350 swap wireing tips tricks and more

[The Jerk]

anyone? should i keep the same harness and just figure out the 3 main wires for starter and alt and other doo dads, or shoul di get something brand new? its just a simple 350 carb motor. thanks! jiMMy

[cruiserbrett]

Use the toyota harness. They are fairly similar to GM wiring. Enough so that it can be done reasonably easily. Also most of the aftermarket harness' are VERY generic. No connectors, requires lots of splicing etc.

Assuming you are working on a '76 FJ40:
There will be one wire to the starter(the thick guage(black and white, i think) that needs to be hooked up to the start side of the chevy starter soleniod. I would recommend untaping the wiring harness and moving the thick black and yellow wire(that runs to the R fender to the coil) to exit the harness under the dash and come through the firewall near the original temp wire. Connect this to the IGN side of the HEI(or the + coil if using points). Put the toyota oil pressure sender near the distributor(to the left) where there is a plug on the rear of the block. Put the temp sender on the RH cylinder head in the plug above the starter. Now you can use a little creativity to get these wired, but you could try this: Use the existing wire for the original Oil pressure sender and connect it to the temp guage on the RH head. Connect the original temp sender wire(that comes through the firewall near the choke to the oil pressure sender by the distributor. Now, remove the instrument cluster and find the two wires for both the original oil pressure wire(yellow/black?)(now the temp sensor) and the wire for the original temp sender(now the oil pressure)(Yellow/green?). Cut both wires about two inches from the plug. Now solder the wires such that the yellow/green wire in the plug connects to the yellow/black wire in the harness. repeat for the yellow black wire from the plug and the yellow green in the harness. This will switch the senders, and allow the original temp wire to drive the oil pressure gauge and the original oil pressure wire to drive the temp gauge. I think that will work fine...Anyone else agree?

Sorry for the long reply, but hope that helps. If you have questions email me.

[cruiserbrett]

Forgot about the alternator. Run a GM internally regulated one. Connect the white/blue wire to the bat+ on the alternator. Look in the TLCA archives for the remainder of the wiring help. It talks about removing the regulator and which wires to connect to the alt terminals 1&2, and which wires to connect where the regulator used to be.

If you plan on a bigger alt(more than about 60 Amp, run about a 4 or 6 ga wire from the alternator to the battery and remove the white/blue wire from the alt and tape it off. The amp guage will always read in the Neg direction, but just install a small volt meter under the dash to monitor charging.

HTH,
-Brett(cruiserbrett@hotmail.com)

[The Jerk]

wow, thanks for the info, i gues si should have stated that i will be useing all aftermarket gauges and only needed the main starter and alt wiering, but its a start, thanks again! your email is saved he he, jiMMy

[orangefj45]

hey jimmy!
i've got the identical wiring/engine/gauges combination in my wag and it works perfect.
stick with the factory harness before you open up a can of worms; don't fix it if.....
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[DCruiser138]

well...what if it is broke? im looking into a 350 swap...and NONE of my guages work in my stock harness. my headlights/tailights i allready bypassed and re-did....so ill prob just run all new wiring then....sound good? im planning to buy some spools of wire and make my own wiring harness. all i need to hookup is starting stuff...and tach/oil/water/voltage guages. sound like a plan???

[pontiota]

I rewired mine using the Painless harness and replaced all my gauges with Autometer's, it wasn't hard at all just very time consuming, rather than try and figure out 30 years of splicing and fixing and I bought the 12 circuit kit so I have a nice new fuse block and room to grow. My old stock harness was a can of worms I would say its one of the best improvements I've made.

[ouibus]

My old roommate did a Painful wiring harness in his '77 cruiser and he said it was a nightmare. Absolutely no connectors were on it and it was a hassle to deal with. I want to eventually rewire mine and get rid of all the smog wiring crap. I have heard really good things about Centech wiring harnesses. They look really clean and fairly easy to install.
Jimmy, I have a '76 with a carbed 350 in it, so if you have any more questions about what wires go to where, I can just go look at mine. HTH Thomas

[The Jerk]

well thanks, but this post was from september, ive since installed a painless harness and propane injection, so all is good i think dustin just retrieved it for his own benifit! thank you though!@ jiMMy

[ouibus]

Oops, I didn't even see that. Maybe I should start looking at the dates on posts.
I hope that your Painful harness was easier to install than my old roommates. Also, how do you like the propane injection? Any problems with it? Just curious. Seems like a great way to be able to run at any angle. Also, how big of a tank are you running? Or a better question, how often do you have to fill up?

[The Jerk]

im running dual forklift bottles so 16 gallons total, we will find out once i turn her over this weekend. 2 bottles will last me a weekend and then some! jiMMy

[ouibus]

Sounds like a sweet setup. I will have to take a look at doing this. I wouldn't mind having a TPI 350, but the cost at this point makes it a little prohibitive.

[The Jerk]

wires and computers are

[ouibus]

Glad to see you think that way. Just one more thing to break or go wrong.

[Bundok]

No need for Fuel Infection, especially with a Quadrajet. Infection is just more stuff to break and leave you stranded. The wetter is is the more hassle you will have. I know people love their EFI but I stick to carbs...

-Stumbaugh

[DCruiser138]

Originally posted by The Jerk
well thanks, but this post was from september, ive since installed a painless harness and propane injection, so all is good i think dustin just retrieved it for his own benifit! thank you though!@ jiMMy

--- yep...i ran a search for my 350 swap......thought id stir it up again...hehe