Intragration

Wow, it looks great! Big improvement. No, you either need a cable from the speedometer to the transmission, or you need the two short cables with the CC box as a glorified connector in the middle.

Olds1971

I undone what to me looked like a cable to the transmission. I have three total one to the transmisson, and two on the CC box. On the passenger side I can cut out every wire besides to the alt right? I have a plug to the distributor but do I need it since im going to HEI? Did you ever find that check list for putting a motor in? One day Im going to type out everything I have done and you can see what Im missing

Intragration

ONLY cut the big thick harness coming out below the AC box. There are other wires that come out for the blower motor that you need. Off the top I'm not sure exactly where these are, but they're not part of the big harness. Start with the harness, and grab all the wires that are coming out of that and bring them together. Check it from inside the car too, to make sure you know what you're looking at. Once you're certain the wires under the hood aren't connecting to anything under the hood, you can cut that, and then pull it out from under the dash. You can remove the computer too if you want. JUST unplug it, there are wires from the computer to the rest of the dash, I left those alone. There's also a little box that looks like a small garbage can, open it up and there's a circuit board inside, pull that out. That controls the service engine light, and if you don't pull it out, the light will come on because it thinks there's something wrong with the 3.8. There is, it's gone.

If you have a speedometer cable that reaches from the speedometer to the trans, that's the only one you need, you can eliminate the two short ones and the CC box. The plug on the engine harness of the car that goes to the distributor is the HEI power wire, and since the car was originally HEI and since you're going with HEI, you're going to need that.

Here's the checklist that I made. The first thing to know is it may not be complete, and it may not be 100% right for your install, so go through it and add or remove things as necessary. I printed it out and kept it by the car, and I went through the whole thing before I started it to make sure I wasn't forgetting something.

Startup:
--------
-drain block [ ]
-motor mount bolts [ ]
-header bolts [ ]
-trans lines [ ]
-modulator line [ ]
-throttle linkge[ ]
-kickdown linkge[ ]
-alternator hot [ ]
-alt field (plug)[ ]
-HEI power [ ]
-batt to starter[ ]
-batt to engine [ ]
-start purple [ ]
-interior power [ ]
-alt to start [ ]
-head to firewall ground [ ]
-steering connections [ ]
-plug wires [ ]
-brake vacuum [ ]
-distributor vacuum [ ]
-plug unused vacuum fittings [ ]
-fuel filter [ ]
-fuel lines [ ]
-starter mesh [ ]
-starter bolts [ ]
-bellhousing bolts [ ]
-hoses [ ]
-heater hoses [ ]
-heat vacuum line [ ]
-crossmember bolt[ ]
-shift linkage [ ]
-choke [ ]
-brake fluid [ ]
-engine oil [ ]
-trans fluid [ ]
-steering fluid [ ]
-antifreeze [ ]
-fuel drain fill[ ]
-pulleys/belts [ ]
-trans rear seal[ ]
-idiot lights [ ]
-oil press light[ ]
-temperature light [ ]
-oil gauge NEW [ ]
-temp gauge NEW [ ]
-all fuses out [ ]
-verify park [ ]
-chock wheels [ ]
-pre fuel carb [ ]
-fire extinguisher handy[ ]
-start

Olds1971

If its ok Im going to take pictures of the wires I have so I can comfirm for sure whats going on under there. So I need to keep everything plug in the was on top of the ac box for the blower right?

Olds1971

Heres some pictures... This stuff makes me nervous


1. Do I need it?
2. These are on a separte harness I'll keep them for blower.
3. Big harness includes, alt and distributor wires and distributor ground wire.
4. This is the driver side it has plugs and some wires I have cut that was attached to motor(I THINK).... Also has the ground to the alt plug from the passenger side.

Sorry if im making this confusing..

Olds1971

Im very confuseddddd why would one side of the alt plug be on one side the ground on the other side.... WIRING MESS. I know the starter goes to the battery but wheres the small one go from where to where?

Intragration

Ok, first thing, don't worry, it's not a mess, it just seems that way because you haven't wrapped your mind around it yet. It always seems this way to me too, you have to start by sitting there with the wires in your hand, a wiring diagram in the other hand, and work to understand what you're looking at. The factory wired it up 30 years ago, it was running until a couple days ago, not much has changed. Once you understand it, it will all click into place and almost wire itself. Next thing, slow, calculated changes. "Measure twice, cut once". You don't want to cut and splice and do all kinds of stuff and then have to redo it. THIS is how a mess begins. You want to take the time to understand, make a plan, test the plan, and then finally implement.

