Haltech E6K Installation

Last updated: September 5, 2002

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Haltech Installation

The following write-up and photos were done by Anthony Bulger. Steve Kan emailed them to me. I added a few links to other sections of my site for procedures on some of the steps Anthony has listed. Steve sent me a Word file which I modified into HTML. The file had "Sequential" in the filename, so these instructions probably apply to a sequential turbo setup (stock), so there may be differences if you are going to install a Haltech on a non-sequential twin turbo or a single. --Editor.

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From: Anthony Bulger, by way of Steve Kan
Date: September 18, 2000

Below are the steps that I took to install my Haltech E6K into my 93 RX-7. These are in no way the "Complete" instructions for installing the E6K. I have provided information that I believe is correct and accurate. However there may be mistakes in these notes that can cause damage to your car. Any steps you take are your choice! None of the people listed in this document are liable for you choosing to perform any of these steps. We are only trying to provide help and information. Please remember to take time to perform any and all repairs to your car in a safe and wise mannor.

Tools and Supplies:

• 10mm, 12mm, 14mm Sockets and various Extensions
• Wire in various colors (Red, Black, Yellow, Brown, Blue, Green, Violet, White, Orange, Gray).
• Flat Head, Phillps Screw Drivers.
• Various Needle Nose Pliers, Channel Locks, Wire Cutters, Strippers, Crimpers.
• 2 Bosch Relay's with 5 wire plugs (Available at any Car Stereo Shop).
• Electrical Tape, Split Loom in various sizes, Solder, Soldering Iron, Heat Shrink Tubing in various sizes.
• 3 or 4 wire O2 Sensor.
• Aluminum Tap set with 3/8" NPT Tap 14mm x 1.5 Tap.
• Voltmeter, Test Light, Drill with Bits, nylon Cable Ties, Jeweller's File.
• IBM-PC compatible computer (preferably Laptop with battery) with at least 640kb, one disk drive and an RS232 serial port.

Before you start your install take the time to read and familarize yourself with the Haltech manual. The manual will describe how everything works on the unit and will describe the install process for the basic unit. I suggest you borrow or buy a Workshop Manual for your year model. Make yourself a clean workspace. Get some paper and a pencil as well as a camera so that you can notate any steps you've made for future reference. The install should take several hours and probably can be done in a day if you have some experienced help. I took my time and spent 2 weeks on mine. I also performed some other Mods at the same time which slowed my process somewhat. The install is really not that bad however you will be somewhat overwhelmed at times. Trust me this is normal even for the pros. If you are unsure of yourself PLEASE let a professional tuner perform the install and Tunning process. This will quite possibly save you a popped motor.

Procedure:

1. First step is to locate a flat surface so that you can jack up the car. Remember to take all the safety precautions in lifting your car. Remove the Negative Battery cable from the battery and secure so as not to let it slip and touch the terminal. I chose this time to relocate my battery to the rear of the car. Lift the car and secure with jack stands.
   
   
2. Locate and remove the Transmission Skid Plate. Mine was secured with 10mm bolts. Once removed you will see 4 electrical plugs.
   
   
3. Disconnect these and remove and cable tye downs. I believe there are 2 10mm bolts which secure the harness to the transmission. You can feel with your hands to locate and remove these. Below is a photo of the plugs taken upside down from the drivers side looking up at the tranny. (Hope this photo makes sense).

   
   
   

4. Second step is to remove the airbox and upper intake from the car. You can locate steps to remove the intake at: http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/manifold.htm (Hope Rob dosen't mind the link).
   
   
5. You will also need to remove the Coil Rack tray to make it easier to work in this tight space.

   This is a good time to change plug wires or even do an Ignition Mod. With the Coil Rack removed you will see more of the ECU's harnesses here to remove. I believe there is a grounding bolt as well as the connections for the Water temp, Knock Sensor and, Oil Pressure sensor. I do not believe you have to disconnect the oil pressure connections. If you are feeling daring you can remove the Solenoid Hose rack. You will have to reroute these hoses for the Haltech anyway and you can use this opportunity to clean this area as well as do a silicon hose replacement. Warning! These hoses tend to be hard and brittle. The solenoids will also be brittle. It is easy to salvage these if you take time and patience. One trick I have learned over the years is to take a small Butane Torch and heat the hose till it starts to smoke. Let it cool for a second or two then gentle twist and remove. The hose may make a snapping noise when it breaks free. This is normal. Below is a photo with the Manifold, Solenoid Rack and, Coil Rack removed.

