Hitman's Pontiac Trans Am Forum
Trans Am Information => Trans Am Tech => Electrical => Topic started by: Kevin on November 25, 2009, 10:08:22 PM
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Well a while ago, I had an issue with my car going dead after sitting a day or so, so I had a shop rewire my positive back to the starter and alternator. Well a couple of days ago I wander out into the garage to head to school, hop in my car, turn the key, dead... Tonight after having to charge up the battery all day to get her to start, my dad and I go for a cruise since he had just gotten in town for the Holiday. Well it starts up, but we have issues. We smell a weird smell coming from some place. Smells like something's burning, bad... We rush home and park it. Well now I'm really getting concerned because I know obviously this isn't safe. I'm honestly considering getting a new wiring harness for the whole dash and having the shop check it out again. I know the guy who had the car before me really screwed around with the wiring, and new I'm paying the price.. So I'm looking into this place http://www.wiringharness.com/ for a reproduction harness for the Bird. They make a perfect reproduction of all years makes and models so I think that's what I'm going to do. Not to mention, I think I should replace the harness to prevent any issue down the road from wiring. After all, I've sunk a lot of money into this thing it'd be a shame for it to just catch on fire. Something I've got to do, but let me know what you guys think. I think it's the best strategy for now. Get a new harness, have it wired up and have them fix my battery/dead problem. I'm getting sick and tired of this crap, and I think I'm about to do something about it.
I've got a lot on my plate right now, a 400 block in the machine shop, a transmission that slips and this electrical crap. One step at a time, safety first. This electrical crap first, then transmission then fun stuff like the engine. Gotta take it one step at a time, but money is a little scarce so getting a new harness, then having it installed will empty me out, but I figure I have to do it.
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I'd really try to get a handle on the existing issue - the electrical smell. If it were me I'd probably take a look at the new cable that was routed and check for signs of a burnt casing around the positive cable. That's the most recent change so I'd look there first.
As far as totally rewiring the vehicle, I'd defer to someone more knowledgeable on that - I've never attempted it. I have heard of painless during the commercials of the arm chair mechanic shows.
http://www.painlesswiring.com/
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As you know I don't have a lot of money, only 17 and going to college next year so it's one thing at a time. That electrical crap is going to get fixed Friday, I'm going to give them a call get my car there and show the receipt from the work they did a few months back. I'm considering heavily now getting a new harness all together before I do anything else... I've got to get priorities straight with this thing and I figure wiring smells and dead batteries consistently come first.
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Absolutely - get the mechanicals/electricals in order. It might be worth jacking up the car, putting a jack stand or two under the car and checking the routing of the cable to the solenoid on top of the starter. Make sure it hasn't been exposed to and exhaust manifold or other sources of heat.
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Check the field wire to the alternator. It runs from the alternator to the bulkhead connector and then to the ignition switch. It shares the slot with the thick orange wire. That brown wire has a tendency to burn. Then the alternator won't charge the battery. That's where I would start.
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Where's the bulkhead and the ignition switch?
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Don't worry about the bulkhead yet. The ignition switch is on the bottom of the column...passenger side. You'll see the thick orange wire....next to it, in the same slot is the brown wire with a white stripe....that's the field wire. Visually check it for burning both at the ignition switch and the alternator.
If it appears OK, you'll need to check the fusible links for signs of burning.
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Yeah I always see him posting in electrical so I figure he's the electrical guru around here.
By the way I'm gonna head out to the garage and post pictures for you guys in a sec
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Got distracted, my dad's cousin showed up with his 2010 Harley Softtail classic, with custom gold flake paint and airbrush. Anyway, I got distracted, had to go to my mom's family's thanksgiving, but I'll do it tomorrow. Sorry.
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Your battery going dead could also be due to a short somewhere or a light staying on all the time such as the glove box or trunk light. I've also heard of the dome light staying on ever so dimly because the ground wire for it was barely touching metal somewhere.
