I just received a price for the 19 pin plug of US$105 from John Speake at JDSPorsche.
Not saying it is not worth it but I was wondering what alternative plugs have been made by Rennlisters?

Thats $104 more then it worth when it only takes less then a minute to plug in 4 pins.

My thoughts entirely-for that price I will make my own plug.

I guess it depends how handy you are I guess... Heirsh made this one...



And Jimq made this one...



Both excellent designs.(But for some reason I can't get them to display here... Just click on the link) I think John Speake's would take the cake but it is pricey. I made several plugs but went back to plugging in the pins individually. I used 16d finishing nails, clipped the ends off and turned them in my metal lathe to fit securely.

These are the pins for the loaner interface.



These are the pins for the 2nd one I still need to get working!

That darn AMP plug is ridiculous. I have a local electronics parts warehouse that carries the AMP product line. They are checking to see if they can obtain it. They had a AMP 24 pin plug selling for $9.99 so Im pateintly waiting to hear back.

I'll never use that interface for anything else, so I just soldered it's wires into the harness at the back of the 19 pin connector. Don't have to worry about which pin goes where. The PC cable is attached to the interface so all I have to do is reach over the top of the panel, pull out the serial cable and plug into the PC. It tucks back behind the panel when not in use. Quick and easy.

Danz C4

Dan... That's a pretty neat idea. I may have to make one that is a little smaller so I can do the same.

I went THIS far.

Every year this question pops up like clockwork. The molds for the connector are owned by Bosch so AMP will not sell you anything. There are three part numbers on the connectors and one of them is the internal AMP application number. Once your AMP rep finds/is given that number they will tell you there is nothing they can do. The other two AMP part numbers will likely not even be in their computer system.

Copies of the original connector could be cast in polyurethane from a platinum cured silicone mold. The silicone will run you about $200 per 30-50 pulls and the polyurethane would come out to maybe $5-13USD per connector. Tin cured silicone has too high a shrinkage factor to work with this locking bayonet design so you need to use the more expensive platinum cure variety. The same applies with most casting polyurethanes. The labor is also somewhat involved so I can't see anyone charging less than $50USD/each. Connectors were still available from Porsche up until a mid-summer when I accidentally opened my mouth and the people selling pirated PST2 software running on laptops bought up everything.

I have several gallons of leftover molding silicone but at this point I'm not sure if it is still good. If it is my offer to make copies of the original connector is still on the table if anyone has an original. I already have the vacuum equipment and a small autoclave/pressure pot for casting under high pressure.

[. If it is my offer to make copies of the original connector is still on the table if anyone has an original. I already have the vacuum equipment and a small autoclave/pressure pot for casting under high pressure.[/QUOTE]


Jason
I have just finished fabricating a plug using a 3 pin plug, some epoxy, and drilling some holes.
It will work fine but I have to admit if I could buy something similar to the orginal connector I would be very interested.
The price I was quoted at US$105 plus postage is just not worth it - but at half that let me know if you decide to go ahead.

It's been awhile since this post was started, so I'm wondering what folks have done about the 19 pin plug. The one thing that was lacking in the use of the scantool was plugging in bare wires into the OBD socket, so I made a plug on my bridgeport mill.


I then went to emachineshop.com a drew up the part and I believe I can make this plug w/ 4-5' of 4 conductor shielded cable for less than $25. It uses #7,8,10,and 13 for the pins (ignition must be on), but adding pins would be trivial. It's made from PVC and doesn't have a locking ring, but it fits well enough that it'll stay plugged in. The part from emachineshop is the base.
and I would make the end, copper pins on my southbend lathe and do a few cuts on the base. Emachineshop has a 35 day lead time and I have a business commitment for the next 2 months, so it's looking like sometime in May for availibility.
Is there any interest at a price point of $25?

Thanks, Kevin

yep count me in

Me too - I think there will be a lot of interest in this!

I have to laugh at this. We spend sick amounts of money on all types of things from tires to oil to fuel to club fees yet a specialty item like this is too much? The plug fits the jack just right, no chance of crossing a wire with possible disaterous results and a one-time purchase.

disclosure: I bought one and use it often. I like that it fits just right and I don't have to take a flash light into the footwells to find the right number with my fast fading eyesight.

I'm planning on using a perf board (i.e. an elctronic copper clad board readily available at any electroncs store which has tiny holes predrilled into about 2 mm apart) and mount the pins directly onto it along with the electronic components as well as the serial interface cable. I'm pretty sure it will work. Now I just have to find the time to build it.

Bill
90C2

$25 - Im in.