Hey Guys, Im just starting to wire up my 52 pontiac sedan delivery with the sbc. Seeing how i am only 17 and this is the first car ive ever built i'm a little lost. I'm trying to find wiring diagrams for a 49-52 chevy since my pontiac is a canadian model and virtually the same as a chevy. I'm also tryin to find a diagram for a sbc with electronic ignition. Another thought that ive had is using a wiring harness out of another car that already had a sbc. Is this a better aproach than using my existing harness? What would be a good car to take a harness out of to do this? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Shawn
If you can afford it, Painless Wiring makes great wiring harnesses for these cars, and every single wire is labeled along its length. Makes for easy work.
the easiest way is to get a kit like forn ron francis or somebody like that. you tell them what alternator you have and a few other components ad they send youthe right kit with the right connectors and such. the original wiring diagram won't do you any good since originally cars back then had like one fuse in the heater and that was it, so you need to ignore that old stuff and concentrate on what you have now, there are prolly 10 books out on HOT ROD wiring.. go get one if you want to do it yorself or can't afford the kit. me.. I'm lazy .. I'm just going to buy the kit when the time comes. much less thinking involved.
A harness made for hot rods like the Painless one would be the way to go, if you can afford it. If not, and you understand automotive wiring, you can adapt a harness from another car, but it takes a lot of work. Donors would probably be mid-late 70s GM cars. There's a lot of extra **** in there, and the wires are all the wrong length, and it'll be ugly, and you'll want the factory shop manual or wiring diagram for the donor car...but you can make it work... If the wiring in the car is in good shape, not frayed/broken/messed up, then you might consider just adding some wiring for the new stuff (the engine) and using the exising wiring for the lights and gages and whatnot. This requires a reasonable knowledge of both old car wiring and newer car wiring, though. Specifically, you'd want to run new wiring for the ignition, starter, alternator, and main power distribution.
.... get a catalog from painless wiring, ron francis, and whoever is out there doing these kits now.. they advertise in all tha major magazines. even if you don't use the kit, they sell individual components you may need
thanks guys, Im gonna check out all the wiring harnesses out there and if they're in my price range i'll prolly go with that option, If not i think im gonna try to re-wire it with the existing harness, that way i can learn alot about the electrical side mechanics.
I don't want to scare you off, but the downside of wiring mistakes is a serious fire. You can't afford not to use a kit made up by a pro. You will be well ahead if you get rid of old dangerous wiring and do it right one time instead of doing it over and over trying to find shorts, problems etc.
I'd recommend Hot Rod Wiring from Tex Smith. I read it cover to cover and wired my 49 Chevy. Mine's pretty stock still, though. Get yourself a proper crimper and do some practice crimps on connectors--I spent more time chasing down bad crimps than I did running wire. And really think about how you want the harness to run through the car. Plan it out on paper, and make sure you keep a written accurate diagram of what you did. That way, if something does go wrong, you can use it to diagnose. And a multi-meter is a great tool to have. Tucker
If your only concern is how to wire an electronic ignition, I'm ***uming an HEI, it only needs a switched 12 volts source (12 guage wire prefered for the entire length of the run. No resistor wire, no ballast resistors. 12 volts with key in run and key in start posistions). Alex.
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