Wiring a complete car, Porsche 924, Newbie

bnhgffff · Jul 25, 2020

Hi everyone.

I have recently bought my first car with intention to restore it - the vehicle had been on fire a little bit due to electrical problems, so i would like to ask you guys for some advice. After buying it i had replaced the ignition coil and it was running OK for a few days, but then i have decided to start working on careful repair and inspection instead of driving a potentially problematic car.

The situation is that i have taken complete harness out of the car, splitting it apart in the spot where it goes to the engine bay from the interior for the sake of removal. I have basically no electrician practice but i have been studying the topic for the last few month. The car is Porsche 924 1982 2.0.

The car has many vw components inside - the fuse box/relay board looks identical to VW Golf mk1- is it possible that buying new wiring harness for Golf can help, and it will be a good base at least? Can't find anything for 924 except used wiring harnesses in suspicious condition. I have original wiring harness and connectors - it was probably repaired by amateurs quite a lot and looks messy - nothing strange that the car went on fire or smth.

Or should i just buy cables (is going 1.5mm everywhere a good idea?) and start rebuilding everything from scratch using original connectors?

any suggestions from you guys? Thanks

Alex

plugsandsparks · Jul 25, 2020

I think you have already cut the harness to get it out of the car, what i was gloing to suggest is look where the harness would normally come apart in sections, typically around the fuse box on older cars, the buy or repair that section.
Its much easier to use a good used or new harness section than build a harness from scratch.

Strima · Jul 25, 2020

Repairing the harness is your best option, don't try and joint the old cables together as you will end up with one big lump that won't go through the bulkhead. Instead stagger the joints by chopping and extending the cables at various points in the loom.

Either solder or use solder joints to join the cables and wrap with loom tape when finished.

These are handy: Solder sleeves

Loom tape example: Tape

telectrix · Jul 25, 2020

tried them solder sleeves. rubbish. the plastic meltsand chars before the solder melts. or have i been doing it wrong?

bnhgffff · Jul 25, 2020

thanks for your replies. i think i will go and try untaping the old harness and separating it, then soldering. I'm a little worried about sensors and overall proper connection of the engine compartment harness. It seems to me like sensor connections, and everything related to gas and brakes can be a little more dangerous than gauges etc.

Strima · Jul 26, 2020

telectrix said:
tried them solder sleeves. rubbish. the plastic meltsand chars before the solder melts. or have i been doing it wrong?

Sounds like your just doing it wrong. I’ve found a heat gun works well but you need to wait a few seconds for the shrink to cool otherwise it stretches and sags.