I'll probably making this a much longer post... but I gotta start somewhere. My daughter and I are renovating (not restoring) a 1984 Corvette. Not sure how best to describe it, but any wires that ran below the engine are cooked to a crisp.

This bundle of wires connects to the starter... and runs up against the main positive battery cable on the positive post on the starter, etc.

As you can see... everything past the fusible links is basically fried... like, the wires are completely stripped from fire or... who knows what.

What is the best way to repair this? If the wires weren't damaged "at" the fusible link, I'd repair it... but I'm thinking I may need to actually just cut out the fusible link... any thoughts? Is it OK if I bypass the fusible link? In all the years I've owned 80s GM cars, I've never had one go bad...





Also, pay no mind to the ugly green valve covers... just using that to cover the rocker arms while we painted the motor. We have a nicer set that's been repainted in the correct color.


Thanks!!!

Todd

 

Don't bypass it. You can buy replacement fusible links.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking... ok, I'll do that. What a ****-show it is.

... the other end, by where the battery goes, is even worse!

 

Yeah, just repair the fusible links.

I wonder why so many are fried, though.

What doesn't work on the car?

With all of those links fried, something surely isn't working.

Not sure where you'd find/get those same exact fusible links from, though, if at all.


Some relevant reading on the topic...

https://www.wiringdepot.com/jt-t-tec...Link-Wire-FAQs

 

There are companies that sell new wiring harnesses you can replace the originals with. Do some research on the web or reach out to the Corvette Museum and ask them for assistance in locating them.

 

Almost all of the wiring... below say... the cyl head... is totally fried on both sides of the car.

The previous owner did some wild stuff too. But like the oil temperature sending unit, the knock sensor harness, the oxygen sensor harness, and the temperature fan switch harness... the harness is totally stripped and bare... but everything worked.

It looks as though there was a fire. The car only had 52k miles on it, but the previous owner installed a bunch of stuff... like a G-force meter, and a 12-disc CD changer in one of the compartments... which completely melted. But before we started tearing the car down to rebuild it... it was running and driving... though with a pretty bad miss, and a check engine light (MAP and ESC spark advance module).

Thanks for the link. I'll check out the rating on the fusible links that are there (I can see most of them, but I think one is really damaged), and I'll replace them.

 

Hi, so, I'm looking to replace those, but wanted to ask a couple of questions... hope you guys know.

The fusible links there, I always assumed the black "nut" thing on there was the fusible link. Am I to understand that the parts that are totally fried were in fact, the actual fusible link? Meaning... the wire did what it was supposed to?

On what might not work... so, I only drove the car around a little bit because it drove so poorly. First, it wouldn't start, so we replaced the fuel pump, and all the rubber lines all the way to the engine, plus the fuel filter. Then it started, but would die, so we rebuilt the TBIs. Then it wound run well, but it couldn't stop. So, we fixed that, replaced the brake booster and master cyl and bled the front brakes), and then it still had a misfire. I could drive and accelerate, but you know... just not a good idea to drive it around. Tires shot, etc.

The radio worked (though most of the speakers didn't), and the gauge cluster worked (half the bulbs were burnt out), but all the sensors were working. I honestly don't know what wasn't working. A/C didn't work, but there was no freon in it and the compressor ate itself decades ago I'm sure.

But... I'm not kidding when I say a lot of the wiring looks like that. The O2 sensor, the oil temperature sensor end, all that stuff looks like that too... completely stripped off.

EDIT, sorry... I completely forgot the whole point of me posting and asking a question here. Ok, I looked at all three wires, two of them say "16" and one of them says "12." Does this refer to the gauge of the wire? The 16 is larger than the 12, so that doesn't make any sense to me.

On the "flip side" of the battery cable (where it actually attaches to the battery), there are two other fusible links. They seem to be mostly ok, but there was a total mess of wires. I'm not really sure what the previous owner did, but all the connectors were melted, so he took another piece of red wire and wrapped them all together to complete the circuit... basically a 12-volt free-for-all.

I'm putting everything back to how it was...

 

You can also use inline fuses to replace the fusible links. I found a conversion chart on the net somewhere for relating standard blade fuses to fusible links when I was rebuilding the wiring on the 12v spider thing near the battery.

 

The best thing to do is to repair all of the fried wirng before even attempting to repair/replace anything else.

Those fusible links are important.

You could use s fuse, as was mentioned if you ewanted to go that route.

The correct size fusible links for specific wire gauges are referenced in that previous link I posted up there some place.

 

Thanks Natty, but I wanted to make sure my question was understood. Is the block nodule on the wire the actual fusible link, or is the wire leading UP to it... the actual fusible link? I was looking at some of the pages and it gave me the impression that the black cyl on the wire is actually just the connection between the normal wire, and the fusible link wire... and that essentially, the wire itself is the fusible link.

I say that because when I look at replacement fusible link wiring, it's literally just a wire.

 

Ok, I did a bit more searching... it appears as though the black cyl on the GM wiring is NOT the fusible link, that's just the plastic cover for the mating between the fusible link and the normal wiring.



What this tells me is that in fact those wires I'm replacing... the fusible link actually failed... so I can cut open the little black cyls, and re-use them (if I wanted to), but all that I'm replacing is the wire that's shot (as in, that's the reason why it's shot).

There was a fire in the back of the Corvette... the previous owner installed a 12-disc CD changer, and it appears as though he must of grounded it out... I'm guessing that's why so much of the wiring is torched.

 

Ok, so... I ordered a bunch of stuff. Long and short... the fusible link was confusing to me... probably easiest if I put it into bullet form, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who was confused by this:

- In my picture above, the fusible link is NOT the black cylinder, it is in fact the wire going from the cylinder to the connector.
- In my picture above... the fusible link apparently did its job... the wire burned away, though not enough to the point where it severed the connection.
- Inside the GM black cylinder, there is an AMZ fusible link connector that attaches the normal wiring harness to the fusible link portion. The black cylinder is there to cover the non-insulated crush connector, and to provide information on the type of fusible link gauge.

None of the articles really made that clear, but the image I posted above (from AutoZone) actually made it make sense. I think "fusible link" and I assume there's some kind of fuse, not realizing it's actually the wire itself.

I plan to cut open the little black cylinder (at least one half) and see if I can re-use it, simply because I'd like to try to keep it original. I bought the proper gauge fusible link wiring off Amazon, a bunch of connectors (non-shielded) and a professional crimping tool. I'm going to try to replicate exactly what's there now, but with newer wiring. I may even paint the wires red if I can find flexible heat-resistant paint... because I'm OCD like that... haha...


Thanks for the info guys!

 

Maybe install red heat shrink tubing on them.

Report back on how all went; good luck with it.

 

Will do, and that's a good idea! The replacement for the 12 gage was blue, so I'll keep that, but the one for the 16 gage was black... which is too much like ground, so I'll definitely do it to that one.

 

I cut apart some wiring from a spare Corvette that I was allowed to strip. It's an 85, but has a solid good positive battery cable. I took some of the wiring from it and cleaned it up.



Appears to be exactly the same, so I cut it off and re-attached it to my wiring harness.




I used some crimpers, and then also covered it with some heat shrink.

This is the OTHER side of the engine compartment, where the battery is... it looked so bad, I can't even tell you. I've been repairing that side first, and then I'll repair the side that goes to the starter. But, it's a start...