I've been humbled, need wiring help

[Sim6]

Okay, so I thought the wiring was a breeze on this EZ Wire Harness kit. I followed the instructions, slapped the cables on the battery and.........nothing. I have zilch, except the main batt stud on my starter solenoid. Boy this is rewarding. I basically have checked the fuse block and have no power coming in cab, or to anything else for that matter. I'm not an electrician but I can almost follow instructions. All fuses are good on re-inspection.

This is what I have.
New battery
New EZ wire harness
New battery cables
New ground straps, grounding the frame to body and engine to frame. ground down to bare metal and used star washers on all.
Used Alt (3 prong 1,2 & R+ Batt stud on back) R not hooked up just 1 & 2 to supplied wires/internal regulator "i think"
Used starter w/solenoid attached (Purple start wire hooked to S/ red sol wire hooked to R.
Used ignition Switch
Used headlight switch


In the back of the book it randomly talks about hooking the neutral safety switch to the solenoid. I don't have this wire hooked up because it didn't show it hooked up in the front section and I don't currently have a neutral SS.
I would have thought the wires on the solenoid would have brought power back inside to the fuse block. So first off where does my power come from on this harness? Solenoid has no power at either terminal with key off. haven't tested with key on. I'm sure this is a simple problem I'm just not seeing it. Any help appreciated.
Jeff
link to instructions
http://static.speedwaymotors.com/pdf/910-64017.pdf

[OrrieG]

Stock gauges? Power for fuse box goes thru amp meter like stock

[Sim6]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

Stock gauges? Power for fuse box goes thru amp meter like stock

Using after market temp/oil pressure/charging for now.

[1project2many]

Wiring diagnosis is often a matter of checking for power and ground and multiple points to determine where power is and where it isn't. Confirm that you are attached to a good ground inside the cab, double check for power at the box, then work backward from the box to determine where the circuit is broken. It may be as simple as forgetting to connect a wire, or it may be an issue with the location the wire is connected to.

[dwcsr]

You should have a red #10 wire coming from the batt terminal at the starter going into the fuse box or a red #10 wire from the battery to the alt and then to the fuse box. It should have the fusible link they talk about.

[Sim6]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

You should have a red #10 wire coming from the batt terminal at the starter going into the fuse box or a red #10 wire from the battery to the alt and then to the fuse box. It should have the fusible link they talk about.

I do have that red #10 going to the fuse box. Should that post on the solenoid be continuously hot whether the key is on or off?

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Sim6

I do have that red #10 going to the fuse box. Should that post on the solenoid be continuously hot whether the key is on or off?

hot with key off, same stud as the main cable from the battery
i recommend not going thru the ammeter as it is only 30 amp
same for the alternator connection, use the same stud or straight to the battery

[Sim6]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

hot with key off, same stud as the main cable from the battery
i recommend not going thru the ammeter as it is only 30 amp
same for the alternator connection, use the same stud or straight to the battery

so, other than the largest stud coming out of solenoid that is from the battery one of the smaller post should be hot? because if so mine is not.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Sim6

so, other than the largest stud coming out of solenoid that is from the battery one of the smaller post should be hot? because if so mine is not.

The large post is connected to the battery as you said.

The "S" post on the right looking at it from the front has the wire from the start post on the ignition switch connected to it and never has or wants power at any other time.

The "R" post aka resistor bypass post on the left of the solenoid is only used if you need a resistor bypass wire run to the coil. New solenoids for cars that have HEI don't even have that post.

Neither will be "hot nor should be hot except when the engine is being cranked.

[mr48chev]

I think Dwcsr hit it as usual. That red wire should be the power feed wire to the fuse block.

The "R" post on the solenoid is the "resistor bypass" post that you connect a wire to that runs to the coil when you are running a resistor or resistor wire in the power feed to the coil with a distributor running points. There is a need to run a wire between it and the distributor or coil on a couple of rigs with ignition switches that don't put power to the coil when turned to start. I can't remember which ones though.


Sneaking over to the 67/72 side I found this http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...74379&posted=1 Read the third paragraph of the second post through a couple of times as I believe it has the answers you need.

[tmoble]

no, they're only hot during actual cranking. Is there a 10 or 12 gauge wire coming off the battery + and going into the harness? If not, is there one one the big battery post on the solenoid going into the harness? Your power feed to the rest of the truck will come from one of those places.

If they think it's supposed to have a neutral safety switch it will have to be there and hooked up and working or the two wires that go to it jumped together. They would normally be 10 or 12 gauge purple wires if they're observing 60 years worth of GM wiring conventions.

Cheap ain't cheap, next time you want to wire something think AAW or M&H, not EZ or Painful. OF course, if you want to be bald and have high blood pressure you can always buy the cheap stuff.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by tmoble

no, they're only hot during actual cranking. Is there a 10 or 12 gauge wire coming off the battery + and going into the harness? If not, is there one one the big battery post on the solenoid going into the harness? Your power feed to the rest of the truck will come from one of those places.

If they think it's supposed to have a neutral safety switch it will have to be there and hooked up and working or the two wires that go to it jumped together. They would normally be 10 or 12 gauge purple wires if they're observing 60 years worth of GM wiring conventions.