   
   
   

6. Remove the Air Pump and Altenator. You can also remove the Water Pump Hosing at this time. On the back of the Water Pump housing you can see two sensors. Unplug theses sensors as well as all of the Solenoids. I had the guys at RP remove the lower sensor and tap it for the Haltech's water sensor. I also got RP to tap the Air manifold sensor out for the Haltech's sensor as well. With my manifold off I took the time to eliminate the Secondary butterflies and have it Ceramic Coated for looks as well as heat soak protection.
   
   
7. Now that all the plugs on the main harness are free you need to go to the inside of the car and remove the Kick panel on the passenger side. There are some clips that if you stick a pick tool on the inner seam you can lift the plunger cap and the clip will slid put of the side of the kick panel. There are a couple of 10mm bolts securing the ECU to the inner wall. Remove the ECU and disconnect the harness. You will find that you will also need to remove or loosen the L shaped loom bracket on the fire wall inside the passengers compartment to free the harness. With the harness out of the car we can begin to dismantle the wiring loom. Go ahead and remove all the electrical tape and loom from the harness. This will aid in making your new harness. The photo below shows the harness removed from the car.

   
   
   

8. Once you've stripped the harness clean you should end up with something like the photo below.

   
   
   

9. Steve Kan describes the next steps. Diagram shows the harness complete stripped from the mess. We have retained the trigger harness, four injectors connectors, TPS connector, water level connector, tranny harness to the (blue and white connector), and air pump connector wiring to the blue connector.

   Note: Cut the following wires below w/ approx 5-6" of length for possible future solding. (in case we might need them afterall).

   
   
   

10. Cut wiring from the white connector:
    • Yellow w/ red
    • black w/ red stripes
    • blue w/ green stripes
    • brown w/ yellow stripes
    • yellow w/ grey

    
    
    

11. Cut wiring from the blue connector
    • Brown w/ black stripes
    • yellow w/ grey
    • white w/ blue stripes
    • black w/ white stripes
    • black w/ yellow stripes
    • Brown w/ white stripes
    
    
    
12. This next photo shows the Reluctor plugs as well as the Oil Metering pump connections. You will use the MSD 8509's to convert the Reluctors signal from a Sine Wave to a Square Wave. There is talk that you can wire the Haltech without the 8509's and it will work correctly. I chose to use the MSD parts for safety.

    
    
    

13. In the next photo you see the Fuel harness. I chose to add the 4 Mazda injector plugs on top of the Haltech harness. I am still using the Mazda injectors at the moment. This way all I need to do is just switch plugs when I upgrade. To stack the Mazda injector plugs to the Haltech harness you will need to wire the Colored plug (i.e red , blue, green, etc.) positive wire to the colored thicker wire on the Mazda plug. The Black wires are the grounds on both the Haltech and, Mazda plugs.

    
    
    

14. In the next photo you can see the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) wired up.

    
    
    

    Now your harness should be ready for install. Just reinstall following the removal instructions. Leave the motor torn down for the moment.

    The following photo shows the Haltech terminated harness.

    
    
    

15. Start by finding a place to locate your Haltech. I chose to mount mine to a piece of ABS plastic with the MSD 8509's next to it. I cut an access hole in my storage bins and mounted the ABS panel to the floor board. I also took the time to locate my battery behind the drivers seat. Yea..Yea I know it would be best on the passenger side for weight distribution. Below are photos of my battery install as well as my Haltech mounting.

    

    

    

    
    
    

16. The fun begins. Now we start wiring to the car. The diagram below shows how to wire in the MSD 8509's to your Reluctor signal form the Crank wheel to the Haltech E6K. This diagram was provided by Chris and Ari at Rotary Performance. Image created by Anthony.

    
    
    

17. Wiring of the Twin Turbos to the Haltech. I'm using a Apexi AVC-R to control my boost pressure. The Haltech can control the boost altogether. However I don't know what it entails. I would recommend speaking to a Haltech dealer such as Rotary Performance to get the supplies needed to use the Haltech to completely control your boost. Below is another diagram which shows how to wire the turbo control I used. Image created by Anthony. Diagram was provided by Rotary Performance.

