Making my own patch harness... Options

[lagos]

Recently we had a little mini group buy for oem pins and connectors on ctech and mr2oc.
I decided to pick up a set and make a patch harness. Right now my current harness is repinned to work with my 93 sard rom tuned ecu. This patch harness will allow me to convert back from a 93 sard ecu, to my original 90 ecu. The idea here is to at some point go back to my oem ecu, have it run most of the cars functions (like AC, coolant gauge,etc..) and then splice in the critical engine functions to be controlled by Megasquirt (somewhere down the road). I used OEM wire, stripped it, crimped on the pins and inserted them into the connectors. Then I will solder the other ends to the female ecu plug to make a patch harness.


The pins..


The plugs..


Soldered and heat shrinked one wire to the other end to test how that would work...


And here is what I have done so far...

[x_itchy_b_x]

great! I just got done making mine for the 2, those pins are a pain to solder, slow and steady.

[JustinCapps]

where you find parts like this?/
very curious!

[Batman722]

nice project Art !

[lagos]

where you find parts like this?/
very curious!

Check this thread. It will give you the part numbers and the place to buy them.
http://celicatech.com/forums/showthread.ph...age=1&pp=25

[presure2]

looks great art.
make this into a how to!!

[lagos]

I guess I could whip something up. Only things to really know is how to unlock the plugs and crimp the pins. Then just follow the pinouts for the ecu you have.

[easternpiro1]

that massive brain of yours art... as always, im impressed! cant wait to read a how to!

[WannabeGT4]

You should have contacted me... I'd have been down for a set. I don't have any specific need for it but it'd have been a fun project.

[lagos]

You should have contacted me... I'd have been down for a set. I don't have any specific need for it but it'd have been a fun project.

I'm not the one who ran the group buy. You just have to keep your eyes peeled on mr2oc/ctech for that stuff.
However you can just order them yourself directly through the site. The parts cost around $20, but the store has a minimum order of $30 or so. Thats why a few of us decided to get together on a single order.

[korban]

Just as a helpful hint, make sure you have the plugs plugged in when you're soldering on those wires (as you have in the photo).

It gives the pins just that little bit more heat sinking, otherwise the pin can slide right out of the housing (and that's a real PITA).

When I've done this kind of thing before I usually leave the pins at right angles in case the plastic has heated up, a tug on the wire won't pull the pins directly out, strain relief I guess you could call it.

Maybe when you're done you could hot glue or epoxy all the pins together.

Good luck.

[pitcelica]

what kind of tool do you use to crimp those pins on the wires?

[lagos]

what kind of tool do you use to crimp those pins on the wires?

A normal crimper works great with these. The metal on the pins is really thin, so its easy to create a secure crimp.
Hopefully I'll have some free time this weekend to finish the project, so I'll take a few more pics of the process.

[lagos]

Just as a helpful hint, make sure you have the plugs plugged in when you're soldering on those wires (as you have in the photo).

It gives the pins just that little bit more heat sinking, otherwise the pin can slide right out of the housing (and that's a real PITA).

When I've done this kind of thing before I usually leave the pins at right angles in case the plastic has heated up, a tug on the wire won't pull the pins directly out, strain relief I guess you could call it.

Maybe when you're done you could hot glue or epoxy all the pins together.

Good luck.

I'm not sure if I fully understand...
The pins that I installed into the plug lock in place when you slide them into the gray plugs.

As for the other end, you just wrap the wire out of the pins that are sticking out, solder, and use heat shrink. I have seen people put a layer of epoxy over all of the pins once they are done, but personally I see no reason why anyone would do that, unless they somehow crimped those pins on as well.

[korban]

As for the other end, you just wrap the wire out of the pins that are sticking out, solder, and use heat shrink.

It's the 'solder' part that's the issue (the crimp on terminals are fine). When you solder the leg, it heats up the plastic, which is the only thing holding it in place. If it gets heated up too much, when you go to put the plug in, the leg pushes out the other side, ruining your entire job. That's probably why you've seen people epoxy them. It's something that's easy to learn from experience, but i'd rather you didn't have to.

[lagos]

Thats only in extreme cases of getting the pin very hot. When I did mine, it only took a second to get the solder flowing, and didn't get the pin so hot that it would melt the plastic.

[eggman40]

aw man thats a great project, but man all those wires look like a nightmare to me

[lagos]

Its really easy to do. You just match them up based on the pinout diagrams that are available.
Hopefully I'll be able to have some time to finish it up this weekend and I'll try to do some kind of how to.

[njccmd2002]

bringing from, the dead, can you post a pic or a crimp tool u used.

[lagos]

bringing from, the dead, can you post a pic or a crimp tool u used.

I just used a normal crimper or even a set of pliers on them. Its very soft metal and very easy to crimp. Then you solder the other wire to the prongs that stick out on the big plug.