i have the same problem and the wire is stretched like a mutherf$$ker.. ohh by the way... how you even get the bolts to fit.. i have like 2 mm of clearance between to bolts and the housing wall... i can't get no socket to fit in it..... i will try to buy some extended wires and solder it on...hope that works... my friend solder mine on as of right now but the CEL light is on so he must connected the wires wrong...there is actually 4 wires... 2 black wires...those 2 got me really confused where eachone goes because i didn't have them marked..

 

I remember Buschur had mentioned they were going to dyno both the Invidia & Works O2 housings-has this been done...any results?

 

wait so is there a shielded wire or not?

 

Suprised you where aqble to solder the wires - generally they don't solder well, rather crimp them as you might have a dry joint

Mike

 

If memory serves, I just screwed it on untill it stopped and then used an open end wrench and tightened it from "feel" of the other easy to reach bolts/nuts for torque,
... anybody that reads this down the road, be sure to use lots of high temp anti-seize paste on, cause it might be a real bear to get off later on.

 

Good point , at least a good crimped wouldn't be as susceptable to the high heat in that area.

But as far as soldering goes,

I have found one of the following to work ok:

1. a. put the heat shrink on one of the two wires and move a foot or at least as far as possible away from the solder point.
b. while the wires are still untwisted, fan and push them together while fanning them slightly.
c. twist that union to firm up the connection
d. solder that.

2. the other way is to (with the heat shrink already in place as described above)
a. first twist the end of both wires to be soldered, and melt a small amount of solder on each bare, twisted end, creating a "lead" (like speaker wires sometimes come with)
b. use heat to join the two leads together.

It's probably a good idea to keep this soldered joint as far away as possible from the new housing, hotside and exhaust manifold since (depending on the solder that you use) solder can melt anywhere from mid 300's deg to 600 deg.

 

I agree with you 100%. I use the second one mentioned above. the process of covering each wire first is known as "TIN"ing the wire. once I have soldered the wires together I usually place a dab (about the size of a match head) onto the wires (insulated part) either side of the connection, then slide the heat shrink up over the joint, shrink it and it creates a water tight joint.... probably over kill but I do it for all my joins.

the reason I say it could be a dry joint is that the wires of O2 sensors seem to be stainless steel or have a material in them as the solder just runs off the wire when you try to tin them (doesn't allow the solder to "soak" into the strands).

Mike

 

That's definitely good to know in advance!


Thanks
:-)

 

that's called tinning the wires. so does tinning work? usually wires on cars come with some coating on them that you have to scorch off in order to tin the wires. which may be why some people have experienced difficulty soldering.

 

The only wires I've had problems tinning is the O2 sensor wires, all others where fine

Mike

 

I didn't know about the coating. I have never encountered that because, to date, all of my experience has been on the electrical systems and accessories of the car (ECU harness, stereo, radio, lights, etc...) I don't recall having that problem before, but then again I don't solder everything either.

Knowing "that fact" about the wires going into it helps though. Thanks!

I am still concerned about the relatively high temperature of everything that the cable will be near. If the solder joint(s) were too close to the ex manifold , they could easily soften or fail entirely. Not a problem that you'd want to have creep up on you.

I plan to wrap the entire cable with a heat shield tube, considering it's original path was shielded pretty well (without a solder joint to be concerned about).


*** ALSO ***

I measured the cable segment that is attached to the sensor and I came up with 21.75" (or 21 & 3/4") from the very beginning of the cable at the sensor - to the "cable-side" edge of the plug (so I only measured actual cable, but didn't include any of the sensor or connector in the measurement).

Could somebody,

... that did not have problems reaching the connector to the recessed area on top of the Valve Cover (i.e., basically, the stock position).... (and was able to replace the T shaped coil cover, with out cutting or bending it)

.... measure only the "cable length" of their car's sensor, and post it for comparison?

Thanks

 

I Have only had a problem with the O2 wires (tried it on about 5 different sensors, mitsu, Bosch, NGK etc) and all the same result. all other wires in the car (evo and VW golf) have had no problem.

think they must use a special coating or wire to resist the heat generated as it is attached directly to the exhaust and will conduct serious energy.

Mike

 

A vr-4 3000gt sensor/ harness plugs right in to ours. Plus the wires are 6-9 inches longer. Only helps if you have one laying around or something like i did. Not sure of a new price.

 

^ part number? it'd be great to order these or have people distributing the invidia o2 to package them together.

 

so can you scorch it off? i have done this with audio cables before, you just leave the iron on it for a while and what you thought was a copper wire starts bubbling off and you find a silver wire underneath with a buncha burnt crap on it. after that's gone you can tin away.