One way to trouble this this sort of thing if you don't have a meter or know how to use one is by disconnecting the positive battery cable and, with the car in a dark place, touch the pos cable to the pos post and see if there is a tiny blue spark just before the connector touches the battery post. Make sure you have disconnected any aftermarket items that may be drawing current all the time like a stereo. The factory clock always has power so you might want to unplug it.
The idea is basically that with everything that draws current ALL the time unplugged, you should NOT have any current flowing. If you see a spark, you've got current flowing somewhere. The next step is to remove all of the fuses in the fuse block and then touch the pos batt cable to the pos post again checking for spark. Reinstall a fuse and keep doing this until you find the circuit that sparks. Then check all the wiring on that circuit. This will at least narrow your search down to hopefully just one circuit. As you mentioned, someone has messed with the wiring in this car so you could possibly have more than one circuit with an issue. Be sure that your battery is well charged before doing this so that you get the best spark possible.
As far as the burning smell, I'd jack it up and check how the new cables were routed. They may just have routed one such that it is too close to the exhaust manifold or exh pipe. If that's the case, do as you mentioned and take it back to the place that did the work. They key here is knowing in advance what is wrong so they can't BS you and tell you it wasn't something they did wrong and charge you more money for "fixing" it.
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Yeah man I agree. I'm just so tired of stupid a$$ people who have no respect for these old cars and working on them. Pisses me off something awful. By the way on the fuse thing, we've tried that a while ago, and we had an issue with actually getting the fuses out. Our fuse puller just broke some plastic piece of crap and we haven't messed with that since.
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Ok here's the situation. Just went out and took the dash panel out, done. Checked everything, because I know how it all comes apart cluster wise,so I noticed that from the last time I messed around in there, I had left the dome light ground metal piece off from the chassis where I guess it grounds the switch. Well I undid the screws and fastened the ground metal back onto where it should be. Now when the door is closed and I use the dome light switch it actually works like it used to before I messed around. My battery's on the charger now so hopefully the problem is fixed.. Would that have accounted for the burning smell? Hopefully it's fixed, but we'll see.
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Are you talking about the headlight switch ground? That little metal tab?
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Yeah that.
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Make sure your grounds are clean and correct.
The engine should be grounded to the firewall,along with the battery grounded to the engine.
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Just went out to take the car out, well closed the door and even though I thought I had fixed the dome light situation, the dome light switch doesn't work even though it worked 35 minutes ago. Car wouldn't start even though charger was on it. Came back home smelled that burning smell again emanating from the car.
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I always disconnect the battery when charging it. Thought here is that you're charging the battery and feeding any shorted wire continual power. Given the burning smell, you might want to disconnect the terminals to the battery when charging it.
Is that just me or do other people do that as well?
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So I plan on dropping her off tomorrow to the shop. They were the ones who wired it up a few months ago, so if anything it's their job to fix.
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Will they warrantee the work?
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I paid about $900 for all that crap so I sure as hell hope so. We'll see. If they're open tomorrow, I'll be sure to let you guys know the situation asap.
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I'm thinking that if you have a wire shorting bad enough that you smell something burning, you'd be blowing fuses or would have already burnt the wire in two loosing a circuit completely, in which case, the smell would stop. Since it's recently had wiring work done to it, my money is on the new wiring being incorrectly routed too close to a header/exhaust manifold or pipe. You know what wires were replaced. Take 20 minutes and jack it up (use jack stands) and take a look at the wires that were recently replaced.
If you haven't gotten under the car to see if the burning smell is coming from them routing the wires incorrectly, you won't be able to claim or prove that it is something that they did wrong during the previous repair. And 9 times out of 10, if a shop can get away with saying "It's not something that we did.", they will. And then they'll happliy offer to fix the "new" problem for you ......for an addition charge of coarse. Be an informed customer so they don't screw you over. As I said, knowing what's wrong is a good thing but even if you're sure it's something they did, don't go in kicking and screaming. That will only cause them to go on the defensive and you won't get anywhere with them. If you do find something they did wrong, say something subtle like "I think this wire may have been routed too close to that pipe." This tells them you know what happened so they can't make up any excuses, yet gives them an opportunity to save face, do the right thing and take ownership for the mistake.
