Engine Harness rebuild

[Zedder]

Bill, I know you said "almost" and took note of that. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img] The "surivor" thing is a pet peeve of mine because I think it diminishes the rarity of the truly unrestored cars. I was involved in judging in the "Bow Tie" class in the NCRS and it is really amazing to see an unrestored car that has been maintained as close to its original state as possible. These guys go to great lengths to preserve what is left of original finishes and components so we can learn what these cars were originally like when new. My comments are not meant to detract from cars like yours that have one or more areas unrestored, I love those cars too. I found an original paint/original interior 7,000 mile '67 Z-28 last year and never referred to it as a "survivor" because it had been detailed underhood. I just think the term "survivor" should be reserved for those which have been spared the "fluffing". Since you used the term "almost" I assume you argee with me [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[BillD]

Hi Mark:

No argument here. Like I said, I am happy with what I have, and realize that it is as good as it is going to get for me. Not a survivor, but too good to take apart and do the whole car, I guess sums it up from my point of view.

[Zedder]

Hi Bill,

I know exactly what you mean. I'm negotiating on a '67 Z-28 currently with 39,000 original miles and all matching numbers with docs. The car was repainted and "fluffed" underhood, but is otherwise pretty much original. The interior while absolutely mint for 36 years old, does show its age somewhat compared to the paint. Underneath wasn't detailed either, so it looks kinda sorry compared to that nice slick Gold paint. The car needed paint, but the owner wanted to maintain as many of the original components and finsihes as possibe. So it has become a "tweener". I'm really torn as to whether I should make a move on the car or not because of this - and the fact that the price is closer to a fully restored car. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[Keith Tedford]

Always use a battery disconnect or unhook the battery when the car is unattended. A friend came back from a drive and in the time it took to go get a battery wrench the wiring was already starting to melt down. You just never know when it is going to happen.

[bbdon]

It's that !@#$% resistance wire in the ignition wiring. When I first bought my Nova it had an aftermarket chromed ignition coil. If you left the car sitting with the ingnition on and the points happened to be closed, then the wiring would start smoking after a few minutes. I'm sure Chevy saved a lot of money on each car by not using an expensive ballast resistor. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] !@#$ bean counters. I think that that was the dumbest thing Chevy ever did, next to the fall apart rubber engine mounts.

[NCGuy68]

Amen!! on that pesky resistance wire feeding 12 volts to the coil.

In the past, I've went to great lenghts to preserve/repair/restore that darn wire. The problem is the white/ivory woven outer covering. Its almost impossible to repair and make it look factory. Eventually, I searched the boneyards until I found a donor car with a unmolested engine harness. Using nearly surgical precision, I was able to splice in the donor wire and slip the soldered connection back under the factory black wrap along with the white covering.

I've performed this repair on several vintage cars with no problems to date. The key is to use electronic solder on the connection so you don't knock the resistance of the wire outta wack.