Sparks!!!!! I was working on the Buick about 10 minutes ago (installing a fan) when I heard and saw sparks. I have two questions 1) Is the mass of wires (and tape) running along the intake manifold on the passenger side the wiring harness? 2) If question 1 is YES Where can you buy wiring harness. Its a 73 455 motor in a 70 Skylark. Yes I disconnected the battery once I say the sparks Take it easy on me with the terminology. Im new to this stuff.
Yes, that's the main engine harness. All the connections for the 455's are pretty much the same as the 350's, just the run to the starter is a little longer I believe. Try M&H for a new harness. Very nice quality and service. They make the harnesses Year-one sells.
Thanks I will give them a call in the AM. I teach 8th grade science this car stuff is like a big science fair project. My masters project should have been applying the scientific method to lower your ET.
Half the fun of ownership is in the fixing. The main engine harness of my car had been "creatively engineered" by a previous owner when they hacked in the 455. Some of the stuff we found when we removed all the tape was positively scary. :eek2:
Previous owner Maybe both of are cars had the same owner? If I see him again I'll ask if he A)lived in Newhampsire or B) is a frustrated elecrical engineer.
English I used the wrong are in my letter our not are and its New Hampshire. Just in case the the Language arts police are out there or is it their ..... forget it.
I had my harness apart a couple of times. Had a small engine fire in about 83, and just cobbled it back together at the time to get it back on the road. Then in 93 I did a 'resto' of the wiring while the engine was out for a rebuild. The thing you saw that made you go hmmmm was probably the 'Batt' wire. There are four or five 12 awg wires that go into a big bare metal splice, that is then wrapped in cloth tape. This is about midway along the intake. Wire from the alternator, and the fusable link at the starter are on one side of the splice. Other side of the splice has a wire that runs to the bulkhead connector, and a wire to the blower. All these wires are big and red. There might be more, I'm doing this from memory without a chassis manual wiring diagram in front of me. Oh yeah, there is another big red hot wire coming out of this splice for the voltage regulator. Anyway, back to the resto, the correct connector ends are available at NAPA or other "expensive" auto parts stores. Schucks/Checker/Kragen and Autozone don't have 'em. Once the harness is off the car, it's pretty straightforward to unwrap it, and run new wires as needed, correct length, color and connector ends. For a lot less than buying one. It's also a way to get your oil, temp, and tach wires 'engineered' into the harness, as well as HEI conversion or one-wire alternator, or anything else you might want to change.
