I thought I'd post this to save some other poor soul the same grief that I just went through. I installed a brand new wiring harness (well the back half anyway) into my 914-6 today. It's not easy but one person can do it.

I found out the hard way that everything, including connectors, has to fit through a quarter size hole just after exiting the firewall. The connector for the relay board had to go through this hole first because it won't fit with anything else in this hole - I mean even a single wire already in this hole would make the fit too tight for the relay board connector to pass through. Then I started feeding other wires through. I ran into a round connector that I thought wasn't going to make it through undamaged but with a little persuasion it finally worked.

Oh, and another thing...the back end of the harness has to be inserted at the very front of the tunnel. It lays on top of the tunnel until it reaches midway where it passes into the tunnel, out and back in again before going through the firewall.

Hope this helps somebody. (Shoulda taken some pictures)

I also went throught the same "drill" last Saturday, ditto on the relay board connector. Did your harness have the rubber boot from the firewall up to the tray? Once it was in I remembered what a PITA it was to get out. I tried to remove it in one piece but it just seemed impossible (how did they do it originally) I ended up making a cut and re-splicing it together mid way through the tunnel.

Now the fun begins - where do all the wires go

Mike, you should make a thread to put all your progress in. People love to follow those threads, including me.

Yes it had this rubber piece. It took some doing but I was able to wiggle it through all the openings and finally out the firewall. I was able to get it seated in the hole in the tray and the firewall ok. I didn't have to cut anything.



I'm headed to work on the front end today and I'll remember to bring my camera this time. How do I make a thread?

Mike

Thanks for posting the tips! I'll be doing this installation soon.

I've removed a wiring harness before but have never installed one yet. It looks like it's going to take a lot of time.

Actually, it didn't take as much time as I thought it would - about 3 hours to get the back of the harness through. But I had to redo things a couple of times because I mis-routed the cables. Also, if there are 2 people working together it would go faster.

I'll try to post some pictures later today to show how I routed things.

Can't you just pop the back off the connector, pull the wires out of it, and feed them through that way? That's what I would have tried. The back has come off of my connector before...

--DD

Dave - time to change your sig!

ah yes, ill be doing this soon also...i just pulled the dash off thanks to the thread with the pics here a few weeks ago...thank god for this forum

Mike, to start a new thread about your car, do just like you made this one. Click the New Topic button and call it My 914/6 Progress or something. Then bookmark the thread so you don't have to search for it every time. You can just open up the bookmark and click Add Reply to update the thread.

Here is a little tip to make the wires lay straight once you get them fed through the tunnel and the dash area.

Massage the wires once they are roughly in place. Pull them, bend them, stroke them around the bends. Work the curves into the wires so that the connectors want to line up with the device they plug into. Do that and they will naturally want to fall into the correct shapes and look professional. Don't do it and it can resemble a rats nest

Learned this trick wiring some Army communication shelters. Those 8x8x 18foot trailers had more satellite comm and crypto gear than you would believe. New wiring bundles had to be worked and stroked over under and around and through all sorts of obstacles.

Ken

I didn't try that. If you could do this it would make things easier. I'd be worried about loosening the connections or getting the wires back in the wrong places. But now I know it's possible to get everything through that little hole in the tray without taking it apart.

Mark, thanks for the info about starting a thread.

Ken, Thanks for the tip on massaging and bending the wires into place. I got the front of the harness into the front trunk ok, but the bundle of wires under where the dash goes will be challenging. It would be helpful to have another -6 around to look under the dash.

Does anyone know where can we find the black plack protectors that fit on the tabs that hold the harness in place? Brad suggested heat shrink tubing from an electronic store, but they're a metric size. The 1/4 inch ones are just a tad too small and the next larger size is much too big.