Re-Wiring the Engine Bay!

Step by Step Instructions
         

The engine bay wiring on the FOX bodied cars is a mess. In my goal to clean up the engine bay I decided to re-route all the wires. The first four pictures below are my first attempts at cleaning up the wires in the engine bay. They show how to run the wires out to the wheel wells. This unfortunately leaves the main harness coming out of the cabin and the main trunk line running along the back firewall. All that you have to do is unhook all the wires (marking them of course) and pull the wires back to the firewall. Un-tape all the wires but keep them grouped with wire ties. Next single out the passenger side headlight, and horn wires. Now pull all these wires over to the drivers side and group them with the drivers side headlight and horn wires using wire ties. Next group the charging system wires and wire tie these together. And finally group the remaining drivers side wires together. Re-tape the wires and pull them through the vertical oval side holes in the rear inner fenders. Note that one of the headlamp plugs on each side will need to be cut/disassembled to fit the wires through. You can unlock the 3 wires metal ends from the plastic socket or cut the three wires on each side and reconnect. This one particular plug is to big to slide through the hole in the rear inner fender. All other wires will fit and should not need to be cut/disassembled. Then run them up the wheel wells above the plastic wheel well insert up to the original position. You only need to pull the wires that you will be using through the inner fenders. This cleans up the engine bay and the only wires seen are the rear main harness and what ever wires you run back out the wheel wells.

 
Drivers side wiring harness re-routed through the fender. 4/4/99

Passenger side wiring harness re-routed through the fender. 4/4/99

New Project!

Since the first attempt I have had a change of mind on how I will hide the wires. I still did not like the fact that the main trunk was running along the firewall and that you could see the main harness coming out of the cabin and then out the rear inner fenders. So I unwrapped all the wires again, pulled them back into the cabin and traced them all. I took all the wires I will not be using (i.e.heated vacuum switch, miscellaneous CFI components not installed, and old Duraspark wires) and rolled them up. The reside under the dash just in case they are ever needed. Note I didn't cut any wires. I then found that most of the wires running along the firewall run back in the cabin on the passenger side to the (DUMMY) computer. These wires were re-routed and now run inside the cabin. Thus no wires are running along the firewall. I then ran the main harnesses for the charging system out the passenger side firewall but I moved the exit hole over  4 to 5 inches towards the outside of the car. This brought the wires out in the wheel well instead of the engine bay. I then ran the gauges, ignition, and light wires out the drivers side fire wall into the wheel well. No wires can be seen coming out the firewall. When the project is complete the only wires that will be seen will be the alternator on the passenger side and the oil/water gauges, and Distributor wires on the drivers side. All other wires will extrude through the fenders at the device it will connect to such as MSD 6AL/Coil and starter solenoid. Once the motor is in I will supply pictures of the finished product.

New main wire harness for the engine bay! 4/24/99

                   Light harness                          Computer and Alt/Regulator harness
4/24/99