Design a loom and future proof it.

Hi guys,

I have a 4 cylinder 1.8L Mazda BP4W engine and I'm hooking a Haltech Elite 1500 onto it. Currently this is the stock engine loom:

- Cam sensor

- Crank sensor

- Ignition coil

- TPS

- Idle Air Control

- Coolant Temperature

- Air Temperature

- Coolant Temperature

- MAF

- O2S

- VICS

- Vehicle Speed Sensor

- Alternator Control

I plan to turbo and modernize the engine and take advantage of the Haltech as much as possible so I'm adding:

- Turbo, not aiming for big power so probably going with internal wastegate.

- Drive by wire throttle body and pedal.

- Wideband which will be connected via CAN.

- MAP sensor.

- LS Sequential Coil.

Overall this is what going to look like:

- Cam sensor

- Crank sensor

- Ignition coil

- Coolant Temperature

- Air Temperature

- Coolant Temperature

- DBW

- VICS

- Vehicle Speed Sensor

- Alternator Control

- Ignition

Wondering what else should I terminate right now to future proof the loom, what are you running in your car right now that I should add now or later down the road?

Best regards.

I call this "Futurability". A design that has futurability, has anticipated future needs by providing the possibility of connecting additional input sensors, or output controls. So you might want to just make additional I/O connections available for any unused inputs / outputs, typically this connections might also have appropriate power / grounds and would be labeled "Spares".

Then if you add a sequential transmission and need to add a gear position sensor or strain gauge shifter you will have a place to connect that harness addition.

A CAN expansion connection is another logical choice -- you might add a separate dash logger in the future.

If you think you might be swapping in a V6 or V8 engine, you might choose to make the Ignition & Injectors a sub harness that can be swapped out for a different engine.

Hi David, thank for answering my question, very appreciated. So I will split the rest of the spare digital and analog IO into a bulkhead that i can connect expansion loom to later down the road.

What's frustrating is I bought the Wiring and Tuning course expected to be covered 100% on installation of a standalone ECU but there is a big gap between them where they went from making harness straight to the software. If only they have a course that cover the function of the sensors.