Your dome light is controlled by the door switches and the head light knob(by turning it all the way to the right I believe). Make sure the head light switch is NOT turned all the way to the right before troubleshooting the dome light circuit/problem. The courtesy lights under the dash (driver and pass side) are also on the same circuit. Do your courtsey lights work properly?
As far as charging a battery in a car, I don't disconnect the battery. If your battery charger won't charge your battery with the battery cable still connected, you've got a serious elcetrical problem such as something drawing a significant amount of current still being on ALL the time.
Is your battery old? You could just have a bad/old battery that won't hold a charge.
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No the battery's fine, a few month's old. Weird thing is that I actually fixed the grounding issue with the dome light switch, the metal tab, and then 30 minutes later I came out tried it again with the door closed and the dome light wouldn't turn on... Weird. Not only that but I've actually had smoke coming into the 'cock pit' that seemed to come from the dash a few days ago... Smelled terrible and I could see the smoke, so I ran her home FAST after that happened. The courtesy lights don't work by the way. Also, you're probably right about it being too close to the header because the other night when my dad and I ran it around and to the store, after he got out to go inside and I stayed in he said he could smell it, but I couldn't which makes me think that it's coming from down there, so that's definitely possible.
What baffles me is that i ran this car to school everyday after we had this redone and it gave me no issues until JUST recently and it's started going south from there. I'll take a look tomorrow morning when I get up under the car and let you guys know what I find. I just know I'm going to be a happy guy once I figure this out. Thanks 78Ta for anymore advice you can lend!
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Lots of people don't understand how the courtesy light circuit works. The orange wire with a black stripe is 12 volt and is ALWAYS hot. The white wire is ground. Now that ground wire, you have three of them one at each switch, grounds when the switch is activated. The switches are activated by opening either door, or turning the headlight switch knob. That white wire shouldn't be grounded any other way or the courtesy lights will stay on all the time. And, of course, the orange and black wire can't be grounded or you'll have a dead short.
You can visually look for a burnt wire, or you can pull all the fuses out of the fuse box and reinstall them one by one in a rational manner and measure the amps. But you need to understand how the fuse box works to do it correctly. And, then with all the fuses in, activate things...like the rear window defogger and the A/C, courtesy light etc. It's a tough little puzzle.
If you just had wiring done, they probably made a mistake with one wire. That's all it takes. I don't think I would trust a shop to do wiring in one of these cars. They probably didn't look at a wiring diagram. Which means they may have guessed as some of the connections.
At this point, you may have more luck with buying a used IP harness on ebay and installing it. It's really plug and play. But you'd have to study the schematic and trace the wires to make sure they're all there and splice any problem areas.
Not knowing exactly what was done makes it extremely difficult for us to diagnose.
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Going back to the shop tomorrow. They weren't open Saturday, so my dad and I going out there tomorrow morning before I have to be at school. Anyway wish me luck. :D
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Also, as far as the dash harness I'm looking into, would you guys recommend I get a new dash harness to avoid any more issues or would you just wait it out? I need advice since I don't know if the $625 is worth it for me. I know it would be ideal to redo the wiring, but $625 is a lot to me, and I just need to know if I should do it or not.. I plan on putting in an aftermarket instrument panel http://www.covansthunderroad.com/products/sfID1/24/sfID2/17/sfID3/20 eventually with aftermarket gauges and cd player, and I'm just really concerned about whether or not I should have the dash rewired with a new harness before I explore these options and upgrades. I mean to me 30 year old wires in a car that I drive daily is certainly a MAJOR concern to me, but I need to hear advice from the professionals.
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Before I would shell out money for a new harness, I would isolate the problem. If your harness is severely hacked up, I would look at buying a used harness. Something you can put on a workbench along with a wiring diagram and study each circuit and check the integrity of the wires. That's how you learn. Study. Learn what each wire is for. Get to know the colors and what they mean. That's what I did. I began to label each wire. Never finished all the labeling, but I gained a pretty good understanding of how everything works.
In your specific case, I would do an amp check on the system. If you can't do it an auto electrical shop can. Like I said above, you take out all the fuses and reinsert them in a logical manner and check the draw on the battery. Once all the fuses are in, you begin activating the accessories and checking the draw.
