Correct Style Engine Comparment Harness?

[X33RS]

Who is making a good engine compartment harness nowadays?  Heartbeat?  Ricks?  Other suggestions?

I'm not too worried about what color a certain plastic connecter might be, but I do want a harness that represents the original that functions correctly with plastic support clips and such so it fits as it should.

Any help appreciated,
Larry

[jacmac]

I got all my wiring thru American Auto Wire. No complaints,of all the parts I bought That by far was the best for orininality.

[Mike S]

Lectric Limited is another good source.
http://lectriclimited.com/

Mike

[X33RS]

Thanks guys, I'll check those out.   

[X33RS]

Do all 69 Z's have the idle stop solenoid?

My DZ carb has the solenoid attached to it (however it is dated after the car).  I see the harness is made both ways, with and without an idle stop solenoid.  Was this another one of those plant or production time changes?

[janobyte]

Your replacing the whole harness so this might not be relative. If you are doing any repair, try here: http://www.wirebarn.com/

I ordered a variety of short lengths. Spot on for color, proper under hood insulation temp rating.

I believe Lectric Limited will custom build a harness to your specs. It was a toss up for me between the two mentioned. Once I got the harnesses of the shelf they were in far better shape then I remembered, and not hacked. Shy a few pigtails needing replaced. So I went the route of restoring them. Did not take long on Ebay to find the few connector sockets I needed. Relatively cheap and spot on match. Even scored a used blower motor lead for a few bucks.

Also, I have read in various posts about the " white clothed resistor wire" for the ignition. I doubt here, but I have read threads on other sites stating the existence negates the need of a ballast resistor. Mine read 0 ohms. Interesting enough, following the wire down a few inches into the harness, it loops. At this loop is a non-insulated area with a piece of what looks like shrink tube (loose) insulating it.

Anyway, if your running points, you need resistance in the circuit, I believe operation at 8v.    Electronic, no resistance needed.   

[X33RS]

I was thinking the same thing Janobyte, and trying to make a decision.  Everything works on the car and it ran and drove.  Since I've pulled the engine I noticed something odd.  The junction block behind the battery was missing.  A lot of surface rust behind the battery from battery acid so I can only assume it attacked the junction block.
  So the fix for someone was to remove it and cut/splice all the junction block wires together.  The problem I have now is that a couple of the wires that come from the core support are missing their ends, and they are also too short to reach where the junction block should be. I cant simply put new ends on them, they have to be lengthened.  Also a new alternator plastic terminal was installed and rather than do it the right way with correct ends that clip into a new terminal, they spliced wires. All of this is what had me thinking I might just replace the whole harness.  The rest of the harness is okay it appears, just old.

   Resistor wire with cloth is still there, as well as one of the wires that runs to the starter also has cloth on it.  I never checked the output of the resistor wire but it's something I'll do when we break in the new motor.  I'll be running the original 480 distributor with points.  Points serve me well in 2 other cars so I don't have an interest in a conversion for this car at this time.  However I may run (and hide) a hot 12 volt wire from the firewall block just in case.  I've done this on other cars.

   What I'm not sure about yet is that idle stop solenoid, whether it should have one or not.  I don't see a wire for it and don't remember one, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.  I noticed the wire harnesses that are offered come with or without this solenoid wire.

Should I start another thread about that?  I did a search and came up with nothing.

[L78 steve]

Never seen a Idle stop solenoid on any 69Z.

[69Z28-RS]

Idle stop solenoids were only used on air conditioned cars weren't they?   I know my '69 Corvette 350/350 with AC had one from the factory...  and I agree with L78Steve... no reason for them to be on a '69 Z28.

[68camaroz28]

Idle stop solenoids were only used on air conditioned cars weren't they?   I know my '69 Corvette 350/350 with AC had one from the factory...  and I agree with L78Steve... no reason for them to be on a '69 Z28.

Umm, thought it was used on automatic trans cars? Agree not on z28! I used American autowire!

[X33RS]

10-4, that explains why there isn't a wire for it 

Thanks

[X33RS]

Well looking at the engine harnesses, in the pictures it doesn't appear to come with the wires that connect to the junction block that shoots power back to the firewall.   Apparently these company's are selling different sections of the front harness separately.  The problem though is that stuff is all wrapped together as it runs up through the core support and then branches off as needed.

I'm not interested in completely unwrapping this original harness to integrate part of a new one and wrapping it all back up again.   If I'm going to go that far, I'd much rather buy a complete front harness that plugs into the firewall that I can run to the correct hangers and clip holes and plug everything in as it should be.

But I'm not seeing anything like that from the vendors.

Edit:  Found it.  Apparently they are calling it the headlight harness.  From the pics I can see that it has the things I need and includes the alternator and charging system wiring as a unit.

[janobyte]

anything other then " very minor " surgery, I'd replace the harnesses: light/engine. Like I said, I had a few minor issues, insulation great shape.  At the fire wall junction: pass side coil/starter/blower motor, wipers, simple. Driver side: lights/voltage regulator/alt/horn relay/brake warning light/junction block, warning lights,etc. All things considered, pretty cheap.

[crobjones2]

my original A/C auto does not have the ISS
I am not sure which cars they came on

[X33RS]

You're right janobyte,  I'm the type that only wants to do things once and be done with it.  I was looking at it more today and just don't like what I see.  Too many clips are broken around the radiator support so the harness isn't secured like it should be (doesn't help to have RS vacuum hoses tied to it and adding weight), junction block is gone and all those wires are spliced together, and a couple other things look a little worse for wear.

I'm not going to fool with it, I'm just ordering both the engine and headlight harness and replacing everything forward of the firewall.  About $250 but I think money well spent.  Easy to change now with engine out of the car.  Booster and master are coming off anyway, opportune time.

I appreciate the help with the vendors from everyone.  I checked both and they are all within $3-$4 of each other.

Thanks again
Larry