Why are you guys cutting the harness? Just out of curiosity.

I was kind of wondering the same thing. I just can't bring myself to cutting brand new harnesses and then butt splicing them back together. :dunno:

Because you have to take a lot less of the car apart to fish the harness. You can get the harness without the connectors through much smaller spaces. I had seen a Youtube of the installation that they cut off the connectors at one end. I didn't see the sense in it after watching it, so I was going to do it without cutting the harness. It quickly became apparent I would need to take a lot of stuff apart to run the harness with the connectors. Butt splicing the harness back together is less work. IMHO. :dunno:

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIEKdYtIaWE

I'm toying with the idea of removing the pins from the connector that goes to the dash and reconnect them later when done with running the wires. So I'll run the harness starting from the rear of the car, just like I did with the dynavin harness.

Gotcha. I worry about that many butt splices (besides the extra girth it creates at the joined section). I know it's supposed to be 100% fine, it's just my OCD/neuroses will get me to take the interior out 100% of the time. :D

I like your idea of de-pinning X5only. Make sure to take A LOT of good, clear, pics of the connectors before taking them all out. Wiring diagram of the connectors is not a bad idea either. Both of which I'm sure you've already thought of... :thumbup:

The extra girth was a concern also, but the way it all went together for me it tucked away quite nicely.

Removing the pins is a good idea too. I hadn't thought of that. Like you said, LOTS of pictures and a wiring diagram before you do.

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:D. The bigger challenge is how to trick them into doing daddy a little favor :rofl: Or may be I could learn a new skill in the process :bustingup.

If it were my kids with EE degrees coming over, I would put their minors in mechanical engineering degrees to work and pull the necessary interior components to fit the harness through without cutting. Solder is never on my list of splicing just because the soldered joints are now brittle and will not take any kind of flexibility it once had without the chance of breaking. Just my $.02

If you use the heat gun solder connectors you won't need to learn a new skill. Unless using a heat gun is a new skill? :D

https://www.amazon.com/Haisstronica-...dDbGljaz10cnVl

That takes us back to crimped butt joints. Very, very small loss in flexibility.