hondur

iTrader: (1)

Starting with something simple, i've got an OEM clock to put in. This should be easy. A while ago i figured "hey, i'll just pry out the cover and throw the clock in" nope, i just messed up my dashboard. So i got a new dash, a whole parts car actually, so i'm doing this whole big thing before i get my engine in.

Dash removal on two cars, clock install, switching the clusters (parts car is auto), new heater core. Is there any other sorta maintenance i should do while i'm in there? EJ2's do not have a cabin air filter, if i do that i'll be retrofitting it later.

Besides that, i've gotta:
Run the two wires for VTEC from the shock mount to the ECU.
Tachometer
Oil Pressure Gauge
radar detector hardwiring
install my power mirrors (i don't have the door harness so i guess i'm making that)
Put the battery in the trunk
install a power inverter
One fun thing i want to do is use an OEM dash switch to control some HIDs i'm putting in the rear of the car.
I might even finally install a head unit, amp, and subs. Probably not.
i might be forgetting some stuff.

If anyone has any advice or insight i would appreciate it. Specifically, where's a good place to get a several spools of wire?

TomCat39

That's too funny, I just started pulling the 2 vtec wires from an EX. I'm up to the firewall and have decided, there is no way in hell I am putting those two into the harness of my car. I am going to tape them up and run and tape it to the outside of the harness but inside the plastic shielding. So it will look OEM when I'm done until you actually start ripping into the harness itself.

The amount of work just to separate the two wires to the firewall (haven't gotten inside the car yet) has told me it's not worth the effort or the time to take apart and rebuild the harness. It will be nice enough to have OEM wires and plug at the shock tower to ECU on my 95 CX hatch.

When you have the dash off, and since you are doing the core, I would suggest also pulling the blower motor and cleaning it out.

I'm looking at the design to see where a filter can be added that is easily accessible and keep leaves and needles out of the system. The old heater core was 1/32 filled with needles, wet coolant soggy needles.

I also picked up 1/4" thick x 3/8" wide closed cell weather stripping tape to replace the foam seals on the heater core box vent mouths.

Autoparts stores should have decent gauge auto wire. Good insulation that is better heat/weather resistant to be in the engine bay.

tony_2018

It doesn't have a cabin filter? That would be something to look in to.

CX-Adam

There shouldn't be any maintenance you need to do. You can get wire from Homedepot. It doesn't have to be special.

@tony, no cabin filter. It sucks. Deschlong has a a retrofit thread using, I think, a CRV unit.

I had the two VTEC wires goin' ghetto style through an old hose for a while. Then I ran them through the main harness boot by punch a hole through it and sealing it with silicon.

How I had it:




How it is now:



How I did it:




I had a write up in my build thread but the images were hosted on Tumblr and that site's been so rearranged that it's all screwed up. Here's the Tumblr link: lame site

TomCat39

Just curious, won't the two wires fit through the boot right along side the main harness so you don't have to poke holes in the boot?

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

Yes, but it's a humongous pain in the ***. You can feed a narrow hollow piece of plastic pipe through there, then feed the wires through that, then pull out the pipe and your wiring will have that OEM feel.... but honestly, just put your wiring through the grommet on the firewall just to the left of the charcoal canister looking at this picture (it's painted red, but is normally black). 1000x easier and it's where Honda specifically feeds optional wiring through anyway.

tony_2018

I just used a long philips screwdriver into the boot. The surface of the screwdriver won't rip wires apart or anything so it was perfect.

94EG8

You can run those wires through the boot properly without that much effort. All I ever did was slide a piece of haywire/rebar wire between the existing wires and the boot and tape it to the two wires I'm pulling through.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I got my gauge pod pillar. I'm thinking i'm gonna run the wires and pop the boost and wideband gauges / equipment in later, since I won't need them till way later when i put the turbo on.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I just got two 40 foot rolls of 18 gauge wire (red and black) and ordered 100ft of various diameter & color heat shrink tubing. I decided not to use heat shrink butt connectors because they don't provide a lot of tensile strength, while properly twisting and soldering the wires should.