Cheap ain't cheap, next time you want to wire something think AAW or M&H, not EZ or Painful. OF course, if you want to be bald and have high blood pressure you can always buy the cheap stuff.

Tmoble, I disagree strongly on your comment that EZ is not as good as the others. Having seen the others I say that EZ has fully as high quality as any of them. I have also said numerous times that it isn't easy if you aren't familiar with wiring a vehicle. You can purchase another brand that comes with the some of the connectors already wired or even a direct fit for your truck, which might be easier, but you will pay about three times the price of an EZ.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Tmoble, I disagree strongly on your comment that EZ is not as good as the others. Having seen the others I say that EZ has fully as high quality as any of them. I have also said numerous times that it isn't easy if you aren't familiar with wiring a vehicle. You can purchase another brand that comes with the some of the connectors already wired or even a direct fit for your truck, which might be easier, but you will pay about three times the price of an EZ.

I agree with Russ. I looked at a lot of options and went with EZ wire. I did not need to modify any of the prewired connections (column, ignition). I found to get a good fit without lots or extra wire coiled and looped I had to modify the length of all the rest, so pre terminated would have been a waste of money. I had never wired a vehicle before and except for one LED indicator lamp I had in backwards everything worked when hooked up the battery. During the install I have a few questions and always got an answer from the owner when I called, right off the top of his head.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by tmoble

Cheap ain't cheap, next time you want to wire something think AAW or M&H, not EZ or Painful. OF course, if you want to be bald and have high blood pressure you can always buy the cheap stuff.

another disagree with you.
i used the ezwire and everything has worked fine for 6 yrs and 27,000 miles
aaw would have cost be 10 times more with all the modifications and additions i did on truk
the base aaw harness was 3 times more to start with

some of us have budgets to think about

[ptc]

another disagree here... I have been doing wiring for 35 years and wire is wire.... the design is what is better over one another, but all of these "universal" design systems seem to be on par with any of the other higher priced and 'fitted' systems. To make claims against Painless like that are outa left field. If you have ever been to their facility and seen their operation it is top notch and why you pay the most for them. That is probably the highest quality pre-manufactured wire systems you can put your hands on because they have put so much R&D into their designed systems.

The others follow suit but probably have lesser levels of QA and QC inspections in their manufacturing lines and thats the ONLY differences between one and the other.

Plus the fact that if you make claims like that on people's vehicles that use those products (for whatever reason) then youre calling it 'junk' in essence. Thats not fair either.....

[mr48chev]

Good to see that you got it squared away.

I'd agree on the instructions not being as detailed as they should but I see a lot of instructions written by people that assume that the installer has 5 years of auto mechanic tech training and three in the field rather than being someone who has never done the task before.

[57chevyman]

i plan to rewire my truck with the ezwire kit. i already have the kit...

[mr48chev]

Prewired end to end with the connectors already in place may be fine for the guy doing a 100% back to original rebuild with no additions or changes but the vast majority of us on this board make too many changes for those to work out of the box without making changes.

The big problem with all too many aftermarket parts, kits and pieces is that the makers don't include simplified instructions that cover every aspect of the installation. That is because the writer of the instructions assumes that the person doing the installation has some degree of experience at doing the task.

We as fellow members must remember that we should not be making suggestions if we really don't have a positive idea of what the problem is. Throwing out wild assed guesses just to be heard does not help a person fix a problem. There is usually someone who spots exactly what the problem is as in this case and can help the OP through the steps to correct it.

Badmouthing the product the person is using doesn't help either. That serves no purpose. Reserve those comments for when someone asks which product to buy and have solid reasons why one is better or worse than another. EZ Wire is very popular with the members of a Hot Rod board I am on and one of the main reasons is that you can fit it to your lights and accessories with nice smooth runs of wire and not worry that the connectors on the ends of the wire are wrong for your lights or the wire is too long or worse yet too short.

[mikec4193]

I bought an EZ wire harness for my Howard Knapp truck...yao boy....what a 6 week order that was...I was on the phone at least 5 times...got it all done and I had nothing either...

I bribed one of the real mechanics at my job and he stopped over...I had it so botched up it would not even turn over...

We worked for like an hour I think we got it to turn over...lights all work too...still not sure if it will start now...it does turn over but still a no start situation...

I bribed the mechanic at work again...he is coming aver and taking Howard Knapp to his house to get it running...(hoping he can get it to run)..

These trucks may be simple but for me....they are way too complex...

Good luck SIM6

Hope everything turns out all right...

MikeC

[chopit]

The only issue I know of EZ wire and Sim6 was 1 switched wire due to a poor drawing...

Other than that he said EZ wire was easy and straight forward even for him bahaha. JK Jeff . Nice job. I have EZ wire and will be using it myself soon.

Really no need to beat up EZ wire. A Recommendation they label and clean up Solenoid drawing is all I saw needed.

Know he claimed he has been driving it a bit last couple days and I'm pretty sure we were promised a video on his build thread? WTF Jeff, no video...didn't happen