just came in, it's 6:32
just came in, it's 6:32
back out there in a few
If you get rid of the factory coil, and use a different ignition box, you need to add a 2.2 K resistor in line between the blue wire from the distributor, and the tach wire going into the car. I know some people have just connected them together, but this is a current limiting resistor, and you could do damage. That tach wire feeds the tach, the carb and Fi ecu, the AC delay box, and the fuel pump relay on the carb. with the factory coil, the resistor is inside of the coil itself. I wanted a secure place to mount it, since a bad connection will stop your car in the road, so this is what I did,
I took a cheap chinese relay that had a built in plug, removed the top, I then cut off the contacts inside, leaving just the base and four copper connections to the pins. I took my resistor, soldered it across two of the connectors
cut off the excess lead length
then used potting epoxy to secure everything in place
finally reassembled the top, a little black fusion paint, and secured to the strut tower.
Re: losts wiring harness projects in the hatch
I wanted to add, if you add an ignition box inside of the car like I did, you can tap the tach wire under the blower fan, look for the AC delay box, it should be a white box bolted to the bottom of the blower motor assembly, it was say HVAC delay box on it, tap the blue wire, this is the tach wire, it goes to that box because the box has an ac clutch rev limiter built in. if the engine rpm goes too high to be safe for the AC compressor, the box disconnects the ac compressor clutch relay. this is needed because the compressor has a lower redline then the engine, I don't remember off the top of my head what it was
Last edited by lostforawhile; 12-04-2010 at 03:56 PM.
So for anyone who is running or is looking to run an msd box and or coil should be adding those inline resistors?
Why did you use a relay to house it? Couldn't you just cut the wire, strip the ends, put the resister in there, solder it, then put a length of heat shrink to cover the whole thing? Or is that too flimsy and the reason you used the relay?
i used the relay to give a solid mounting point to the resistor, i don't trust it just inline, especially since the resistor leads are solid wire. if you bypass the original coil i would add it, it's inside of the coil inline with that wire going into the harness. all of the other circuits were designed with it there. your fuel pump relay, ecu or carb controls, cruise contol,tach,AC delay box, and fan delay for the FI carOriginally Posted by 87roach
some of the wires aren't bundled or have split loom yet, but I need to get all the wire lengths right first
am i the only one here who enjoys taking an entire wiring harness apart and redesigning everything?
Yes, I think so.
It's pretty daunting for most people I assume and not exactly necessary.
I'd like to simplify mine though, take out what I don't need and clean it up so you're not the only one :P
you can always tell when someone has changed a bunch of stuff around at a car show, becaue they'll have old wires, and deteriorated loom and unused plugs everywhere. I see it all the time. it looks like crap. this eliminates all of that, and it's also a way to replace all the underhood wiring. 25 years of heat in the south isn't good to the wiring. anything out of the engine compartment looks brand new though. they used pretty high quality wire, look at a dometic this age and the wires all through the car are deteriorating. I usually go to the yard, pull harnesses out of japanese cars, and unwap them to get wire, the wire always looks new, and way cheaper then anything off the shelf. at the least replace that alternator primary wire, for some reason at Honda they always use undersized wire for it, and the wire gets really hot. The wire barely meets the size requirements for the altenator output, and when you figure in length and increased resistance from underhood heat, it's really too small, they usually get really hot within six inches of the alternator. at the minimum that wire should be six gauge not eight. also thats copper wire, not the copper coated aluminum wire they often sell in amplifier kits, it has a much lower capacity then pure copper
Last edited by lostforawhile; 12-05-2010 at 10:04 AM.
I noticed something odd on the civic which has the h4 bulbs factory, the main fuse for the headlamp circuit is only 30 amps. I was going to change the PTC fuse in my under hood fuse box to 40 amps since it now only powers my headlights, but seeing that the factory H4 lamps only have a 30 amp fuse, i'll leave it as it is. I assume the difference might be the other lighting on the circuit as well as the dash lights, those are still powered from the factory main fuse for lighting. I split the PTC main fuse into a fuse block with four fuses just like factory. the factory switch now only controls the running lights, etc, and four relays for the lights. this takes a big load off of that switch, plus a more direct route for current to reach the lamps, those switches were always overloaded, not just in this car, but a lot of other Honda's. the switch is built pretty much the same as early 80's Honda's, a lot of them came with old non halogen lamps, and had halogens installed as they became more popular. the older lamps didn't use as much current . It seems they kept on using the same design as older cars. My 81 civic service manual here lists both the non halogen type as standard and the halogen as an upgrade. I'm old enough to remember going to the store and having a choice in sealed beam lamps on the shelf. I think they dropped the ball on making these switches more heavy duty, to keep up with the newer lamps. This is probably why so many people have had a light contact burn out and the switch hang up between the two.
