The Road to Speed Week 2014 Part 2: The Progress Continues
Here we are just over a month away from Speed Week 2014. Project 240SX LSR has been under intensive surgery at both Specialty Cars Fabrication and 5523 Motorsports for several months. Asides from the suspension, the entire car has been disassembled including the drivetrain and electrical system leaving us only a few weeks to put humpty dumpty back together again. This time though, more powerful and faster than ever.
When last we left off, 5523 Motorsports was in the midst of revamping the entire electrical system with a custom wiring harness while incorporating an AEM Infinity 8 EMS and AQ-1 data logger. If you remember back to the start of Project 240SX LSR, we literally had finished the previous wiring harness on the salt hours before our first run at Speed Week… and it showed.
Each time we went to pull the center console or gauge cluster, things quickly spiraled into a nightmare filled with stray wires and failing butt connectors. The cluster f*ck residing under the gauge cluster was an appropriate place to start. What used to be made up of over 30 crimped butt connectors, the gauge cluster sub harness has now been consolidated by 5523 Motorsports into one termination with a MIL Spec circular connector.
John Kuchta repeated his magic by making a new center console so that 5523 Motorsports could reconfigure it too with new aircraft style switches. An Innovate Motorsports MTX-D EGT gauge and Wilwood brake knob have also been added.
5523 Motorsports used “spot ties” to harness all of the small wires running off the back of the various switches and gauges. Spot ties are nylon woven, waxed flat braids which are used to bundle wires. Spot ties are very strong, yet has a small footprint and their wax allows knots to be tied very easily. The center console harness was again terminated into a quick disconnect, circular connector.
