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cchan · Post by **cchan** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:04 pm

Hi Everyone,

I am getting ready to install back the new engine into my Alfa. The engine compartment is looking good with new paint. The problem is now everything looks old in comparision. How can I restore these electrical items without buying all new parts. I am repainting the brake master cylinder and hoping to buy a new radiator overflow box and windshield wiper reservior. This will take care of the larger pieces that currently look very bad. I am going to repaint the radiator as soon as it is boiled and flushed out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Post by **Zamani** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:01 pm

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to use 2 quick connect/disconnect waterproof sockets? The wiring harness from inside the car terminates in the engine bay in the form of male/female sockets. Then the engine bay's wiring is completely redone and starts off from that female/male socket.

You need to find a socket which has:
-A lot of connections
-Waterproof

Maybe look into marine quality sockets like from West Marine or something.

constantinemacris · Post by **constantinemacris** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:37 pm

I redid all the wiring in my car with a painless harness. I had to keep all the 90 degree connectors from the gauges and tail lights but everythign else is new! i toyed with the idea of putting in a chassis connector but it proved to be too much trouble dealing with some of the serious amps gong through the firewall. Alfa did a BAD job with stock wiring. They have huge wires for things that don't need them and relays for things that don't need them but on my car the power windows had no fuse and melted the entire harness when the switch shorted. It took me about a week working 6 hours a day to get the new harness in. I have a spare paineless fuse block here and since the harness is out i could really quickly get all the wires the correct length and such. Once it is in the car it won't be so easy.

Hella makes a great 4 gang relay block that looks great in the engine compartment.

anyone who wants a fuse block email dini@cleaniedini.com

cchan · Post by **cchan** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:42 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. I just realized that the gotech has a new harness so with this and the coil packs I am ok. I guess I'll just look at what's left over and deal with it on an item to item basis. My friend hid his speaker wires with a plastic tube that was slit in half. He put the ugly wires inside this tube and clipped it together. It looked clean. I guess this is how I am going to do this.

constantinemacris · Post by **constantinemacris** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:59 pm

go to www.jegs.com and search for electrical stuff. They have a wrap around fiber like covering that looks really nice. Used the stuff with all my wiring and it is tops! Painless makes some of it but the Jegs brand is much more cost effective.

cchan · Post by **cchan** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:37 pm

Thanks for the referral to this site. I like the wrap stuff. This is what I need to make everything look professional and new.

Scott in MN · Post by **Scott in MN** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:18 am

constantinemacris

Would love to hear more about your rewiring. Which Painless harness did you buy? What is involved?

constantinemacris · Post by **constantinemacris** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:22 pm

I got the painless universal 18 circuit trunk mount harness. After taking a look at how packed it was with the normal fuese block i decided that you could easily run wires from some location in the back seat.
I mounted the fuse block behing the drivers seat on a cross member that you can get easy access to if you take the back seat out. There are plenty of other places to put it including the trunk. The wires run under that rear cross member that the rear seat sits on then up the center of the car under the center console and up behind the heater core. The harness then runs along the top ridge of the firewall. It looks like the harness was originally meant to run there but that must have stopped at some point. From there it is easy to branch off for the insturments and heater core. Overall it was pretty easy. I spent most of the time trying to figure out how to keep the stock gauges using the exisiting connectors and just splicing in the new to the correct location. Alfa did some strange stuff with the steering column. Like power into the indicators is on the left side connector and indicators out is on the right with the wipers using the smae colors as some wires in the wiper connector. I have 4 connectors to the stock switches on the steering column: Wipers, Lights, ignition and indicators. You need to make sure to have the horn relay ground go to the horn switch and also rig up the brake switch. I had to run a few additional wires for low fuel light, high water temp and fog lights. They have tons of ciructs but some are not used. I left a few under the center section incase i want to run any extra accessorys. Alfa used relays for EVERYTHING. I took an ampmeter to just about everything and found the proper wire size for everything. The only thing i could not figure out is the power mirrors. That was the original source for the electrical issues in the car. I think that switch may be bad. I got some nice hella relay blocks for the engine compartment to run everything from ignition to lights (2x 4 gang blocks) so i can have enough for everything.
I also took all the old insulation up including some nasty tar type stuff on the floor. In its place I am testing out some water based sound insulation that you paint on. Then i am going to put some marine foam inulation then put the carpet back down. I covered the wires with this plastic fiber wrapping and it looks really nice. It is like a chinese finger trap with a slit down the middle that rolls over itself. You can get it from jegs and painless makes some but jegs brand is cheaper. Other than that i just used TONS of tie wraps and got some nice glue filled shrink tubeing and some insulated butt connectors. I used standard GM Weather Pack connectors and a few high amp Merit Pack connectors for ignition and such.

Email me and i can call you and explain more. I am sick of typing. It wasn't that bad. I ordered an extra harness from paineless and i could replicate my harness if anyone wants, but i am going to put it back togehter soon so hurry.
dini@cleaniedini.com
regards
Dean

pancho · Post by **pancho** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:30 am

got any pics ?

constantinemacris · Post by **constantinemacris** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:41 pm

www.cleaniedini.com/alfa_romeo.htm

pancho · Post by **pancho** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:08 am

awesome! but more descriptiosn please !

looks like you were going a little stir crazy !

I think when I get around to painting mine that it will be a little easier, but the idea of wiring it all and doing the ecu at the same time seems like a very good idea. I hope the sm2 is not difficult to wire up.

constantinemacris · Post by **constantinemacris** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:19 pm

It started out pretty easy, then you say, "while i do this i should do this too..." and you keep going and going and going. It isn't so much the money as it is the time. Most things you do are always custom, and not like the snap on mustange custom, the die grinder, welder etc etc... custom.
I will try to put up some more photos of the whole project.

Detailing Wire harness & relay items.