DIY Omex Loom

[Cup_Phil]

The loom that came with my Omex 600 is awful - some of the cables are stretched and others are about a meter too long
Utter turd off-the-shelf generic shite

While the car is off road this winter I want to move the Omex into the glove box and create a new loom for it
Is this something that I could have a go at myself or is it really a pro only job?

I've seen you can buy the semi assembled looms and the connectors - I'm assuming you need a crimping tool, but other than that is there something skilled about putting them together?

I want to create a loom with a fuel pump output (which I'm assuming I can wire to the standard fuel pump relay) and fan control (which again I'm assuming I can wire to the standard fan relay) so that the standard ECU isn't needed to run the car

The goal then is to fit a Race Tech Dash2 and then ditch the standard ecu and loads of the crappy standard wiring.

Any advice - much appreciated

 

[Junglist]

Crimp tools are a definate if you want to make a good job of it but they do cost a fair bit as a rule as does wire and connectors/pins when you add them up. If you can figure out what everything is and it connects to (an afternoon with a multimeter and test light or strip out the existing loom) its not all that difficult to build a loom from scratch. The difficulty is in keeping it tidy. I prefer to heat shrink looms including the plugs but it gets difficult in places if you dont plan it out nicely so PVC tape might be an easier route (and much cheaper). Either way you do it, use PVC tape to tie it all together while laying it all out. Its certainly still not cheap to do looms properly but you should see a saving over giving it to a pro to do and you get the smug feeling of doing a nice job when its all done .

 

[Jaff.]

Just done mine. Had a generic open tail loom and made my loom. Ecu is in the glovebox too.

just rake your time and its relatively easy

 

[pingpong]

Take your time planning the loom with drawings, collect the right set of connectors for each sensor and get a pin out for the ECU plug - its not rocket science but it can be confusing!

Its certainly still not cheap to do looms properly but you should see a saving over giving it to a pro to do and you get the smug feeling of doing a nice job when its all done

.

+ you become fully familiar with the cars electrics - something most people don't understand and avoid! It means if you have problems down the line you can work with it to solve the issues.

 

[Cup_Phil]

I have a working loom now - just doesn't have fuel pump or fan control on it. But I would have thought if I put the ecu where it needs to be - run the full loom into the car and use masking tape to keep it together until I get the right lengths it should be fine

The only thing I'm not sure about is that I'll either need to crimp the connectors on in the engine bay and then never remove the loom - or have a massive hole in the firewall big enough for the plugs to fit through - or fit some sort of bulk head connector and wire the ecu to that and then have an engine loom coming from it

Yuck

 

[pingpong]

As you suggest Using a large pin number bulk head connector is a great option; they can contain small signal pins (rated at 13 amps) or power pins (rated at 30 amps) and make a nice clean break through the bulk head. The only negative is they are quite expensive; but you need the quality for reliability.

Some poor images but you get the idea:

 

[MG cup]

Are those connectors you have from Simtek uk Pingpong? Easiest option for omex Phil is to buy there race loom, I'm going to be mounting my ECU on the inner bulkhead and it has all those outputs you wanted wired in. You can even have them wire fuel pump & fan relay into the loom to get rid of standard, will be about £270 all in which isn't much more than you could make a loom for I would imagine by the time you have wire, connector's, tools etc and half the Hastle. Raychem covered loom as well. You can also have their aux wiring pack which you have to wire into ecu plug yourself, easy enough and is only £12, you can then run full throttle shift, launch control with a couple of switches mounted.

Then just buy the RT adapter cable and that will be hooked up, cheaper just to buy IMO, fair enough if your making multiple looms then the price for consumables comes down.

I plan on using one of these (different size though) to begin with then swapping to a Neptune bulkhead connected later when time allows.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=221004391273&index=7&nav=SEARCH&nid=14843673456

Those Neptune connectors are really nice and I still want one fitted for ease/neatness but I have been informed by a few that your opening up a can of worms potentially for wiring problems. Wrong resistances etc.

 

[Cup_Phil]

I've already got their race loom mate - it's stupidly long in places to the point where 2 foot of loom is bundled up and cable tied under my coil pack

I want something that's made to the right lengths - and I want to bring the ECU into the car as it will be powering a race tech dash

 

[pingpong]

Are those connectors you have from Simtek uk Pingpong?
Those Neptune connectors are really nice and I still want one fitted for ease/neatness but I have been informed by a few that your opening up a can of worms potentially for wiring problems. Wrong resistances etc.

