Yeah, de-pinning seems like a viable alternative to cutting the wires, but the more I study the harness and take pics of it, I notice subtle differences in the way the pins are positioned from one wire to the next. There's also the danger of breaking something in the harness connector. I might just opt to cut and solder. I have two electrical engineers coming home for X-mas, so it might be a little "work-vacation" for them

. The bigger challenge is how to trick them into doing daddy a little favor

Or may be I could learn a new skill in the process

.