77 several goofy things

[Low75]

That mostly looks/sounds correct to me. All of the red wires(battery power) come together at that soldered junction and then the one with the fusible link should be going to the big post on the starter. The big black wire in your starter picture should also be connected to the big post on the starter and up to the positive post on the battery.

There are only 3 posts on the starter, so the best way to figure out the mystery wire is to remove the starter and check it out. If you say the mystery wire is part of those red wires(battery power) then it should be on the big post; if it's on either of the 2 small posts then it's wrong.

[Scottm]

Actually the middle wire goes to the ac system.

I work with metal so I will cut a patch and drill a hole for the new wires to go through.

If I had the money I would have gone with the higher end wire kits.

[Scottm]

While the dash is out, I decided to undo some of the PO's black rattle can job. Gave my 13 year old daughter a tiny bottle of model car chrome bumper paint and she repainted all the chrome dash lines and around the AC vents. Needs another coat. Anyone notice the different wood grains?


The ac vents were chrome less. I know they make a good chrome paint but for now i just sanded and primed and painted silver and clearcoat.
Also removed all the rust from the braces behind the dash and primed and painted. Blue was laying around so I used it.


Got a piece of 1/8 in thick steel and cut the hole for the grommet/wires. It's being primed and painted now. I will use some sealing ribbon between the plate and fire wall to prevent leaks.

Thanks for everyone's input. I have a notebook and a camera full of notes and lots of e-mails from Gilby.

[Scottm]

Got some wiring done today. I just noticed frost on the roof of the cab when I looked up so I decided to call it quits.
3 questions for now.
I was planning on running the alt/batt wire back to the 5 point junction. The kit includes an alt/batt wire to go directly to the batt. Is there a difference safety or benefit wise?

Also Where does the pink coil wire attach under the dist? I can't find it even with a mirror.

there is a tan wire that goes to the brake pressure safety swich on the metering valve. The harness sales person says no one uses that any more so it's not included in the kit.
Is this an important part they forgot? Solutions?

Thanks.

[Low75]

1 - The Alt/Batt wire is commonly run from Alt-to-Starter along with the one main Batt wire from the fuse box. From my experience, there shouldn't be a 5-point junction in the engine compartment like your original wiring; all of the other Batt wires should already be spliced in at various other points in the harness near the fuse box.

2 - Check again at the driver side of your distributor cap. There should be a connection block there and a connector with 3 wires(running to the distributor base). In front of that connector should be two terminals hidden up in the connection block, you should be able to find them by the two nubs on the outside that the connectors clip onto. The one on the right is for the Coil wire and the one on the left is for the Tach(optional) wire.

3 - The tan brake pressure warning wire is not required but it is fairly important. If the wiring is not included in your new harness then you could easily reuse it from your old harness or rewire it yourself with new 16ga wire. It's a simple indicator; the wire runs from the metering/proportioning valve, through the firewall, to a connector that plugs into the top-rear of the emergency brake, then splits off and runs up to the brake warning indicator light in the dash.

Hope that helps.

[Beepster]

Bryan, a while back, I talked to Donnie at AAW, and he said they didn't make wiring kits for Elkys. OR, maybe it was just 5th gen that they don't. You own a '59, and I know they make those. Scott has a 4th gen, and I don't know about that one. I DO know that AAW is THE BEST going, and you also pay for it. I have an AAW in my '56 BelAir, and it's fantastic. Info about every 6-8 inches as to what it connects to. NO mistakes, unless you can't read!!

[Scottm]

Once again, Thanks everyone for the very useful help. Here's my completed firewall patch

Keyser sent me a pic of his distributor and I found the plug for the pink coil wire. Got to use my entending mirror

Waiting on a junction block from summit racing to hook up the batt wires and ac wire. The small red wire on the starter was the ignition wire which is purple on the Rebel harness. Had to take off the passeneger wheel and use the mirror and a light to get a 5/16 socket on the nut and switch the wires out. That completes the engine wiring, hope to do front end lights this weekend and maybe interior stuff like ignition, winshield wipers.
I spend hours on the livingroom floor with the original harness, manuals and instructions.

Bought a heavy set of crimpers for about $30. Much better than my $10 orange handled radioshack smooshers. Bought a heat gun for the shrink tubes and insulated all weather shinking terminals.

Thanks again to everyone.

[steelybill]

It sounds like you have it figured out & under control

[Scottm]

Just taking my time, but wish I had more sun light to work with. Also just have to remember one wire at a time and walk away when i get frustrated.
Here are the helpful instructions from Rebel for the engine compartment.


Here is the junction block wired up but not attached to the firewall yet.

I went ahead and bought a benzomatic butane soldering torch and a painters heat gun at lowes. Both good investments. I decided to solder rather than crimp upon the advice i read here on the site.
The gree wire is a linkable fuse I got from autozone. after i intsalled it, I realized I could have cut the long fuseable link that came with the kit and used half at the starter/batt connection and one for the power wire that links all the wires to the fuse box.

I hope to hotwire it in a day or two just so i can hear it run and get some fuel moving through the lines so it doesn't get stale.
I'll run the head lights next and try to figure out the windshiled wiper system. I'll use the original harness for the wipers.
Thanks again for all the input. I do listen.

[Scottm]

Earlier I mentioned the "Tailgate Ajar" lamp being on when the head lights are on.
Now that I have the dash apart, I found a grey wire with a bulb in it and the only logical opening in the dash panel for it was the opening for the TA spot.
Doing my rewiring I learned the grey wire with bulbs are for the stock radio but I still couldn't figure what the other one was for.
This morning I decided to replace the cracked plastic speedo lense and noticed this:

I got my flash light and put it benind this and realized the grey wire with bulb was to light up the headlight and winshield wiper name plates.

Whatever held the bulb and socket into place has obviously melted and broken. The foam has melted too. The PO just stuck the socket in the next obvious place which was the TA opening.
Any Ideas on how to rig something to hold the light or should I just go without. I bought a new set of dash top gauges to replace the idiot lights and was planning on using the grey wire to power the lights in the gauges.

[HKDUP87]

I have my amp wired with a cable maybe #6 or 4 wire directly to my battery.

[Low75]

I don't see anything particularly wrong in those pictures. That melted and broken tab sticking out is not what held the bulb, I believe it was just a guide for positioning the "name plate" lens and foam before they were secured in place.

The bulb/socket is to be mounted in the dash location circled in the pic below...

[Scottm]

The bottom picture was me shining a flash light through, nothing wrong. I had no idea there was supposed to be a light in there. I get easily excited when I learn something new or find a fix to a problem.
I enjoy the little things that make my elky better than when I bought it.
I love this website. Thanks for your help.