No we stock them at work for all sorts of uses, but they are widely avaliable. RS Components sell them for good prices.

Poor contacts could cause issues, but whenever you build in a new break such as a connector you are of course adding another point of failure; so on that basis each pin should be checked for continuity / quality before you fit and forget

 

[MG cup]

I've already got their race loom mate - it's stupidly long in places to the point where 2 foot of loom is bundled up and cable tied under my coil pack

I want something that's made to the right lengths - and I want to bring the ECU into the car as it will be powering a race tech dash

My loom must be different to yours then, I have furel pump and dash outputs all as part of mine, covered in raychem heatshrink. I will be running my ecu inside then any extra length in cable will get coiled up if needed inside but everything seems to directly go to components and are all varying lengths, ill know for sure soon.

No we stock them at work for all sorts of uses, but they are widely avaliable. RS Components sell them for good prices.

Poor contacts could cause issues, but whenever you build in a new break such as a connector you are of course adding another point of failure; so on that basis each pin should be checked for continuity / quality before you fit and forget

Cheers. What are they called, Neptune as well?

 

[Dan519]

I've already got their race loom mate - it's stupidly long in places to the point where 2 foot of loom is bundled up and cable tied under my coil pack

I want something that's made to the right lengths - and I want to bring the ECU into the car as it will be powering a race tech dash

sounds like you didn't get the clio specific loom.You must have an early clubman loom. Should be very easy to fit and route the wires sensibly without bundling them up though

Bit of an old grainy phone pic, but you can see it's perfectly possible to fit one of those looms well

 

[pingpong]

Product range info:

http://www.ittcannon.com/uploadedfiles/product_pdfs/neptune.pdf

There is quite an extensive (and confusing) list of options both pin numbers and amp ratings.

Hope that helps.

 

[jdmarron]

The loom that came with my Omex 600 is awful - some of the cables are stretched and others are about a meter too long
Utter turd off-the-shelf generic s**te

While the car is off road this winter I want to move the Omex into the glove box and create a new loom for it
Is this something that I could have a go at myself or is it really a pro only job?

I've seen you can buy the semi assembled looms and the connectors - I'm assuming you need a crimping tool, but other than that is there something skilled about putting them together?

I want to create a loom with a fuel pump output (which I'm assuming I can wire to the standard fuel pump relay) and fan control (which again I'm assuming I can wire to the standard fan relay) so that the standard ECU isn't needed to run the car

The goal then is to fit a Race Tech Dash2 and then ditch the standard ecu and loads of the crappy standard wiring.

Any advice - much appreciated

This is my first post and couldn't help noticing this thread so thought I should comment

Believe it or not I actually work at Prodrive and am the Aston martin racing electrician. Before I moved over to the Aston stuff I was in charge of the building of the Omex looms (as thats where they're built, Prodrive!) I'm guessing you've got the Omex 600 Basic loom? These looms are just a generic loom that get's supplied with the ECU using rubbish standard automotive wiring. There are sort of sent with the hope that they fit that certain car but obviously not all do. In 9 out of 10 circumstances it's encouraged that the customer shortens to their required lengths. The looms are very simple to shorten as the terminals are easy to remove from the connectors as long as you take note of the pin out. You then don't need to re-crimp anything.

Also, the 600 basic come with a fuel pump and dash out put leg. You just need to add the terminals and connectors required.

I've got access to all the OMEX pin-out's if need be and I'm happy to help if you need any other info.

Oh and P.S just bought my second Clio sport last night an inferno orange cup. My first clio was a trophy which I miss

 

[Dan519]

Since when???? As long as I've know about it, their looms were made by Harnessing Solutions. they certainly were when I worked there.

 

[jdmarron]

Since when???? As long as I've know about it, their looms were made by Harnessing Solutions. they certainly were when I worked there.

Well I've been there for 2 and 1/2 years and we have done them the entire time....

 

[p@blo]

Lol.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Also Phil, unless you bought a new loom when you got the ITB's you've either got the standard ktec supplied one, or one that the chap you bought the ITBs off made himself.

It all came off Guppys car originally.

