Splitting the S52 Wiring Harness

[mecheng]

Background: I pulled an S52 engine out of a '96 M3 this weekend to transport it to my garage and get working on the tear-down. Ultimately it will be OBD2 and will drop into an E30. It was late by the time we'd finished pulling the motor and separating the tranny so we left all the electrics behind to deal with next weekend.

Here's my question: He's keeping the car and plopping a V8 into it (no idea what yet), so he would like to keep the accessory wiring, while I of course need the engine wiring for sensors/solenoids/etc. How difficult a task will it be for us to unfurl the wiring harness and split it all up? Is it even possible without wrecking it?

I spent some time looking around the various sub-forums and wasn't able to find much helpful information, I suspect I'm likely not using the right search words ("wiring harness separation" etc.). I'm going to have the Bentley manual on hand to help me figure out what comes and what stays, but if anyone out there knows of any literature that would help this endeavor it would be hugely appreciated.

- Dave

[mecheng]

After having done a great deal more research it appears the engine harness is completely separate from the accessories (headlights etc.) and I shouldn't have any problem pulling the harness from the car while leaving everything he needs alone. Sorry for the inane question.

[nando]

yep. it just unplugs from the body. When these things are built in the factory, the engine is already wired up - they drop the body on the drivetrain, hook up a couple body harness/engine harness connectors, and it's done.