I need to replace the water temperature sensor connector, i believe this is commonly called 'fan switch'. I tried using heat shrink butt connectors but they fell off really easily lol, must be using em wrong. I also need swap out the connector for my distributor since mine cracked, which will also require a little snip snip solder solder shrink shrink. That's it for the engine harness.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I'm now confused. I searched, but i'm entering the wrong key terms. I'm hoping someone can help

Is there a DIY, walk through type thing for this? I'm gonna need to power a few gauges in this way but i don't know how to complete this step.

tony_2018

Google a picture of the fuse box under the dash and link it.

Former User

See service manual for 5 option slots in dash fuse box.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

My heat shrink came in the mail yesterday and I finally started fixing my harness. I think for a first try this is acceptable.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

Thank you @RonJ.

_____________________________

I have a few more questions:

What's the 'cleanest' way to splice another wire into say the dimmer switch's power wire or electrical connector? That's how I want to get power for the back light for my gauges, so I can dim that bulb along with the cluster. I don't know why i'm being a perfectionist and want the wiring behind the dash to look good, but I do. I've been reading about techniques used for this but I've yet to find something i actually like.

Does anyone know off the top of their head which wire is the dimable power? There's black, red, and red with black stripe.





How should i ground all of this? I need something near the driver side A pillar.

94EG8

If you have an aftermarket stereo I prefer to use the dimmer wire from the adapter plug, that way you don't have to cut into the factory wiring.

There's a ground bolt around the driver's side of the dash somewhere around the hood release IIRC.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I don't have any head unit at all in either of my cars and it's probably going to stay that way. I'm not so much worried about cutting into the factory wiring as i am worried in making sure it looks good.

Thanks 94eg8

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I lost the hardware that came with my gauge so I bought some new stuff to do this.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone know what gauge these wires are? I emailed innovative and i'll probably call them but for now i'm still left wondering.


Also, where am i going to tap into power for this? It says not to use the switch, but rather the headlights? I'm assuming they meant the cluster, since i've never heard of headlights 'dimming'. Off, on, and high beams, but never heard of headlights dimming lol.


This **** is giving me a head ache.

JarvisW

Its saying it wants 12v when the headlights are on, and it will take care of the dim.

If you don't care and want it lit the whole time, just ground the white wire.

Maybe you can tap one of the headlight fuses and run it to it. (check for switch on/off)

hondur

iTrader: (1)

So it's either on or off, it's not going to dim brighter-darker like my gauge cluster? That's beat, at least I understand now. I feel like they should word it differently though.

JarvisW

"This enables the display to DIM for better nighttime viewing"

Pretty clear, hook up to the headlights so when on, it can take care of the dim.

What its doing is instead of using the cars dim, it has its own, because hooked into the cars system, it would ruin it.

MIGHT even want to hook into the running lights, as the clock and radio work off those too.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I don't know what i was thinking. It's an LED digital gauge, it's only light. It gets dimmer when the white wire sees 12v, I deff understand now. It's completely different from my analog gauges.

Anyway, the MTX-L's wiring is all 18 gauge. Based on their directions, I can route all of these wires and then put the sensor wire and the gauge in later. It's cool that my header has a second o2 bung after the 2-1 collector, i can leave the plug in there until i get this kit.

hondur

iTrader: (1)

I'm probably going to use the headlights and not the running lights for this one. This is because I may have the running lights on during the day, and I want the gauge to be brighter in the sunlight so it's easier to see. I'm thinking about getting some anti-glare film and putting that over the gauge faces so i would be able to see the gauges even if the sun is reflecting off of them, which would normally make them harder to see.

94EG8

You can always just buy the adapter harness and just connect the dimmer wire to your gauges. Actually you can get 12v constant power, switched ignition power, ground, and dimmer wires all from that plug.

These are pretty nice cars to put a head unit in, they just fit in the dash, no mounting kit needed. A lot of older units look great since they really go well with the dash.