500

I've almost finished removing everything ahead of the firewall on my car. While I have the engine out for re-building, I decided to remove everything else and re-paint the firewall, inner fenders and all the sheet metal under the valence/spoiler at the front.

My problem is what to do to get the main wiring harness out of the way. This is the harness that runs from the battery, headlights, AC etc. to the main fuse/relay panel at the rear driver's side of the engine compartment. The wiring harness is completely disconnected from everything on the engine-side of the firewall (alas, everything it was connected to is removed...) and I have gone as far as removing the fuse/relay panel on the other side of the firewall. I had a lot of trouble dislodging the rubber grommet that surrounds the harness as it passes through the firewall (made the DME grommet look like a walk in the park). I did get it off though, and it is with the harness on the engine-side of the firewall. I'm not sure now how best to get the harness completely out of the car. My options seem to be:

1) Try to pass the grommet through the firewall and then pull all of the harness back through the firewall to the car interior-side. I'm kinda doubtful that I can squeeze that grommet through without it getting stuck.

2) Complete removing any remaining connections between the engine room harness and the interior side of the car. There are so many wires in that area that I'm not sure yet how many connections remain and how accessible they are. It seems though, that the majority of the wires ended up at the fues/relay panel, to which I've already removed the plug ins. My main uncerainty is will I be able to pass these large, boxy plug-ins through the firewall (to the engine-side). It appears that the opening is large enough for the plug-ins themselves, but with the other wires etc. I'm not sure if it is practical.

So, I'm hoping that others who have successfully removed their harnesses can help point me in the best direction.

Once I get past all this, I'll probably be looking at doing some wiring upgrades (a la Icesharks stuff etc. But that is a topic for a future post!

Thank you for taking a look!

500

(polite) Bumpity-Bump

Granite 944

I don't know if this is any help or not, but, if your removing all of this for the sake of painting, maybe it would be more convenient/easier to use aluminum foil and cover the wire bundles with this to protect them from paint and all? Maybe it would'nt be great for everything, but I know it works well as a masking agent when you have lots of wire bundles and odd shapes to coverup, it goes on quick and easy, and comes off quick and easy.

Its been over a year ago, but, I did strip down a '85/2 car completely, and the all the wiring harnesses came out of the car intact, with all the plastic connector plugs on them. Probably not a good comparison of what your trying to do however. Good luck!

500

Ken, that sounds like a really useful masking technique for that sort of item.

Just masking of the harness is Plan B, and I'm leaning more and more in that direction.

Thanks!