Firewall wire covering

[kroberts]

I am having a helluva time getting all the wiring tucked under the E30M3 wire harness cover at the wiper motor plate. Are there any E30 covers that are bigger than the M3's? Didn't the 90/91 "IS" cars come with a cover for the wiring? I looked at the pix in the engine bay thread, some of you guys did a kickass job of getting them all stowed away. Any tips?

TIA,

kr

[Teaguer]

The US '91 and up M42 E30s have the same exact cover as the E30 M3's .

The wiring will fit with some coaxing of the harness and some trimming behimd the cover .

[btec116]

Also late model 318i's with M40 had the "larger" cover. THats what mine has. I'd post a pic but I'm away from the car. Anyone else?

But like above, a bit of time, and gob ack through the wires, CAREFULLY bending things in the right direction. Peel some of the protective covers back (be careful not to cit into wire insulation) then cover them with electrical conduit. If you were really keen you could shrink-wrap over the conduit. Do it right and It'll look factory.

[Stu]

The US '91 and up M42 E30s have the same exact cover as the E30 M3's .

The wiring will fit with some coaxing of the harness and some trimming behimd the cover .

'90 and up, get with the program NEWBB!

It's pretty easy to fit under the loom cover if you string out all the wiring (that you need) and tightly wrap the harness.

[Jason89i]

.......if you string out all the wiring (that you need) and tightly wrap the harness.

agreed. go through your harness and eliminate all the stupid wires you dont need. i even re-did some of the power / ground junctions to simplify. the u.s. harness was a tight fit. the euro harness caused a lot of ##$%^ words. (finally had to drill some holes and ghetto zip tie it on because it kept popping off.)

cheers, jason

[Teaguer]

'90 and up, get with the program NEWBB!

Lies !!11!! :hitler:

[Mike B.]

agreed. go through your harness and eliminate all the stupid wires you dont need. i even re-did some of the power / ground junctions to simplify. the u.s. harness was a tight fit. the euro harness caused a lot of ##$%^ words. (finally had to drill some holes and ghetto zip tie it on because it kept popping off.)

cheers, jason

+1 for the euro harness. I also have zip-ties holding the cover in place. :(

[vr4boy]

i took the m50 covers off and exposed the bare wires,used small tie wraps and tightly bundled all loose wires together.
now,the cover snaps in place..
also,if your harness is from an auto car-remove the unnecessary wires as jason has suggested...

you can pm dougsic
he has a write up on it but,has not officially posted it....

[kroberts]

I've been straightening the harness and tie-wrapping everything, trying to compress the harness. I also quickly discovered that that factory, black plastic shielding was very thick, most of that is gone now. I'm assuming that my harness is for an manual trans car, I dont have any extra plugs.

So the 90 and later 318i has a larger cover? hmmmm

Is the E36 back-up light switch plug on the engine harness? I have a strange plug on the same lead as the O2 sensor.

Thanks.

[FredK]

yes, that's the backup sensor