okay i got the M&H wiring harness for the engine. it has been modified to work with electric choke and HEI dist.

the car is 70 malibu V8 and automatic. i am looking at the wiring harness in my Haynes book but i dont exactly know how to read it. im trying to figure out where each wire goes, im looking at them one at a time. my original harness is toast, and whats not toast was hacked by the previous owner so its not much help.

i see two wires in the new harness that i think i know what there for. one is purple and the other is yellow, both have an eyelet (metal connector with hole in the middle, whats the correct name?) and are a lot thicker than the other wires.

i think they go to the starter because i can see a light colored wire, a purpleish red wire and an orange wire going toward the starter in my original harness.

there is also only one orange wire in my new harness, it has a black plastic plug (boot?) on the end. where does this wire go to.

i'll post more as i look through the diagrams. im a newbie and i need you guys to double check my work, i dont want to screw this up, ive been saving my pennies too long to ruin the new harness.

Well, I'm really just here for morale support because I'm going through it also, just like everyone else. I'd really study the wiring schematics and you may want to get a factory schematic from a Chevy dealer or NPD for your car,...Schematic should also show you color and size of wire. Regarding size, the smaller the #, the larger the wire. Half the battle is figuring out how the owner before you cobbed things up(as in my case) As far as connector ends, it probably depends if you want to go for original restr. or "modified". Good Luck smile.gif

"i see two wires in the new harness that i think i know what there for. one is purple and the other is yellow, both have an eyelet (metal connector with hole in the middle, whats the correct name?) and are a lot thicker than the other wires.

i think they go to the starter because i can see a light colored wire, a purpleish red wire and an orange wire going toward the starter in my original harness."

Solenoid/starter wires
Purple to the "S" terminal.
Yellow to the "R" terminal. Yellow won't have any use on a HEI set-up but sticking it on the starter keeps it from flopping around.


"there is also only one orange wire in my new harness, it has a black plastic plug (boot?) on the end. where does this wire go to."

Goes to the heater blower fan, right side firewall, for a non-A/C car.

okay three down.

does anything else go on the starter motor?

okay, now i see a black and dark blue wire with similar rubber boots.

i looked at the Haynes diagram and the only drk blu wire i see on there is a wire that goes to the generator. what is the generator? where is it located?

the black wire comes out of the harness from the same place the orange wire came out of. the blue wire seems to come from the area were the seems to come out of a spot with two pink wires and a yelllow wire (the pinks and yellow all share a common plug, HEI??)

thanks for the help guys.
i REALLY appreciate this.

Only other thing that goes to the starter is the large cable from battery (+).
Dark blue with a boot sounds like the oil sender wire.
Lost on the black. If it has a rubber boot on it, does the wire have an eyelet lug on it? May be the optional convertable top wire.
The junction of the pinks and yellow should have a square connector on it. Sounds to be the HEI wire. One of the pinks should go out to another connector for the idle stop solenoid.

okay, i chased down some of the old wires. this is kind of fun.

black wire/black with yellow stripe wire- wiper motor
light blue -wiper motor
darkblue/black with yellow stripe- wiper motor

(the black with yellowgreen stripe is the same wire, it shares a plug with the black wire and then comes back out of the plug and goes into the plug with the drk blu)

are these correct?

black with pink stripe(female end)? its tucked in tight on the new harness. on the old harness it connects to a black wire with male end, but that male isnt connected to anything. it just has a common "quick release" female end. Emission controls? this is cali car and the original engine is long gone, swapped before i had the car.

thanks john. i hope youre a patient man, i dont want to **** you off with all these questions. this site is great. thanks to all of you guys.


graemlins/thumbsup.gif

How about I make a suggestion. The schematic in the Haynes book is a reprint of the basic schematic so it is good enough to do what you want to do.
If you look at the harness bulkhead connector, it’s not exactly a square. It is U-shaped and only goes in one way. The connector it plugs into is also U-shaped and is part of the dash harness. From the dash harness you can see where the mating wires go to. In most cases the wire color is the same.
Since you had a couple wires customized, some things don’t match the schematic in front of you. That’s where a small multi-meter comes in handy. If you don’t have one places like Radio Shack, Home Depot, or Harbor Freight have inexpensive ones that are OK for playing with car wiring. Harbor Freight in Pasadena often has one on sale for $3.00.
If you use a multimeter (VOM) and measure continuity between the wires and the pins in the U-shaped bulkhead connector, it’s fairly easy to figure out what each wire if used for.
Get stuck, let out a yell.

im willing to try the multimeter but i have no idea how to use it. i have one but i dont no how to use it. do i need the wires to have energy running through them? because i dont have the battery connected because the positive cable is toast.

also im asking questions because i dont have all of the wires connected on my original harness, and theyre not only modified, some of them are melted together so i cant tell which wire goes were. im gonna try to chase down some more wires on the original harness, theres not too many left.

graemlins/thumbsup.gif

“im willing to try the multimeter but i have no idea how to use it. i have one but i dont no how to use it. do i need the wires to have energy running through them? because i dont have the battery connected because the positive cable is toast.”