    
    
    

18. Next I wired up my ignition control for the Haltech. Below is a picture of the plug prewired. Below that image is another diagram that Rotary Performance provided. This diagram shows what connections are needed for the ignition. The image was created by Anthony.

    
    
    

19. The following is a diagram showing the ECU plugs. It should help locationg the connections on the two ECU plugs.

    
    
    

20. The fuel pump must be rewired as well. I am still using the factory setup. You will need to connect the 1T and 1K to one of the Orange wires from the Haltech. The other Orange wire should be grounded. This will allow the Fuel pump to run at the high speed. I do not have a diagram as to the proper rerouting of the Vacuum system. I was very close with mine but wound up needing an experienced tuner to fix my mistakes here. Luckily for me Chris and Solo from RP fixed all my screwups.
    
    
21. Mount the MAP Sensor towards the top of the engine bay around the intake manifold. You may zip tye it close to where the original one sat. Make sure that the nipple is pointing outwards or down. Attach a vacuum hose to the factory gas filter that was attached to the original MAP sensor and the route to a upper intake vacuum port.
    
    
22. The Coolant Temperature Sensor should be mounted in the rear of the Water Pump Housing. I choose to mount mine in the lower of the two factory sensors on the back side (rear facing). I used the upper factory sensor mount for an aftermarket guage, which I tapped at the same time. You will need to tap the housing with a 3/8 " NPT tap.
    
    
23. Inlet Air Temperature Sensor will take place of the factory sensor on the underside of the upper intake manifold. You will need to tap this with a 14mm x 1.5 Tap.
    
    
24. The Oxygen Sensor will mount in your factory Precat pipe or your Downpipe. It is recommended that you use a 3 or wire wire O2 sensor. You may purchase a generic sensor or try and get the Haltech NGK heated four wire sensor. Below is a diagram to integrate diffrent types of O2 sensors. You will connect the O2 Sensor shown in the diagram to the Haltech's plug shown on the right side of the O2 sensor in the diagram. The Red dot is your splice.

    
    
    

25. Digital & PWM Outputs send out a grounded 4.0A peak / 1A hold current driver. Basically this means that you should always use a relay to trigger the device that you would like the output to control. In my installation I used the first output to control my turbo's and the second output to control my air pump (emmissions). Below is a diagram showning how to wire a 30 amp Bosch relay for a Positive and negative output. If you need other diagrams for relay wiring or have questions please feel free to E-mail me (addresses at end of write up).

    
    
    

26. Now you can reassemble the car. Connect your Laptop load in your fuel map, check your sensors, and turn the key and see what happens.

I want to end this with some thank yous! I want to Thank Chris, Ari, and Solo from Rotary performance. For whom whose help and tunning was cruical in the rebirth of my rex. I want to thank Steve for helping in the install and pointing which wires to and not to cut. I also want to thank Steve for helping me get the car running enough to drive her to RP for final tuning. I need to put in a thanks to my neighbors for not complaining about the Backfires and Fireballs I shot driving up and down the street when we were tuning. That guy driving the mustang we passed is probably still tramatized from the fireball I shot out the talepipe when passing him. Oh and let's not forget Steve figiting with the laptop cord because the battery was dead, we stopped at Sonic to get a coke and the fuel map got erased. I'm thankful he was well versed in the programing.

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From: Jay Hanacek (Styk33@ricemobile.net)
Date: April 4, 2001

I looked at most of the EMS (Engine Management Systems) before purchasing the Haltech E6K. I found the Haltech to be the best bang for the buck and it had all the features that I needed for what I wanted the Ricemobile to be capable of. I looked at Wolf, Electromotive, MoTeC, Apex and the PMC. All in all, the MoTeC was by far the best, and the Apex Power-FC was the most restrictive.

After getting the box in the mail I thought I had bought something that I could not install. There were a lot of wires and a 150-page manual. After reading threw the manual and looking at each part of the system that needed to be install, I realized it is not all that bad. If you can install an alarm with power window and remote start the Haltech is easy.

There are about 20 wire connections that need to be made. I left my main engine wiring harness in and wired the E6K to the wires going into the stock ECU harnesses. With those simple connections made it was on to pull some wires threw into the engine compartment. There are three sets of wires that needed to be in the engine bay. Three wires for the MAP sensor, two wires for the coolant sensor, and two wires for the air temperature sensor.

