C3 wire experts
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 495
Likes: 1
From: Spokane Washington
C3 wire experts
Ok, I have sorted my starter out but I have a wire that does not fit the wire diagrams. At the starter I have the Black battery cable, the red harness wire, and the red wire on the small terminal. Then the wire diagram shows a yellow wire for the coil terminal, but I only have a thin redish wire left, no yellow. The redish wire does seem to run to the area of the coil. What is it, and why no yellow. This is what I am sorting out. My 1972 convertible is a base engine car. I will be using it as a accasional fair weather driver, but I am putting it back to original. The previous owner put in a 75 engine, HEI and replaced the speedo and tack with the 75 units, I am putting the original distributor and gauges and engine back, all else seems to be there. I do not think the harness was changed although it apears they added wires.
Thanks
cal
Thanks
cal
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 8,319
Likes: 7
From: Wilmington DE, Drive it like you stole it, 68 327 4 speed coupe
Originally Posted by cal camara
Ok, I have sorted my starter out but I have a wire that does not fit the wire diagrams. At the starter I have the Black battery cable, the red harness wire, and the red wire on the small terminal. Then the wire diagram shows a yellow wire for the coil terminal, but I only have a thin redish wire left, no yellow. The redish wire does seem to run to the area of the coil. What is it, and why no yellow. This is what I am sorting out. My 1972 convertible is a base engine car. I will be using it as a accasional fair weather driver, but I am putting it back to original. The previous owner put in a 75 engine, HEI and replaced the speedo and tack with the 75 units, I am putting the original distributor and gauges and engine back, all else seems to be there. I do not think the harness was changed although it apears they added wires.
Thanks
cal
Thanks
cal
tim
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 495
Likes: 1
From: Spokane Washington
Red wire
Ok, that was easy, the wire has the same insulating fabric as the other wires and seems to be wraped into the original harness. It is red all the way. It looks original, if It is not I can splice into it at both ends to make it appear original.
Last edited by cal camara; Mar 14, 2006 at 12:01 PM. Reason: adding
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 8,319
Likes: 7
From: Wilmington DE, Drive it like you stole it, 68 327 4 speed coupe
Originally Posted by cal camara
Ok, that was easy, the wire has the same insulating fabric as the other wires and seems to be wraped into the original harness. It is red all the way. It looks original, if It is not I can splice into it at both ends to make it appear original.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 495
Likes: 1
From: Spokane Washington
red at coil
Yes, the same wire (red) comes out of the engine harness at the coil area. there are yellow wires in the same area but they go thru the firewall and there are none (yellow) at the starter.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,662
Likes: 8
From: Knoxville Tennessee
My '79 has the big black cable from the battery, another wire that attaches to the same big lug on the solenoid at the battery cable (it has 3 or 4 smaller wires going into one connector) and a small wire goint to the small post on the engine side of the solenoid. The only other wire is a ground wire coming from the harness to the engine bolted to the bell housing. the other small terminal on the solenoid I think was used on later model cars than ours.
Bernie
Bernie
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 8,319
Likes: 7
From: Wilmington DE, Drive it like you stole it, 68 327 4 speed coupe
Originally Posted by cal camara
Yes, the same wire (red) comes out of the engine harness at the coil area. there are yellow wires in the same area but they go thru the firewall and there are none (yellow) at the starter.
well sound like no splice and is OK. mystery wire iguess, the only thing i can think of is possible the engine harness was replaced at some point in time in the cars life perhaps
so long as it works, Giddy up !!!!!
Last edited by sweethence; Mar 14, 2006 at 12:48 PM.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 7,739
Likes: 630
From: Unreconstructed, South Carolina
OE points setup has one wire from dist to coil negative and two wires at coil positive ... one is a resistor wire to keyswitch ON/RUN & has about 9vdc when RUNNING ... the other goes to starter and has 12vdc ONLY when STARTING ... do not RUN the coil on full 12vdc with an OE points setup. If you do, it'll burn up the points and/or OE coil. Better check/meter coil voltage when RUNNING ... should be about +7 to +9vdc when running.
Since the car DID have an HEI ... it's wired differently ... HEI requires 12vdc when BOTH Starting & RUNNING.
Since the car DID have an HEI ... it's wired differently ... HEI requires 12vdc when BOTH Starting & RUNNING.
Last edited by jackson; Mar 16, 2006 at 01:44 PM.