Hey, Just wondering how you go about making a loom for after market ecus, What type of wire and tools do you need? Mike's looms look spot on http://www.clubgti.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=191774 Is there a standard for the colors, like the red/live etc How do you know what lenght you need Cheers Craig
Lol cheers mate! It's nice to use all standard wiring colours where possible but when your ordering 100m or 50m lenghts of cable the cost soon adds up. It would probably be easier to build a loom up using a separate colour wire for each sensor and share a common wire for the signal ground. following vw colour codes loosely you could go for: Brown (sensor signal gnd) Black (ignition+) Red (constant +) Blue (water temp) etc etc....! Vw wiring normally or does contain a coloured trace as well....but like I say buying all this wire will cost you a lot of money! I've used all black wiring before in making up looms, if your doing one run at a time from ecu plug to sensor plug it doesn't matter. Another option to consider is using cable that has individual numbered markings printed on the insulation of each cable core or you could use numbered collets but that starts to get fiddly! I've been using 0.75mm wiring but you can go a lot lower for your sensors I wouldn't go lower than 0.50 inless you intend to be saving massive amounts of weight. Hope this helps, it's only what I've been doing so not gospel! All good practice tho You might find a few tips on the DTA forum..some helpfull guys on there. http://dtaforum.psycode.com/viewtopic.php?t=1980
http://www.autosparks.co.uk/index.php?cPath=88&oscsid=fst9arrvl8of7f4af2jk5hqq83 http://www.autosparks.co.uk/index.php?cPath=89 this places is pretty reasonble if you want a few meters of differant colours
If you have access to the drawings of the loom you need to make you can make the loom much easier. You can then use an old worktop and draw out the shape of the loom putting nails in the ends, and on the corners of where the wire will travel. Tools are depenedant on the type of connectors and some can be very expensive and hard to get hold of. But if your ok with a soldering iron then you should be ok. As for wire colors thats really up to you but what you do need to keep an eye on are the sizes as they can change from 0.25 mm in size. And the final touch is also up to you as there are lots of different types of tapes and conduits out there.
Obtaining a loom from Rodney Sport (RS), used in MS projects is where I would start. At 10 Ft long you should have enough wire lenghts to cope with the input/outputs of most aftermarket ECUs. This is what I do then purchase loom covering and connectors separate. http://www.glensgarage.com/catalog/universal-wiring-harness-autosport-p-77.html Alternatively you can use a loom from DIY Autotune. Not as extensive as the RS job but can also work. http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/megasquirt-wiring-bundle-1239-long-p-101.html
No problem. The DTA will come with the ECU connector, so you can connect to the engine via the looms given in the note. Sensor pigtails or connectors can be obtained from the breakers, VW dealer, or Vehicle Wiring Products.
Cheers,I just checked out the postage and its about $40 I think it works out about 55 for the wires posted. Is that cheap? Are there any UK distributers?
Be careful ordering from diyautotune. You may get stung for the import duty at the same time. Which is another 40 on top
http://dtaforum.psycode.com/viewtopic.php?t=1980&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30 stolen from the link above this looks pretty good and cheaper way
