Wiring

Companion Video

Do not throw away any wires, until your vehicle is up and running perfectly!

If you make a mistake, having the old wires will be extremely helpful.

Likewise, we do not recommend de-pinning the ECU connectors. If you make a mistake, it will be much harder to undo.

Ground Connections

Body to alternator bracket

Near the battery box, there is a series of grounding posts. You should have a thick ground wire attached to a post. Attach that ground cable to the threaded hole in the alternator bracket.

2. Block to firewall

When you pulled you Rover V8, there should have been a ground strap like this attached to the cylinder head and a ground post on the firewall.

You may reuse this ground strap or procure a new one.

Note: This ground post will also be used to attach grounds from the LS wiring harness.

AC Compressor

Install the AC compressor onto the bracket if it isn't already. Make sure the two dowel pins on the front 2 holes of the compressor are fully seated. File down the holes and tap with a hammer if needed.

Install the 4 bolts retaining the AC compressor. Plug in the AC compressor with the Grey plug from the Rover harness.

PCM Location

It's time to decide where to locate the PCM.

In the battery box, where the TD5 ECU goes (easiest)
On the firewall, where the SAI pump used to be (you can use a PCM mounting bracket to help with this)
Inside the glovebox

Installing in the battery box:

You will need to trim down the cooling fins from the PCM for it to fit. About 1/4 inch for it to fit. You can place the fuse box in the battery box too.

LS Harness

Start laying out the LS standalone harness from the PCM, around the back of the engine with one branch running along the passenger side head, and the other along the driver's side head.

Both branches will have 4 injector plugs. The longer branch with the MAF plug goes to the driver side.

Before installing the intake:

Hook up you fuel line extension (AN hose assembly from the parts list) to the rover fuel line.

Plug in the camshaft position sensor located in the rear of the engine (near the oil pressure switch).

Hook up the ground loop(s) from the wiring harness to the same grounding post where we attached the ground strap.

If you forget to connect this ground loop, your spark plugs will not fire.

Route your knock sensor wires to come out the back and not get pinched by the intake. Plug in the knock sensors to the wiring harness.

Install the intake:

If your intake has the MAP sensor located in the back, install it now and plug it in. You should also connect your brake booster hose now.

OEM intakes have the MAP sensor on top.

If the edge of your intake is hitting an AC line, shave it down a bit.

Install the intake and the 10 bolts to secure it.

Torque spec: 44 in/lb first pass. 89 in/lb on the second pass. Torque in a middle-out pattern.

Plug stuff in

Plug in your fuel injectors, 4 on each side.

Plug in the white bulkhead plug for the coils, 1 on each side.

Plug in the LS coolant temp sensor on the driver's side head. Oval 2-pin plug.

Alternator: If you custom requested the alternator plug to be moved to the passenger side, simply plug in your alternator.

Otherwise, the alternator plug is not going to reach, but you have options:

Extend the wires yourself by crimping/soldering extra wire (recommended for cost)
Buy a alternator wire harness extension

The 3 connectors below can be connected once you have your throttle body and intake tubing installed

3-pin connector: Throttle position sensor

4-pin connector: idle air control

5-pin connector: MAF sensor

O2 sensors: 1 on each side. Don't connect these until your exhaust is done. On the BP auto harness, it is a flat 4-pin connector

Red battery terminals: these can be connected either to the battery positive terminal or the positive terminal on the starter. On the PSI harness, they expect you to connect to the starter terminal because it is routed on the same branch as the crank position sensor which is near the starter.

LS Crank position sensor (geen, yellow, blue wires). located right above the starter.

2-pin connector with purple and green wires. This is the LS Vehicle speed sensor (VSS). We will route these wires to wherever the golden rovers box is located. The golden rovers box will convert the rover VSS signal and backfeed them into these wires to the LS PCM knows how fast we are going.

This last connector may be GM T56 transmission related, we will not use it.

Install the throttle body so we can plug stuff in.

Plug in the TPS

Plug in the idle air

Zip-tie any wires that run near the exhaust to make sure they stay as far as possible from the exhaust (starter cable, cank position sensor, etc). You can also wrap them in heat shield.

Throttle Position Sensor signal (TPS)

We need to backfeed the LS's throttle position sensor signal into the rover's TPS wire.

The rover TPS connector has two red wires and one yellow wire. The yellow wire is the only one we will care about. It's the signal wire.

You can cap off the two red wires and tuck them away.

Connect the rover TPS wire to the LS TPS wire (also yellow) with a 3-way splice. You can connect the wire at the TPS itself, or at the PCM. On a red/blue DBC PCM, it is pin 24 on the RED connector.

Ignition Switched Power for LS harness

Read the instructions that came with your standalone harness for proper wire identification. There will be a wire that needs to be connected to "ignition switched +12v power". On the BP auto harness it is pink. On the PSI harness it is red.

