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Engine Wiring Harness Installation Guide?

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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 02:39 PM
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Default Engine Wiring Harness Installation Guide?

I bought a new engine wiring harness for my 1972. Does anyone have an installation guide or instructions for a C3 engine wiring harness?
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 03:39 PM
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Hi d,
The engine harness is a pretty easy one.
If the old one is still in place I'd lay the new one roughly in place and unhook, (old), and then hook, (new), the connectors one at a time.
When they're all connected I'd remove the old harness and tuck the new harness in place in the various clips and clamps.
If you don't have the Assembly Instruction Manual you may want to think about buying one. It will show just how the original was run and where the connections are.... and a zillion other things it will be good to know.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

Last edited by Alan 71; Apr 15, 2012 at 03:44 PM.
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Alan 71
Hi d,
The engine harness is a pretty easy one.
If the old one is still in place I'd lay the new one roughly in place and unhook, (old), and then hook, (new), the connectors one at a time.
When they're all connected I'd remove the old harness and tuck the new harness in place in the various clips and clamps.
If you don't have the Assembly Instruction Manual you may want to think about buying one. It will show just how the original was run and where the connections are.... and a zillion other things it will be good to know.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan
This is the best advice. Alan always has good practical advice. My old engine harness was disconnected already but I still had it. Between that and the assembly manual I really didn't have any trouble. Once you start you will see that there is not much to it. Now this assumes you bought a good harness. Mine was from Lectric Limited as I was told they were top notch. Seems to be true.
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Old Apr 15, 2012 | 10:23 PM
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Buy the Oh-so-ez wiring pictorial diagram Dr. Rebuild for about $20 and it will be very clear where everything goes.

John
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Old Apr 18, 2012 | 12:05 AM
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Thanks for the advice guys
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Old Apr 18, 2012 | 10:26 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnRR
Buy the Oh-so-ez wiring pictorial diagram Dr. Rebuild for about $20 and it will be very clear where everything goes.

John
Oh thats right I forgot that one, this is a must have. The old harness, the assembly manual and a good color wiring diagram and you can do it!
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Old Apr 18, 2012 | 11:11 PM
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Installed the new Lectric Limited harness today. The old harness had a few minor wires that were broken off and I couldn't tell where they came from. Needless to say the car doesn't start so maybe those wires weren't so "minor" as I thought. I got a color coded wiring diagram so I'm going to try and figure out where they are supposed to go. I'll probably purchase the assembly manual or Dr. Rebuild if I can't figure it out.
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Old Apr 18, 2012 | 11:22 PM
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Originally Posted by JohnRR
Buy the Oh-so-ez wiring pictorial diagram Dr. Rebuild for about $20 and it will be very clear where everything goes.
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 06:25 AM
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Post pics of the wires in questions and they can be identified pretty quickly.
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 12:54 PM
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'70 AIM images and few miscellaneous pics from '70 install.





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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 02:39 PM
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i replaced my engine harness with a new one during my restoration and its pretty streight forward. once you lay in the harness its pretty obvious where the wires will connect to. the starter, the horn relay and the firewall connector is where you have to careful. and of course make sure the battery is disconnected before you start.
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by droknows
...I'll probably purchase the assembly manual...
AIM shows the installation of the stock harness and where everything plugs up. Is your new harness plugged in well with the forward lamp harness on the firewall?

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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 08:47 PM
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The first wire is a light brown that splits off the main harness right after the wiper motor. Its about 27 inches long. Any idea where this goes? I believe it goes to the ignition switch but have no idea where the entry hole is located?
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 08:52 PM
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http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_0199.jpg

The next one I can't figure out is a three wire plug, blue, light blue, light brown. It's located on the passenger side about half way between the wiper motor and starter.

Last edited by droknows; Apr 19, 2012 at 08:57 PM.
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Easy Mike
AIM shows the installation of the stock harness and where everything plugs up. Is your new harness plugged in well with the forward lamp harness on the firewall?

If the forward lamp harness connects with engine harness to the fuse box, then yes.
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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 09:54 PM
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Originally Posted by droknows


The first wire is a light brown that splits off the main harness right after the wiper motor. Its about 27 inches long. Any idea where this goes? I believe it goes to the ignition switch but have no idea where the entry hole is located?
I could be wrong, but this might be the single wire that lays along the top of the intake manifold on the driver side that connects to the solenoid on the carburetor?

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Old Apr 19, 2012 | 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by droknows
http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_0199.jpg

The next one I can't figure out is a three wire plug, blue, light blue, light brown. It's located on the passenger side about half way between the wiper motor and starter.
Think I have this one figured out for you as well...connects to the solenoid on top of the intake manifold on the passenger side. Take a look at the attached photo on the bottom left side of the photo you will see this harness with the blue and tan wires. Keep in mind this solenoid on my motor is damaged and inoperable, so it might not look exactly like yours.

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Old Apr 21, 2012 | 01:24 PM
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Thanks for the pics spdrcr29. My stock carburator was shot so I replaced it with an edelbrock carb. It didn't have any of those solenoids attached to the carb or intake manifold as you do. My edelbrock carb has a solenoid with two prongs on the passenger side (enclosed pic). These are the wiring instructions for it, "Black wire (–): To Ground
(Carb Body), Red Wire (+): To Ignition Key Activated 12V Source (NOT coil or alternator)"

So I'm assuming this is not where the three wire clip attaches to?

Last edited by droknows; Apr 21, 2012 at 01:28 PM.
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Old Jan 22, 2025 | 04:31 PM
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Ditto on the Doc Rebuild charts. I'm redoing all of my 1971 wiring harnesses and while the charts that came with them from Lectric Limited aren't bad, the Doc Rebuild ones are as close to idiot proof as I believe is possible.
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