There's probably something very simple wrong. It's just a matter of finding it. And, the problem may not be the harness. It could be something else and your harness is taking a beating because of it.
One question for you. You said the dome light came on for a short time with the headlight switch but now the dome light can no longer be illuminated by the headlight switch. Does the dome light come on when you open the door? If so, you might simply have a bad headlight switch.
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Doesn't come on at all. Thought I'd fixed it for a second but now it's messed up for some reason.. Cars in the shop. I'm at school using iPhone,
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He said I need to have my alternator rebuilt or get a new one before he can work on it.... he says it's failing internally and he can't work on the car until he actually has voltage...
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An internal alternator failure could be your burning smell but probably not the cause of the rest
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He wants $160 to rebuild alternator.. Not doing that. Going to get my own brand new for cheaper than that...
Also what's your guys experience with the Ron Francis kit as opposed to the Painless or M and H kits?
This Ron Francis online store seems really nice. I sent them an email with all I need to do, and hopefully they can help me out as far as fixing my wiring situation. Considering a lot of other things that they do offer. Seems pretty nice.
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I hope you can get the Problem tracked down...You will be able to concentrate on your studies with less interuption
keep us posted
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He wants $160 to rebuild alternator.. Not doing that. Going to get my own brand new for cheaper than that...
Also what's your guys experience with the Ron Francis kit as opposed to the Painless or M and H kits?
This Ron Francis online store seems really nice. I sent them an email with all I need to do, and hopefully they can help me out as far as fixing my wiring situation. Considering a lot of other things that they do offer. Seems pretty nice.
I bought a 140A alt for less than that and installed it myself. It allows future upgrades to my stereo system - running an aftermarket headunit and 600W 4 channel amp right now with plans to add a sub & amp later. For as simple a fix as this is, I'd do it myself.
I have no experience with Ron Francis. A good website does not make a good product or customer service. You can have a stellar website presence and an abomination of a product. I'd stick with M&H as its truely a drop in replacement - I have all the underhood harnesses they offer installed on my Y88 and will be going back to them when I am at that point on the 80 firebird. I think I had all the harnesses swapped under the hood in under 2 hours - yes its that simple and the first time I had ever done anything like that.
As for Painless - its not as "painless" as they make it out to be if you haven't done wiring before. Its a generic kit you get to terminate yourself so I'd stear you away from that product until you have a few wiring projects under your belt.
Its ultimately your choice though where you spend your $$. I remember being in college and scrimping for cash so I hear you on the cost savings...but what does your lost time arguing with customer service/tech support amount to??
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I'll copy and paste my email and rons response when I get home. Using iPhone now.
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"Our EXPRESS wiring is our most popular model for your application. The EXPRESS is a very small fuse panel and the part number for the complete wiring system is XP-768. It has all of the wiring needed to pass most state inspections, fire the engine, gauges, third brake lights, room for A/C. P/Ws. P/Ls. Stereo Radio memory for digital systems and all the toys you might want to add and then some. We can usually ship in a couple days. I am here if you have questions and I try to reply quickly. This is a custom harness and uses far better materials and has a different appearance to the stock spaghetti.
EXPRESS Series
WE CAN BUILD ANY COMBINATIONS OF THE COMPONENTS MENTIONED BELOW and MORE!
Small and Big V8 engines
Alternator types: GM Built in regulator or, One wire
Distributor: Points, HEI, MSD, Aftermarket
Connectors for stock ignition switches or our IS-02 dash switch, GM column mounted
Gauges: Stock clusters or any Aftermarket.
Turn signal switches: Stock columns, GM (includes 3 7/8 &4 1/4 inch connectors) aftermarket models also
"New" GM head light switch provided.
All fuse box connections for fuel injection GM or aftermarket
"New Power Junction block provided. Allows multiple battery feed
connections to be made without over loading the starter solenoid stud.
Includes back-up and side marker light wiring.
Electric Cooling Fan wiring included.
