quote Originally posted by Will: Lol... I wish. It's been a heavy summer & autumn. In June I was in LA for two weeks for work, causing problems for Elon at SpaceX. In July I had Covid and didn't have my voice back for pretty much the whole month In August I was on Navy orders for 2 weeks In September I was back in LA, causing more problems In October I was going through the process of changing jobs In November I was on Navy orders for another 2.5 weeks. All the while trying to make progress on my kitchen remodel Fortunately I have my final board for my big Navy qualification next week (I hope the Skipper's calendar holds for that) so that should free up time and head space to get back to the Northstar. I have been able to steal a couple of full days to work on my spreadsheet of wire lists and harness bill of materials, which is almost complete. I learned a bunch of new spreadsheet-fu figuring out how to do that. Anyway... I'm pretty sure I can get back to The Mule in January. I need to finish up my spreadsheet and order all the connector parts and wiring materials.

Back in action...
So I was wrong about January. What else is new?


I challenged myself to write a spreadsheet (actually using google sheets) that can turn my wire list directly into an orderable BOM.
I did that successfully... I'll probably share the spreadsheet soon, if for no other reason than to show off my code

There are 58 line items totaling 77 connector bodies and 56 line items totaling 513 terminals. I used the Mouser BOM preparation tool to build a "project" spreadsheet, then sent that out for quote to Mouser and Custom Connector Kits. CCK quoted a majorative subset at $177 for which Mouser wanted $275, so I went with CCK for that subset. The remaining 16 line items went to Mouser for $87.
There are a few things that neither company could get. I spec'd a splice saver connector for G202, along with a shorting plug with integral ring terminal. That shorting plug showed a >1 year lead time from Aptiv, but via the magic of the internet I found a third vendor with a small stash. I ordered 1 for $1, but then they added the small order fee to bring it up to $10 anyway
I also found 1 vendor with 1 C500 connector body... for $50. Oh well, at least I'll have it.

I have not been able to source the ECM connectors. I need to try a little harder to find them on the internet. They are Molex MX123 family, but customized part numbers sold only to GM. The terminals are common and included in my initial order; only the connector bodies are difficult to get.

In copying GM's color codes, I ended up with 82 combinations of wire gauge, color and stripe. ProWire sells solid and striped TXL wire and I could have ordered all of those combos. They sell solid color wire in basically 1ft increments, while striped wire comes with a 100ft minimum and is ~50% more expensive per foot than solid color wire. I reorganized the color codes and found a few circuits with larger wire than they needed, ending up with 34 combinations of gauge and color, using only solid colors. I estimated the length I'd need based on the number of circuits for each combo and whether the circuits were long or short and placed the order. That came to ~$165 shipped.

So I'm pretty much at $500 in materials for the harness and still have to get a couple of things.

FieroGuru and Sinister both recommended 2007 Impala accelerator pedal assembly. That's available on RockAuto for $80ish.

Many years ago I got started on a firewall reinforcement plate to install between the pedal box and the firewall. It's meant to mitigate firewall flex at high pedal loads, thereby improving brake modulability. I can finish that design and weld coupling nuts to the plate at specific locations in order to both mount the pedal assembly AND incorporate a clutch pedal stop, which I will need, at least initially, for the dual disk clutch.

I have drill this weekend, but should be able to start crimping pins the weekend of 6/17.

Edit: Since I'm using the USCAR/EV6 injectors from the LC3 Supercharged Northstar, I need the appropriate connectors on the manifold harness. They're easy to get, but I haven't found part numbers for them yet. Of course I want the part numbers to add to my wire list so it's actually complete. I was looking through the service manual for my 2006 van for another item and happened across mention of Yazaki two pin connectors that looked suspiciously like EV6/USCAR injector connectors. Are USCAR injector connectors, ironically, Yazaki?

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 06-08-2023).]