Actually I was talking about measuring the wires in your new cable. You don’t need the battery and shouldn’t hook one up.
Take your meter. Set the scale to X1 or R1 depending on how it’s marked. Touch the leads together. If it has a real meter (analog type) the meter moves all the way across the scale. That means you have “continuity” between the leads. If you try to measure an unbroken wire with the leads, the meter will react the same.
Take your new cable. Touch one lead to the blue wire with the boot. It doesn’t matter which meter lead. With the other lead you should be able to find one pin on the U-Shaped connector that makes the meter move. All other pins will not make it move. That’s the pin that the oil sender wire goes to.
Look at your schematic. You should see that the oil sender pin is in the position for the wire that runs over to the oil idiot light.
This link might help.
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/homemaintenance/electrical/multitesteruse2.htm

oh, okay thanks i think i get it. i think i found out were all the wires go. it looks like most of the hacking was done when the car was converted to HEI and the TCS was removed. i see that wires are still connected to the TCS relay on my firewall, should i connect the new ones in there, because i dont think the TCS is still in my car. would it cause any problems?

also does any part of the fowaed lamp harness go through the plastic gutter or cross to the passenger's side of the engine compartment? (i know about it crossing infront of the radiator, any other parts of the fwd lamp harness on passenger side?)

it looks like most of the melted wires are from the AC, which had been removed, it looks like the previous owner ran wires through the AC harness, i know one of the starter motor wires was in the AC harness, and some of the AC harness was just wrapped up with the positive battery cable for some reason.

“i see that wires are still connected to the TCS relay on my firewall, should i connect the new ones in there, because i dont think the TCS is still in my car. would it cause any problems?”

Probably won’t hurt to slip them on the relay. Keeps them from flopping around. Legally you can’t remove smog equipment from that car so I can’t suggest anything else.

“also does any part of the fowaed lamp harness go through the plastic gutter or cross to the passenger's side of the engine compartment? (i know about it crossing infront of the radiator, any other parts of the fwd lamp harness on passenger side?)”

Not that I can think off.

“it looks like most of the melted wires are from the AC, which had been removed, it looks like the previous owner ran wires through the AC harness, i know one of the starter motor wires was in the AC harness, and some of the AC harness was just wrapped up with the positive battery cable for some reason.”

Can’t answer that. Can’t see that far.
You planning to change around the heater controls and add the blower resistor inside the car to make the heater work. You may need to use it before the end of the week.

okay i have most of this figured out. just incase i still have the TCS, what does it look like?

also, i see that theres a grey L-shaped connector with a green wire, according to my factory assem. manual, this one goes to a temp switch, what would this switch look like?

im still stuck on the black wire with the rubber boot, it has a larger boot than the orange wire and ends about a foot short of the orange wire. i cant find anything on either diagram. maybe i'll give M&H a call, or ask them when i pick up the dash harness on monday. right now i have most of the engine harness labeled so i know where things go when it comes time to pull the old harness.

also, do i need the idle stop if i have HEI, will my car work without the idle stop? i ask because the only pink wire with its own connector is suppose to be my electric choke wire. i guess i'll ask the M&H guys on monday.

thanks again.

i'll keep looking at the diagrams for that black wire, maybe the multimetre will reveal its identity (i have to buy a new multimetre, my dad needs his at his job.)

“okay i have most of this figured out. just incase i still have the TCS, what does it look like?”

It’s a cylinder looking item that mounts on the passenger side of the intake manifold.

“i see that theres a grey L-shaped connector with a green wire, according to my factory assem. manual, this one goes to a temp switch, what would this switch look like?”

It should be mounted on the side of the left head, near the sparkplugs, towards the front.

“im still stuck on the black wire with the rubber boot, it has a larger boot than the orange wire and ends about a foot short of the orange wire. i cant find anything on either diagram. maybe i'll give M&H a call, or ask them when i pick up the dash harness on monday. right now i have most of the engine harness labeled so i know where things go when it comes time to pull the old harness.”

I can’t recall it either. That’s why I suggested using a meter and finding out which bulkhead connector pin it goes to. That will probably show what it is for.

“also, do i need the idle stop if i have HEI, will my car work without the idle stop? i ask because the only pink wire with its own connector is suppose to be my electric choke wire.”

The idle stop solenoid was mounted to the carburetor. When the car was shut off it closed the carburetor all the way down and starved the engine preventing run on. Not needed to make the engine run. The Haynes book you have has a fairly good explanation of both the TCS system and the Idle Stop Solenoid.

“i'll keep looking at the diagrams for that black wire, maybe the multimetre will reveal its identity (i have to buy a new multimetre, my dad needs his at his job.)”

Sounds good.