Club level or Motorsport level wiring course ??

I am a Diesel fitter/ Diesel mechanic by trade but my knowledge for anything electrical is pretty poor , i can grasp the basics but have had little exposure to much electrical work

My question is for someone starting out should i do the club level construction course ? and move onto the motorsport level course ? or just jump straight into the motorsport level

First off if i start in club level will i have to outlay money for tools that are specific for (Club level) then if i jump up to Motorsport level will i have to buy a whole new set of tooling like an array DMC tools etc

I currently own a drift car that is fairly well setup and i am planning to build a new car in the Future . I have purchased a 2002 lexus is300 and would like to pull all the factory electrics out and run a Nexus r5 or something along the lines and would like to go about the whole thing the right way the first time around . I have learnt alot with my first drift car and about (NOT WHAT TO DO )

Do i skip club level and jump straight to Motorsport level ?

Welcome mate, my impressions having come from a similar situation not knowing a whole heap at all about automotive wiring.

Do the club level course with the intent that if you feel you want a "milspec" harness you will need the motorsports one.

I went with Fundamentals and club sport wiring and have learnt everything I have needed plus a little help in these forums to get a full body / engine harness designed and built. The basic concepts for club level racing seems to lean a little towards some more generic tools to get the job done to an acceptable standard that will be reliable. Where as the motorsports course seems to be all around the "milspec" connectors, concentric twisting and 100% accurate manufacturer specification crimp methods and tools.

I haven't jumped on the motorsport course since I don't need / want a $5000 engine harness.

Simply once I go down that rabbit hole I don't think I would come out as I like to follow the course to the letter and use the exact tooling being demonstrated.

An example,

Stripmaster Ergo Elites = $320 USD

Stripmaster Lite 45-092 = $42 USD

Huge difference in price for essentially stripping wires.

DMC Tool = $385.xx USD

DMC Turret = $173.xx USD

Generic Deutsch crimp tool = $35 USD each (need three to be a decent comparison)

Again to perform three specific crimps for only three situations with DT/DTM/DTP plugs. Then go and source even more turrets / crimpers for the balance of the crimps you will see.

At last count I think I have almost $1500 NZD in hand tools to do the club level course how I wanted to do it.

Do I want a DMC setup sure. But here in NZ the bare tool plus the one turret is $1500NZD alone. Whereas I spent around $95 NZD x 3 on the generic ones that do a great job IMO.

All my perspective. I would love to just buy 100% oem quality hand tools just time and place. The one car I want to build I can't see future use to justify the costs.

Good luck

Appreciate your input Brian

It really does all start to add up , Its all abit overwhelming expecially if you planning on doing a job for youself and you need one colour of wire and have to buy 50m in 10 colours plus all the tools , heat shrink in a few sizes , connectors , ring terminals in a few sizes

Im wondering if its possible to use the club level tools and designs but use a higher grade wire like Raychem 44 or tefzel ( just to cope with the heat )

I have sufficent heat managment inplace , heat shields , HPC coating , heat sleeveing , turbo beanie .

I do need to make a sub harness for my coils as the ground has a high resistance on number 6 coil connector causing a missfire

Its not a very big job but am wanting to use the highest grade of wire to deal with the heat , as far as i know the higher spec wire has a smaller diameter over TXL and im not sure if this will require differnt tooling if im using Club level tools on Tefzel or raychem wire

I was the same after watching the wiring taster webinar. I'd be using the skills as a hobby to do repairs/updates to motorcycle looms (and repairs to my race truck). I went with the Club level one (which also gives you access to the Fundamentals) and it has been spot on; no expectation for top level tools or materials, and the knowledge and support on here is good too.

Dave

To answer your last post,

The main difference between Tefzel and TXL is the insulation. For stripping, you would need different tools than the one for the TXL, especially with M22759/32 as it has dual jacket for insulation. I use the Ideal Custom Stripmaster (not the Ergo) when using Tefzel, and it's perfect for the job.

As far as crimping goes, if you are using club level / OEM connectors and terminal, they would be the same tooling as if you would be using TXL.

I have been using the budget tooling demonstrated in the club sport course. Thing to remember is you must first break a few eggs to make an omelette.

Simply order excess terminals / splice's and trial the crimp several times before you commit to a final crimp on your finished harness. I did this and found that some crimps I expected to work well simply failed the tug test. (Pull harder than you would expect to see in the car)

Since the trials I have had no problem getting acceptable crimps from the more budget oriented tools.

If you opt to use the autosports connectors pay particular attention to the wire specs for pinning the connector as TXL tends to have too much insulation to install into the connector body.

Thanks Frank have been doing some reading on RB racing website on the common practice of tooling and so forth appreciate the input

Hey Brian I have had the fundamentals course for a while now and have watched Zac do a few test crimps id expect to waste abit of material to find out what exact die size works on each individual terminal . Actually looking into this now as this is slightly confusing me about the autosport connectors etc

So i have copied a section from from Rb racing below and am trying to figure this out for myself . Say i buy connectors bodys to suit 35GTR coils and i use 20AWG tefzel the actual terminal and seal would be suited for TXL wire ??

Wire dimensions for both the conductor and the insulation must be known when you are choosing the terminal and seal for a particular connector. Often you will order a connector and seal only to find the terminal is the wrong size for the wire and insulation and or the seal supplied with the connector does not seal the wire. The conductor is expressed in mm2 and the wire insulation diameter is expressed in mm. Metri-Pack 280 Series Injector / Sensor connector example above.

Is this a question for the motorsport wiring class ? if the terminal and seals are differnt how would i pick the correct size terminal to suit the specific wire i use, if i was to use tefzel and depending on AWG would be another factor

OK for starters how would i identify the terminal and where do i get the correct pins / terminals and seals

First part of your question regarding part numbers etc. Take a read thru this thread.

https://www.hpacademy.com/forum/practical-harness-construction-club-level/show/nissan-gtr-r35-ignition-coil-connectors

And as for the wire specification it is largely going to depend on your wiring supplier for insulation thicknesses but has been discussed on this thread.

https://www.hpacademy.com/forum/professional-motorsport-wiring-harness-construction/show/type-of-wire-for-deutsch-as-connectors

Each terminal should list what CMA or MM2 it requires for the crimp action. The seal is going to be sized based on the overall diameter of the wire you select. First part is deciding on what terminal and checking its specifications.

(not sure I am completely helping here but some info to keep you moving forward)

Thanks for the links Brian much appreciated