XP-768......$429.95"
"REPLY
The flicker is the circuit breaker tripping due to an over load. Aftermarket headlight bulbs require a relay on them Our HR-56 (single relay) or HR-58 (twin relays) are best.
By the way, I plan on using an aftermarket Alpine stereo soon, so I need my harness to work with that as well. Also, does your harness actually cover everything?
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There is always something that is not covered so I cannot answer that with a yes and be sure without inspecting your car. If you have motorized headlight covers, no they re not included. Yes, it will wire a car so you can drive down the road. and your lights work.
I also plan on installing a kill switch, an aftermarket alarm system and new aftermarket in dash gauges for my car sometime in the future, so I need a good setup for those as well. My car has power windows, pulse wipers, originally had a/c but no longer in car, a heater, blower motor, Olds 350, but plan on getting a pontiac 400.
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Our EXPRESS wiring will work great. Order the optional dash gauge wiring kit so the aftermarket gauges will be easier to install.
Ive got a dome light,
REPLY
See our EX-7 and EX-9 interior light wiring kits
4 4x6 angel eye headlights that use the three prong adapter instead of my stock two prong socket.
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Dual headlight wiring and I suggest the HR-58 relay system
I also have a dimmer switch on the floor for headlight hi/lo functionality.
REPLY
Standard
Id like to install an under hood light as well as a trunk light.
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See our TS-15 automatic light for both ends of the car.
"
http://www.hotrodhotline.com/pr/2009/09ronfrancismay2/
http://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AC-66
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i would just order a stock replacement ! then all you have to do is plug them in and go
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Yeah except with this there are way more features it seems but i dont know
The more I think about it the more I think I'll go M and H...
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With the Ron Francis system you'll basically be tossing out the entire wiring harness for the car and starting from scratch. If that's something that you need or appeals to you AND you feel you have the necessary electronic skills for troubleshooting the wiring then by all means go for it.
Going off your other posts, I'd still stay clear of this system. I'd save the $$ and drop in a M&H harness as your funds allowed. That's how I did it....purchased 1 harness at a time.
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With the Ron Francis system you'll basically be tossing out the entire wiring harness for the car and starting from scratch. If that's something that you need or appeals to you AND you feel you have the necessary electronic skills for troubleshooting the wiring then by all means go for it.
Going off your other posts, I'd still stay clear of this system. I'd save the $$ and drop in a M&H harness as your funds allowed. That's how I did it....purchased 1 harness at a time.
Yeah I understand. When they say engine harness do they mean battery cables, starter, alternator, a/c, heater, everything, blower motor or what?
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flip through a few pages.
http://www.yearone.com/pco/4_0407/t1.asp?page=112
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Thanks.
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Pictures, Yes I know its dirty, because I've yet to spend money on the engine compartment. Will be soon though.
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0378.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0379.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0380.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0381.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0382.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0383.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0384.jpg)
That hard wire that runs over the intake manifold is for the aftermarket oil pressure gauge by the way. Seems weird to run something like that over the manifold, but I dont know anything about this stuff so..
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0385.jpg)
This is the alternator that WAS in my car
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0390.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0386.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0387.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0388.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0389.jpg)
Let me know what you guys think that smell could be. Also, if I should look into a new harness or not for the engine.. By the way, I'm probably going to build a Pontiac 400 after all this crap is said and done, so is it possible to get an Olds 350 Harness and later use it again for the Pontiac 400?
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All your wires have been rigged together.
Buy replacement harness's and get the wires to be one piece.
You cant splice all those wires together and not expect problems when they get hot or wet.
you'll need an electrician to check resistance on every circuit if you want to fix your problem.
I would buy a complete set of wires and rewire everything.
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What about the Olds 350 to Pontiac 400 question I mentioned in my last post at the end after the pictures?
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The basic wiring would be the same,except some branches may be longer or shorter depending on where the temperature sender,oil pressure gauge etc are located.
The wires should be one piece from the fuse block to the final connection.
Wires can run together as long as they are the same thickness,and don't pull too much power from the fuse block.
If you try to splice in gauges to a higher gauge wire,like a battery connection for your stereo amp,your going to overload the gauge and burn something up.
