Spaghetti anyone?! Not for the squeemish!

[coachreed]

Welp... Phase II has begun... I have started weeding out the harness of the VX... check out the link below for some pictures... I'm not sure, but I think I've committed to something... lmao! Hey... I've always wanted to point-point rewire a perfectly good late-model vehicle! lol Check it out!

Phase II! (http://www.geocities.com/ironmanvx2000/ls1conversion/phase2.html)

Sooo... have I lost it? ;pb; ;Db;

TTYL!

[Triathlete]

Sooooooooooooo! What does that green wire go to?;eeky; ;Dy; ;eeky; ;Dy;

[coachreed]

Originally posted by Triathlete
Sooooooooooooo! What does that green wire go to?;eeky; ;Dy; ;eeky; ;Dy;

Uhhhhhhhhhh... WHICH green wire! I think there are about 2-3 different shades of green wire... each with a different combo of stripes and speckles... basically... I DON'T KNOW! lol Isn't that KEWL?!

TTYL!

Coach

[Apostle]

good luck, i couldnt even fathom an undertaking like this

[VX_PA]

Wow, that looks more like a snake pit. Watch out for the big one that bites! Good luck and great instructional write-up as you're going along.

[AREA 51]

DAY_UM!

[WormGod]

Yep, that's when I call in the guys that get paid good money to do those kinds of conversions.

"here she is guys. and here is a check for $20k. do what ya gotta do, see ya in 2 months". :D

Curious, have you taken the vehicle height and wheelbase into consideration with all this new power? And how about 4wd? Is the new power just a gamble that you are willing to lose the 4wd to? Difinately a hell of a project you have there. I am very interesting in seeing how it turns out.

[Dallas4u]

OMFG! Good luck... what else is there to say?

[nocturnalVX]

What a project! As another VXer that just writes checks, I gotta give you a big :thumbup: . Good luck with the job!

[coachreed]

Originally posted by WormGod
Yep, that's when I call in the guys that get paid good money to do those kinds of conversions.

"here she is guys. and here is a check for $20k. do what ya gotta do, see ya in 2 months". :D

Curious, have you taken the vehicle height and wheelbase into consideration with all this new power? And how about 4wd? Is the new power just a gamble that you are willing to lose the 4wd to? Difinately a hell of a project you have there. I am very interesting in seeing how it turns out.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to just write checks... heck, I have a hard enough time just paying the bills around here. From ALL of my research, this conversion might take a little time... but in the LONG run, its gonna cost ME less than the dealer wanted for a new stock motor... I of course will have the sweat-equity in it.

Out of curiosity, what is the concern with height and wheelbase and the added power? If its a stability issue, its gonna be unstable or whatnot with the lower power... I don't drive fast anyway... and I don't drive crazy... I just like the idea of more power on tap if I need it sometime. I didn't weigh the VX before the conversion started, so I don't know what kind of weight it will gain through this, but I don't expect it to be much. 4WD... Lose it? I don't think so... I will have 4WD if it means I go to a different transfer case... the 2004 Canyon and Colorado pickup trucks have a transfer case that couples with the 4L60E transmission and has a right hand front output... just perfect for the VX... not sure yet, but if I have to give up TOD... so be it... actually, it might be kinda fun to have straight 2 wheel drive high range for playing in the snow... at slow paces of course.

To those who think it looks scary... its not really that bad... most of these wires (if not ALL of them) go to the stock motor ECM... which means they have to go anyway... the LS1 harness is pretty much stand-alone. The only threat I have with my actions is that I might accidentally take out a headlight wire or something... but I can point-to-point rewire that if needed... I have 10-15 years experience in the car with electrical things... I could rewire the whole truck if need be... worse case... I have to rewire the FRONT half! lol

Anyway... time to get back to the garage... I'll post more pictures tonight. Stay tuned!

TTYL!

Randy!

