Stripped out GTO Project.

[e46m3]

Originally Posted by lawdogg

Good job figuring out what all the wires are for. What did you use to help with that? Do you have a wiring diagram?

Gauges look great.

Rear seatbelts coming out?

Thanks man. I do have a complete service manual and had to refer to that a few times (to work out what relays where for what etc).

The wiring was pretty easy to figure though. I untaped all the harness and say I unplugged the radio, I would just follow all the wires that plugged into the radio and where the wires ended, remove them.

Done that for heater, a/c, cruise, radio, etc etc

yeah, rear seat belts would be out now, but i can't un-do the bolts for them crazy tight!

I will write up a DIY about the gauges, just been so busy removing all this stuff lol.

I have 4 plastic bags full of removed wire, once I get all unused engine wiring out I will measure the lot, I think a few people will be surprised by how heavy it all is lol

[lawdogg]

Awesome. Really great stuff - can't wait for the gauge write up and the weight savings summary. Thanks for documenting everything so we can all see it!

I hear ya on the seatbelt bolts. I had to use an enormous breaker bar.

[i3igpete]

Originally Posted by e46m3

Got the dash out and installed some new dails too.

do you think you could figure out a way to mount the main gauge cluster without the dash? maybe by using only a few select brackets from the dash?

also, did you figure out how to bypass the ETACS unit? i found a way to do it by using a relay, but kept all the wiring because i was afraid i would lose my window control.

[e46m3]

Originally Posted by i3igpete

do you think you could figure out a way to mount the main gauge cluster without the dash? maybe by using only a few select brackets from the dash?

also, did you figure out how to bypass the ETACS unit? i found a way to do it by using a relay, but kept all the wiring because i was afraid i would lose my window control.

Yeah, well I could def fab a bracket and just use the dials, and no dash, but I wanna keep the dash though lol. It's that too heavy and I don't like the car without the dash in. lol

I was not aware you could bypass the ETCAS unit! How many items does it control? Did you use just one relay to then controll everything?

Thanks

[e46m3]

Originally Posted by lawdogg

Awesome. Really great stuff - can't wait for the gauge write up and the weight savings summary. Thanks for documenting everything so we can all see it!

I hear ya on the seatbelt bolts. I had to use an enormous breaker bar.

Thanks man. And I have the write up soon :P

Lol, that will be me on the weekend busting my nuts with a breaker bar lol

[i3igpete]

Originally Posted by e46m3

Yeah, well I could def fab a bracket and just use the dials, and no dash, but I wanna keep the dash though lol. It's that too heavy and I don't like the car without the dash in. lol

I was not aware you could bypass the ETCAS unit! How many items does it control? Did you use just one relay to then controll everything?

Thanks

well the dash i mainly wanted to get rid of because it gets in the way of all the wiring. i like to be able to reach what i want, when i want.

The ETACS you can bypass by grounding one wire. grounding this one wire will enable the doorlocks, windows, and rear defrost simultaneously. the ETACS simply acts as a timer after you have removed the key. I previously tried to leave it always connected, but it drew too much current with the car off (and made the window buttons VERY hot!). If can find the ETACS wiring diagram, I can tell you which one to ground using the ignition relay.

[e46m3]

Originally Posted by i3igpete

well the dash i mainly wanted to get rid of because it gets in the way of all the wiring. i like to be able to reach what i want, when i want.

The ETACS you can bypass by grounding one wire. grounding this one wire will enable the doorlocks, windows, and rear defrost simultaneously. the ETACS simply acts as a timer after you have removed the key. I previously tried to leave it always connected, but it drew too much current with the car off (and made the window buttons VERY hot!). If can find the ETACS wiring diagram, I can tell you which one to ground using the ignition relay.

Fair enough Your car sounds pretty cool, any pics of it anywhere??

Ah ok, I was under the impression the ETACS was a timing module that told any motors or lights how to function themselves , and controlled the wipers, pop-up headlights, etc etc.

So, all it does is allow power to certain items for an amount of time after the user has removed the key?

I am sure it controlled headlights too though, as I could not use my headlights when it was not plugged in?

[i3igpete]

right, simply unplugging the ETACS will disable all of those things. as i recall, it only acts as an active timer for the rear defroster. everything else (door light, windows, headlights) should work "reasonably well" with just on/off ignition key control.

[shooter83]

Originally Posted by i3igpete

do you think you could figure out a way to mount the main gauge cluster without the dash? maybe by using only a few select brackets from the dash?

also, did you figure out how to bypass the ETACS unit? i found a way to do it by using a relay, but kept all the wiring because i was afraid i would lose my window control.

i just used the bracket from the dash:

[shooter83]

e46m3, might be worth your time to pick up a bag of dry ice and and get rid of the tar based sound deadening, heres a video of me removing mine:

YouTube - removing tar based sound deadening from floorboards

and please check out my thread, i'm short of money at the moment, but do you still have these parts? http://www.3si.org/forum/f5/uk-membe...ng-gto-423927/