 

[Cup_Phil]

Gah - sounds like I've got some thrown together home made s**t then

The VVC switch wire is really stretched - and that's with the OMEX in the standard ecu position - so there's no way I could get the ECU into the car
The wiring for the 4 injectors is approximately 18" too long - so that's all bundled up

Right - it's off in the bin then, one of the injectors randomly miss-fires and I seriously suspect the loom

Swede Cup - so £270 at Omex and they make it for you - and you get fuel pump relay and fan relay wiring built in?
I'll keep an eye on your thread - can you take some pics of how it fits - if it fits near enough I'll be buying one of those on pay day

 

[Jaff.]

I have a wiring diagram for my car that includes how I've wired the fuel pump etc. in. It's not hard to do if your methodical

 

[MG cup]

Well I've been there for 2 and 1/2 years and we have done them the entire time....

So the looms are all measured out to right lengths etc? I look to mount my ecu inside, do you think that's possible, it looks to be but can't be sure yet.

 

[MG cup]

Gah -Swede Cup - so £270 at Omex and they make it for you - and you get fuel pump relay and fan relay wiring built in?
I'll keep an eye on your thread - can you take some pics of how it fits - if it fits near enough I'll be buying one of those on pay day

Somewhere around that can't remember exactly, I was the guts of 600 bucks for everything I got but that was all new sensors, Zetec crank sensor bracket, crank signal splitter, launch control button, full throttle gear change switch, aux wiring kit, relays added in. Might be wrong but I seem to remember it being 250 for the loom plus the add on of relays, wasn't much for that. You tell them what sensors you plan to use and they fit the plugs to suit, they will even adjust the length of each individual wire if you really want.


Another point as well, can't recommend omex enough brilliant to deal with, I sent away my ecu for a check as i thought it was sensible after Neil A having issues with some parts being removed previously from his. Received it back a few days later with all new bolts and some of the ECU cover replaced as it was a bit tatty, fully checked over etc and sent back for no charge, that's the measure of a good company for me and if you ever have issues with any of there kit it will get fixed, that's why I would dog for an omex loom tbh.

 

[Junglist]

£270 is a bargain for a properly made and heat shrinked loom, you can easily spend that on a few connnectors, some heat shrink and the proper crimping tools!

 

[chrispy.clio]

I made a custom loom for my ITB'd Track car on an OMEX 600 ECU! Cant quite remember the price but i recon it cost me under 100 quid to make.

So my ECU is located on the inside the firewall below my Mk1 Clio Dash!

You can literly not see any of the wires in the engine bay!

Measure twice, cut once!!!

 

[Cup_Phil]

Ooooh - Looks like I need to rummage through your progress blog for inspiration again lol

 

[Dan519]

I made a custom loom for my ITB'd Track car on an OMEX 600 ECU! Cant quite remember the price but i recon it cost me under 100 quid to make.

So my ECU is located on the inside the firewall below my Mk1 Clio Dash!

You can literly not see any of the wires in the engine bay!

Measure twice, cut once!!!

Chris, are you back for more than a few hours yet?

 

[Jonny1*2]

I made a custom loom for my ITB'd Track car on an OMEX 600 ECU! Cant quite remember the price but i recon it cost me under 100 quid to make.

So my ECU is located on the inside the firewall below my Mk1 Clio Dash!

You can literly not see any of the wires in the engine bay!

Measure twice, cut once!!!

Indeed, very tidy work. you need to contract yourself out mate.

 

[Ed.innit]

Thought you were selling the car and buying a pissrat/evo/m3/scoob/sunbeam?

 

[chrispy.clio]

Ooooh - Looks like I need to rummage through your progress blog for inspiration again lol

To be honest i need to have a look at it aswell to see what i need to finish on the car! Havnt really touched it for so long i've forgotten what i need to do!

Chris, are you back for more than a few hours yet?

Dan i'm living in Spartanburg, South Carolina untill the end of the year! Just on a side note, i actually started my engine just before i flew out here and it ran fine (apart from the Fuel pipe leaking petrol again from the connector going onto my metal fuel rail) Any tips for it stopping it leaking?

Indeed, very tidy work. you need to contract yourself out mate.

I would if i had the time! I've spend more time abroad this year than i have living in the UK! So its hard to even finsh off my own car lol!

 

[Jonny1*2]

Fair play mate. What you doing in South Carolina? Random state to go

 

[chrispy.clio]

Developing the New BMW X5 at BMW's Plant in Spartanburg. Was doing a similar thing on the new Mini when i was in Munich at the begining of the year

 

[Jonny1*2]

Developing the New BMW X5 at BMW's Plant in Spartanburg. Was doing a similar thing on the new Mini when i was in Munich at the begining of the year

Didn't realise you did that mate