Last edited by lostforawhile; 12-07-2010 at 11:32 AM.
ignore what I said about using the tach wire for the AC delay to fire the MSD box, MSD says I need to tie the box in before the resistor, in other worrds the blue wire from the dizzy goes through the resistor to the other circuits that use a tach signal, the blue wire going into the harness, it still has to be there for them, but I just need to tap the blue wire before the resistor for the msd box itself.
this is the harness for the temp sender, oil pressure sender, backup lights, dizzy, and the relay that lets me turn on the fan if needed, the relay looking thing is the resistor the the ignition if you are just starting to read this. The orange is heat shield where the harness is near one of the braided hoses for coolant, I need to pull the radiator back out again to run the wires for the alternator, the backup lamps, and anchor the wiring harness for the fans
Me me me me me!!
I, myself, enjoy doing electrical work on my cars more than anything. I think I'm gonna attempt a similar feat with my 94 Accord sedan once I get the engine pulled in it. Just gotta find a good wire diagram. My hatch might get the same treatment after I get the sedan up and running.
1986 Accord LXi 3-door
1968 Chevy C20
I'm glad snooze got that electrical manual scanned, it was a nightmare trying to piece together stuff from pieces and parts of diagrams, the wiring itself is easy, it's knowing what everything goes to thats the problem
got some free multipin plugs from several accords he was crushing at the yard, late model ones, he just crushes everything, engine, transmission, interior, whatever. the short end of the plugs will get soldered into the harness inside of the car, this is the passenger side fuse panel, this is the tedious stuff, putting it all together then marking the wires after verifying with a meter
Last edited by lostforawhile; 12-10-2010 at 11:39 PM.
I went out to the plant and spent a good part of the day making these pieces, I wanted a cover to go over the fuses, and I've been trying to figure out how, I need to blast everything and paint it yet, but you get the idea. I'm going to make the lexan piece bigger then it is, but this is what it will look like, I added the piece between the back of the fuse panel, and the four posts and lexan cover. I machined the four posts out of 1/4 rod, they are threaded on the bottom for the screws, and the tops are drilled for the two safety pin type fasteners, you just pop them off, and the cover comes off for fuse access. it sits recessed on the tops of the posts. I'm going to mask off two strips where the fuses are, and paint the rest black. I'm going to use indicator fuses, when a fuse blows, an LED in it glows.
the other night at about 3 am
I decided to move the radio from under the seat, so I'm reusing the aluminum plate it was mounted to, and putting the MSD box and solonoid for the fuse box under the passenger seat, It shouldn't affect the coil too much, the factory length wires to the coil almost reach the firewall as it is and I only have to lengthen them only slightly. high voltage can travel further without as much loss anyway. I'll tape those wires to the floorpan and use some shielding tape over them, to prevent interference. I used flathead machine screws and threaded the plate to make studs for the box and the solonoid. I'm going to use shielded wire for the dizzy signal too to prevent problems. it has to run away from the high voltage coil wire. I have to take this entire thing apart to prime and paint the plate, and still have to paint the floorpan under where it goes.
here's the plate with the box and the solenoid for the fuse panel under the dash, since the output of the module in the dizzy now only is a trigger signal, I used audio cable which has a shielding braid, the braid gets grounded on both ends, to prevent interference with the trigger signal, the entire plate everything is mounted to, has a grounding stud, and will ground to an unused threaded hole on the back of the passenger seat mount.
duddddde im in lovvve with ur project. im actually trying to redesign my harness but not hack just remove the wires i dont use anymore. .i really need ur help on the fittings for the fuel . for my si fi. lude. so please help me with wires and the fittings . please im so confised when it comes to this,
rhd restoration 2nd gen prelude
what do you need help with?
You dont want to ground the shielding on both ends. This will only cause grounding loops. You want the shielding to be grounded at the sensor end.
Last edited by integratuner77; 01-12-2011 at 06:41 AM.
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