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wiring my 80 trans am?

1K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  jdcoic 
#1 ·
After much sweat I figured out that the wiring harness was mostly all there and was able to get my lights on by hooking the purple wire to starters "s" side. and by touching the red lines that share a connector to the pos. bat side. so in my excitement i ran out got an alternator, don't have a mount yet, layed on engine block and hooked up. no lights. is it because my alt. isn't mounted to the block with its respective bracket?? there are many wires coming out of center of firewall that are cut up to the firewall. but all harness wires out of fuse box are there. were those the wires to maybe the "turbo" that the indy car would have came with, and maybe the turbo guage in scoop?? Or something I may need. I also hooked up connector that fits alt. went right in and the two red wires that share connector to the bolt labeled "bat" on the alt. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Pick up a Haynes manual. It actually has a good wiring diagram in it for '80. There are three different under hood diagrams, one is for Turbo, which I think you said yours is.

What engine (dist) is in your car now. Mine is minus a Turbo 301, plus a '73 400.

I've recently rewired the majority of my engine compartment. The two red wires are what provide all power to your car. The small brown wire, from you alt, is the exciter voltage, and is tied into your idiot/charging light which is what provides the 10watts/10ohms of resistance that the GM SI series alternators need in order to work properly. The big pink was originally for the ECM and HEI Batt terminal. The big purple one goes to the starter solenoid. The white wire is for the factory tach. One small blue one is for oil pressure guage sender, small green one is for Temp guage sender. Also, your alternator is grounded through it's case to the engine by the mounting bracket.

That is all I've got from memory for know. I'd recheck the ones I quoted with a bona fide schematic, just in case.

I don't remember much of the colors for the headlights and such. I haven't had to mess with mine at all, so, no help there (if you needed and that is)

Hope this helps

Got a couple websites for ya;

http://www.autorewire.com/tech/charging/Delco10SInandd.html

This one shows the alternator wiring. The # 2 with a short jumper works, but doesn't allow for true "voltage sensing" which is kind of important, but not crucial.

the guys at mad electrical have a great article about it;

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/remotevoltagesensing.shtml

good luck, and once you get it all figured out, I highly recommend soldering.
 
#3 ·
hey man

thanks for the post. is the car pictured an indy?? Mine is a 301 non turbo. out of a regular firebird. i bet the alt. isn't working then because of not being mounted. your reply will help greatly. thanks a ton. Have a great weekend. !
 
#4 ·
Nope, not an Indy

I purchased the car In 1993 while I was stationed at FT Ord California, when I was and E-1. Somebody had already swapped a Pontiac 400 for the original 301 Turbo, so, essentially, the car was already stripped of all it's original value before I purchased it.

Ten years later, now an E-7 in the Army, I finally have a little more resources to start making some real modifications.

The car is now on it's 3rd engine, a '73 400. Still haven't tracked down out of what exactly, I think a bonneville.

The only mods as of now are a summit cam, edelbrock performer intake and 750 CFM carb, Flowtech headers, straight 2 1/2" dual exhaust with a pair of flowmaster 40 series mufflers. I've stripped all of the unnecessary parasitic stuff(a/c compressor and smog pump), and replaced all of the stock heater core/ducting with a universal heater kit from vintage air.
 
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