[coachreed]

OK, so explain to me the logic behind the way the harness is built for the VX... First off... I have weeded out TONS of wire already... thats fine and dandy... I am slowly, systematically moving around the engine compartment to get rid of any wires I don't think are needed. Well, I get around the the passenger side back corner... only to find that there are about 40 ;eekb; wires that went from the drivers side firewall, to the passenger side firewall... keep in mind that before they got to point B from point A... they first traveled to the FRONT of the VX... down to the lower radiator support, across the front of the engine bay... back up to behind the passenger side headlight, and BACk to the firewall! soooo... basically they put all of these wires into the elements for WHAT reason? Also, for those wires to go from point A to point B each wire has to be more than 10 feet long, times 40 wires is 400 feet... times how many VX's? Just a loose estimate of 3 Million feet of wire! OK... I digressed... soooo... what should I do? I think cleaning up the engine bay should be done... do you remember me saying something about point-point wiring? I think its partially gonna get done... anyway... I'll check back later!

TTFN!

Coach

[coachreed]

OK, slight change of plan... because of the above mentioned wiring issues... that REALLY drive me nuts... I have decided to rewire the front clip of the VX... point to point. I have cut EVERY wire under the hood of the VX! I'd post pictures but my camera shot craps for some reason... I will be bringing about 20 feet of several different colors of wire tomorrow... I will rewire the lighting circuit (turn signals, hi/low beam, driving), as well as horn and whatever else is up that way. Anything that ran out there and back into the VX will be spliced or repaired UNDER the dash... NOT out in the engine compartment. I was looking at the excessive wiring in this vehicle and just can't take it! I pushed me over the edge. I may pay for it in the long run... or maybe I'll pay MORE for it in the short run... either way I'm gonna pay for it! But like I said already... I won't pay anyone (monitarily) for this one. Not a big deal.

Stay tuned!

Coach!

[SGT.BATGUANO]

I know what you mean about the wiring. I bought on of those Mitchell on-demand CDs off ebay (never have enough info) and in the wiring diagram section they show a wiring loom drawing. Wiring comes out goes around engine bay 2x, over to passenger side, back in, under dash and ends up back where it started LOL! JK.

They may have used a standard loom and just laid it out the same way they always have on all their models.

[coachreed]

BTW, someone suggested I look for signs of chaffing wires and whatnot... possible shorts or opens... well... I am NOT too impressed with the build quality of the factory wiring harnesses. I removed all of the tape and split loom for this step... I found LOTS of locations where wires were spliced, soldered, and then taped... fine, I can live with that... BUT when you find a solder splice and tape WITH bare, uninsulated wire hanging out of the tape joint THAT makes me nervous. Sure, there is tape and split loom all over hte outside of this, but its still not very hight quality. Just wanted to bring it to attention.

Anyway, look for pictures and more write-up tomorrow. Yeah, Friday night... what do I plan to do?! WORK on the VX!

Later!

Coach!

[WormGod]

Good to hear you have some idea of the 4wd coach. I wasnt disputing anything about the wheelbase and hieght. I was just wondering if you thought they would play a weighable factor with this new power. I personally have no idea. I'm not much of a greasemonkey myself, but I can repair and paint any body panel you threw at me and make it look like new, heh.

Keep up your efforts on your SuperSport VX though. I am jealous and you have my undivided attention. ;)

[VX922]

Coach
That is a lot of wires! What might help is to use black tape every 6" or so to keep the harness together and salvage it for future use.

VX922

[coachreed]

Well... gonna be kinda hard to reuse the harness in the future... its sorta kinda hacked up in little pieces... ;Db; ;pb; I'll post more pictures tonight... IF I can get my camera working!

[migil]

I've been following your progress, but after seeing these pictures I couldn’t help going outside and hugging my VX :cryb:

We are all rooting for the success of such a challenging project no one here willingly would've wanted (or dared) to go into, but surely most of us will envy the outcome.

Thanks for keeping us posted.

[coachreed]

In order to get to the wires that come in the passenger side firewall... the heating and cooling system needs to be taken from under the dash! So guess what I have to do! Look slike my AC is gonna have to be adapted to the LS1's A/C system... so I have to disconnect some A/C lines so I can pull that stuff... one thing at a time. Most of those wires I cut out go the the heating and cooling system and the wipers and such... I hate the way this thing is wired... but I will prevail!

Later!

Coach