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When you say run together, you mean, just grouped together in a loom or something like that?
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If you add items to the original wiring harness,you can splice into another wire as long as the thickness of wire is the same,and you don't pull too much power from the fuse block.
Looks like someone spliced some wires directly from the battery,with no fuse to protect the circuit.
Also looks like all the grounds run together.
I'm guessing the stereo installer added all those wires.
It's hard to tell with all the tape,which usually hides the errors.
Separating the grounds and circuits from each other and fusing them would make your life easier.
With everything running off the battery,probably all the circuits are overloaded.
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The electrical taped wiring was done by the shop by the way.. Also there is a fuse that's right near the battery.
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So i should just get the 400 harness so that I can use it for later? It wont matter will it? I think everything's in the same place as the 350 R/400 so does it matter that much?
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Holy cow Kevin! Who ever did that to your car should be shot...well maybe not shot but definitely beaten...if they think they're pros. I knew it would be bad from your description last night but holy (expletive)! What moron adds 14-18g wire as a primary ground??? That's just asking for trouble.
Good news is that this can be fixed for little cost (well its all relative right?). Definitely something you/we straighten out though.
How much of this did you want to work through on my lunch? I only have an hour and it looks like you have a couple days worth of work tracing wiring to see what it runs to. I wouldn't worry about the extra wiring running to the ground terminal on the battery (to the water neck) - that's a very easy fix to upgrade to something much more substantial.
Text me what your game plan is...may take me a little to respond as I am working but I'll get back to you as I promised.
- Brian
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I don't know honestly what we're going to do, but we'll do what we can right.
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I ordered both harnesses for my car, engine and forward lamp. They are going to modify the forward lamp to accommodate the aftermarket headlight needs that I have, so that's good. Going to take 10 weeks to make it all though so I've got some time to wait on it all, but man will it be worth it!
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Who did you decide to order from?
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M and H
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Right on...It will give piece of mind once it's changed out and the bugs are worked out
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Yep Cant wait!!
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All of this stuff sounds like it's the
joys pains of owning an older car. I kind of know how you feel because I've gone through this with a Camaro, and it's not fun but eventually you will look back on this and laugh about all of the trouble that the car put you through but you still loved it anyway... it's funny how we love our cars regardless if they're a rust bucket or in your case a real beauty
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The other thing this will do is make you a stronger person ... and help with fixing cars, or for that matter, many other things later on in life. That will save you thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands, my friend. Plug away and don't be scared ...
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Yeah I've got Brian c all you guys and my uncles going to help me with my dad so I figure we can do it
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Just gotta get it back to basics and then we can add on the other electrical stuff like the aftermarket radio and the high intensity headlights. We'll just do one thing at a time and I'm sure we'll have it up and running (with no electrical fires) in no time.
Did you get a chance to jack the car up and look at the + battery cable yet to see if it was chafing on anything?? And how did you make out with Autozone testing the battery and alt??
Ohh and I'll get you those photos probably tomorrow. GF wants to see the car and she'll be at the house tomorrow so she can be put to work uncovering it :) Gotta break her in sometime! ;D
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Battery is fine, but alternator is bad.Don't have a jack actually, but do have jackstands... Makes sense right? Anyway, I'm going to order new cables too while I'm at it. I mean, I might as well at this point. They make them to factory spec too, the screw in type, so I'm going to be getting those as well. They said 8 to 10 weeks, but hopefully it will be shorter time than that...
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You need a good floor jack for Christmas.
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I need a lot of things for Christmas.
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Good news on the battery. Bad about the alt but with what you're planning a nice 140A alt will be a good addition to the car.
You can get battery cables at Napa, Autozone, etc. No need to pay a fortune for battery cables from M&H or anywhere else.
Do you have a multimeter? If not, I'd suggest watching the Harbor Freight sales and pick up one. Usually they're under $10 and you'll need it for tracing shorts and getting voltage readings.
