Well, I got my wiring about 99% done. The harness just needs to be wrapped.
I was VERY intimidated at first. Everything looked SO confusing. The first thing that I did was to study the Subaru wiring diagrams over and over until I had a fair understanding of what everything was and what it did. Then I decided to proceed by identifying just about every connector and eliminating what I was sure that I wouldn't need, ABS, door card wiring, security system wiring, etc. This was really easy at first but as more and more connectors got eliminated, the identifying and tracing got harder and harder. So I found myself having to trace ALL of the wires from a specific connector using multiple schematics to determine where they all went. It may not be necessary for a seasoned converter but I'll tell you one thing, this method sure forces you to get intimate with the entire wiring system of a Subaru. To me, it was VERY insightful to do it this way. I have a much better understanding of how the entire system works.
I must admit that I had SmallCar put together a wiring kit for me (The first STi kit that they have done). I chose not to use their wiring instructions for anything except for what wires to run to their interface board. The STi has MANY more wires than the standard WRX. In my own mind, I could not trust the SmallCar wiring instructions completely. Not knocking SmallCar AT ALL, but I'm really glad that I went it on my own.
Since my Bus is a '84, it doesn't have any holes or grommets in the front firewall where the ECU wiring would come through on a later model Bus. This allowed me the freedom of placing the ECU wherever I wanted. I decided to place the ECU on the passenger side under the rear seat (just the opposite of the way VW did it on the later Buses). I did this for two reasons. One is that I will easier access to everything should the need arise. The second reason is because by placing the ECU on the passenger side, it reduced the amount of wires that I had to shorten in half, literally.
The Subaru engine connector wires from the drivers side (as placed in the Vanagon) just happen to be exactly the right length to allow the ECU to be placed on the passenger side without any modification. This left only the shortening of the passenger side engine connector wires. As far as the wires that get connected to the Bus's exsisting wiring, most of those were long enough to cross over to the stock junction box area without modification. I did have to lengthen a few though.
Overall, I feel that given the choice, this was a much easier way to go rather than having to shorten all of the wires.
Here's a few obligatory "Holy cow, look at all of those unused wires" pictures.
Isn't my wife great for letting my takeover our living room for a month?
