Bx Loom For An Mi16 Conversion

[Dave_McC 0]

I pulled out the existing 205 loom from the car yesterday and have unpicked the sensor loom from the ECU loom and worked out (from a post on here) which wires I need to connect up.

 

My question is what should I do with the excess length of the BX loom - it's quite a lot longer than the existing loom - and there's not a huge amount of room under the dash to "lose" that much wiring.

 

I could shorten the loom, but the shielded cables will be a pain to deal with, and adding more soldered joints won't probably help reliability.

 

A quick answer would be great - hoping to get the loom sorted this afternoon.

 

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[whizzer71 0]

I pulled out the existing 205 loom from the car yesterday and have unpicked the sensor loom from the ECU loom and worked out (from a post on here) which wires I need to connect up.

 

My question is what should I do with the excess length of the BX loom - it's quite a lot longer than the existing loom - and there's not a huge amount of room under the dash to "lose" that much wiring.

 

I could shorten the loom, but the shielded cables will be a pain to deal with, and adding more soldered joints won't probably help reliability.

 

A quick answer would be great - hoping to get the loom sorted this afternoon.

 

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

I normally lose the "excess" down the back of the headlight/ in the void of the front skirt either side behind the fog lamps

 

hope that helps

 

Edited November 16, 2008 by whizzer71

[Cameron 16]

Same. I wouldn't bother shortening the loom, solder just refuses to stick to those old corroded wires and its more trouble that it's worth.

[Dave_McC 0]

Cheers guys - off to sort it out now!

 

Dave

[GLPoomobile 958]

Alternatively, work out how much you want to lose, then chop the length off at the engine end, before crimping new terminals on. You then lose most/all of the corroded old s*it (it should be fine at the ECU but likely to be brittle and manky for a few inches back at most of the sensors).

 

Costs - About 20 quid for a ratchet crimping tool, and less than a fiver for enough terminals (re-use the housings if OK), which can be bought for £1.80 per pack of 10 from Vehicle Wiring Products.

 

EDIT: You'll probably also need to spend another few quid on Peugeot specific terminals for the relay housings and female blade terminals for some of the sensors. Lose the brown multiplug altogether, not worth the bother.

Edited November 16, 2008 by GLPoomobile

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

If you mount your ECU under one of the seats, you won't have that much left to lose (as suggested) behind the front bumper & or headlight.

[nick 3]

As the doc says, I just ran mine down under the carpet, threaded the ecu plug through the hole in the seat mount and then put a 2" slit in the carpet under the drivers seat. My ECU is just sat under there with the added bonus of it being easy to unclip it and take it with you.... the ultimate imobiliser!! (unless the thieving bastards carry a Mi16 ecu around with them.....)

 

Nick

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I would shorten it much like GL has said to the effect i;ve just done this, Winding wire up in coil is a bodge to me but I used to work in Navel wiring on board warship's etc

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

No need for winding, bundling or looping, just a gentle wander around the engine bay; tastefully carried out of course.

 

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Ye Ha

[Alastairh 47]

Giddy up!

 

Another man to shortern. The main difference between a good conversion and a bad one. Theres a service loop, but then theres pure lazyness...

[welshpug 1,661]

is the BX loom really that long? I found the 405 loom to be perfect for placing the ECU in its original position (in the 205 that is, to the right of the steering column)

Edited November 17, 2008 by welshpug

[Dave_McC 0]

The BX loom is certainly a lot longer than the 205 loom - the BX sites the ECU under the driver's seat - whereas the 405 I believe puts the ECU in the engine bay behind the scuttle bulkhead - hence it's a more suitable length.

 

Thanks for all the replies - with 2 schools of thought! Have to say I'm fancying just locating the ECU under driver's seat to save cutting my hands to pieces trying to thread the loom back under the dash.

 

Dave

 

Dave

[welshpug 1,661]

not so sure on that, the number of 205's with puddles in that area doesn't inspire confidence....

Edited November 17, 2008 by welshpug

[Ryan 99]

is the BX loom really that long? I found the 405 loom to be perfect for placing the ECU in its original position (in the 205 that is, to the right of the steering column)

 

It's very long. I put the ECU under the dash and the loom was long enough to reach down the driver's side inner wing, down and along the bottom of the rad, up the other inner wing, behind the washer bottle, and then down to the multiplug in the gearbox area.

 

It's probably a good 8 feet long at least.

[Cameron 16]

Yeah I could have wrapped mine around the gearbox and still had plenty of length. Depends how confident you are with your wiring I guess, I can see how the idea of trying to remember which of the 50,000,000 green wires went where can be pretty daunting.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Cameron

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

With my ECU under my (dry) seat, the BX loom went under the seat rail box member and under the carpet to the left of the pedals and up through the bulkhead grommet.

