With our last race of the season behind us winter build season is officially here. I'm putting together the shopping list for the installation of my MegaSquirt and new wiring harness. I do plan to terminate everything in a bulkhead connector or two on the firewall so I can do away with rubber grommets and plugs where it's possible. Between our team and our sister team we have had two fires and I really want to make sure the driver is better protected.
For the wire itself I'm sticking with TXL as it's easy to work with, holds up well, and is available in enough colors to make the harness make sense to anyone helping to troubleshoot... Purple is power for the fuel pump, orange is IGN+, etc. Everything is getting laid out on paper before I order so I make sure everything has it's own color.
I've got all new factory plugs for the things that are staying on the engine (TPS, coils, etc) but I'm still debating Deustch vs WeatherPak for everything else. The Deustch cost of entry is higher but I know the pins are higher quality and the plugs are physically smaller, both of which seem like a plus. I'm not completely sold on the Deustch as it's probably 2x or more the cost of WeatherPack. Is there some other option I'm not considering that would be better than either of these?
Lastly, I've wired one car in plastic split loom that seems to melt if you look at it sideways, one car in mesh loom that frays at the ends but is substantially easier to work with, and one car that used both at one point as well as the fire resistant silicone jacketed fiberglass tubing. As I'm getting to start this from scratch I've been looking at what is out there and found that the Raychem DR-25 shrink tubing is pretty popular, and you can even source heat shrinkable junctions for harnesses that split off at the ends. I think that's overkill for our applications but it sure looks good when it's done. Is there a cheaper alternative to the Raychem that would work just as well? I'm not great at finding what I'm looking for at McMaster Carr but I'd assume there is a 2:1 polyoelfin that is similar?
