs showing loom clamps fastened under the manifold hex. nuts. What is the risk of causing intake air leaks by removing (even one at a time) to install the loom clamps ?
Wrap - From the archives, I understand to not use an adhesive wrap (re: heat & chemicals are the recipe for cooking-up goo). I won’t be removing the connectors so a seamless wrap seems unlikely. I was looking at the Del City site (mentioned in several archive postings) but, nothing popped-out at me, primarily because other than high heat and automotive chemical resistance, I not entirely sure what I am looking for. So…What exactly does the collective wisdom of J-L recommend for harness wrap when the connectors are not being removed ?
Thank you.
R. Cielec
Greater metro Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A
Lesser Knowledge, Milky Way; Universe
I used plain black split loom and some heat shrink to dress the ends and seams. You can see it along the insides of the rail in these engine-porn pics. It is not clamped to anything, it just sits there. It is not down on the floor of the valley, I wanted air to be able to get all around it. This was done in 2007 and it’s been fine. Note that I did rebuild the whole harness using hi-temp wire that I think I got from Del City.
My main focus was moving the harness up without replacing too much, get rid of all the disintegrating threaded cloth covering on the looms, and fix any obvious wiring issues. Just about all my wiring had electrical tape wrap under the cloth covering and surprisingly in good shape. So I decided to leave the electrical tape and wrap on top with Tesa tape. I replaced most of the EV1 connectors, but the other connectors were in pretty good shape.
I rerouted next to the fuel rail and am definitely not going to compete with how spiffy @BobPhx’s routing looks - at least not at this point I plan on wrapping the wiring and fuel rail together using heat shielding with velcro that my daughter is gonna cut and stitch for me, so it might look pretty clean - don’t know.
You can see that the wiring over the A/C is not really cooperating with the overall scheme of things, so I’m playing around with a few things, but nothing has really worked well for organizing that area without cutting wires and such. You will also notice a few bulky wrapping areas, like around the B-bank fuel rail connection - that is due to connector covers that I didn’t want to remove or otherwise muck with - I may end up doing that, but haven’t decided, yet.
If at the end, I don’t like the wiring, I’ll probably rewire everything like @BobPhx.
Wow ! Your and Bob Brackney’s engine compartments are jewel boxes.
Jeff: Do you remember which Tesa tape and heat shielding you used ?
Thanks.
Richard Cielec
Greater metro Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A.
Rerouted inbetween the fuel rail and air rail. Starting at the left front headed back to the rear following the fuel rail crossover hose then towards the front and then over the right side cam cover.
Tesa tape - 5 Rolls Tesa’s Most Advanced High Heat Harness Tape 51036 Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW Amazon.com
Heat shielding - Heat Shroud Aluminized Sleeving Heat Shield fuel line wire heat sleeve 1/2" I.D. x 10FT with 20 Pcs 3.9Inch Stainless Steel Cable Metal Zip Ties Amazon.com
The heat shielding comes in bigger IDs. It kinda sucks because the stitching comes out when you cut which is why I needed my daughter to stitch the velcro nicely. I like the velcro cause it makes it easier to undo for fixes.
Here’s kinda what the end result will look like when I finish… (this pic from quick test pre-project start for temperature and hot start troubleshooting)
Not sure about pre-facelift cars, but the injector harness on my '92 is wrapped with the rest of the top engine harness. You would have to just abandon the old injector harness where it is in the engine bay if you wanted to only replace the injector harness and leave the rest intact. Also, the connectors are different before and after the facelift. I don’t think you can find the same green Sumitomo 6-way connectors, but it’s fairly easy to crimp new terminals on and reuse the connector (or switch to weather pack). If you have the injector-on-rail setup you also have the opportunity to switch the original style injector connector to quick-release style.
Hello:
Tesa 51036 - Is that adhesive backed ? The several adver blurbs I’ve found seemed to imply such.
Thanks.
Regards,
Richard Cielec
Greater metro Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A.
Yes, Tesa tape has adhesive, but it doesn’t turn to goo like electrical tape. It’s really great stuff. Be sure to get the high temp version for the engine compartment use.
The first time i saw Tesa tape used was by a high end stereo installer. It wraps very well, and makes for a very neat harness. I haven’t found a downside yet.
Hello:
Thanks. What I needed to hear.
Re: High Temp - Yes. In this thread, Jeff Pirkey mentioned Tesa 51036, the high temp.
Regards,
Richard Cielec
Greater metro Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A.
I plan on wrapping the wiring and fuel rail together using heat shielding with velcro that my daughter is gonna cut and stitch for me, so it might look pretty clean - don’t know.
