Relocate ECU on '97 Honda Civic

[TK!]

I'm relocating my ECU from the lower left kickpanel area to the lower centre console area.

Any tips? I've already re-fabricated the stock radio bracket to hold the ECU.

Wires not reaching. Should i cut and solder or crimp or is there a wire-harness extension kit that i can buy?

[TK!]

oh.. it's an EK3 with a D15B motor.

[HondaB20B]

and why you doing dis now???

[abbow]

yea good question....

Why would you want to do this?

[Zim]

[redsupra101]

if u want it out of the way just put it on the air condition blower
or do u want it in the dash for easier datalogging purposes or something? still sounds dumb to me.

[kes_vtec]

and why you doing dis now???

and where ur ecu is now...

















orrr right i forget....

[X2]

cut, extend and solder is the best thing to do IF YOU KNOW how to solder properly... otherwise you can end up with cold joints that go bad.

Crimp business is for low budget stereo installs.

Here... lemme chime in too... WHY do you want to do this ? Rewiring the whole ecu harness is asking for electrical problems if you don't have a pro do it.

[abbow]

instead of you getting cold breeze coming through the vents you might just get white smoke coming through the vents when your ECU smokes up....


i dont see a big reason here to move your ECU...

[TK!]

well i *can* solder the joints and shrink tube them properly. i'm worried about the increase in resistance due to solder tho.

but to answer your questions:

I'm moving the ecu from the kick panel area to make room for placing a speaker in the kick panel. the speaker is a 6" with a tweeter - the polk SR6500

[abbow]

too ricer reason there bro...

you looking for problems by moving that ECU for that reason....

Leave the ECU in its manufacturers location and put the speaker on your lap....

really if you have to chop your harness and solder thats going create problems later for you if not sooner...

[TK!]

ricer?

lol. try audiophile. and nothing is wrong with that. my last car i spent 20,000 on performance. this car, i'm doing it with audio.

will do performance after... maybe by that time, a K20 will be affordable (ha!)

[X2]

too ricer reason there bro...

wha ? That is the prime place to put a speaker for audiophiles.... great location sound dispersion !

Well worth the work in that case...

[abbow]

yea but the door speaker panel is right next to the kickpanel....lol.

i guess it depends on how much speakers you wanna put in your car....

well bro good luck with your "audiophile" installations....

[kes_vtec]

ur guys just don't know TK...

[HondaB20B]

and why you doing dis now???

and where ur ecu is now...

not in de lower centre console???? my ecu in de same spot

[redsupra101]

yea but the door speaker panel is right next to the kickpanel....lol.

i guess it depends on how much speakers you wanna put in your car....

well bro good luck with your "audiophile" installations....

u just dont understand how important kick panel speakers can be so relax and stop fighting it down. its not about 'how much' bro its about doing it properly for the best results.

TK, did it already- it will work nicely up by there by a/c blower.. no extensions needed.

also- 'RYWIRE' should have a plug and play harness extension for you but they're somewhat costly. they usually make plug and play harnesses for our cars for things like OBD conversion, emanage and vafc plug and play installation etc. they dont really make em that long tho so you could contact them and let em know what u want and see if they can help. remember ur obd2a should they ask.
http://www.rywire.com/store/index.php

[X2]

yea but the door speaker panel is right next to the kickpanel....lol.

i guess it depends on how much speakers you wanna put in your car....

well bro good luck with your "audiophile" installations....

if you leave speaks in the doors, the sound wave will interfere with the ones placed in the kick panels.

Hush and learn sump'n nah.... the man talking about serious front staging here.

[Sky]

What about placing the ecu on the firewall. You should have room there, and don't need to cut any harness.

[SR]

What about placing the ecu on the firewall. You should have room there, and don't need to cut any harness.

thats what i did with the last eg and made a plate to protect the harness running across the frewall/flooring

worked well and gave easy access when i wanted to swap ecu's for racing

no need to extend harness

but as x2 said solder and use good quality fine multi strand copper wire preferbly oxygen free the increase in resistance u probable will not even be able to measure on a fluke meter due to the short distance and once you do a good solder job
do not use the wire that 99.99% of auto electricians use in trinidad nor use the same type of solder

use electronic grade aka circuit board grade solder and a good quality soldering iron

[Sky]

do not use the wire that 99.99% of auto electricians use in trinidad nor use the same type of solder

Audiopipe red/blck speaker wire ftw!!!

A suggestion would be 4 VGA cables (i'm assuming its the ECU I know about with 4 harnesses?) Find 4 old monitors and go to town.

[abbow]

X2, I learning alot....so ease up na...

BTW i ent fighting down the man....TK421 let us know how it works out for you in case any other tuners want to do the same...

[gizmo]

i think that it is a "worthwhile project" once soldered and heat shrunk properly. I remember with my eg9 there was a flood in uwi and the water reached as high as the door and the jacks for the ecu was covered in water !!!. i was hating on that honda for the ecu location...nissan has there ecus in the center of the footwell. The check light came on, limp mode on, rev limit at 4k, real stress to reach home. Luckily everything was fine when i used a compressor to blow out the water and empty a can of electrical contact cleaner on the ecu.

[Zim]

Hmm, allyuh doe laff @ me eh, but d stock speakers in a Civic are already on d lower door panel, rightt nex to d kick panel. Why not just leave it dey? I ask cause I wah learn

[redsupra101]

Zim, the doors face almost str8 across, not towards the driver or passenger head directly. the kick panels are at angles so they allow you to almost perfectly aim the speaker towards the drivers head for better.

im sure X2 or SR can explain the 'why' better-but if you hear the difference how speakers in the kicks sound, u mite want some 2!

its usually used wth 3 way components putting the high-mid (smaller speaker, 3-4") in the kick with the bigger one (5.25-6") in the door for low-mid or 'midbass' sound, since the higher frequencies are the more 'directional' ones anyways. stan up behind a tweeter an see if u hear neting from it and u will understand that instantly!


tk421, this post on ebay.com has what i described before. i the harness is 1-1 mapped for the purposes of splicing into for installing aftermarket piggyback computers etc, and is only about 8"long. i messaged the seller and he says he CAN produce a 3-4 foot version of this. im waiting on the price from him and ill let u know, 'just in case' u decide to spend +130USD on the harness! however i find SR suggestion soundin better? save the $130USD for something more useful!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0001543959

[TK!]

To ALL: sorry for taking so long. I don't have internet at home. Phone lines were stolen 6 months ago, EVDO doh reach down ny me, neither GreenDot and we doh have FLOW in our area.

redsupra: "TK, did it already- it will work nicely up by there by a/c blower.. no extensions needed."

i think that's the best option. the harness depicted on ebay is too short and too expensive.

kes_vtec: "ur guys just don't know TK..."

lol... yes guys, i'm a bit weird.

X2: "if you leave speaks in the doors, the sound wave will interfere with the ones placed in the kick panels. "

oh yes, you are right.
to explain to the others: it *can* be done... but iz a lot of work and 3-way separates should be used.. but they are too expensive for my budget.

Sky and SR:
"Sky wrote:
What about placing the ecu on the firewall. You should have room there, and don't need to cut any harness.


thats what i did with the last eg and made a plate to protect the harness running across the frewall/flooring "

This is also another very viable option that i will consider. Making the plating would not be impossible. I will just check my welder/body shop.

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I'm taking photos of the entire project. I'm having a lot of fun with this car. It's my first Honda. I want to post a thread on the build but not sure if it's safe or if anyone really wants to learn how to put 2 six inch and a sub in a honda.