First off allow me to introduce myself my name is Ed and I recently purchased a 1980 oldsmobile Cutlass sedan broughm I think. It has a 350 rocket swapped into it. The problem is the p.o. ruined some of the wiring putting gauges in. Also the starter wires are melted. Now I need help trying to gfind wiring diagrams for the ignition system because its all spliced together. The altenator clip is broken it had a wire spliced in. Two wires on the starter are fried i cant tell which because its buried under the header.and the battery and tach clip for the distributor is missing as it was spliced into a tach? If someone can get me or hell even draw me the basic wiring for the wires the go to the starter and where they come from also the alternator wires. And what wires are what in the distribution block? Under the brake booster. Please and thank you so much. Let me know if you need any more info. Also theres a power wire he ran from the passenger side wiring for the hvac? And ran it to somewhere on the driver side.

 

Welcome, I guess you inherited a mess. Be patient and some of thee guys will chime in. If it's as bad as you say it might be time to just replace your engine harness. There are companies that reproduce them or possibly find an OEM replacement.

 

What harness? The interior side is fine if there is one its just all the wires on the driver side under the hood for the ignition. Theres an orange wire he spliced into. If it helps the gauges he installed were a tach a voltmeter oil pressure and coolant temp. All the lights were wired up.

 

Im more concerned about where all the wires on the starter go. Like all of them besides the battery wire.

 

Each harness in a car is separated by connectors so they can be replaced without replacing the entire electrical sys.


What brand are the gauges? In most cases the temp and the oil pressure are mechanical and the volt gauge is electrical. You can replace the bad section of wire to the starter by solder splicing an extension of like gauge wire and use heat shrink for insulation. Usually extra wiring run for accessories is to bypass or rig for failure of OEM switches and such. You might check on Ebay or Amazon for a chasis manual for your car, it will have schematics.

 

Even the Haynes manuals available at your local parts stores for under $20 have good wiring diagrams in them - copies form the factory manuals. I know because I have one.
The wiring diags for these cars have many pages and difficult to post here and be readable. Go pick up a manual for it. The Haynes even has other good info in it. The Chiltons on the other hand is not worth getting.

BTW, welcome to the site!

 

Should i get one for the body or the motor

 

If going for the GM manuals or reprints, get the Chassis manual - it should have the wiring diags and all the engine, tranny, and drivetrain stuff. Do some searches here - I remember some early 80's manuals listed for sale at good prices.

The Haynes manual will be an abridged version of the GM chassis manual.