Here's a couple wiring diagrams, if you don't have them already. Print these out, and start looking at what's on your car, and what the diagram shows, and you will start to get it. I will now look at your pictures and see what I can make of them...

Intragration

Ok, here's what my AC area looks like, pointing out where the computer harness is. This is pretty close to what yours will look like. The wires for the blower and that relay and the temp sensor in the box can stay as-is. The big fat harness from below the AC box, as long as you've checked and it's not plugged into anything else, you can cut that. There's going to be a big red wire coming off of the little relay box by the blower motor. That's going to go to a connector that was near the back of the engine, and then continue in some way to some other sort of end. That's the blower high-speed wire. That will ultimately end up on the battery terminal of the starter.

On your first picture, I don't know. I'm having a hard time figuring out what this is or where it's at. Can you post a more general picture of where it's located? I don't THINK you're going to need it, I don't believe I have that. Everything else looks ok so far. Don't cut anything else though, just leave it all alone, and you can cut and splice later, when you know how long wires need to be.

On the starter and alternator wiring, look at the V6 vs V8 wiring diagram I posted. When you say "I know the starter goes to the battery but wheres the small one go from where to where?" if you're talking about the small wire on the positive terminal of the battery, it formerly went from the battery to the alternator, and now it won't be used. Those spots on the alternator will now go to the battery terminal on the starter.

Olds1971

Im not good at all with wire diagrams, The first picture that is bolted on the passenger side fender right in front of blower box but is attached to the big harness. So basicly can I cut out any wire that I KNOW isnt needed from that huge harness on passenger side? And then the couple wires which would be the alt and distributor keep and dont cut until I know the length. Do you think with me cutting those other wires I screwed up? The wire that went to the positive on the alt is in with that huge harness on the passenger side. I hope I understand this soon...

Olds1971

The next thing I was worring about... Is a pro comp distributor worthless? I think I found an original distributor off a cutlass in a junk yard for 60 take or leave it?? Also will my two barrel on the 72 350 have a kick down like my two barrel on the 3.8 did? I think my biggest problem is cutting wires and seeing where they go. When you say not connected to anything do you mean like from inside the car? Can I just trailor this car up to you?? HAHA

Intragration

The only way to really get better with wiring diagrams is to sit there like I said with the wires and the diagram and trace them and figure it out. We'll get your car running, but do take some time to learn the diagrams too, it will help a lot.

The wires from the huge harness to the distributor and alternator were probably for computer power and computer control of the old distributor. You're probably not going to need those, so the whole thing should just come out. I will take a look at the diagrams I have and see for sure before I tell you to do that. The wires that you cut, it could have made your life easier if they already had the connectors that you're going to need and you cut them off, but it's not a huge deal, you'll just need to get them to the right length and attach new connectors. I wouldn't worry about it.

If the Cutlass distributor is a non-CCC HEI, that would be good. I'm not a fan of the aftermarket distributors, but not worthless by any means. Personally I'd chose the factory part if it's in good condition. The 2-bbl should have a kickdown connection on it.

Olds1971

So how will I know what wires I have cut? Tomorow I will Take a detailed picture of all the wires on the passenger side. If I cut the alt wire and dis wire on that side How will I run it then? Sorry this is all new to me but im getting it. Just asking alot of questions.

Intragration

What colors are those wires that you're taking about, going from the computer to the alternator and distributor? Are the distributor ones purple/white, tan/black, white, and black/red?

Are you planning to run the computer for some reason? If you aren't, I don't think you're going to need those. I went from a 3.8 to a V8 and I removed that entire harness along with the computer. As long as you're not running something that's controlled by the computer, I can't think of a reason to keep the harness. And if you ARE going to run the computer, there's going to be a whole lot involved in getting it to work properly. Anyway, let me know the colors of the wires you're looking at, and give me some pictures, and we'll figure it out. Here's the diagram I'm looking at, by the way. Take a look at it and find the distributor wires I'm talking about.

About using the diagrams, part of the reason it's good to understand them is because you can use that knowledge to double check things. If I tell you to do something like cut a wire, you can double check and make sure that I didn't make a mistake and tell you the wrong color. If you have any questions about the diagrams, let me know and I'll try to explain it.

Olds1971

Ill go get some pictures now and post on here and no I dont want any computer at all just the basics.

Olds1971

Wires I have on passenger side
1. That was bolted to the back of the alt.
2. Thats the plug going to distributor.
3. Colors of wire.
4. Plug to distributor HEI.
5. This harness and all of this plugged into it.

