My latest project MK1 1.8t Quattro Build

Whilst the car is back the right way up and on all 4 wheels, I decided to get a headstart with some of the engine and ECU wiring. I put the engine back in to use to work out how I want to route the wiring. The original TT engine harness was stripped back to just the wires and connectors which I'll need and then plugged into where they belong on the engine, it was then a case of gradually bundling together the various wires and deciding how i want the sleeving around each section. I took note of what colours go where and allocated each a pin on one of two multiconnectors on the bulkhead which will allow me to remove the engine/gearbox without needing to unplug the whole harness from the engine.
Heres a few pics of the various stages of building the harness.  Masking taped together a rough downpipe to get an idea where id need the wires to reach for wideband and EGT probe.



 

Stunning Work -  

Another quick update…

My ECU has arrived



These are an open-source ECU, similar to speeduino, but with a few more features (drive by wire, CANBUS etc)  Full spec list at https://rusefi.com/

I made a case for it from an old mini-pc casing, there were far too many holes in the original endplates, so i traced round the old ones and cut some new plates up, then cut a slot in one to slide my connectors in.
That's about where it stands for the moment

Thought it would be a sensible time to measure up for some driveshafts whilst the car is partly assembled.
Hadn't really been looking forward to this,  anyone who has come into contact with the grease in a CV joint will know just how awful this stuff is, and despite my best efforts, its got everywhere.

Anyway

I took one front shaft and one rear and chopped the middle out of both, I also degreased the inner CV joint from both shafts to minimise mess and allow me to see what is going on as far as the extension of the joint is concerned.
I then measured and noted the length of each of the cut off shaft ends from the centre of the circlip groove.



These shaft bits were then inserted into the CV joints and the gap between them measured at both the minimum and maximum extension of the inner CV joint. these measurements were all taken with the suspension sat at what i would like to be the ride height. The mock shafts i'm making will be in the middle of the min and max measurements.  This should get me in the ballpark of the correct length leaving the inner joint in the centre of its range of movement.

I then bodged together my mock pair of driveshafts.


These will now be thrown in a corner somewhere until i get around to trying the front and rear coilovers, the inner joints will need to be checked again with the shocks at their full extent to make sure the inner CV's cant pull out with them at full droop. Custom made driveshafts arent cheap, so i would like to be 100% that theyre right first time .

One other easy job completed….. ECU bracket

I"ve been in a bit of pain with my back this last week or so, so i've had to concentrate on a couple of less physical tasks.
I managed to crimp up and assemble the link cables which will go between the bulkhead and the ECU. The third socket on the ECU will be used for any wiring going inside the car (throttle pedal etc). For now, thats the majority of the harness built and ready.