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Thread: Racing Wiring Harness?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Racing Wiring Harness?

    I have been living through a wiring nightmare. I am trying to get my e36 build complete, on my own, and it's been going well, untill now. My goal was to leave the wiring harness in the chassis, eliminate everything that is no longer needed, and add some addition waterproofing and quick connnects. That's it, keep it simple.

    I have been labeling everything, trying to keep things tidy, but I am chasing wires left and right and wondering if there is a better way? I am almost ready to wave the white flag; does anyone make a race ready harness? Any weekend warriors out there that have a template made up or willing to share some insight?

    Thanks in Advance,
    Regards, Nate.
    www.DriveFasterNow.com

  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    What are you keeping in the car? What car?
    Easier to answer if you offer more info. Depending on what you are keeping it may be easier to just start from scratch.

  4. #4
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    OBD1 M50B25, e36 325is.
    Keeping: ABS, wipers, headlights. Adding Electric fan circuit.

    I am thinking of starting from scratch, just wanted to get suggestions from people who have done this before.
    Regards, Nate.
    www.DriveFasterNow.com

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by TOOLEAN View Post
    I am thinking of starting from scratch, just wanted to get suggestions from people who have done this before.
    It's easier to thin out the harness than to start from scratch IMO.

  6. #6
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    noodlexyz is offline Ryan - Mueller Motorwerks Supporting Vendor
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    Quote Originally Posted by TOOLEAN View Post
    I have been living through a wiring nightmare. I am trying to get my e36 build complete, on my own, and it's been going well, untill now. My goal was to leave the wiring harness in the chassis, eliminate everything that is no longer needed, and add some addition waterproofing and quick connnects. That's it, keep it simple.

    I have been labeling everything, trying to keep things tidy, but I am chasing wires left and right and wondering if there is a better way? I am almost ready to wave the white flag; does anyone make a race ready harness? Any weekend warriors out there that have a template made up or willing to share some insight?

    Thanks in Advance,
    Im in the same boat as you, Im slowly taking down my harness over the next few months and into the winter. Im taking my time to ensure I dont mess this process up, just keep at it and you'll get there with the OEM harness.

    -Ryan
    1993 325is racing car type thing....

  7. #7
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    Thinning a harness is easy until you really want to simplify things with simple toggle switches, small fuse/breaker boxes, and fewer relays. At that point, it's easier to chuck the chassis harness and rewire. A working knowledge of basic electricity helps.

    My custom wiring turned out pretty messy in some areas. I think the Painless stuff is way overpriced but, if it simplifies things, maybe it's worth the extra cost.

  8. #8
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    Just ran across some custom harness threads elsewhere and this one jumped out.... looks like there are people who will tackle it ...

  9. #9
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    Yes! That looks good. Even added the labels to each wire. That's clean.
    Regards, Nate.
    www.DriveFasterNow.com

  10. #10
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    I supply harnesses to local club racers as well as people throughout the country. I also supply all of the lightweight wire, heat shrink, waterproof connectors, labels, and all other accessories that you will need, such as relay's, indicators, switches, as well as racing ECU's and AIM data acquisition systems.

    If you are interested, PM me.

  11. #11
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    The ETM (electrical technical manual) for your car will greatly simplify things.
    There is a link to a downloadable copy on this board.
    If you can read a wiring diagram you can pretty quickly figure out you can ditch large portions of the harness.

  12. #12
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    Need Wiring Harness

    Hi Mr Beagle...I am a new member here so I can't PM you.

    can you please email me at mreilly@vartopia.com

    Thanks

    Mike

  13. #13
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    harness

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Deagle View Post
    I supply harnesses to local club racers as well as people throughout the country. I also supply all of the lightweight wire, heat shrink, waterproof connectors, labels, and all other accessories that you will need, such as relay's, indicators, switches, as well as racing ECU's and AIM data acquisition systems.

    If you are interested, PM me.
    I am interested in a harness for a E36 contact me at: tsd@fibeco.com

  14. #14
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    I am very interested in a harness for my E36 M3, Please contact me at: rebornleaf@gmail.com

  15. #15
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    That looks like a Ry-Wire harness for a Honda. Those guys do beautiful work. There's a few others as well, but Ry-Wire really stands out in my opinion. Not cheap though ($$$$$$$).

    Quote Originally Posted by kristap View Post
    Last edited by jakermac; 02-12-2015 at 10:12 PM.

  16. #16
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    Hi Mr. Deagle I am interested in a harness for my E36. If you could email my that would be great. Mexiville@yahoo.com

  17. #17
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    I thinned out the harness on my track build, it takes a lot of pacience, strong fingers, and flashlight. I did it in 3 rounds over 1 year. I traced every wire I thought could be removed, to make sure it did not affect anything else. Some wires seemed useless but when I traced them they had a impact on something else and kept them. If i had any doubt, i would snip the wire, start the car and made sure everything worked. I did end up splicing back mistakes, not many. Turned out very nice, all i need to do now is remove all the fuse positions that are unused. I did keep the power windows since i reached the min weight with them (2,740 lb) with 1/4 on the tank.

  18. #18
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    Really at some point I think just ripping everything out and making a new wiring harness is the way to go. Thinning it out works however many times having a fault somewhere is impossible to trace. My car keeps blowing fuse 46, which shuts down parts of the cluster, brake lights etc. because there is many items on a single fuse and it's an intermittent fault, it's nearly impossible to find.

    Rerouting everything to a separate fuse would be so much simpler.
    E36 M3 S50B32 daily - E36 M3 S54 trackcar

    They Say Money Talks, All Mine Ever Says Is Goodbye

  19. #19
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    The guy that posted that he does trackday harnesses before, is he still active here? Still doing any work for anyone on harnesses?

  20. #20
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    Mr. Deagle is not super active on the forums, but he is extremely knowledgeable and I'm sure would produce a beautiful harness if he still has the time or interest, some 6+ years later since the thread started.

    I had the same dilemma and ultimately decided to go with a painless wiring harness years ago. I spent several nights thinning the stock harness and decided it would never be as clean and simple as an aftermarket one.

    Stock birds nest is really ugly:








    All fuses and relays for the whole car are here with the painless - which made it pretty painless



    To run an E36, you only need to connect 4-6 wires or so through the X20 connector (round 20 pin connector that attaches the engine harness to the factory fuse box / chassis harness). To set that up with a painless harness is very easy. Ignition, starter, fuel pump, speed signal, etc. Keeping the factory chassis harness will save you some money, but definitely will not save any headache or time!

    Mike
    Last edited by MikeE36; 02-20-2016 at 01:57 PM.
    IG: @mikevanshellenbeck

  21. #21
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    That looks realy clean.

    Die you keep stock ABS system as well?
    E36 M3 S50B32 daily - E36 M3 S54 trackcar

    They Say Money Talks, All Mine Ever Says Is Goodbye

  22. #22
    Join Date
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    Mr. Deagle:

    I am racing an e36 M3 ... the last thing on the punch list is to clean up / rewire. I have removed what I can but am afraid to cut much more and an contemplating starting from scratch with a racing harness ... if you are still building them or have a referral ... I would really appreciate hearing from you. eddiehillard@yahoo.com

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