Originally, when this was going to be a fast-road engine, the intention was to keep the stock wiring loom and have the stock ECU re-mapped to suit. With a fast road engine, this is perfectly acceptable but stock parts have limitations and factory fitted ECUs don't generally lend themselves to going beyond "fast-road".

To that end, I purchased copious amounts of "MIL-SPEC" Raychem 44 and 55 spec wire - the type used extensively in professional motorsport, aerospace and of course, the military. I also purchased some equivalent "diesel-resistant" heat shrink, along with protective boots and new connectors all round.

The loom I had planned was quite a complicated one. The engine will be running 10 injectors, various sensors and in-car controls for features such as launch control and traction control adjustment. Not having built a loom before, it took quite a while to sort it all out. The biggest hurdle and perhaps one of the most crucial operations was correct crimping of the terminals - you don't want loose wires! You'd think this would be simple enough but the ECU i'm using has Superseal 1.0 terminals - proper crimping tools for these can cost £1500! I bought various cheaper tools that could handle similar terminals but none that could do it in one hit - meaning each terminal was a 2-step crimp.

Managing the engine, again, required something a bit special. I wanted sequential ignition and injection but most aftermarket ECUs cannot accommodate this with a 5-cylinder engine running 10 injectors. I settled on a DTA S100. This is the daddy of clubman ECUs with enough bells and whistles to keep most everyone happy!