Professor_Brap said:For E36 M3s and giggles, unplug the cluster for me and see if it starts. I'm pretty sure with it unplugged it should start.
Yep, you are correct.
What I should have said is it won't start if some idiot managed to plug the connectors into the gauges bass akwards.
wheelsmithy said:
Positive vibes greatly appreciated, fellas. I was sweating bullets on this one, and was so upset with myself, I had to walk away before I could approach it with any logic whatsoever.
What happened was this- On the stock PT, the gauge cluster screws into a shallow plastic box, which holds the two electric connections. As such, Chrysler figured 1. No clips necessary 2. There is no way you can get those connectors upside down.
I had them plugged in upside down. All is as well as before. NOW I can start paring down the harness. Guess the X has to have PT gauges, as the ECU needs them to run. Much relief.
In other news, I sold my first part. linkinparker graciously purchased a patch panel.
The scrap heap embiggens.
Congrats on sticking to it and getting it running. Two thumbs up
Well done!
My Special Lady Friend and I both work for a local community college, which shut down due to flooding. Then there were a few snow flurries. This is the South. I got to leave at 9:00 AM yesterday, and didn't have to go in at all today. She was off both days. So we had a snow day. Got a sandwich and a beer, and generally slacked on the house.
I got through the first round of wire elimination on the PT.
Here are the tools:
Safety pin, dental picks and tiny screwdriver for de-pinning stuff, Dikes, knife, and wire strippers, well for obvious reasons, and zip ties in assorted colors.
Yes, boring, but, some days are.
I use the red zip ties to mark stuff to delete, yellow for stuff I need to think about before deleting, Green for ground-duh, blue for stuff I need to return to, and clear/white just to hold stuff together.
The body harness is pretty much unwrapped, and getting smaller all the time. More to come.
If you have any questions fell free to ask me. Pm me and I can send you my phone #
In reply to Professor_Brap :
Very sweet offer! I won't hesitate when I run into trouble.
Were you/are you a Dodge tech? You are obviously the Dodge whisperer, and your knowledge is supremely appreciated.
Edit: PM sent.
In reply to wheelsmithy :
I'm watching this intently as I'm going to have to pair down a 350z soon. I like the different color zip ties trick.
In reply to Stampie :
Feedback appreciated. I wasn't sure if that even warranted a post, but I thought, even sharing bad ideas is informative.
Here's some notes unceremoniously stolen from Mezzanine's build on the topic of wiring
https://www.rbracing-rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html Link courtesy of badwaytolive.
I'm on the hunt ror crimps amd pliers, as well as marine grade heat shrink. Gotta up my game
In reply to wheelsmithy :
I am not. Just a guy who likes them. My father in law was, along with his 2 brothers.
I am dropping wiring related links for totally selfish reasons. I hope they may help someone else. They are of course, largely culled from GRM threads, So thank You All.
That's plenty for now.
So, I've been snaking wires out. I'm about 90% done with the stuff I want to delete on the passenger side of the firewall. Thing is, I'm having a really hard time de pinning the connections. I see some have parts to be removed, or slid to a side before coming apart, but I'm not having much luck. I am loath to buy a $60 kit for this when I've always made do with a safety pin before.
Do I need a special Mopar depinning tool?
Here's an obligatory picture of the wiring stuff I may need bucket.
I use a cheap eBay universe depin tool.
Would anyone tell me if I were doing engine pulling wrong?
I got the harness as thinned as I can from the firewall back, and it still ran, so on to the underhood area.
In other news, I bought a huge de-pinning kit, and still no luck. I believe I'll get rid of them in the X, and use connectors that don't constantly defeat me.
I can't critique your engine-pulling because You didn't pull the engine
Yes, that is definitely body pulling, not engine pulling!
So, here's what I saved from the hulk. It's going outside for some iron oxide weight reduction while I figure out my next steps.
I also rolled the X inside on increasingly beaten to E36 M3 PVC.
This time, I kept the "sled" together, just in case. It got dragged outside, as I now have way too many 4X4s hanging around.
The car went up on jackstands, I got the engine, rack, and subframe washed, and the first eyeballing of powertrain vs. car. It looks very big.
I got a saw and no fear of failure
Here's what $35.20 of PT Cruiser scrap looks like.
Baby steps on this recoup stuff.
That red connector in the bucket needs to have the flat tab removed before the pins come out.
The tab snaps into place from the back and I've used dental picks to push the locking tabs in on the sides, one at time, to get it released and slid out of the connector.
Takes a little patience, but it generally works pretty well.
Good luck!
Remember, the engine doesn't really care too much where things are in the engine bay, so I would look at other intake manifolds from similar 2.0/2.4 equipped cars if that helps the packaging.
When I was looking at installing the older Chrysler 2.2 turbo, I realized that the driver's and front frame rails were going to need to be heavily modified to fit everything. Then the rain tray inside the engine cover needed to go away to provide a bit more room and cooling. The driver's side frame rail needed to move 2-3 inches up to clear the transaxle (which is essentially the same as the later PT unit). The driver's side control arm was already modified at the factory to clear the transaxle, but it needed more changes to clear the larger drivetrain. My plan was to ditch the fiat uprights and use the donor bits to get better brakes, stronger wheel bearings, etc. The front would need to be modified similarly, but wouldn't be too hard after dealing with the rear. The water pump fowled on the front frame rail, but I think the 2.4 may not have that problem. The 2.4 is a little taller though, so that might complicate the room at the back of the engine near the rear firewall.
In reply to Stefan :
2.0 dohc intake bolts up and it's a neater package.
It's narrower front to back but is a taller package than a 2.2.
In reply to Professor_Brap :
Understood. I was going to swap the SOHC 2.2 head for a DOHC Neon one on the 2.2L block to solve some of the packaging issues with the rear engine cover latch, etc. It looked like it could work, if I could get the frame rails sorted to the drivetrain a little higher and more balanced. I had a couple of intakes to play with for when I got that far (never did).
It was tight in every sense of the word though, so I wouldn't be surprised if the fuel tank and rear trunks had to be sacrificed to some extent to get it all to fit and, more importantly, be serviced in any reasonable way.
Advice greatly appreciated guys.
This afternoon, I got the harness and vacuum lines stripped, so I can do a test fit of the engine/transmission.
(picture is for the very likely event that these tags don't survive the countless test fittings ahead).
To try to address each of these things:
I got the connectors with the red parts OK, but am having trouble with the white. It appears a block needs to move, and I can get it to pop out 1/16", but can't get pins to release.
Does that mean I should look for an aluminum, second generation 2.0 intake? Will all my stuff bolt up (throttle body, MAP sensor, etc). Will a 2.4 intake work? Any 16 valve intake from a stratus/caliber/neon/etc? I considered making one with this lower intake, and a piece of Aluminum tubing-think Log type, only intake, not exhaust.
The plan is custom control arms to fit AW11 uprights, front and rear.
The car has no floor, nor rear firewall, so I can make them around the drivetrain. Frame rail mods will be done as necessary.
Again, any knowledge and advice/experience are greatly appreciated. I totally understand if you fellas can't answer my questions, but if I can pick your brains, I am ecstatic to do so.
I feel the need to do a sketch on this one, just too bitchn'
I got cheap dohc intake..
OjaiM5 said:I feel the need to do a sketch on this one, just too bitchn'
Your work on others' projects is astounding. I'd be honored.
Duster, I'd be most interested. Can anyone confirm fit?
Here's a brief photo montage showing the conveniently cut car.
So, no firewall between engine and trunk, engine and cabin, and no cabin floor. Some cross pieces are also almost entirely hacked.
The rear window opening is subject to change, as are both firewalls, any and all frame rails and cross members.
Edit: Oh yeah, the fuel tank will go up front in the "frunk"
You'll need to log in to post.
