Hehehe, that's what I wanted to see and hear
Do you have access to Toyota's male & female pin & sleeve connections as shown in their Wiring Harness Repair Manual, and do you use the ratchet type crimping tools? Reason I ask is that I'll be using some Supra parts on the 1UZ and will want to transfer the OEM connections with them.
When you have to add conductors in a harness or splice in a bit of wire, what sort of wire do you use?
Do you provide any sort of documentation for a new harness?
I'm glad that you understand that. Many people have heard on the internet so many times that soldering is better than anything else, and when they hear that I use crimps, they think that it's not as good as soldering, which as you know isn't the case. I think maybe they picture those cheap insulated butt connectors or something, I know it wasn't until I was in the business for a couple years that I heard about this crimping system from Norwood Autocraft.
I don't have a setup to use the OEM Toyota pins, though I have a great interest in doing that. I personally have tried many times to get access to them but even Toyota doesn't know much about it. In fact, when their techs need to repair a circuit, they order a "repair pin" which is a pre-crimped pin with about 6 inches of wire on it, then they splice the wires together.
The type of crimps we use is similar to what you'll see in a Toyota harness where they join three or more wires together, then they tape it over. We use a crimp like that, and yes, we use the ratcheting crimper that is specifically designed for that application.
What I would do for you is cut off the OEM Supra connectors that you want to use, and then connect them using heat-shrank crimps... unless the pin styles are the same, then I can repin the plastic connector housing. (Many times that is the case). Actually, now that I re-read your post, that may have been what you were asking, and yes, we do a LOT of re-pinning. In fact, we stock most Toyota connectors here because on certain harnesses they break a lot, knowing about Supras I'm sure you know that the coil plugs almost ALWAYS break, well we keep those housings in stock and automatically offer to replace them when a 1JZ or 2JZ harness comes through the shop.
The wire we use for replacing or extending circuits is chemically cross-linked polyethylene, which operates between temperatures of -49F to +257F without melting or fusing, and is resistant to oil, grease, gasoline, acids, solvents, etc. (Meets or exceeds SAE specifications J1128). We use the GXL version which is the thin-insulation design, we haven't had the need to go to the TXL extra-thin, but we do prefer it over the SXL standard jacket because when you have a couple hundred wires coming together, it makes a difference in the thickness of the bundle. We always match or exceed the gauge of the circuit we're repairing or extending, meaning if it was originally a 18 gauge, we might use an 18 gauge or a 16 gauge, but never a 20 gauge. (We stock almost every color and normally match the base color of the wire that we're repairing/extending).
We provide documentation for any wiring that the end user needs to hook up, such as an ECU plug that comes directly from the chassis to the ECU. I personally also consider my wiring harnesses to have a lifetime warranty, which simply means that when you get your harness, it will work and will not give you a problem, if there is a problem, I will fix it with you over the phone or you can send it back for a free repair. (With the well over 125 conversions that we've done over the last 16 months or so, we had minor problems with 2, which were taken care of).
We also are a dealer for Dakota Digital and stock their SGI-8 Tach Adapter box, which allows you to configure the tach signals of different ignition systems to a stock tach (prime example would be a 2JZGTE swap into an SC300). The tach boxes are $69 plus $39 for installation, shipping is included when you buy it with a harness conversion.
If you have any other questions just let me know!
Hey Doc,
Would you be consider creating a plug and play adaptor harness from Autronic SM4 to the SC400?
Yes I sure would. On Monday I will call Autronic and talk to them about it. You're looking for a "plug and play" adapter harness to go from the stock SC400 ECU plugs to the Autronic ECU plugs, correct?
-Doc