Once the wires are in the engine bay you need to mount the MAP sensor. This can be mounted were the stock Mazda one was since you don't need that one anymore. As long as it is mounted above the top of the lower intake manifold you are fine. The idea is to keep the fuel from being siphoned into the sensor.

Then you need to tap and install the air temp sensor. You have a couple of choices for this. You can mount it in the stock location like I did. Or drill and tap a new hole for it and keep the stock sensor so you can go back to stock easily.

The next sensor is the coolant sensor. I installed mine on the back of the water pump, where the Mazda thermo sensor was. That sensor already had a hole big enough for me to just stick my tap in and start tapping, instead of trying to fit a drill in there with the water pump on. The hole that I used is the lower of the two sensors and took about 30 minutes to tap due to its location.

The two major connections that need to be made that don't connect to the ECU harnesses are for the power and ground. Run the ground to the battery or a good chassis location. The positive wire should go straight to the battery.

There are many options to connect the fuel pump. I connected one of Haltech's fuel pump wires to constant power and the other one to the white/red wire under the master cylinder. That wire goes straight to the fuel pump without any relays interfering. This also allows you to disconnect the factory fuel pump resistor (looks like a little heat sink). The Haltech has a relay that controls when the fuel pump gets power, so my fuel pump is not running all the time so connecting to the batter is fine.

After all that work, I loaded up my base map and checked all the sensors and started the car. It started up after a few seconds, due to my tiny battery. After playing with the maps and stuff for a few days straight, I have made my car run nice and smooth for the most part. A lot better than the M2 ECU I had in there. Not that, that ECU was bad, just different.

And for all the folks that say there gauges don't work or the A/C, cruise control, power steering, sequential turbos, turbo timers and whatever other BS you can think of. All my gauges worked fine with only one wire I had to hook up additional to the E6K. My A/C worked (for about two minutes, then I tore it out). My cruise control works and everything else. I used the stock TPS, stock coils, and igniter. I also used the internal reluctors on the E6K. The stock MAP, coolant and air temps sensors can also be used. Keep in mind that the stock MAP is only good up to 2 bar (~15psi), so if you want to run more boost you need the 3 bar (~30psi) sensor from Haltech.

The E6K has some additional outputs to control extra goodies. You can control when the radiator fans turn on and off. There are other features like, sequential turbo control, IC fan, shift light, turbo timer, NOS controls, boost control, and for those of you crazy guys out there anti-lag. It also has a flat shift and a 2-step ignition available for you drag racers.

I have also got rid of my Apex AVC-R and am running the Haltech solenoid/boost control. The Haltech boost controller works the same as the AVC-R just not all the fancy lights that I didn't like. The thing that the Haltech controller lacks is the fuzzy logic and a gear adjustment for boost. Since your load is increased in higher gears you are more likely to build more boost. This means I hit the boost cut (not fuel or ignition cut) on the Haltech boost controller in 5th gear. I plan to go back to the AVC-R in the future, but until then, the Haltech controller is good. If you never went to a stand-alone boost controller before upgrading to the Haltech you can utilize this feature in the Haltech and save some money.

Tuning Hints and Stuff

A little advice on some situations I have had with my car. If you car takes a long time to start compared to the factory ECU during cold winters you can enrich you coolant correction map threw all levels below 60F. This helped my car immensely for starting. Since your car runs no cooler than 150F when actual driving this will not effect the car except under starting conditions and part of the warm-up. I also added fuel to the 0RPM range since the Haltech pulls from that map during starting.

Remember to keep the gap between the primary and secondary fuel injectors the same level all the way threw the RPM range. Otherwise you will have a stumble when you get on boost. The change over on my maps is setup to happen at around 1psi. The way to tell were it is happening is by looking at the bars, the primary injectors are shaded and when the primary and secondary injectors are on, they are just blank bars.

I have leaned out a lot of the extreme vacuum areas (>22psi) since they are not normally scene during cruising and only during shifting. Since doing this I don't have any unburned fuel igniting in the exhaust causing fireballs. Flamage is an attention getter at the drag strip, but that is not what I am going for. Be careful not to lean these sections out too much. If you do, then under light cruising throttle you will have surging due to the lack of fuel.

I am planning on putting up some different maps of different engine setups in the near future. Stock turbos stock fuel, along with upgraded fuel and T-60, T-66 and the T-78 turbo. Of course these maps will only be a baseline for someone's car since all setups are different.