Ignition switched power means that it should only receive +12v power when the key is in position II.

PSI harness "ignition switched power" wire.

Two options to get ignition switched power:

Option 1: 9-pin connector on the Rover ECU (the farthest connector). Pin #1 (white wire) is ignition switched power. We will also tap this wire to provide power to the golden rovers box at a later step. So you might be making a 4-way splice into this wire.

This is the option we usually go with.

White wire on 9-pin ECU connector (pin #1)

Option 2: Fuse tap. Use a multimeter to find a Ignition-only powered fuse in either fuse box, and tap into it using a fuse tap.

Under dash fuse tap

Engine bay fuse tap

Harness Bundle of Wires

Check you wiring harness instructions. But usually the wires we care about are:

White: Tachometer signal from the LS. This will go to the golden rovers box.
Brown/White: Check engine light ground. We will wire this to the dash light.
Green & Blue: electric fan triggers (if using)

All other wires are not needed.

Route the Brown/White wire under the dash near the rover ECU
Route the White wire to wherever the Golden Rovers box will be. We located it under the dash as well.
Also route the Green and Puple wires from the LS VSS plug to the Golden Rovers box under the dash. You will have to cut off the VSS plug.

You may use this available grommet to run wires back under the dash.

Golden Rovers Box - Under dash connections

Under the dash, you should have routed the following wires:

LS Tachometer (White)
Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) ground wire (Brown/White)
LS VSS (Green and Purple)
Rover Crankshaft Position Sensor (cable with Black and Orange, or Black and Pink, + copper shield)
Ignition switched power for the LS harness (if you decided to connect it under the dash)

Strip all the Wires. The Rover Crank Position connector had 3 wires, but if you cut back the cable, one of the wires turns into a copper shield. Pull back the copper shield. The remaining 2 wires are the ones we care about. They are either Black and Orange or Black and Pink.

Black is NEGATIVE, Pink or Orange is POSITIVE.

Crank position sensor wires, Black and Orange.

Connect to the Golden Rovers Box:

Crank Position Positive (pink or orange)
Crank Position Negative (black)
LS Tach (white)
LS VSS - (green)
LS VSS + (purple)

Connect the Ground wire on the Golden Rovers box to any body ground. Crimp a ring terminal at the end of it. There is a body ground conveniently located behind a white connector below the rover ECU.

For +12v Power to the Golden Rovers box, you need to find an power source that is only on when the ignition is on. On the 9-pin connector on the Rover ECU (the farthest connector). Pin #1 (white wire) is ignition switched power. This is the option we usually go with.

White wire on 9-pin ECU connector (pin #1)

Crimp a ring terminal to the ground

Convenient ground post

Connect the Rover VSS wire. Make a 3-way splice with the wire coming from connector C0637 (40-pin connector), pin #22. It's tan with a green stripe.

We made a 3-way splice but cutting the wire and using a crimp. We crimped 1 wire to one side of the crimp, and 2 wires to the other side.

The tan/green wire

3 way splice complete.

Connect The MIL ground wire (brown/white)

The brown/white wire is the MIL ground wire coming from the LS PCM. We are going to cut off the MIL wire going from the Rover ECU to the check engine light, and wire the brown/white wire to the light instead.

On the 40-pin ECU connector, look for pin #20. It is a red/brown wire (or red/grey). Cut this wire about an inch away from the connector. Connect the other end of the wire to the brown/white wire be brought in from the LS harness.

If you have a pink MIL wire (BP automotive harness) DO NOT CONNECT THE PINK WIRE. You only need to connect the brown/white. The check engine light comes on when the PCM grounds the brown/white wire.

Done with the under dash wiring! You can reconnect all the ECU plugs.

The Golden Rovers box can me mounted with double-sided tape. There is a good space for it above the Rover ECU.

Battery and Alternator Cables

You should have two battery cables with an "L" shaped lug at one end of them. These go into the fuse box as shown.

One of the ends connects to your battery, the other one connects to the alternator. It should be pretty obvious which is which. Install the alternator cable first.

Connect the alternator cable to the alternator. The cable lug will have a nut on it that is unfortunately not compatible with the alternator's terminal post. You can remove the nut, or cut and crimp a new lug on the battery cable.

Connect the Starter

You battery terminal should have another cable with an end that look like the one below. This end goes to your starter's battery post.

The small brown/red wire comes from the fuse box. It is the starter ignition wire. It connects to the starter solenoid. You will need to crimp a ring terminal to it.

You need to replace the female spade terminal with a ring terminal.

The big battery cable connects to this post, where the arrow is pointing. This is also where you can connect the battery terminal(s) from the your LS standalone harness.

The small brown/red ignition wire goes to this little screw terminal.

Wiring done! You can tidy up by looming any exposed wires, and capping off any unused ones.

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