Dave A. Rally CQ: Now in Seattle, sort of

[Mcstiff]

Power rear windows? that couldn't possible have been a thing... good idea though!

It was an option on S2s, they pop up from time to time on s2forum but shipping glass is always risky. They just have hinges in front and a actuator in the back corner.

[Mcstiff]

Power rear windows? that couldn't possible have been a thing... good idea though!

It was an option on S2s, they pop up from time to time on s2forum but shipping glass is always risky. They just have hinges in front and a actuator in the back corner.

[dalspaugh]

OK, I've gotten in a good 6 hours through this week. I've pretty much decoded all the wiring to this point except two things:

1. The Capacitor in the brakes switch plug.. why is that there? and do I need it? Picture in a previous post...

2. I found this relay socket in the engine harness. It's on the interior side of the harness, I found it unplugged with no relay in it... Picture:



I know the green and blue wire is coming from the ECU and going to the Auto Check system (Bentley says "RPM signal to engine electronics" with no other connectors or anything)... Brown is ground... The white wire splits between going into the engine bay and into the interior harness... I didn't have a ton of time last night to figure this one out. I'm thinking maybe a socket for some Euro/Canada feature? Any Help here?? I think its the only relay socket in the engine harness...

[mr_aj_johnson]

Shot you a message

[dalspaugh]

Relay is still a mystery... but I'm sure I can figure it out with some more time with the Bentley...

As for the capacitor, I've since learned about switch bounce form a friend. Essentially, its what happens when you press a button too hard or too fast and it registers the wrong number of signals. the capacitor dulls this noise. Haven't decided if it's worth reconnecting or not. meh.

[dalspaugh]

Alright, After two hours on Tuesday tracking down wires of this and that, I knew the relay had something to do with oil pressure... but a quick fb post yielded results thanks to some pros!

The relay socket is for a low oil pressure warning relay. Since I don't know how long I'll actually try to keep the Auto Check system in this car, I figured I would leave it.

This means I've identified everything in the harness and it's all labeled - however shitty. This is where the different branches stand now. I estimate that 50% of the wiring in the car was non-essential and removed.



More on this in the coming weekend.

I also put my harbor freight oscillating tool through its paces... and apparently too much, because I broke it... no surprise, but I was expecting it to last more than 2 hours...

Anyway, floor looks like this:



It's not ready for paint yet, but I'm confident I can get it painted this weekend. I've limited my scope a little bit because I'm about an entire summer behind where I'd like to be... I'm only going to paint the tub for now. I'll have to grind and weld in seat mounts soon but I'll deal with it later. I want to cap the rust on the floor with POR15, then I'll top coat it in some lighter color, likely White.

Big Weekend of work coming up, things on the list:

Tidy up wiring harness further -> connect loose wires, replace frayed wiring, cover connections, protect the long branches, measure out how much Heat Shrink I need... etc.
Grind and weld up holes in the fire wall and mask the car for paint prep
Scuff and paint engine bay
Continue scraping/grinding interior floor pan down for paint prep
Paint Floor with Por15, scuff, paint with lighter top coat
Extract broken exhaust stud...
and a huge list of smaller things... let's see how it plays out

[Wilford Brimley]

Anyone know what the connectors are? Found them hanging loose when messing around with the harness

Not sure if anyone answered your question yet, but they are diagnostic connectors.

[dalspaugh]

Not sure if anyone answered your question yet, but they are diagnostic connectors.

I appreciate the response, but I did find them in the Bentley. Even so, "diagnostic Connector" is so vague...

[Wilford Brimley]

Not sure if anyone answered your question yet, but they are diagnostic connectors.

I appreciate the response, but I did find them in the Bentley. Even so, "diagnostic Connector" is so vague...

It is for the old school VAG scan tool they used in the 80's and early 90's for pulling codes on cars. My 20vt Audi 200 uses the exact same connectors.

[dalspaugh]

Hmmm I see, doing a little reading, it looks like bridging these connectors is also how I'll get my fault codes from the ECU

http://20v.org/fault.htm

Looks like I need to connect A1 to C2 (Blue connector) since I have a later car with three connectors. What color is "A" here?

I'd like to run a switch to both connectors, that way I can just depress the switch whenever and get the fault codes without having to dig for the connectors in the harness... need help figuring out which wires to connect to though

[Peters]

get an OBD connector from a salvage yard and splice it in. the 1991 7a ECU (4 connector) will communicate to VAGCOM..

[alxdgr8]

Hmmm I see, doing a little reading, it looks like bridging these connectors is also how I'll get my fault codes from the ECU

http://20v.org/fault.htm

Looks like I need to connect A1 to C2 (Blue connector) since I have a later car with three connectors. What color is "A" here?

I'd like to run a switch to both connectors, that way I can just depress the switch whenever and get the fault codes without having to dig for the connectors in the harness... need help figuring out which wires to connect to though

http://www.s2central.net/blinkhow.html



CA cars have the CEL wiring already installed, non-CA cars might not have it so you might have to wire it or just install a bulb. I just did a switch install to do exactly that, mounted it in the cubby of my Coupe GT.

[alxdgr8]

Let me know if you have anymore questions on the engine harness, I had to identify and label a full 20v harness for my 7A CGT swap so I've become a bit of a master at the Bentley wiring diagrams.

[alxdgr8]

Some more info on the MIL circuit if you need to add it:
http://www.s2central.net/inst_clust_mil.html

[dalspaugh]

Thanks for the info Alex, My car is a CA emissions car so I should have the light and circuit there and ready to go. I should just need a push button switch to trigger the blink sequence.