Jack wise you can get a trolley jack from Craftsman (usually under $40 on sale). It'll do what you need to do until you can afford a nice floor model jack. What's nice about the trolley jacks is they fit in your trunk so no worry about tearing the bumper with the GM bumper jack :)
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How about this one http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFF-7140FBULL/
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Well it will work if you want it powder coated but since you're on a budget I'd recommend this one instead:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-810350/
A little cheaper, still puts out the same amps, and is specific to your application. It won't be 1 wire but that won't matter as it will appear stock for car show use :)
I have both Jegs and Summit catalogs at home and I'll see what else I can dig up...the above is just a quick search.
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Here's another I found on ebay that might even be local to you:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HIGH-OUTPUT-CHEVY-ONE-1-WIRE-ALTERNATOR-140-AMP-65-85_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem53de84f331QQitemZ360215540529QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
And you might want to do a Yellow Pages search to see who can rebuild an alt with upgraded internals. Might even be cheaper than buying new.
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Going with this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/POWDER-COATED-CHEVY-ALTERNATOR-HIGH-AMP-OUTPUT-65-85_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5637296f6bQQitemZ370292649835QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
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What on earth are you doing? Go to the salvage yard and get a thirty dollar alternator then get it checked if its bad the salvage yard will give you another one?
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Amtrak,
He's going to be running a high powered stereo setup in the future so a high powered alt is a requirement.
Otherwise I'd agree with getting one from a junkyard.
**And I talked him out of ordering one with powder coating - waste of money unless you're doing a show car. :)
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Also I'm not going to just grab a used out either, for all this money I'm spending I'm going to do it right so I don't have any more electrical fires or whatever.. What's the point in spending $430 alone on a harness if all that's going to happen is the alternator is going to go bad because it's old and crapped out.
Status:
Pickup - On Time
Scheduled Delivery Date:
12/15/2009
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Yeah used parts are good for certain things but not rotating parts like alts, waterpumps, fuel pumps, oil pumps, etc.
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X2
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Pretty eager for it to get here.
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I wish you luck with this project. One thing though that I have been meaning to ask you for a long time now.
What in the crap does your screen name stand for?
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A guitarist I used to Like Trey Anastasio, played for Phish. I liked them a few years ago, and then I got tired of the crowd that associates themselves with them, and then went back to my musical roots. Zeppellin, Hendrix, The Who, CCR, Stones, Then moved onto Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, A little Tool, Bush, a lot of early nineties bands, but I also like Def Leppard, Metallica. Any band that really rocks. I'm not into jam band crap any more. Lost interest in it, no real heavy rock to it, just fruity crap. So Yeah, I've used that name a lot on Email Addresses, Online Game names and other stuff for a long time, so I've gotten used to using it, never changed it.
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I was thinking that it was for a Formula One driver namded Anastasio. Wasn't there an Anastasio Fitipaldy or something like that?
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No idea haha.
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Just so you guys know, I'm planning on this http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KBT-30N
and
http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KBT-30P
along with
http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KNF-23
for distributing three different fused circuits throughout the car for when I do an amp/sub setup like Brian C is doing. Not to mention, I may work on getting my power windows to work better this way as well. Not sure though. But these are things I'm going to order soon. I didn't get a chance to go out and measure today Brian because of the ACT (Which I dont know why I took considering I've already gotten into the schools I applied to) but tomorrow I will go out tomorrow and look for possible mounting locations and measurements for the headlight issue.. Also, I want to note that all of my headlights use the three prongs, while it seems that two of the sockets are three prong acceptors. and two are two prong acceptors. What adjustments need to be made to my system to accommodate this?
Future plans, full HID setup which will include all the necessary ballasts/bulbs to completely install HID in my system. Trying to figure out how I will do this, but I definitely have an idea. I will need two kits. One for the High Beam and One for the Low Beam. The High beams run off of two ballasts, one for the left and one for the right. The low beams also will run off two ballasts... Now, I'm going to have to do two kits because most cars these days don't use different housings for the high/low function since they're all in one housing for each side. gotta figure some things out tomorrow. I'll take pictures of the halo/angel eye setup along with the two/three prong receptor issue as well...
