John Bonnett
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 06:31 AM |
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Wiring Loom Plug Labelling
I'm about to start dismantling the donor Fiesta and have been thinking about the best way to label the electrical plugs on the loom. In the past
I've used biro on masking tape which after time becomes illegible so I was wondering about using a labelling machine.
Can anyone comment on what they've done please?
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MikeR
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 07:58 AM |
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I used masking tape. 15 years later it's still 90% there and readable. However the loom has spent 15 years in the same box undisturbed.
I'd imagine a label machine would get very frustrating as I find them very slow to use.
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big_wasa
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 09:42 AM |
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The donor plugs will have colour coded wiring so they won't be to difficult to work out with nothing on them but masking tape and a biro should
be sufficient.
When I build them up. I like to use a braid with black heat shrink on thre end I then use a little label printer with clear heat shrink over the
top.
[Edited on 2/9/20 by big_wasa]
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 09:52 AM |
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I have used key tags to identify wiring in the past
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 10:33 AM |
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Is it worth keeping it? Car builder solutions has complete wiring loom kits for not much money. I'd pick that anytime over hacking a fiesta loom
to work with your car. I'm doing that with this Robinhood rather than try to fix the mess the last owners have attempted to do.
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ianhurley20
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 10:46 AM |
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I used cheap zip ties with a label on the end and a straedler fine permanent marker - saved me hours of work and made the job easier. When I installed
a Dan ST throttle bodies and ME ECU with loom that came with the small dymo/brother printed labels on and was even easier. I'll probably use a
mix of the two in a future build
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nick205
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 10:55 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Is it worth keeping it? Car builder solutions has complete wiring loom kits for not much money. I'd pick that anytime over hacking a fiesta loom
to work with your car. I'm doing that with this Robinhood rather than try to fix the mess the last owners have attempted to do.
Have to echo this.
When stripping my Ford Sierra donor I faffed about getting the wiring loom out and labelling the connectors with masking tape and biro. After
assesing the sheer mass of wire I wouldn't need in my MK Indy and the totally inappropriate lengths I binned the lot and bought a Vicky Green
wiring loom purpose made for a 7 type car with a Pinto engine.
All in it made life so much simpler and the resulting build sooooo much tidier and simpler.
A donor car wiring loom will be aged and fairly knackered wires with worn connections. I'd avoid using it myself.
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RichN
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 08:24 PM |
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I stripped down a Mk4 Fiesta Loom from my donor. I wanted just the engine loom so that I could use the ignition switch and ECU, which I successfully
did. I used masking tape and made loads of notes because there are 2 fuse boxes. As I went along I stripped out all of the circuits that I
didn't need. It took ages, but I was satisfied when the engine started first time!
Good luck, and take your time. Label, notes and pictures!
I would also help if you've got a wiring diagram for the Fiesta.
[Edited on 2/9/20 by RichN]
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 08:31 PM |
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Thank you all for your replies. And Rich, you did a great job to sort out the immobiliser and get the engine going in another car. I'm taking
the easy way out and going after market ecu. But I'm hoping to use the dashboard complete with all the controls and instrumentation so I will
need to know which plugs fit where and adapt the loom to suit. A job for the long Winter's nights.
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 2/9/20 at 09:37 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
Thank you all for your replies. And Rich, you did a great job to sort out the immobiliser and get the engine going in another car. I'm taking
the easy way out and going after market ecu. But I'm hoping to use the dashboard complete with all the controls and instrumentation so I will
need to know which plugs fit where and adapt the loom to suit. A job for the long Winter's nights.
if you are going to use an aftermarket loom, then it might be practical to leave all the old plugs on their sensors, then cut the wires where they
enter the current loom. this should give the original colour codes, and enough wiring to splice too.
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 3/9/20 at 06:31 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
quote:
Originally posted by John Bonnett
Thank you all for your replies. And Rich, you did a great job to sort out the immobiliser and get the engine going in another car. I'm taking
the easy way out and going after market ecu. But I'm hoping to use the dashboard complete with all the controls and instrumentation so I will
need to know which plugs fit where and adapt the loom to suit. A job for the long Winter's nights.
if you are going to use an aftermarket loom, then it might be practical to leave all the old plugs on their sensors, then cut the wires where they
enter the current loom. this should give the original colour codes, and enough wiring to splice too.
Excellent idea. Thank you.
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big_wasa
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| posted on 3/9/20 at 10:46 AM |
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What year is your Dash ? I think you said a later one ?
It may be on a can bus network that will only work with the ecu.
Easy way to tell, how many coolant sensors have you got ? 1 = no workie 2 = you should be ok 
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John Bonnett
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| posted on 3/9/20 at 12:04 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
What year is your Dash ? I think you said a later one ?
It may be on a can bus network that will only work with the ecu.
Easy way to tell, how many coolant sensors have you got ? 1 = no workie 2 = you should be ok
It's a MK4 dash and I believe there are two coolant sensors but thank you for the heads up. I'll double check.
So if I'm understanding you correctly, the two sensors mean conventional wiring for the instruments independent of the ecu? I know that I can
use the speedometer with a Hall effect sensor and a box of tricks from Speedy Cables to convert the signal.
It would be enormously helpful to use the complete dashboard but if you can spot any difficulties down the line please do let me know.
With many thanks
John
[Edited on 3/9/20 by John Bonnett]
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