Converting SE to Closed loop

[Steve A]

OK now I've started looking at this and have removed my chip ready to send it back to be modified, so it's full steam ahead.
Looking at the wiki instructions I have removed the half moon cover and wheel arch liner and yes I need to add the two wires necessary to make the sensor work.
Questions for those that have done it (please):
1. I'm assuming (would have thought)the best method of splicing the wires is soldering them ? (that's going to be fun at the ECU lots of access Not!).
2. The wire D7 from the ECU, would that be a grey wire ? (just checking).
3. I've not found where the wiring comes through the bulk head into the drivers foot well, can it be seen from the half moon area ?
( I'm doing this in the garage and I can only open the drivers door, just enough to get in which means my 55 year old body now aches )
I have the sensor but don't envisage any problems with the bung as I have changed to a Piper down pipe in the past and the bung was switched then.

[Steve A]

Well fitting the sensor as I expected went according to plan
Then things went very down hill from there
Whilst attempting to push a thin length of wire through the rubber grommet under the wheel arch,
I lent back on the disc brake and the car rolled forward off the jack
After collecting my thoughts I realised that the car hadn't quite gone all the way off, the wheel I had removed was in front of the car,
the car had pushed the wheel into a toolbox which came to a stop when it hit the wall thus trapping the jack at about 45 degrees
I had parked my car as close to the nearside as I could to make it easier to gain access to the wheel arch, my nearside mirror was now pushed in
on a part of my garage wall that juts out (fortunately a carpeted area for obvious reasons).
The only way I was going to move the car now was to use the jack that should have been under the car in the first place
Anyway to cut a long story...............I pushed the car out to take a look and the only damage seems to be a nicely scuffed wheel
and time wasted not getting my wiring done

Ho bloody hum!!

[Giniw]

Awww, bad luck! :/

[lotusflasherman]

Steve,
for decades my normal 'Safe Working Procedure' has always been to jack the car up high enough to slide the wheel under the sill just alongside the jack.

Advantages are - puts the wheel somewhere that I don't trip over it and any jack failures or wobbling off the jack means I don't end up with a jack trapped under a car 'on the deck' - or worse, sitting on me!

Saved me some grief shortly after moving to my current house with block paving front drive. Jacked the car up (all the load on one block) and while working noticed the car had become a bit low. Due to a rainwater soak-away under the drive the crucial block had sunk and the car was sitting on the tyre, so removed jack, found a bit of plank to spread the load and jacked up again... a minor distraction, not a major problem.

[Jamie N]

You need to move Steve, get yourself a nice big man cave, space to open both doors and get proper access to stuff, and room to store all those breakers bits I keep having to send you , maybe even a couple of speakers in each corner so you can listen to some good ole SR-V whilst fettling!.

[HJ2]

But you're one brave man for sharing this story with us

[Steve A]

All I can say in my defence is I'm on night shift this week and maybe somebody should take my garage keys away until I'm not

Things I would normally do etc etc

You wouldn't work on your car drunk

I dream of a bigger garage

[Steve A]

:agree:

But you're one brave man for sharing this story with us

Maybe we need a "I confess " thread

[Steve A]

Despite my better judgement and lack of adult supervision I ventured back into my garage and actually made some progress
I now have two cables running from inside the wheel arch to the instrument binnacle and down to the ECM.
This task isn't as easy as it sounds, the grommet from the wheel arch is hidden in the drivers footwell by fixed sound deadening.
Once this is moved out of the way it all becomes clearer, much time is spent with your head in the footwell against the bulk head
and your legs draped over the back of seat.
I Inspected the large black connector in the binnacle, disconnected it and identified the wire on the IP harness side of pin A15 (I made this a brown wire with a yellow stripe in it ?)
I now need to Splice all the connections which won't be easy as access isn't good

[Steve A]

Has nobody else done this conversion adding wires back to the ECM ?

[paulrwebster]

:agree:

But you're one brave man for sharing this story with us

Maybe we need a "I confess " thread

Yes we have one of those. The LEC not terribly good club. Welcome to the club.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9543&p=113979

[Steve A]

I've had a good afternoon of carefully preparing my wires for soldering, this involved me laying in awkward positions often upside down and stabbing myself every now and then with my scalpel .
I've Checked for good continuity from O2 sensor connector pin A to ECU harness connector pin D7, from O2 sensor connector pin B to IP harness connector pin A15 and from O2 sensor connector pin D to any earth point.

So now I think I'm at the "Congratulations, you now have the necessary wiring! "stage.
Just waiting for the chip to try it all out, and then I will cover all my joints with self amalgamating tape

[Steve A]

The chip arrived this morning which was perfect timing, I installed it and everything seems to be OK

[Steve A]

After checking the base timing (which was spot on even though the guide states it's never correct) I went for "a good drive"
If I had to say how the car now drives now in one word I would have to say "smoother"
Now this job is complete, I have other jobs to take on

[ashm]

Ah, sorry I haven't checked the forum for a while - glad the Wiki instructions worked out for you.
I'm not sure my neck has fully recovered from when I retrofitted the wiring myself...

If you think anything needs adding to the wiki (like wire colours...) then please do!

Ad

[Steve A]

Ah, sorry I haven't checked the forum for a while - glad the Wiki instructions worked out for you.
I'm not sure my neck has fully recovered from when I retrofitted the wiring myself...

If you think anything needs adding to the wiki (like wire colours...) then please do!

Ad

Thanks for writing them.
I'd be interested to know how you knew which wires to chose ?

[TrevorB]

After checking the base timing (which was spot on even though the guide states it's never correct) I went for "a good drive"
If I had to say how the car now drives now in one word I would have to say "smoother"
Now this job is complete, I have other jobs to take on

Fancy a project in the Spring Steve?

I'm good at passing tools

[Rambo]

After checking the base timing (which was spot on even though the guide states it's never correct) I went for "a good drive"
If I had to say how the car now drives now in one word I would have to say "smoother"
Now this job is complete, I have other jobs to take on

You should also be getting better MPG now, but it will be a few tanks of petrol before you get a feel for that

[Steve A]

After checking the base timing (which was spot on even though the guide states it's never correct) I went for "a good drive"
If I had to say how the car now drives now in one word I would have to say "smoother"
Now this job is complete, I have other jobs to take on

You should also be getting better MPG now, but it will be a few tanks of petrol before you get a feel for that

I didn't really do it for economy but I bet Trevor is

[Steve A]

After checking the base timing (which was spot on even though the guide states it's never correct) I went for "a good drive"
If I had to say how the car now drives now in one word I would have to say "smoother"
Now this job is complete, I have other jobs to take on

Fancy a project in the Spring Steve?

I'm good at passing tools

It's not the most enjoyable task I've ever had to do, it involves letting someone strip back those delicate wires and soldering other wires to them, give me a cam belt any day