Hawghead

Well what started out to be a straight forward alternator replacement/upgrade to internally regulated, has rapidly turned into a major wiring project. The previous owner/owners have butchered both the under hood and under dash wiring. So far I've removed all the additional wires and I'm basically back to a stock wiring harness. I want to remove some wiring (regulator harness) and replace some others. I want to completely remove the wires I'm not going to use not just cut them back. The wires I want to replace I want to completely replace them not just cut and splice.

The under hood wiring goes though the firewall at a junction block on the drivers side. It has a bolt going through the center of it and I was wondering if I remove the bolt can I "unplug" the under hood wiring harness so it will be easier to work on? The first picture below is the junction block with the bolt in the center, the second is just an example of how bad the wiring is.

Thanks,
Scott

RandyS

Yes, those plugs are made so they can detach. As far as the wiring: come on gang, sing along....... M - I - C , K - E - Y ... M - O - U - S - E
Don't be intimidated by the wiring harness(s). Take your time, use the Vehicle Wiring Diagram, and you can solve any of your wiring issues. All connectors should be properly crimped, or better yet soldered. You can find rolls of the wrapping tape on eBay. I completely re-did the under hood, reverse and trunk wiring harnesses for my car. The only issue I ran in to was trying to locate certain colors of the stock wire that had to be replaced.

oldcutlass

Ditto on the above.

cfair

You can still get factory connectors from clipsandfasteners.com. See the auveco catalog in the OE section under electrical. Just rewired entire front of my 98 in May.

Hawghead

Randy,

Thanks, I plan on taking my time and eventually get it all straightened out.

Cfair,

Thanks for the link, that's just what I was looking for.

Scott

joe_padavano

Actually, you can pretty much get them everywhere now. American Autowire, Kwikwire, Waytech Wire, and many, many more all sell the Packard 56 series terminals and connector bodies. Of course, the firewall connectors are not reproduced, but the more common ones are.

Hawghead

Ok things are going pretty good so far. Got the alternator and front extension/engine and dash connector apart and removed the wires for the external regulator and the wires for the old temp and oil pressure sending units. Now I have a couple of questions if I may.

1. The fusible link on the horn relay stud looks pretty sad. Is there a replacement for it or do I need to splice an inline fuse in that wire and if so how many amps should the fuse be?

2. The wires going to the starter were a mess, surprised it even started. Good news is the car has a nice Summit racing high torque mini starter. I understand the + battery cable goes to the big stud on the solenoid. The heavy gauge purple wire goes to the screw on the solenoid. The CSM also shows a yellow wire going from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil and also the ballast wire going to the + side of the coil. I'm guessing the yellow wire feeds straight 12 vdc to the coil when the starter is engaged (more voltage to the coil to help starting) and when the key is released to the run position the voltage to the coil comes through the ballast wire. Question is:

a.) Do I need the wire from the solenoid to the coil? (will it make that much difference when starting, I'm pretty sure the connector has be broken for awhile.)

b.) If I should have it, the CSM shows it going to a different terminal on the solenoid than the heavy gauge purple wire, but the starter solenoid only has two terminals, the large stud for the + battery cab and the small tab for the purple wire. So if I should put the solenoid to coil wire back on I'm guessing that it's OK to put it on the same lug as the large gauge purple wire as according to the CSM that wire is only hot when the key is in the start position.

And last, should I replace the ballast wire while I'm in there and if so where can I get some or should I just run a new regular wire and use a ballast resistor.

Thanks,
Scott

RandyS

Need a bit more info. What year and model is your car? Points or HEI?

Hawghead

1969 Cutlass Supreme Holiday Coupe, 350 ci. TH 350. Stock points distributor but going to add a Mallory Unilite conversion kit.

Thanks,
Scott