Olds1971

Drivers side
1. Also to distributor I guess?
2. These are the wires I cut that seemed to be attached to motor. There are plugs still on here these are just the ones I cut.

Intragration

All of your first pictures, those are for the computer harness. Time to get rid of that thing. If you're ok with not having the computer anymore, which is fine and shouldn't cause any problems with basic functionality of the engine or car, then cut it close to the firewall and pull it out from under the dash. Do NOT cut any wires under the dash. Disconnect the connectors from the computer.

There should be another couple wires that go to the alternator from the driver's side harness. Actually, one and then it loops. These just go to the starter I think, they're are the ones that you need to keep. See my picture #1. You should have something like this somewhere with the engine wiring.

Next is the HEI power wire, that will have a plug that fits on the cap of the distributor once you get it. This gets power from the run position of the key. See my picture #2. All the other distributor wires you showed, those were only for the computer, and when you pull that they will be gone.

Next is power to the interior from the power distribution terminal of the starter. That's my picture #3. It looks like you cut all of these. These feed power to the fuse block inside to power everything else, and also power to the ignition switch.

There's also a purple wire that goes from the engine harness to the S terminal on the starter, this sends the signal from the ignition switch to fire the starter.

My suggestion on the engine harness wires on the left side that you cut is to just tape them back together for now, not an electrical repair, simply to keep them intact so you can see by the shape and the length of where they originally went. This is a huge part of doing a job like this, don't reinvent the wheel, see how it went before, and then work backwards to how you need it to work now. The fact that you cut them is not a huge deal, but you are going to be learning how to make a really fine electrical splice shortly, if you don't already know how. You're going to need a good soldering iron, at least 50 watts, some flux core electrical solder, and some assorted heat shrink tubing. Radio Shack will have all of this.

Olds1971

Wow this is starting to all make since now!!!! And I def know how to make a good connection and have tubing and soildering stuff from when I do my custom lights on my car. Tomorow Ill do the right thing and finally take the ole computer out. Also will take pictures of every wire on the driver side... How will I know which wire does what since I have cut them off? The wires your showing are those the only ones I need to keep so far?

Intragration

Very cool, that's what I like to hear. The wires I showed are SOME of the wires you'll need to keep. For now, get rid of the computer harness, and then take stock of what's left. There shouldn't be much. For the ones you cut, you did save the end you cut off, right? I'm thinking the best thing would be to match them up, eventually figure out how long they need to be, make SURE this is how long they need to be, give yourself an extra couple inches, and then cut off part of the "middle" and splice them back together.

Olds1971

Thats the bad part I couldnt see where they was attached at when I was pulling so I just cut them off I couldnt even see any connectors at the time

Olds1971

Well its finally out. Alot easier than I had thought. I didnt cut anything just unplugged all the wires from there harnesses. Looks better on the ground than in my car haha.

Olds1971

Also got my distributor today 60 dollars and works and comes with it all

Olds1971

A few last questions before dropping in the motor. First, what kinda of power steering line do I need to work and bolt properly. next I got a cross over pipe for the exhaust manifold.. Does a gasktet go in there if so where do you get one..... When you put the other distributor in do you just face it the way the other one was? Last I undone that one bolt on the power steering pump and it didnt lower for the belts. Is there another bolt somewhere?

Intragration

You can use the power steering pressure hose that was on the car originally. To match this, you'll either need to use the pump that was on the car, or you'll need to swap the pressure fitting from this pump to the pump that came with the engine. This is what I did. Be very careful if you do this to not lose any parts and to put the good fitting and parts back in in the same order and direction that they were. I don't remember if there was just a spring behind the fitting, or other parts too. The reason you need to do this is that the older pumps just used a flare fitting, and the newer ones use a flare with an O ring.

If you're not getting adjustability on the pump, then you're missing a bolt. It's also possible that the pump is seized in the bracket. The best thing to do would be to pull the pump with the brackets back off, and remove the brackets from the pump, clean up their mating surfaces, and then put it back together. This will also show you the mechanics of how it's supposed to adjust.

On the crossover pipe, there might be a sintered iron donut that goes in there. I'm not positive, I just went with headers. If you're missing something, you might check at an exhaust shop, they may have the part.

On the distributor, if you know exactly how it was pointing before, yes, you can just point the new one to the exact same spot. If you're not 100 percent sure, here's the process for re-centering it. First, get cylinder number 1 to TDC. To do this, remove the spark plug and have someone manually turn the engine over (clockwise) with a breaker bar until you feel air blowing out of the hole. Then, keep turning slowly until the timing mark on the balancer lines up perfectly with the zero on the timing tab. Cylinder 1 is now at top dead center. Now, drop the distributor in so that the rotor contact is pointing in the general direction of cylinder 1. When you do this, you need to make sure that the vacuum advance canister is pointing to the passenger side of the block, and that there's some room for it to turn between the intake manifold and where the firewall will be. Also make sure that the distributor cap will be oriented with a plug wire contact lined up right about with the rotor contact. When you actually drop the distributor in, the shaft will want to turn a little bit as the gears mesh, I think clockwise, so as you're dropping it in, you want to START a little bit in the appropriate direction, so that once it seats, it's pointing the way you want it. If you've lined it up the way I said, then the plug wire terminal that is directly above the rotor contact is now for cylinder 1, and it goes 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 counter-clockwise from there.

As you're doing this, you might want to play around with how the distributor gears mesh as you seat the distributor. If once you get the motor in and started you can't get the timing set properly because the vacuum advance canister is bumping into something, you'll then need to lift out the distributor and move it forward or backward a tooth. Better to get to know the feel of this before you put the engine in, so you know what to expect once the engine is installed.

Olds1971

So I could go buy a new presure hose from the 3.8 and screw it on the 350?

Intragration

As long as the pump has the right fitting on the back.

Olds1971

My car didnt have a crooked hose like yours for gas line from the frame could I use just a rubber fuel line? Im getting reall close. Do I figure out the other harness after the motor is in? For a few I thought you got tired of helpin haha

Intragration

Rubber fuel line would work. Just make sure it doesn't kink.

Olds1971

Does a torque converter from a 71 olds 350 have lock up? I have one sitting in the basement and I dont remember the trans from it having wires.

Olds1971

I slid the distributor in place. This HEI is ALOT bigger than points was lol. I just slid it in how the other one was in seeing from the vac advanced. It turned a little so might be out of time now. The distributor was number 1103322.

olds 307 and 403

No a 71 TH350 does NOT have lock up. You cannot switch torque convertors between lock up and non lock up. The stator shaft is different where the torque convertor goes on.

Intragration

That distributor appears to be out of a '78 350 88 or 98. Doesn't really matter, you're going to want to recurve it. Did you check it to see how the bushings are, in the way of side to side play in the shaft? How about the gear?

Olds1971

So I have to run my original lock up converter for my trans for now? I know you put it on a swtich so can you keep the switch on or how does that work exactly again... Also I did check the distributor looks really good. It was also bench tested and came out great. After the motor is in and running I will be recurving it. Next question how do you know when your ready to drop the motor in??. Transmission is done. Motor has everything done besides the cross over pipe and power steering line. Is it about time to put it in?

Intragration

Yes, I think you're going to want to run the lock-up converter. As for wiring it up, the circuit is to lock it. I believe it only locks up on high-speed cruise, and then unlocks on brake application or acceleration. If I'm not mistaken, you could run it unlocked indefinitely. If you want the lock-up feature, you can wire it up later.

Once you have the engine compartment detailed and set up the way you want, and all the components are bolted on to the engine so you don't have to do this once it's in, then it's time. You'll want to leave the carb off for now, and it might make it easier to leave the fan and distributor off too so they don't get damaged.

On that crossover pipe, you also have the option of blocking the crossover port on the passenger side manifold and running a pipe straight back off of each manifold. Just a thought.

Olds1971

Ok tomorow Ill be making sure everything is tight like it should and Ill take the distributor back off so it doesnt get messed up. Ill figure out the powersteering once its in the car Ill prolly do what you did and just go get the fitting and a hose. Once its in the car Youll help me figure out the other wiring right?

Intragration

Which power steering pump do you have on the motor now? Do you have access to the pump that was on the 3.8? That pump will have the fitting you'll need. The hose you should be able to get at the store. I'll be here for the wiring.

Olds1971

The v8 one is whats on it. No I dont have the 3.8 one but I know where I can def get one at.

Olds1971

Ok Im down to changing out these frame pads.... HOW IN THE WORLD did you get to them? That things thats bolted underneither you can barely get anything in it.... I can cut the bolts and can go get the new frame pads just welded on instead of bolted which would be better?

Intragration

You can get to them. Keep trying. It took me about two hours. You might need a few new tools.

Olds1971

What tools did you use to get to them? With the A arm being in the way I cant fit much in seems like