Worth it or not?.. (elect. harness thread/ charging issues)

[chulisohombre]

I don't know about those wiring kits but i eliminated the charging problems in mine by going to a one wire alternator that connects directly to the battery. Painless I've heard is the best wiring kit to replace old wiring with though if your entire harness is compromised.

 

[Cntymnty77]

I don't know about those wiring kits but i eliminated the charging problems in mine by going to a one wire alternator that connects directly to the battery. Painless I've heard is the best wiring kit to replace old wiring with though if your entire harness is compromised.

Ok, that’s what I’ve got in it now but I think I’m also missing ground connections. From what I’ve read, that can cause charging issues as well.

 

[chulisohombre]

Bad grounds will be a huge issue with charging. But with alternator should have a thick enough positive wire going back to the battery and the main ground as close to the alternator as possible. Also if battery isn't good it will never get a good charge either. I've had a new battery still not last very long before it died on me. You may want to test that out as well.

 

[chulisohombre]

I don't know what alternator you replace yours with but I got the summit racing 100 amp and have had it 15 years with no problem ever.

 

[Cntymnty77]

Bad grounds will be a huge issue with charging. But with alternator should have a thick enough positive wire going back to the battery and the main ground as close to the alternator as possible. Also if battery isn't good it will never get a good charge either. I've had a new battery still not last very long before it died on me. You may want to test that out as well.

That might be it. The ground from the block the the frame is gone and the alt wire to the batt isn’t very big at all. I’ve put two alts in it now ($70’ish) from the parts store and a new batt and it’s still not charging. That’s why I’ve started looking into the grounding being the issue. On top of the shit tweaker wiring job.

 

[Chevy305]

@Chevy305 used the ezwiring kit on his Stepside.

Yup I used the EZ Wiring universal kit. It was a good kit and uses quality wire. Nothing smaller than 14awg too. It comes with a few GM style connectors but for the majority of connections you still need to either reuse you old ones or source some new ones (LMC is good for that). You still need to do your homework and lay out exactly how you want to route wires and come up with grounds as well. The fuse block uses the same footprint as the factory one in our trucks but isn't use the penetrating bolt on block part. You would need to block off that hole and run all the wires through a grommet. I did that and later added a bulkhead fitting from Molex so I could disconnect the chassis harness from the cab.

This harness isn't plug and play but it's good quality and allows you to customize it to suit your needs (i.e. LS swap). Plus by the time you factor in the price for the harness and all the little accessories and connectors you need, you still come out cheaper than the Painless harness though it takes much more work.

 

[Blue85]

Maybe somebody here is parting out a truck and could get you an engine harness. One from a similarly equipped similar year truck is probably closer to matching everything than an aftermarket harness is. You would also need the battery cable and other fusible link lines to the starter - unless you know yours are good.

There needs to be exactly 0 butt connectors or hand crimps underhood. In the end it might be easier to fix what you've got, but you don't really know until you get there. A sloppy install of an aftermarket harness can lead to similar reliability issues.

 

[chulisohombre]

I forgot to mention as well if you are running a single wire without a exciter wire you need to rev the engine over 2000 rpm to get the alternator to start charging.

 

[rampage]

That might be it. The ground from the block the the frame is gone and the alt wire to the batt isn’t very big at all. I’ve put two alts in it now ($70’ish) from the parts store and a new batt and it’s still not charging. That’s why I’ve started looking into the grounding being the issue. On top of the shit tweaker wiring job.

Might be it? You MUST have a ground wire. Why do people think that “Oh, ground is only zero volts - not that important”. No, the ground wire completes the loop for electricity to flow. It’s just as important, if not more so, than the power wire.

 

[Cntymnty77]

Might be it? You MUST have a ground wire. Why do people think that “Oh, ground is only zero volts - not that important”. No, the ground wire completes the loop for electricity to flow. It’s just as important, if not more so, than the power wire.

There are other grounds on the truck (batt to frame, frame to core support and I think body to frame) but I know I’m missing the block to frame. I just wasn’t sure if missing that one ground would kill it like that. But now that I think of it, if the alt isn’t grounding, it would fry it.

 

[chulisohombre]

Yeah that ain't going to help things without a good ground. I'm surprised you don't have other issues with it running funky. Bad ground to engine will not help things all the way around.

 

[Cntymnty77]

Yeah that ain't going to help things without a good ground. I'm surprised you don't have other issues with it running funky. Bad ground to engine will not help things all the way around.

Honestly, it does run kind of shitty but I had been chalking it up as an old worn out 350 and carb. But it feels like it has a spark problem at times. I’m just ready to get my new motor and harness in!

 

[Cntymnty77]

This is just a taste of the wiring. This is the only one I can find in my phone right now. Notice the multiple “hot” wires coming from that block..

