engine and drivetrain Decluttering An Engine Bay

[wyobmw]

I was curious about the approaches to decluttering an engine bay.  Hiding wires, relocation of brackets, etc..  I have a 74 tii and I am relocating the battery to the trunk, but leaving the original air filter.  I just want to tidy things up a bit, nothing too crazy.

 

[nbcbird]

Moving the battery to the trunk is a good start.  I located the terminal box under the dash (see pic from my previous post).

[Rocan]

rewrap the original wiring harness using hockey grip tape from your local sporting store. Wash everything as well as you can. tuck loose wires behind their intended tabs that run around the engine bay. Just these few things will make everything a lot better. 

 

Using zip ties you can neaten up your ignition wires a good bit... see here. 

 

http://foureyedpride.com/joom/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64:plug-wires&catid=25:tech-art&Itemid=42

 

 

The stock windshield fluid reservoir is a bit big... I'm replacing it with a smaller rectangular reservoir located above one of the headlights using an aftermarket fluid pump. without the battery and big fluid reservoir the drivers side will be pretty empty looking, especially if you cut out (or unbolt, depending on year) the original battery holder. If you have a late car, remove all of the emissions crap... thats a huge chunk of wires that you can take out. 

 

You can go really crazy tucking every single wire, but doing the above will make everything look very neat and will IMPROVE maintenance, rather than making it harder because all of the wires are hidden. The trick to running wires is to make everything run the shortest distance that is NEAT. In other words, move your coil closer to your distributor, and if you have extra length for your ignition wires, cut them down. But if you need to run a wire to the front of the car (such as for an electric fan) make it longer and run it around the perimeter of the engine bay. 

[ClayW]

1. Have a plan - Really think out where you want to relocate stuff. If you really want to go nuts, you can hide wiring under the fenderwells, but you'll need to protect it, and you'll likely need to lengthen it. 

 

2. Clean, clean, clean - If you can remove the engine, that will make things a lot easier, but it's not necessary. Consider touching up the paint wherever possible, but be careful not to overspray. 

 

3. Take your time - I replaced my wiring harness completely with a spare that I bought from an FAQ member. I rewrapped everything in friction tape and labeled the connections. After I installed it, I built a secondary harness to handle the added functions, like relayed H4 wiring, driving lights, etc. Hell, mine isn't even that nice and it took quite a while.

 

 

 

[Matt_P]

Recommendation on wrapping the harness, use the right 3M stuff, it works a lot better tham hockey tape for the intended purpose. I think I bought mine at Lowe's.

[Rocan]

Recommendation on wrapping the harness, use the right 3M stuff, it works a lot better tham hockey tape for the intended purpose. I think I bought mine at Lowe's.

 

 

Mine cost 3 bucks for 4 rolls of 20 feet. I barely used half a roll to do my engine bay and it's held up for over a month now without any issues whatsoever. It matches the factory stuff quite well and I know of a bunch of other people who have also had satisfactory results. More important then what tape you use is to make sure the harness is clean from dust and grime before you re-wrap it, and to use strips of electrical tape in different locations in order to hold the wire bundles together, in the same way the factory did. 

[baller908790]

Here is C.d's engine bay. It looks very "clean"

 

 

[frostyspeed]

Wow that's clean! :0 I have engine bay envy...

[Stevenc22]

Little things like using proper engine harness tape can make a difference.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-GENUINE-Electrical-Tape-Cloth-Tape-for-Wrapping-Wire-Harnesses-/151006445074?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2328af7e12&vxp=mtr

 

 

Here is mine.

 

 

[MattBeNimble]

Steve,

That looks great!

My washer bottle ('72) is on the other side of the motor. Was this a custom location or did BMW change it?

[Stevenc22]

BMW did change the location.

[MattBeNimble]

Interesting!

How is it mounted? On the firewall or off of the booster?

[wyobmw]

Here is C.d's engine bay. It looks very "clean"

 

 

What is that tube that the spark plug wires are fed into? BTW, great picture! Just what I was looking for.

[Stevenc22]

That tube holds the spark plug wires out of the way of the exhaust manifold and comes from a later 3 series model I believe.

 

Mattbenimble, its mounted on the brake booster not the firewall. See the back of the bottle is flared, it just slides into the big bracket connecting the booster and the pedal box.

[zinertia]

That looks like my wire set, bought from Kingsborne - different lengths for the short or long run to the coil and 7 or 8mm

 

Great place, bought two sets, one for my son's car and one for mine.  They also have spark plugs w/o resistors if you want to go fully original.

 

S/B on their web site, do need to ask for the '2002' set and to have the wire set "factory style loomed"

 

http://kingsbornewires.com

 

 

Dennis