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It's the same set of diagrams as in the self-bound smaller FSM, just printed larger in the supplement. There's also color in some cases which helps when identifying subharnesses, but it's not critical.

If you have the ring-bound manual and the supplement, you have the same information as if you have the self-bound manual. This is not always the case for the NB models - when the 8.5x11 self bound books showed up, the wiring diagrams were not included.

I was thinking less of the "to hack something to bits" definition of the word and more of the, "modifying a device to use it in a way that is different than originally intended."

Truth be known both definitions likely apply in most instances.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

This is true

There's a Kluge street in town. Nobody else finds the name anywhere near as funny as I do.

THANK YOU for this great thread, Nate. Boy, I'm glad to find it, as I'm about to do the same thing.

I just stretched my '93 Miata harness out on the floor. MAN, that thing is big! Way bigger than the car it came out of!?!

So...was trimming it down worth it, compared to just jamming the whole thing in? How long did it take? Any regrets/things you'd do different?

-dave

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

Rather than shorten the whole harness I simply (yeah right) removed all of the circuits I didn't use. The airbag stuff, the wipers, stereo, power windows, locks, interior lights etc. I ended up with a whole garbage bag full of wire. The only wires I had to lengthen were the fan, and AFM wires.

There were a few wires I shortened, but not too many. I condensed the harness to at least 1/2 of its normal size.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

There are alot of wires that can be trimmed/culled/whatever. My 99 ECU harness isnt worth shortening. Its only about 1 foot too long and the potential for headaches out weighs the added weight. In fact I probably should investigate using that extra foot of length to mount the ECU somewhere more out of sight (since one day it will be an after market one).

Hrmm... I wonder where you're putting all that wire...

I'm still finding myself stuffing some wire behind the dash, even after shortening it by 5 feet. You'll find one or two areas that need some extra length (MAF sensor, possibly radiator), but generally, I had plenty. Now, I did remove all lighting; that may make a difference.

My best guess is you are not parking your ECU on the front bulkhead. Otherwise, you should have a lot of wiring from the ECU to the point where it splits out--almost 3 feet of it.

As for hiding the ECU... I plan on bolting it on the inside of the front firewall, i.e. behind the scuttle, but not in the engine bay. That should keep it free from the elements, lest you ever got caught in a storm, yet still obtainable (4 Dzus fasteners and one steering wheel later).

The 99 harness is VERY different from the 94-97 harness. Almost all the engine sensors/related parts to the ECU are in bundle that comes off the engine from between the head and intake and go right to the firewall. The ECU was above the drivers legs/feet. I was thinking about putting it pretty much in the same spot in the 7, bolt it to the support for the steering column.

On the 95 I know the ECU is behind the passenger seat. Thats probably the extra couple of feet you have. My 90 has the ECU under a kick plate infront of the passengers feet. Its my opinion that Mazda hit a homerun at making the wiring nice and relatively well hidden. There are some "WTH"s when looking at were some wires go but I'm sure there was a reason of it.

Really the only thing I tore out was the lighting and emissions parts of the harness. I've built cables at work for years now so I have no problems rebuilding the fuel and lighting wiring.

Ah. Sounds like you have the work done for you then. Wish they were a little more stingy on wire back in the day... there were quite a few areas where you would come across wiring for the automatic, or the Canadian driving-light conversion that were simply capped and put aside. Not only was it extra wire, but made it confusing when trying to go by color coding.

I have a hunch not many are using 99+ Miata donors. Perhaps you should post some pictures of your wiring harness for the few that do.

No I wouldnt expect there are many 99+ miata donors. Mine really wasnt ready for donor. I forced that. I was just tired of repairing it from people hitting it.

I'll see if I dont have some pics of the harness.

Well, let me know if you see any 99+ speedometer gears for sale. I can only find one on ebay for about 80 bucks shipped.

What do you need exactly? The 1999 sender plugs right into earlier transmissions.

trying to find a cheap sender. junkyards don't usually have em

We should have one at Flyin' Miata in a couple of weeks. They're usually $45.

Cool. If there's a waiting list, I'm on it. That's better than the 80 buck used one on ebay, with the slightly abused gear. I wonder if Autometer speedometers come with the cable or would I have to buy the cable as well?