AzPete
Well-Known Member
Well, we did it.......Midlife had most of the harness I needed, I had the rest and we both had the time. Two days worth of time.
First, we removed all the engine bay and dash wiring. The PO had an interesting system to say the least. Dash lights on with the key. Brake lights work only with the key on. All power went thru the ign. switch. Battery voltage was 12.5 v, power to coils was 10.5 v. Hmmmmm.
Bundles of wires twisted together at the bare ends, no solder, just taped up. Made no difference if it was power or ground. One color of wire ran throughout the car, no labels anywhere. Found a bundle taped under the dash and to our surprise, it was a new gauge harness. He made his own and left the new one untouched.
While Randy tinkered on the replacement harness, I played under the hood. We got many things accomplished this way.
The refurbished dash harness needed to be adapted for the new dash lights along with the feeds for the Auto Meter gauges that were in the car from the PO. Ended up splicing in the ign. switch as the one in the car would not unplug from the harness. I had a light switch that had a striped shaft threads so I used one Randy had in stock. Got the washers wired but not plumbed. Had it all assembled on the bench and then put the entire harness in thru the inst. cluster hole. Got the 5" tach wired in, the after market radio, and the gauges with very little in the way of problems.
Checked it all out and then the magic....hook in the battery. No smoke.......we must have done something right. A few minor changes and all went well.
First big woops, put in gear, car dies. Disconnect our wired in NSS and jumper around for another day.
Second big woops, elec. choke does not open. Will fix in the morning. Just took power from the wrong spot.
Third big woops, forgot to connect the speedo cable after dash being in and out a couple of times. Can do that in the morning but the GPS works good for tekp. use.
Nice to have a full 12.5 - 14.5 volts all the time. Dash lights now have dimming and work thru the switch properly. Headlight seem better also.
I must thank Midlife for the rework on the harnesses plus the assistance for the last two days in working this car over. I also did a good job of getting rid of all his elec. connections.
And last but not least, we managed to empty some of the adult beverages that were chilling all day. Ahhhhhhh
Thanks Randy.
First, we removed all the engine bay and dash wiring. The PO had an interesting system to say the least. Dash lights on with the key. Brake lights work only with the key on. All power went thru the ign. switch. Battery voltage was 12.5 v, power to coils was 10.5 v. Hmmmmm.
Bundles of wires twisted together at the bare ends, no solder, just taped up. Made no difference if it was power or ground. One color of wire ran throughout the car, no labels anywhere. Found a bundle taped under the dash and to our surprise, it was a new gauge harness. He made his own and left the new one untouched.
While Randy tinkered on the replacement harness, I played under the hood. We got many things accomplished this way.
The refurbished dash harness needed to be adapted for the new dash lights along with the feeds for the Auto Meter gauges that were in the car from the PO. Ended up splicing in the ign. switch as the one in the car would not unplug from the harness. I had a light switch that had a striped shaft threads so I used one Randy had in stock. Got the washers wired but not plumbed. Had it all assembled on the bench and then put the entire harness in thru the inst. cluster hole. Got the 5" tach wired in, the after market radio, and the gauges with very little in the way of problems.
Checked it all out and then the magic....hook in the battery. No smoke.......we must have done something right. A few minor changes and all went well.
First big woops, put in gear, car dies. Disconnect our wired in NSS and jumper around for another day.
Second big woops, elec. choke does not open. Will fix in the morning. Just took power from the wrong spot.
Third big woops, forgot to connect the speedo cable after dash being in and out a couple of times. Can do that in the morning but the GPS works good for tekp. use.
Nice to have a full 12.5 - 14.5 volts all the time. Dash lights now have dimming and work thru the switch properly. Headlight seem better also.
I must thank Midlife for the rework on the harnesses plus the assistance for the last two days in working this car over. I also did a good job of getting rid of all his elec. connections.
And last but not least, we managed to empty some of the adult beverages that were chilling all day. Ahhhhhhh
Thanks Randy.