If you have any questions, please email me or ICQ me. If I don't have the answer there are a couple hundred of us Haltech owners on Yahoo Groups at 'Haltech-Support' that might be able to help.

Here is an older version of the previous post, in case there is anything here that is not included with Jay's original post. --Editor.

From: Jay (styk33@yahoo.com)
Date: August 12, 2000 12:11 AM

I bought and installed my E6k a couple weeks ago. I have been getting email and phone calls about it in the past couple weeks. So I figured I would post something for those of you that to shy to ask questions

After getting the box in the mail I thought I had bought something that I could not install. There were a lot of wires and a 150 page manual. After reading threw the manual and looking at each part of the system that needed to be install, I realized it is not all that bad.

There are about 20 wire connections that need to be made. I left my main engine wiring harness in and wired the E6K to the wires going into the stock ECU harnesses. With those simple connections made it was on to pull some wires through into the engine compartment. There are three sets of wires that needed to be in the engine bay. Three wires for the MAP sensor, two wires for the coolant sensor, and two wires for the air tempature sensor. I also connected my fuel pump wire in the engine compartment instead of using the stock relays like other. So that adds another wire that need to be pulled through the firewall.

Once the wires are in the engine bay you need to mount the MAP sensor. This can be mounted were the stock Mazda one was since you don't need that one anymore.

Then you need to tap and install the air temp sensor. There are two places that you can do this. One is on the upper intake manifold and replace the stock one. This is where I put mine. You could also do what someone else did and leave your intake manifold on and tap your intake elbow. This will put the temp sensor before the TB instead of after. It also puts it off to the side of the motor instead of above it. Not the best spot, but would work for a temporary weekend install if you want to leave your UIM on.

The next sensor is the coolant sensor. I installed mine on the back of the water pump, where the Mazda thermo sensor was. That sensor already had a hole big enough for me to just stick my tap in and start tapping, instead of trying to fit a drill in there with the waterpump on.

The two major connections that need to be made that don't connect to the ECU harnesses are for the power and ground. Run the ground to the battery or a good chassis location. The positivie wire should go straight to the battery.

My fuel pump connection was the confusing to some people, but simple in my mind and others that helped me. This was the one problem that I had when my car wouldn't start. I tried to use the stock relays and that didn't work. So I connected one of haltech's fuel pump wires to constant power and the other one to the white/red wire under the master cylinder. That wire goes straight to the fuel pump without any relays interferring. The Haltech has a relay that controls when the fuel pump gets power, so my fuel pump is not running all the time.

After all that work, I loaded up my base map and checked all the sensors and started the car. It started up after a few seconds, due to my tiny battery. After playing with the maps and stuff for a few days straight, I have made my car run nice and smooth for the most part. A lot better than the M2 ECU I had in there. Not that, that ECU was bad, just different.

And for all the folks that say there gauges don't work or the A/C, cruise control, power steering, sequential turbos, turbo timers and whatever other BS you can think of. All my guages worked fine with only one wire I had to hook up additional to the E6K. My A/C worked (for about two minutes, then I tore it out). My cruise control works and everything else. I used the stock TPS, stock coils, and ignitor. I also used the internal reluctors on the E6K.

The E6K has some additional outputs to control extra goodies. You can control when the fans turn on and off. There are other features like, sequential turbo control, IC fan, shift light, turbo timer, NOS controls, boost control, and for those of you crazy guys out there (Eric) anti-lag. It also has a flat shift and a 2 step ignition availible, but I have not got these to work yet.

All in all I am very happy with my purchase. I plan on running the Haltech boost control next month and I will report back on what that is like compared to my AVC-R.

If I missed something or anyone has some questions I will try to help. I know there are a couple of you out there that have E6Ks and might have some other input.

________________

From: Mike
Date: August 17, 2000 01:46 AM

Ack! Let me quote you to get it right:

>You could also do what someone else did and leave your intake manifold on and tap your
>intake elbow. This will put the temp sensor before the TB instead of after. It also puts it
>off to the side of the motor instead of above it. Not the best spot, but would work for a
>temporary weekend install if you want to leave your UIM on.

Heh, Jay is refering to me. I stuck that damn sensor right in my Greddy elbow. I believe it works great. I have seen no draw back. But, as Jay says its not inside. But, I use this sensor to determine what my air intake is from the IC. The one inside will do the same, but, it will prolly rise a degree or 2 due to the extra metal.

Anyhow, thanks Jay! hahaha.