Also planning on LED's for the side marker lights and front marker lights (the ones below the headlights). Gotta get the information from the sylvania website and figure that out. But for now, it's all about waiting on the engine/forward lamp harness, and that alternator I ordered...
Will keep you posted.
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I was thinking that it was for a Formula One driver namded Anastasio. Wasn't there an Anastasio Fitipaldy or something like that?
I think that was Emerson Fitapaldi.
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Kevin....the 2 prongs vs 3 prongs is meant to idiot proof the car so you can't install a high beam lightbulb in a low beam mounting place. Yes they build better idiots each and every day but its hard to mess that up. I'm sure someone somewhere has managed it, after all that's why we have Darwin Awards :)
How to get around it though....let me look at my wiring harness and see what I can trace around. Or better yet, take a look at yours and see what you can figure out :) It'll give you an idea on tracing circuits for other wiring projects you'll be handling along with the gratification that you figured it out before I did.
I'm laying down the gauntlet...post up your answer before I can. Surely you can beat this 35yr old!
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Halo Hook Up Pictures
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0414.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0415.jpg)
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Kevin,
My best advice....Get the car running in a stock configuration THEN add in the aftermarket lights and stereo. You'll thank yourself later. Nothing like trying to chase a problem down caused by adding additional circuits in....it's the leading cause of premature baldness in males!
That being said.....
Do you have a wiring diagram for the aftermarket lights? That will tell you where to hook up the wires. From what I found here, http://reviews.ebay.com/Halo-Ring-Angel-Eye-Headlights-Proper-Installation_W0QQugidZ10000000001633973, you'll need to tap into the front marker light harness for the turn signal/parking lamp illumination. I have no idea what wires go where so you'll need a test light and the wiring diagram for the aftermarket lights to marry the two together.
As for the 2 prongs vs 3 prongs....do all of your headlights work now? If not, then some moron installed the wrong light bulbs in the wrong opening. The 3 prongs are your low beams and the 2 prongs are the high beams. All 4 headlights should be on when the high beams are activated. If they do work, you'll just need to migrate the changes over to the new harness.
Best I can tell you based off the photos and info you've given me. And unfortunately, this is one you're going to have to figure out on your own.
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Well as far as the headlights, when I put the low beams on, they come on, then I switch to high beams, the highs come on, but the lows go off, not sure how to fix that. However, they do flicker after ten minutes, I think because I dont have relays in there to provide the extra juice.
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Well then you've got some gremlins putting electrons and photons where they desire to be. In other words, I have no clue how your 3 prong headlights are working hooked up to 2 prong connectors. Good luck figuring that one out.
You NEED the correct wiring diagram for these headlights for anyone to help you further on that mess.
I can help you with stock...change out the bulbs to the right ones :)
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Right, so all I need to fix this situation for the hi/low is to change the two center bulbs that are 3 prong and put in two bulbs that are 2 prong? I'm guessing that's what we're getting at here. The center headlights are the hi's, correct?
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Turns out the two center bulbs are h7 thus two prongs and the outer ones are h4 and are three prongs. I was running h4 in the two centers which obviously won't work
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Cool. One problem down right?
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Yeah, I looked around to figure that out haha. Also, I asked for those two battery post terminal distributors for Christmas to help keep me from having to drop as much money for doing this project.. Hopefully too I'll get that stereo with the two 6x9's, but of course the engine compartment comes first.
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Making Headway, got my alternator today. Didn't even order the chrome one, but they sent this one to me, but I'm not complaining... Besides, the chrome one costs more, but I paid for the plain jane one, so I came out on top I figure. :P
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/anastasiofan92/Electrical%20Shit/IMG_0424.jpg)
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Actually on the headlight situation I think the center hi beams are really H1 bulbs and housings after I posted here
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=253145
Apparently HID conversions are a bad idea..
Looking into Hellla/Cibie/Bosch at the moment for 4x6 lamps.
All right so I'm getting the Hella 4x6 H4's and 4x6 H1's. They both require a wiring adapter because the stock layout doesn't work with the new H4/H1 open beam lamps. Haven't ordered yet, but apparently Hellas are the best you can get for these cars.