I finally decided to mount my switches! I put the instrument cluster back in just to get an idea of what the dash will look like. I need to have two knobs made... one for the heater which is second from the far right and one for the lights which is on the top row, left of the wiper knob. I got my custom knobs/swtiches from this guy: http://www.knoobs.com/ and I highly recommend him! The wiper knob my original--all the others were made for me.
I'm realizing that I should have installed both harnesses at the same time and not tried to get the engine running. After studying the EZ wiring harness instructions I realized that I've already ran some of the same wires (to get the engine running). I'm going to have to go through the harness and replace several wires that I added to the engine harness (starter, ignition hot, etc). I want to use the wires in the EZ wiring harness because they are 1) labeled, 2) higher quality, and 3) sized and fused correctly.
This is absolutely the only place that I could mount the fuse box. There really isn't a lot of room under the dash of a FJ40.
I think I'm going to run the rear section of the harness through the same firewall hole as the front section, then down and along the frame rail.
I bought this FJ40 with a running TBI 350. It was running, but there were a few issues with the wiring:
1. The wiring harness wasn't long enough for the computer to be mounted in a good location. It was in the glove box, but it wouldn't fit with a glove box door and the wiring was stretched to get it in there.
2. It was a stock wiring harness, so there were a lot of extra wires. If I really knew what I was doing, I probably could have taken it apart and eliminated these.
3. There were a lot of splices and dangling wires that I didn't have a clue about, which makes troubleshooting really hard when the vehicle wouldn't start. "Oh, that wire? Its always been unhooked--that can't be the problem"
4. check engine light would come on due to not having a VSS wired in. The particular type of computer that I had required a VSS buffer and I never could get it working right. Another option was to have the VSS requirement pulled from the ECU via a custom chip.
So, I found what I thought was a deal on a Painless TBI harness (PN 60101). I thought I was going to get $100 rebate and it would only be around $250. Oops, the rebate was expired. That will be $350. Then when I read the instructions, I saw that it will only work with a truck computer, not my Caprice computer. So, another $60 or so later and I was in possession of a computer from a 5 speed TBI truck.
I had already removed the body harness from the vehicle, so I went ahead and pulled the complete engine harness. There were no more old wires left in this old cruiser to leave me stranded in the woods! Not only will I feel better about wheelin' alone, but I know the wiring because I did it!
I followed the instructions, step by step. It's all plug and play. After I installed the harness, all I needed to do was run a wire from the ignition switch to the battery and another one to the starter. Fire extinguisher handy, I turned the key to on, and heard the fuel pump buzzing. I twisted it to start and heard the starter (my guesses on the starter wiring worked out!). I looked at the injectors and saw fuel, but the engine wasn't starting. So, I pulled a plug wire off, stuck a screwdriver in it and watched as it sparked to a brake line. Fuel, spark and air. What else is needed? Well, I had forgotten that I installed a new tank last year. I only had about a gallon of old gas in the tank! Anyway, it was a great feeling to go from having all the wiring out to hearing this fuel injected beast run again. And, it basically worked on the first try.
I mounted the ECU and a couple fuses under the glove box. This view is from below the dash. From the driver or passenger's seat, you won't be able to see it.
I can't explain how nice it is to have a nice crimp tool, heat shrink tubing and a heat gun. My heat gun is from Harbor Freight and it works great! I normally stay away from cheap Chinese products, but I made an exception for this. The crimp tool is from Tool Aid and very high quality.
Finally, here's a video of me starting it up (for the 2nd time):
I still have a lot of work to do routing the wires and putting them in looms, so I haven't ran the engine for more than a few seconds for fear of melting some wires. Painless sent a small sample of their Powerbraid loom and I really liked it--but not the price ($175 for a kit!!!). I ordered some of what I think is the same thing from McMaster-Carr to save a lot of money:
