Installing the Valet 712t Remote Keyless Entry in a 1987 Corvette

Firstly, I need to give credit where credit is due: http://batee.com/corvette/keylessentry/index.htm He did all the heavy lifting and I thank him. That said, there are some differences:

He used a GM VKE-1000 systems (reputed to have been made by Directed Systems) where I used a Valet 712t from Directed Systems. The VKE-1000 has two big plugs where the 712t has one, and the pinout is entirely different. The good news is that the wire color codes are unchanged, with the exception of the Red/White Aux wire(s). The VKE-1000 has two Red/White Aux wires, with a relay in between where the 712t has a single wire, which is grounded when you press and hold the Aux button. I'll address the impact of this later.
He picked up power for the lock/unlock solenoids from the power lead to the Theft Deterrent Module (TDM) while I picked it up in the passenger's door from the wire that powers the factory door locks. I did this for a couple of reasons:

The power lead to the TDM is only 22 gauge, which is really wimpy to fire those solenoids.
If firing the solenoids blows a fuse, I want it to be the one for the door locks, not the theft fuse which is likely to leave the 'vette disabled.

I like to use heat shrink tubing to insulate splices rather than electrical tape. In particular, I like to use the Ancor marine-grade heat shrink that's lined with hot melt glue, esp. in wet places. It's REALLY good stuff.
I like to use marine-grade primary wire (again, from Ancor) instead of speaker cables. The marine-grade wire:

has a larger copper cross-section than in the same gauge so it can care more current.
has more and finer wires so it is more flexible
is tinned, which makes soldering a bit easier.

I didn't wire up anything to the TDM enable/disable leads. My logic was that the remote wasn't doing anything that the switches in the door couldn't do. I did have to disable the "ignition-controlled door lock" feature. If the car stalled, the TDM would keep it from starting again unless I got out and unlocked the driver's door with the key.

This applies to my '87 Coupe. I understand the earlier years had different power door lock circuitry, and it all comes out at a connector under the steering column. No need to go into the doors.

Now some free advice. Free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.

Set aside a safe flat space to lay down, in order, the various panels as you take them off so you can put them back on in the same order.
Have a way of organizing the screws for each panel. Use a small jar for each panel. Or put them back in the holes they came out of.
Allow plenty of time. I'd guess it's a full weekend's work. I did it a bit at a time over several weeks. Note that you can drive the car with all the interior panels out. It won't impress anybody, but it will get you to work.
Be very careful of the background when shrinking the heat shrink. You don't want to melt anything, or worse, start a fire.
The smoke from the rosen-core of the solder will condense on the inside of the windshield. Water won't take it off. Don't panic, Windex will take it off.

Tools required (beyond typical hand tools)

Stubby #2 Phillips-head screwdriver. (Craftsman 9-4118)
#2 Phillips-head screwdriver with a clip that holds the screw to the screwdriver (Craftsman 9-41363) Not necessary, but prevents a lot of dropped screws.
High-powered soldering gun (200 watts or more -- mine is a Weller D650 300 watt).
Rosen-core solder.
Lisle 14900 Terminal tool for GM (http://www.lislecorp.com/divisions/products/?product=42&division=1&category=14) for disassembling the theft deterrent module connector.
Heat gun to shrink the heat shrink.

Materials required

Six feet of 14 gauge wire in each of the following colors: green, violet,white, blue, and brown. The colors aren't critical to function, but will help you keep your sanity. I had to substitute yellow for white.
Two feet of 18 gauge orange wire (I had to substitute yellow)
One foot of 18 gauge brown wire.
Eight 1/4" female quick disconnect terminals, fully insulated, for 18-22 gauge wire
Two Radio Shack 275-226 relays
Small tie wraps
3/8" heat shrink
1/4" heat shrink
3/16" heat shrink
1/8" heat shrink
2' of 3/8" corrugated wire loom
5' of 1/2" corrugated wire loom.
3M #77 electical tape
18" of sticky Velcro. I used some industrial grade stuff I had around for my boat that has a more tenacious adhesive than the hardware store stuff. I had to buy 25 yards years ago for another project that required a foot.

Before you start

If you keep the 'vette on a trickle charger, disconnect it.
Record the radio presets. The radio will forget them when you disconnect the battery.
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery.
Disconnect at least the passenger side horn. It's harder to get to if things go south and the horns are going off. Me, I disconnected both, and wired a light across one that was pretty visible. That let me work at weird (by my neighbor's standards) times.
Set the light flash jumper on the 712t to the - position.

The wires from the Valet 712t

The "blue" wires at the bottom are really violet. My camera (and most others) have problems capturing that end of the spectrum. Note that the violet and violet/blue wires are connected where they go into the fuse holder. Also note that I numbered the wires with a Sharpie, and I bundled the wires based on where they were going.

The wires from the Valet 712t

Removing terminals from the TDM socket

Terminology:

"terminal": the metal piece that makes electrical contact.
"connector body": the plastic piece that holds the terminals

The terminals are double-latched. Let's call the side of the socket that has the latch the "bottom", and the opposing side "top". The top of the connector body has a lid hinged on the wire end. A small screwdriver at the non-wire end will pop the lid open. The lid has teeth that hold the individual terminals in place, and I think this is the primary retention. Second, the terminal has a locking tang on the opposite site from the lid, which I think is pretty much just to hold the terminal in while the connector body is being assembled. Insert the largest rectangular pick on the Lisle tool between the terminal and the bottom side of the connector body and push pretty hard.

Remove only one terminal at a time, and remember where it came from. Hint: Positions E and L are unoccupied.

Be sure to reform the locking tang.

Here's a picture:

Theft Deterent Module plug

Note the teeth in the lid, and the locking tang on the loose terminal (pointing to the right in this picture).

Connections

Note that the TDM connector has more than one Black and Yellow wire. Check the letter codes.

Note that I haven't yet wired up the hatch release relay, so those connections are conjecture on my part.

The "Connect to" is a tap in all cases except the Lt. Blue and Black wires in the door, which you cut and splice. The greyed out text is stuff I considered doing but didn't

Valet 712t Harness	VKE-1000 Harness	Wire Color	Purpose	Connect To
H1/1	H1/11	Red	+12V constant to unit	TDM wire N (pink, 14 ga.) (+12V always hot)
H1/2	n/a	Blue	Second (passenger) unlock output	Nothing
H1/3	H2/B	Black/White	Turn on interior lights (one side of SPST relay)	TDM wire A (Black, 22 ga.) (Ground) (?? I think this really needs to go to the door jamb switch White (20 ga.))
H1/4	H1/4	Black/White	Turn on interior lights (one side of SPST relay)	TDM wire J (Lt. Blue, 20 ga.) (?? I think this should go to Ground)
H1/5	H2/D	Green/Black	Lock Relay, common	Switch side of Black wire to pin D of switch in door (12/14 ga.) (I used Blue to extend)
H1/6	H2/C	White/Black	Lock Relay, normally connected	Door jamb side of Black wire to pin D of switch in door (12/14 ga.) (I used Brown to extend)
H1/7	H2/E	Violet/Black	Lock Relay, normally disconnected	Orange/Black wire in door (+12V always hot) (12/14 ga.) (I used violet to extend)
H1/8	H2/G	Blue/Black	Unlock Relay, common	Door jamb side of Lt. BLue wire in door (12/14 ga.) (I used Yellow to extend)
H1/9	H2/H	Violet	Unlock Relay, normally disconnected	Violet/Black wire on 712t/VKE-1000 (+12V always hot) (already connected by the mfg.)
H1/10	H1/2	White	Parking light flash	Coil (86) on parking light relay
H1/11	H1/8	Black	Chassis ground	TDM wire A (Black, 22 ga.) (Ground)
H1/12	H1/10	Brown	Horn	TDM wire F (Black, 22 ga.)
H1/13	n/a	Lt. Green/Black	Factory Alarm Disarm (ground pulse on unlock)	??
H1/14	H1/3	White/Blue	Aux channel 2	Nothing
H1/15	H1/9	Yellow	Switched ignition	TDM wire K (Yellow, 22 ga.)
H1/16	H1/1	Orange	Arm TDM (grounded when armed)	TDM wire H (Lt. Green, 22 ga.) (Disarm input, ground pulse disarms)
H1/17	H2/F	Brown/Black	Unlock Relay, normally connected	Switch side of Lt. Blue wire in door (12/14 ga.)
H1/18	H2/A	Red/White	Hatch Release (pulses a ground to release)	Coil (86) on hatch release relay
n/a	H1/12	Red/White	Hatch Release
n/a	H1/6	Green	Not connected
n/a	H1/6	Blue	Not connected
n/a	H1/7	Violet	Not connected

Splicing

Here's how I like to make splices, but there wasn't always clearance to do this, esp. with the parking light relay.
Splice, not yet soldered

Fishing the wires to the door

I used a "grabber" , Lisle 31140 or KD Tools 2391. Loosen the metal bracket on the door jamb that holds the rubber bellows in place. Do not remove the screw completely or you'll have a heck of a time getting it back in. Put about a 10 degree bend in the grabber, as close to the end with the teeth as you can. This, with a bunch fiddling and cussing will get it around the Bose speaker boxes. With a finger, finesse it out into the door jamb area, and grab a piece of 1/8" nylon line, pull the nylon into the door, then use the nylon
to pull the wires through. Repeat from the instrument panel side. I put 3/8" corrugated wire loom over the wires on the door side, 1/2" on the instrument panel side. I think this is important on the door side to keep a wire from getting tangled in window winder gears -- the loom should be too big to get tangled. On the instrument panel side it's mostly cosmetic.

Once the door wires are pulled through, splice them at the door end, and then fish them through to where you are going to mount the unit and solder them to the wires on the unit. Cut the wires on the unit short (3ish inches) as they are lighter gauge than the door wires.

Mounting the unit

I put the unit on top of the heater box with Velcro. I'm not 100% happy with that hot location, but the Velcro should provide some insulation. Note that I have the passenger's side heater duct out. I pulled it to make it easier to fish the wires, and discovered that the TDM plug was not fully seated. So check that TDM plug.

Mounting the unit

Parking light relay

You only need to run a single wire over the the far driver's side of the dash.

Relay Pin	Purpose	Connect to
85	One (typically hot) side of coil	Light switch Orange (hot) (18 ga.)
86	Other (typically ground) side of coil	Valet 712t H1/10 (White)
87	One (moveable) side of contacts	Pin 85 (hot)
30/51	Other (fixed) side of contacts	Light switch Brown (parking lights) (18 ga.)

Here's what it looks like, before everything is Tie-wrapped up. I used a bit of Velcro to hold the relay in place. There was no clearance to do my normal splices, so I cut the wires,
soldered on a 6" extension, and then spliced to that. Also note that I labeled the relay connections.

Parking light relay

And here's what it looks like all bundled up. Note that I took a turn of electrical tape around the connectors because
there was some bare metall showing.

Parking light relay

LED and Valet switch

I mounted the LED and Valet switch on the front driver's side of the console. This is not a perfect location -- there's not really enough clearance behind, but it was the best I could come up with. The wiring was routed up the passenger's side of the radio.

Hatch release relay

You COULD wire Valet 712t H1/18 directly to hatch release switch Tan, and the hatch would open when you press and hold the Aux botton. It would also open if you are running down the freeway and your kid plays with your second set of keys. By wiring in the relay, you have to have the parking brake set or ignition off (manual transmission) or be in park or neutral (automatic transmission) for the Aux button to open the hatch.

Note that I haven't actually hooked this up yet, so this is conjecture on my part.

Relay Pin	Purpose	Connect to
85	One (typically hot) side of coil	Glove box (in console) light orange (18 ga.)
86	Other (typically ground) side of coil	Valet 712t H1/18 (White) (hatch release)
87	One (moveable) side of contacts	Hatch release switch ???? (?? ga.)
30/51	Other (fixed) side of contacts	Hatch release switch Tan (22 ga.)

Before you button things back up

Disable the "ignition-controlled door lock" feature.
Hook the horns back up
Go for a drive, make several stops. Make sure things still work.
Run the full TDM test from the FSM.