Pulling the "male" bulkhead connectors

[Bitsyncmaster]

I was going to pull the the bulkhead connectors so I could replace the important male pins with new pins. Turns out you can't get the the top connectors out because the body cutout is overlapping the connectors at the top. So I pulled the six bolts (7 mm hex heat) holding the bulkhead metal plate onto the body. That let me get those top connectors out but this is so much work, I may just put everything back together and hope for the best.

Yes I see the factory used one of those quick connect on one of the top connectors.

[Bitsyncmaster]

My inventory of pins dipped into Tarnex for about 30 seconds. Even NOS pins have some oxidation so they need to be cleaned.

[BABIS]

I was going to pull the the bulkhead connectors so I could replace the important male pins with new pins. Turns out you can't get the the top connectors out because the body cutout is overlapping the connectors at the top. So I pulled the six bolts (7 mm hex heat) holding the bulkhead metal plate onto the body. That let me get those top connectors out but this is so much work, I may just put everything back together and hope for the best.

Yes I see the factory used one of those quick connect on one of the top connectors.

All true. I had to do this when I removed the "k-jet" wires and added all the new wires from the efi ecu, through the original bulkhead connectors. A very annoying job...

[Bitsyncmaster]

You would think they could have done a better job fitting the bulkhead cover to the metal bulkhead plate.

I pulled the plate so I can enlarge the body hole where the top connectors fit. I may clean the edges of the metal plate and paint it black. The back side of the plate is covered with black foam, I guess to seal it water tight.

[Bitsyncmaster]

It should be easy to replace the pins. I need to clean the plastic connectors also since my PO had put some kind of grease in there.

[Bitsyncmaster]

One of the harness legs runs to the left and has a connector on it. Don't know what this connects to. I'm guessing it runs up to the roof box. Just an FYI if your tracking a bad connection.

I have cut about 3/8" off the body to clear the top bulkhead connectors. Easy job with my 1/4" inch drive rotary tool.

I have cleaned up the edges of the metal "bulkhead box" to prep it for paint. Today is raining so the painting will have to wait.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I have the new pins installed in the yellow, red, blue and white (FV) connectors. I was able to pull about about 7 pins not needed anymore from my modifications and the AT computer (I have a 5 speed).

Turns out those two blue "wire splice taps" the factory added was to add a 1 uf cap going to the vacuum solenoid. But they added it to the green power lead rather than the blue/brown "idle switch" wire. My engine never had that capacitor on the engine near the idle switch so I guess this was the engineering change moving that cap to the bulkhead. But they did it wrong.

Note: If you have my idle ECU that 1 uf capacitor is in my unit so you don't need it on the engine or bulkhead.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Finished the new pins. Note there were two sizes of pins, 14 to 16 AWG and 18 to 22 AWG (American equivalent). I only had the larger pins so I soldered the wires after I crimped them. There are only a few large wires or pins with two wires so if you plan to do this you probably want the smaller wire size pins. When I bought my pins years ago, they did offer both sizes. Now the original pins for the Lucas Rists type connectors are getting very hard to find. I did place and order from the EU which I think are the smaller size wire pins and sockets. I hope someone has these pins remade. If they do, don't use pointed "keepers" since that makes extraction very hard to do.

I think the small wire pins are numbered 831, small sockets 832, large pins 833, large sockets 834.

Also to note, the +12 volt feed through bolt is 5/16" and not metric.

[cis6409]

Fascinating stuff Dave
Well done !

Cheers
Shane

[Bitsyncmaster]

Well I got my order of pins from Autosparks and they are for the larger wire. They are the same pins and sockets I had bought long ago. I will never run out of these large pins now so I need to find a vendor for the smaller wire pins.

Their part numbers in case you want to order some.

C831R, the 3mm Pin
C832R, the 3mm Socket