 

[RootBreaker]

ive got the ez-wiring 21 kit in my truck and LOVE IT!!! hell I even cut the wires, bought male/female spades and crimped them through the OEM plug so I can take it apart. best thing I ever did. yes takes a bit more to do but hell saved me a ton of money and I didn't have to switch to geico!!!!

DO NOT BUY THE ALL BLACK LIKE I DID!!!
trying to follow service manuals.. light green is temp sender.. umm yeah all black but does say Temp every 12" ughhh was a nightmare on that part..

headlights are brighter, ez block clicks onto OEM other half and mounts in normal spot...

they say.. to mount it to it but drill a hole and run wires through.. why do that and not use the plug LOL

 

[Rugby_7]

I tried looking that kit up but all I could find was the Classic Update accessories, I couldn’t find the whole harness anywhere on their website. I’ve been looking at Auto Meters dash and found one that’s about a $100 off but I haven’t found anyone that has one to see how they like it.

Haha! That’s kind of the point that I’ve gotten to. I’ve started storing parts away like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. As far as my wiring goes, I’m going to have to start completely over. There are wire splices to wire splices.

Oh and HOA’s can suck it! I got a new proposed addendum to our HOA rules today and new one is that, “No work can be done to any vehicle in driveways.” I think that was added by the HOA president because For some reason, he doesn’t like me. I think I’ll keep working on it though. You’d think he would want a better looking truck sitting in the driveway. Haha!

This is the re-wire kit I used for my project:
https://www.americanautowire.com/view-product/1973-1982-chevy-truck/
I found a vendor on Ebay that was considerably cheaper than the Americanautowire website. At the time American autowire was advertising a 10% discount I messaged the Ebay vendor to see if he would acknowledge the discount and he did.
The classic dash kit I purchased was listed used. I think it was just used for mock up since the gauges were all in their original packaging except for the speedo. Just got to keep an eye out for deal/be lucky. When I got the gauge set I was no where ready for it. It collected a lot of dust in my garage for a while ha!

 

[Cntymnty77]

ive got the ez-wiring 21 kit in my truck and LOVE IT!!! hell I even cut the wires, bought male/female spades and crimped them through the OEM plug so I can take it apart. best thing I ever did. yes takes a bit more to do but hell saved me a ton of money and I didn't have to switch to geico!!!!

DO NOT BUY THE ALL BLACK LIKE I DID!!!
trying to follow service manuals.. light green is temp sender.. umm yeah all black but does say Temp every 12" ughhh was a nightmare on that part..

headlights are brighter, ez block clicks onto OEM other half and mounts in normal spot...

they say.. to mount it to it but drill a hole and run wires through.. why do that and not use the plug LOL

Hahaha!! I could see where all black could be a problem! Thanks for the info!

This is the re-wire kit I used for my project:
https://www.americanautowire.com/view-product/1973-1982-chevy-truck/
I found a vendor on Ebay that was considerably cheaper than the Americanautowire website. At the time American autowire was advertising a 10% discount I messaged the Ebay vendor to see if he would acknowledge the discount and he did.
The classic dash kit I purchased was listed used. I think it was just used for mock up since the gauges were all in their original packaging except for the speedo. Just got to keep an eye out for deal/be lucky. When I got the gauge set I was no where ready for it. It collected a lot of dust in my garage for a while ha!

Ok, thanks! I’ll take a look into it. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time today to do it. I’ve got to work the Chiefs game tonight and I’m already at the stadium board off my ass.

 

[Cntymnty77]

So I finally got tired of this shit and went out today and started checking everything before I froze my ass off. I thought the charging problem could have been the grounding after everything that was said but after looking at everything, it looks like everything is covered, grounding wise. The only thing that I can’t find is the block to the frame.

I tried making a pigtail to activate the charging unit for the one-wire alt but didn’t notice a difference.

I’m at a loss at this point. Unless I keep getting bad alternators..

Any other ideas?

 

[rampage]

... it looks like everything is covered, grounding wise. The only thing that I can’t find is the block to the frame.

Again ...
For a quick test try using a pair of jumper cables to bare metal.

 

[Cntymnty77]

Again ...
For a quick test try using a pair of jumper cables to bare metal.

I’ll have my 16 yo boy do that for me while I’m at work. Haha!

 

[Blue85]

Is this a regular 10si alternator? They won't charge without the connections on the side connector. It looks like you're wrapping terminal 1 right to the alternator output and terminal 2 to nothing. Was the regular alternator wiring harness removed? I thought terminal 2 was sense and terminal 1 was for the field. So 2 should tie to the starter motor or battery - tied right to the alternator output (as shown below) will make the voltage lower than it's supposed to be. Terminal 1 goes to the "generator" lamp in the dash, which is how the field is excited by switched ignition. If you don't have that light you can use a resistor.