 

It then went down the inner wing by the jack location (relays sat there) and along the front cross member peeling off as necessary to senders and to the coil, solenoid, ignition amp, ICV, reverse light switch, battery, earth ring, AFM, TPS and multi-connector on the block.

 

It keeps the loom away from the heat of the exhaust manifold, and there's nothing 'ye ha' about it at all. Yes it could be (and being 100% professional probably should be) shortened, but why go to all the hassle unless you're completely at home with wiring, old French green wiring s*ite, and have a damned fine crimping tool with a bag of all the right connectors?

 

I also protected my loom in that plastic, ribbed push on stuff.

 

Good luck chief.

Edited November 17, 2008 by DrSarty

[jackherer 543]

I would shorten it much like GL has said to the effect i;ve just done this, Winding wire up in coil is a bodge to me but I used to work in Navel wiring on board warship's etc

 

I'm going to disagree, modifying a mass produced loom is asking for trouble IMO, its also a lot of work for virtually no reason. Naval wiring is completely different, its not mass produced, its constructed to a much higher standard, its not installed in such a way as to attract corrosion and most importantly its designed from the word go to be repaired and modified, not fitted and forgotten.

[GLPoomobile 958]

You are perfectly entitled to disagree, and have far more experience in the field than I, but I just don't understand why the business of crimping on terminals is made out to be some sort of mystical black art that shouldn't be messed about with!

 

My homebuilt loom is far from perfect, and I could do it better 2nd time around, but my terminals are all secure (pass the tug tug test). Surely a clean fresh terminal crimped on to cable that has been stripped back to healthy wire is better than leaving it as is? Ok, maybe not if the original cable is 100 per cent healthy, but how many 19 year old looms are going to be like that?

[jackherer 543]

I don't want to say anything bad about your loom as I think you've done a very good job, but could you honestly say that with no further contact from you it will be 100% perfect for ten years and 100k miles like an OE loom? And still work albeit a bit flakily in 19 years time?

 

Thats not my point anyway, the point I am making is that its not worth spending lots of time and risking reliabilty to remove a bit of extra length in some wire that can easily be hidden from view. In fact I think to do so borders on obsessive compulsive.

 

If someone wants to do that to their own car thats fine but to suggest that its a bodge not to seems a bit churlish.

[Baz 421]

I wouldn't personally want to shorten them either. If you're that fussed by it, find a 405 loom and use that instead.

[GLPoomobile 958]

As I said, mine isn't perfect. I'm yet to trace the source of my current problem, which may well be a bad connection somewhere. But I think any loom, if left alone and made well to start with, should be fine for many years. The probems really start creeping in when you mess about with them IMO.

 

I do agree that there is no point making work for yourself, and shortening the loom, whilst easy enough to do, would be time consuming. It depends entirely on the circumstances of course, but I suspect if I was doing this right now I'd keep the loom in it's original state and only cut back any wires which I knew to be corroded, for the sake of doing away with the manky stuff. But I just want to make others aware that there are alternatives, and that cutting back, stripping, and re-crimping on new terminals is not difficult, scary, costly or in any way a bodge. Who knows how long my own loom will last, but there is no question that is many times better than the mess of thing that was in the car before!

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

A think the 'bodge' / 'cowboy' comment, even in the jesty way that I like about this forum, was aimed at the 'hide the excess loom' brigade rather than at your work Steve.

 

Anyone who's brave enough - whether that fear is unjustifiably founded or not (and I'm with you on that one; it isn't black magic at all) - to tackle the building of a new loom or even tinkering with their old one deserves respect.

 

From my limited experience, coupled with getting old, I think the enjoyment is to be had in getting the reward of the engine running first, then running fine and then being thrashed, and it staying reliable.

 

A few feet of loom is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things, and if it ain't broke......

 

I wouldn't want to slow someone's build or delay their enjoyment by suggesting they should shorten/f*** around with their loom.

Edited November 18, 2008 by DrSarty

[GLPoomobile 958]

A think the 'bodge' / 'cowboy' comment, even in the jesty way that I like about this forum, was aimed at the 'hide the excess loom' brigade rather than at your work Steve.

 

Yeah, I know. There's no confusion on that part.

[taylorspug 7]

Just run the super long bit of the loom the other way round the engine bay, across the top of the bulkhead under the lip and down the inner wing behind the washer bottle. Theres nothing 'yee ha' or bodgy about it, and it still looks very neat. Plus it means you can run all the wiring for the snap off boss (injectors, knock sensor, ECU temp sensor etc) up the drivers side inner wing on its own, making the whole thing a doddle to get out again if needed, as you dont have to pull tons of wiring through from under the inlet manifold. Its also very handy for connecting the permanent and switched lives up in the bay running down the passenger side wing. Maybe the only wires worth shortening are for the AFM and the crank sensor, as these are quite large.

 

Quite honestly i dont see what all the fuss is about, plus from my POV as a mechanic its a few hundred pounds of work that alot of customers would rather spend on something else.