legacycentral bbs

I just bought a Greddy GTT2 Turbo Timer (JDM). The performance shop around the corner from me said there is no harness available for my car, of course I doubt they would have a listing for a '93 Turbo Legacy... how many cars does the 93 share it's ignition switch harness with (in other words, will a WRX harness work...)? Anyone know how many wires it has off-hand - 4 or 5?

Any help from someone that has done a turbo-timer before would be great. Thanks.

I am pretty sure the WRX has a different ignition switch connector, but it's possible that certain early 90s/late 80s Nissans would have compatible harnesses.

I installed an HKS turbo timer on my old '93 Legacy Turbo without a harness and it was really easy. I didn't actually need to cut any wires; just spliced into the "accessory," "ignition," and "12 volts always on" wires to the ignition switch, and then run a small wire to splice into my handbrake switch. Overall it took me about 30 minutes to do the whole install with the timer mounted inside the ashtray.

My service manual says that the blue/yellow-stripe wire is 12 volts, red/yellow-stripe is accessory, and red is ignition. You could verify these easily with a simple test light or voltmeter. The best way to splice would probably be to cut away a little insulation, twist the wires together, solder them, and then cover securely with heat shrinking insulation. If you wanted, you could probably get away with a Scotch-Lok connector, but I wouldn't recommend it.

www.rallitek.com has a turbo timer that plugs right into our ecu. it already has a premade harness for the legacy. it's about $140, a little more than some other turbo timers. it is made by AVO.

Actually I think I might want to do this myself considering the job that the shop did on my a-pillar pod... *sighhhh* I wish the shop i used to go to didn't go under, they did awesome work. Did a completely custom system in my Brat that you can't even tell is there, all stock locations - but you guys don't wanna hear about that (or what Subaru did with the speaker locations)...

What all do I have to take apart to do this? Center console, etc....?

You'll probably just need to remove the lower dash cover and take apart the steering column case.

The dash cover (the one by the driver's knees) is held in place by four or six screws (don't remember the exact right number); just remove these and it should drop right out.

The steering column case consists of two halves (top and bottom). To take it apart, you need to remove between 3 and 6 screws (I forget the number again) from underneath, and then it should pull apart. You should then be able to see the ignition switch and the wires going to it.

You shouldn't have to take apart the column shroud. although it is easy enough to do. once you take off the bottom dash piece you will see the harness with all the "Primary" wires. There will be a plug somewhere close where you can use a multimeter or testlight to find your wires. Someone said this earlier but I'll recap. you need 12 constant and true ignition (this wire will show 12 volts with the key in the on possition AND in the start possition)

If you want to make it easy on yourself go to a stereo shop and ask for a couple of 12 gage "T" taps. I know they arent the best connection but they do the trick and hardly ever fail. I know that soldering is the best way to go but trust me t-taps work just fine. How do I know you might ask ? well I'm the car stereo guru self proclaimed master installer. Any of you guys ever heard of "the fishman" Dave Reviera?? Well thats not me but I worked with him for a while. Anyway, I'm retired now

Good luck

Mike

I'm sorry, Mike, but I have to disagree with the claim that the taps hardly ever fail. I have a few times made the mistake of letting my brother do some wiring on my car (he's great with everything except electrical stuff) and the several times, a tap wore itself loose after enough vibration.

I assume you're talking about Scotch-Lok-type connectors, right? Like these: http://www.partsexpress.com/images/082-100m.jpg

Maybe there's a quality issue... The ones from 3M are probably much more reliable than the generic ones at the auto parts store. You also have to make sure you use the right size; I've seen someone try to splice into a wire with one of these and it actually cut about half of the strands of the original wire.

In any case, you also have to take into account the fact that the connection they make is sub-optimal, since the contact area between the wires and the little metal blade isn't really big, and it can move around which causes arcing if a lot of current goes through them. In the end, I wouldn't recommend them. If you don't want to solder because of the inconvenience and fire hazard, a good solid crimp can do the job too.

I have to agree with vrg3 here. With any alligator-style or plastic and metal tap connector there might be issues with incomplete unsheathing of the wiring. I personally spliced into the wiring and twisted about an inch of wiring for each side into each other. I wrapped the twisted wire around the coupled wiring and then electrical taped the hell outta the connection. After that I took all of the connections I made and electrical taped all the wires to each harness together to make sure that if there was something that was snagged down there that it would be hard as hell to break a connection.

I would've soldered all the wiring together, but as everyone knows who's tried to wire under the dash, the location of the stock ecu leaves much to be desired when working with hot solder

I knew this would spark up some contraversy. ok. Where do I begin.........first of all thats not the plastic type plug shown in the link, you are right those things blow and I would never use one. What I'm reffering to is similar in nature but clamps on differently Look here at the bottom of the page http://www.mcmaster.com/cgi/enter.cgi?pagenum=0661

These work fine in the INTERIOR of the vehicle, I do not reccomend using them in the engine compartment.

Heres the bottom line, in the past I have spent DAYS wireing alarms and remote starters in my cars that I have owned. I have soldered everything and used heat shrink also. I understand that this is the best way to do things but, unless you plan on keeping your car forever there really is no point to it. I worked in the stereo business for almost 10 years and the only time I ever saw those things fail is if they were used on the wrong size wire or if they were installed wrong.

I was only offering an easy alternative that would probably outlast ownership of that car anyway.

ok thats all

Mike

Those T-taps are a little better because they use a solid quick-disconnect connector (which crimps on) for the tapping wire, yeah, but they still have the same effect on the original wire. But if you're going to have to crimp at least one of the ends anyway, why not just crimp the whole connection? You could use one of these:

http://www.partsexpress.com/images/095-340m.jpg

So ... wait, are people installing turbo timers into their ECU wiring? I wired mine into the ignition switch, because that seemed logical to me, but I guess you could in theory do it all from the ECU's wires. But then again, the price for messing up ECU wiring can be bigger than messing up ignition switch wiring.

Nope, I was just saying that when doing any of the wiring under the dash that I used the above technique. My timer is connected to the ignition switch.

I hate the aligator things.....the T-taps are much better. They were used on my alarm install, and I have not had any issues.

Normally I don't have issues when I use connectors or splicers......I've got a reputation of crimping the living shit out of the connectors.

I had one come loose on my ECU/torque chip install.....that was my own fault. I've taken it out and hooked things back up. I'll be using the T-tap ones when it goes back in.........

I know I should solder....but I don't feel like it....especially since I may be playing with some goodies at one point and time.

You can solder on pigtails with insulated quick-disconnects crimped onto the ends in that case. That way you have a solid connection but can remove it any time.