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2012 Malibu system upgrades: wiring & prep.


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20 hours ago, Ron36 said:

My thoughts are any parts U put on not made by GM are a  plus keep it going. Great build.

Thanks man, i wish i had the budget to do more under the hood, that will have to come later.  Goals to get the system done, all interior back in and running by early summer. Needs minor body work and rims & tires. The wife reminds me a lot that i spent $6k on it, then i tell her the House got $40k in 7 months, don't want to hear it. Plus we just got back from Maui a week ago. Women! 

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I was able to get some progress today. 

 

 

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I am going threw checking all the wiring harness, removing loose tape and putting fresh Tesa exterior tape on.  Zip tied wires & hoses together for a cleaner look. The dealer was in here twice, 1st time was the rack in pinion steering (recall) then the water pump failed and they replaced it.  Wiring harness & hoses missing factory ties.  Usual sloppy work plus they damage the car, didn't put the air box back together properly and a shit of dirt entered in and made it to the throttle body and in the engine.  People don't care anymore! Sad really!

 

 

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Another view of wiring cleaned up.

 

 

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Starting to map out power runs to battery. Looks like this 6' cut in half will work great.

 

 

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I was really impressed with how long the alternator positive post was, The factory power wire was about 12 awg, supper small !  I was able to put two 0 gauge runs from alt to battery, factory power lug, bolt with a few threads to spare.  H.O. Alt this summer, runs maybe overkill but i would rather have a system prepped for upgrades and not use them.  Than having to need to upgrade and wiring isn't up to Par.

 

 

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Now i wished i got the power runs in white! Fuck!  Oh well i could always to it down the road... oh say when i am replacing the alternator, sounds like a plan,

 

I will finish up the the grounds tomorrow and start coming up with a plan for the fuse holder.  Finish wiring harness clean up and start runs to the trunk.

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Positive & negative runs done!

 

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Studying my battery terminal setup i thought why don't i just get rid of the dual post set up and stack 2 lugs on top of one another and keep it simple.  The side closer to  the fenders  needed the lugs inverted for  more clearance. I will do the same on the positive runs to the fuse block. Which will be the next step to get it mounted and finish battery cables.

 

 

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I like the flow of the cables.  Grounds are: alternator case, Engine block, and two runs grounding the body.  There was literally no worthy frame bolts to ground near the engine, and since i had planed to use the factory grounding lugs i thought doubling up wouldn't hurt.

 

 

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Top view.  This has been i nice spurt of progress the last couple days. First time using wire loom, so i have my hot knife out i bought just for the loom.  Works slick as hell. both ends are cleanly melted so there are no frays. And of course this all SHCA OFC wiring.   when i was in the planning stage i was trying to keep the factory battery terminals. Once i committed to cutting them off i should have thought thru to the finished product.  No real loss, few bucks and some time.  Wiring is my favorite  step when building a system so the better i can make it look in the end the happier i will be  I am sure i will play with this set up so more to get it looking better.

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More electrical progress.

 

 

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Prepping a template to make the 1/4" ABS fuse block Mount.

 

 

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This is how the the bracket turned out. It's not perfect, i am lacking in some tools. But over all i am happy with it.

 

 

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I wanted to put a threaded inset in but the space was to tight and the crimping tool wouldn't fit.  so i used two screws to mount it to the factory master brake cylinder bracket.  Mounted solid.

 

 

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I made the runs short to get a tighter bend to the fuse block.  Goal was to be able to take the lid off the factory fuse block to get access if needed. There wasn't many options on mounting the fuse block which determined the power run length's and bends. I just tried to keep everything clean and as simple as possible. The massive battery under the hood isn't helping with clearance issue's but the factory size isn't available for a replacement w/ XS Power. In the end i would rather get creative here and have the extra power under the hood.

 

 

 

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Next, get run to trunk length's figured out.  Where the grommets are going and install them. Then run wires into trunk. Need to get some idea where the lithium battery is going and where the power & ground run's head to it.

I will clean it up more later with zip ties as i get wrapped up under the hood, I would like to clean and re-tape more loom & hoses for a more finished look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished putting engine bay back together.

 

 

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I ended up sanding the paint & primer off the Ecotec emblem.  Started w/ 80 grit, 220 grit, 320 grit, 500 grit. It took a few hours, some of the lettering was flawed and now filled w/ white paint.  I think it turned out ok.  This was just a mock up, time to get everything back together.

 

 

 

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Everything back on & bolted down. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pic w/ a few decals.  After reviewing the pics, The No decal look is clean and simple.  I have already taken the XS Power battery & K -n- N filter decals off to make it look better.  

This was pretty much the look i was after, the main purpose to this exercise was to go thru everything to familiarize myself with this make & model since it was pretty much new to me. Wife had dealer do everything and then i fixed all there fuck ups.

 

 

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Working thru where everything might be laid out so i can run power wires to trunk.

 

 

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Two runs of 0 gauge & grommets from the side to Lithium Battery in trunk well are next.  I just realized i need this all mounted and figured out to move on to the DSP mounting board w/ power distribution & relays.  I never really made a to do list or organize my thoughts just kind of wing it until i go balls out to finish it.  I get this finished it will be a happy new year for me! lol

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Everything looks very clean, I was kinda surprised U didn’t go with white for power cable to match your engine bay, but still looks awesome. 

2022 Ford Maverick on 22’s                                                                                                                                          Skar SK1500.1 on 4 Skar VD-8’s                                                                                                                       Mids Sundown Super tweeters, Skar TX 6.5 components on Skar SKM400.4                                                 LC2 for audio control  , XS Power D680 XS Series Extra Battery 

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3 hours ago, bsneon98 said:

all that copper is beautiful! looks awesome man! 

Thank you, it was a toss up between copper & aluminium but i wanted a more high end look. Plus the Lancer is all done up in aluminium so this would be a change.

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3 hours ago, Ron36 said:

Everything looks very clean, I was kinda surprised U didn’t go with white for power cable to match your engine bay, but still looks awesome. 

Thank you sir!  I know... dope smack!  Not sure what i was thinking when i ordered the power wire because white would have looked better.  Live and learn, even after 7+ months of buying shit up and planning the build out i can still fuck up. lol 

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