Newb to MS; Wiring Question

[smurf244]

I am thinking about using MS&S for my '88 244 . I want to use the original harness and don't want to hack it up and wanted to know where I could get a connector or the parts to make one, to connect the LH2.2 (fuel and spark ECU) harness to the DB-37 on the MS&S if it is possible.
I been trying to find links for MS on a 244 w/ a B230F & LH2.2 and haven't had much luck, if y'all could give me some links, that would be great. I'm a newb at this so sorry for any confusion or any "duh" questions.

Thanks,
Adam

[benflynn]

cut them out of another computer

[smurf244]

cut them out of another computer
But isn't the connector on the computers solider into the board? I suppose I could desolider the connector and fab up something.

Thanks,
Adam

[740ATL]

Yes, the connectors are soldered to the board... but you will be doing plenty of soldering to being with... :)

If you head out to the junkyard and pick up a spare computer, open it up, you'll notice that there's actually plenty of meat on the connector so you can just cut it off where it meets the circuitboard and not have to worry about desoldering.... so you can solder the wires you need to the newly freed connector, and then just plug it in to your existing harness. I would probably do it at the junkyard instead of paying for the computer, then doing it at home... wink wink.

Keep in mind, your 88 has 2 computers... one on the passenger side kickpanel (fuel computer), and the ignition computer mounted on the windshield washer tank in the engine compartment... The wiring to the hall sensor on the distributor goes to that computer... so you'll need to run those wires back inside the passenger compartment to your MS computer.

Mike

[BB-Q]

Being fresh from the install, so to speak, I would thoroughly recommend just making a new loom up.
It's much easier that way.

[towerymt]

I installed MS&S on my '87 240. I didn't cut a single wire of the existing harness. If I wanted to, I could have put the stock injectors back in, swapped the throttle body (with TPS) back on, and plugged everything back in to have LH2.2 again. What I did was build a harness, one sensor at a time. I went down the list and ran the wires through the firewall to get the length, then using connector stubs from the junkyard for things like the ignition module, TPS, hall sensor, coolant temp, etc., I made my harness. I pulled an entire 740 Turbo injector harness off a junkyard car so I didn't have to cut and splice in the resistor pack...it plugs right into the Turbo injector harness section and that made it easier for me.

It wasn't until 7 months later when I did the turbo engine swap that I started clipping off the stock harness that I didn't need. In the end I butchered a good LH harness, but to me it was easier to understand what I was doing if I ran all new wires for MS. That way I knew EXACTLY what each wire did so I wasn't relying on LH wiring to do something that maybe it wasn't capable of doing. For me, making the harness was easier than sorting through wiring diagrams to make a p&p LH2.2 system. I took my time and soldered and heat shrinked my connections and routed wires carefully and I haven't had a single problem from the wiring harness.

[The Aspirator]

I took my time and soldered and heat shrinked my connections and routed wires carefully and I haven't had a single problem from the wiring harness.Ditto. It's a PITA to make a whole new harness, but it really is worth the effort to do it well the first time around. Use good wire, solder every connection, and make it all nice and tidy. Tracing down wiring faults from crappy crimped connections SUCKS, and having a sea of all yellow wiring overtop of your engine is just asking for trouble. I took my time on my MS harness and I haven't had to touch it in 3 years except for some additional things that I've added (boost control, etc).