It's been a couple weeks, so I suppose it's time for another update.
Firstly, I finally bit the bullet and went in on some targeted upgrades as Winter sets in, so she'll be down for a few months. Since Link is having their annual Black Friday sale, I opted to pick up a CAN-Lambda adapter and a CAN gauge from them. This should let me replace my current Innovate ECF-1 entirely; as I already have the digital signal from the ethanol content sensor wired into the ECU (for ethanol content percentage and fuel temp), The CAN-Lambda will provide real Lambda values, and I have a spare pressure sensor I can use to measure fuel pressure.
I also have a front bash bar on the way to me that _should_ sit behind the front bumper. I'm excited to _finally_ be able to put the front bumper back on once that bash bar is installed.
I discovered recently that there is a rather significant amount of oil making it into the intake at high boost WOT pulls, which is so plentiful that it's getting sprayed _through_ the intake filter when the throttle valve snaps shut because I'm not running a BOV. To combat this, I'm going to delete the PCV valve and plumb both sides of the valve covers into my current catch can, with the catch can getting vacuum pre-turbo, and an inline check valve to prevent any boost spikes due to the lack of a BOV from making it into the catch can. While I have those valve covers off, I may also look into getting them powdercoated blue.
With all that talk about parts ordering out of the way, let's talk about the actual work I've done over the past couple of weeks. I finally decided to tackle the glovebox wiring project in earnest over the past couple of weeks. Progress was slow, as I took my time and made detailed notes for my own benefit. The first thing I noticed when I started looking into things was that the tires had been scrubbing the wiring harness inside the fender... That's lovely. I fixed that insulation up, and re-ran the wires using the factory mounts for a much more secure setup.
I also replaced the original fusebox connectors with Metra-Pak and Deutsche connectors, which helped massively with that rat's nest of wires under the hood
The actual glovebox was the next hurdle. First, I pulled new copper wires to replace the aluminum wiring I had used previously. Then, I labeled and prepared new connectors for the two individual relays that were not part of the underhood fuse panel directly. After that, all I had to do was put it all together.
I wish I could say everything worked the first try, but there were some setbacks. The ABS system was in an error state that took me WAY too long to figure out. Apparently, you can't totally remove the TRC (Traction Control) relays from the system, as they are part of the ABS system's self test (even though the TRC motor and actuators are both long since deleted). On my way to discovering that fun tidbit, though, I managed to start a small fire... Don't worry, I put it out quickly and nothing was really damaged, other than a slight melting of the connector.
So, as things sit right now, I just need to extend the wires coming from the glove box so that I can move all the Deutsch connectors to the free space behind the left side of the glove box. That's going to be a lot of cutting and soldering wires, but it shouldn't take me _too_ long to get that done. I'd imagine a few hours, at most. Once that's all done, I _should_ be able to mount the glovebox and put the "door" on said glovebox. I've gotta say, I'm REALLY looking forward to the day this damn wiring job is totally done and dusted.
I also have an appointment on Friday to have the fenders rolled so my new Toyo R888R's will clear in the front. Hopefully, I'll have some time before Friday to get this wiring project done, but only time will tell.