Pete, not sure what you mean by splicing in an OBD connector...

[dalspaugh]

Got a good bit of work in this weekend. Focused a lot on getting the engine bay painted. Once this is done, I can finally start looking at putting things back ON this car instead burying myself in a never ending to do list...

Taped up, scuffed, and cleaned:


Primed:


Paint:


Clear coat and unmasked:


I used VHT engine enamel paint which was pretty good. I was really happy with how it looked after primer but the Paint was too cold I think (temp was in the high 50s) and there were little flakes of congealed paint that was spraying out. I couldn't get them to go away and I was in a time crunch so I had to roll with it. Result is that there is now a bit of texture in the paint... but whatever, its rally car.

Anyway, in between the drying times I got some smaller stuff accomplished. I ordered and installed these nifty ABS plug caps, really happy with the fitment. This occupies the space left by removing the ABS Sensor from the spindle.


Also, sealed up some wires in the harness and ordered some materials for finishing this up. Still need to replace the masking tape flags with real labels.

I'm still working on the vibration dampening crap on the inside, it just takes so much time... maybe not as bad as wiring... I'm maybe 60-70% of the way there with prep. I've decided to just paint the floor pans and trans tunnel for now. I need to limit my scope a bit here or I'll never get this car to an operable point any time soon.



I was going to use POR15 on the floor but it requires a lot of prep that then needs to rinsed very thoroughly (because the prep solvent is extremely corrosive) and since I'm not interested in hosing down my entire garage, I need get a different paint.

I'm leaning towards using brush-on rustoleum but definitely looking for suggestions here! Hopefully to be done tomorrow.

[Einbilden]

For over the counter stuff Rustoleum is pretty good stuff. Had good results with their primer+paint combos. I just started to use the selfetching primer they have but cant vouch for it yet because to new to me.
I say prime with white topcoat like you said earlier in the thread. BECAUSE RALLY CAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Car looks great.

[alxdgr8]

Pete, not sure what you mean by splicing in an OBD connector...

I think he means wiring in an OBD2 connector so you can hook it up to VCDS without the OBD1-OBD2 adapter.

[Peters]

Pete, not sure what you mean by splicing in an OBD connector...

I think he means wiring in an OBD2 connector so you can hook it up to VCDS without the OBD1-OBD2 adapter.

Yep..

[dalspaugh]

Ah I see what you're saying. I'm guessing there is a wiring diagram for rigging this up? I can't say I know much about the OBDII ports... I'm going to put that on the "nice to have list"

Looks like I may not get anything done on this car for a couple weeks. Lemons at NHMS is about 10 days away so I'm head down on that project.

I did in fact pick up some brush on rustoleum last night with Primer. I'm going with not white, because I thought my engine bay looked better in primer than the stripper gloss white, but I can't change it now... easily... So I'm going to different route for the floor. Maybe get this done in the next 2 weeks...

[dalspaugh]

Took the day off yesterday to get something accomplished while it's still warm enough to paint. And wow, 8 hours of chipping, grinding and cleaning was a killer... whoa but progress was made!

After lots of chipping:




Then after lots of grinding (angle grinder with a steel bristle attachment):


And then finally, after two coats of primer:




The process was like, chip for an hour, vacuum, repeat 3 times, grind for an hour, vacuum, repeat, want to die, then clean with simple green, then vacuum, then wipe down again, then wait for it to dry, then paint. It's so easy to eat up a day in just paint prep... yikes. All the vibration material forward of the rear seats has now been removed. That's as far as I'm going for now, remember, drawing a line, trying to actually focus on getting the car going.

Also got my nifty label maker and labels in. I'm not doing the fancy in-line heat-shrink labels because I don't want to spend another season just breaking connectors and making labels. These are already fancy enough:


Going to get the paint coat on tomorrow. Then it's time to start building and stop painting things!

[dalspaugh]

OK, got a small bit of time before Lemons, and got the main interior harness to where I want it. Yes, it could be better, but damnit, It's going to have to do for now!



The little black wraps you see are not electrical tape, they are one-wrap velcro straps. The way I see it, there is no reason to wrap an unproven harness up in nice, expensive adhesive-lined shrink wrap because I'm sure I'll be back into this thing all too soon.

[PRY4SNO]

Nice move with the velcro. Will let you refine it after a bit of use and make a final decision before doing something more permanent.

[dalspaugh]

Still working on the wiring a bit. Replacing all my shitty masking tape labels with proper vinyl labels that can withstand the heat/conditions. I'm happy with how it's coming out but it's taking plenty of time!

This is about 80% of it:


I've also started to look at how I"m going to run the external fuel pumps. For a while I was thinking about just installing a couple panel mount fittings on the top of the fuel sending unit plastic piece here:




It has a nice flat surface there with plenty of real estate for two fittings (supply/return) AND the lowest part of the tank resides directly below it so I could just drop a hose straight down for pick-up but it's just plastic. I'm worried that the first time someone throws a tire in the back of this thing, it'll smack the fitting and break that whole assembly... so likely not going that route unless I machined a piece out of aluminum to replace the upper part or something.

So back to just using the stock outputs underneath for now. Need to order the pumps, I'll likely go with:
http://www.deatschwerks.com/products/fu ... ump-detail

[Peters]

Dave - why don't you stick with the internal pump? its protected, and even if you had to put an 044 pump in, it's protected.
Having dealt with the external fuel pumps on 90s, you definitely want to keep the plumbing inside the tank and protected.