westside807

hello, I have a 1971 olds cutlass with a rebuilt 350 rocket and th350 tranny. Both are original. I'm very new to projects on cars and I have little skills but I'm eager to learn and I'm a quick study, if its clear.
PROBLEM: Rats have eaten through a few of my wires and I don't know where they go, connect to, or if I need them at all. Also I changed from points to HEI, which further confuses the wiring. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Attached are pics of the wires that have been chewed upon. There's a pic with the old distributor with a single black wire. I'm not sure what that went to especially because I went to a new HEI distributor. I have more pics if needed!!

thanks

the 2nd pic is wires coming from the harness
the 4th pic is coming from the regulator on the fire wall

MDchanic

Not to sound rude, but I don't see any damage.

- Eric

oldcutlass

Is that your old distributor with the wire chewed off? On the wires that had just a bit of insulation missing you can cut, solder back together with some heat shrink for insulation. Or just tape really well.

joe_padavano

These are the wires that go to the + side of the coil. The yellow wire is the start wire without resistor, the black/pink wire is the one with the resistor. The splice tells me that the resistor wire was cut out and replaced with regular copper wire. Unless you have an electronic conversion that requires full 12 volts, this is not the correct fix.



This wire goes from the points to the - side of the coil.

The other wires are difficult to place without seeing the end connectors. Again, the use of butt connectors tells me the wiring has been messed with previously, so the colors may or may not be factory if a wire has been replaced. I suggest you get a copy of the correct year Chassis Service Manual and study the wiring diagram in it.

Octania

I don't see an HEI either
That terminal-less black wire from the pts dist'r went away with the pts dist'r.

westside807

the distributor in the pic is the old one. I was just showing that it had a wire coming from it.

All of the connectors in the pics are from me. I cut out all the chewed up wire and replaced with new wire. I just don't know where they go or connect to.

joe_padavano

Here's a tip to avoid future connection problems. Loose the crimp connectors and use solder and shrink tubing for the splices. You'll appreciate it in a couple of years.

westside807

The wire colors before, on top, or to the left of the connectors ore the original colors.

.

I did cut the black wire and connected a regular copper wire, and I do have an HEI distributor that's going in the car. so this is wrong? Since I won't need the coil where do I put these joint wires?

joe_padavano

Actually, replacing the resistor wire with regular copper is required for an HEI conversion. Now you need to cut off the current terminal and splice both of these wires into a single wire that goes to the BATT terminal on the cap of the HEI. You'll need one of these:

westside807

the first pic is the wires coming from the harness. the 2 to the right I haven't put new wires on yet. the others I have, so from the top down the wire is the old wire until the connector. that's where I cut off the chewed wire and replaced it.

the 2nd pic is the green wire from another group of wires coming from the harness

the 3rd pic is the wires coming from the regulator. the brown wire is connected to another wire harness no its ok, but the others I'm not sure about.

the 4th pic is a chewed up black wire that came off of something and appears to be a ground

westside807

Actually, replacing the resistor wire with regular copper is required for an HEI conversion. Now you need to cut off the current terminal and splice both of these wires into a single wire that goes to the BATT terminal on the cap of the HEI. You'll need one of these:


__________________ok I understand that. BUT I don't know where these 2 wires connect to. they aren't attached to anything. Its just this pair of wires.


I know its silly that I don't know this stuff, but I'm learning as I go. Be gentle lol!

MDchanic

If that was rodent damage, I must say I've never seen them cut off wires cleanly like that - usually the just gnaw on them, like in the last picture.

Looking at all of these pictures, it looks to me as though, in addition to any rodent damage, you've got a harness that has been chopped and mangled by a butcher.

I see no alternative than to essentially trace every wire out and make sure it's going to where it's supposed to (as per the schematic in the Chassis Service Manual), is actually connected, and isn't shorting with one of its neighbors., and then to replace all of those horrible crimp connectors with proper soldered joints protected by shrink tubing.

Just looking at small areas seems risky to me, from what you've already shown - I'd want to confirm that the whole thing is okay.

- Eric

MDchanic

So you're saying that those wires are just sitting there, with no connection on either end?

They used to go to the coil, but now that you have HEI, they're not needed anymore, which is why they're not connected, so you can get rid of them.

- Eric

joe_padavano

Go back and read my last posts. They USED to go to the coil + terminal, when you had a points style ignition. To convert to HEI, you need these wires to provide power to the HEI. Again, cut off the metal terminal and connect BOTH wires to the HEI power pigtail in the photo, then plug that connector into the BATT terminal on the HEI cap.

joe_padavano

Again, get a CSM and STUDY the wiring diagram. Here's an electronic version in the mean time.

scan0002-1.jpg

Unfortunately, your photos and description aren't especially helpful, but I'll try.



The black/orange wire is the kickdown solenoid wire for the TH400 trans, however it is included in all harnesses whether the car has a TH400 or not. If you do have a TH400, you need to connect this to the plug on the side of the trans. If you don't, just tape it up out of the way.

The green wire is PROBABLY the temp sender wire, but again, it's hard to tell in this photo. You can try grounding it with the key in the RUN position, and if the TEMP light comes on, you have a winner.

The black wire is PROBABLY the horn button wire to the horn relay. Connect an ohmmeter to it and to ground and press the horn button. If resistance goes to zero, you have a winner there, too.



Unfortunately, I have no idea what I'm looking at there. That green wire and butt connector LOOKS LIKE it used to be connected to the other green wire, which confuses me because it's waaay too long and the wrong color to be factory, which is why I think it was added, in which case all bets are off. Does it actually go to the firewall connector under the brake booster or simply through a hole in the firewall?



These all look correct. What's the problem?



You're right, it came off "something". Unfortunately, without the "something", it's a LITTLE difficult to know what it is.

westside807

ok, thanks to everyone! I'll see what I can learn and do to fix these wire,s using the info here, and I'll post what I find.

thanks again everyone!

redoldsman

If you don't have one, get a fire extinguisher and keep it nearby. You could easily have a fire with all this loose wiring. I quick disconnect for your battery would be a good idea and cheap insurance.