generator wiring?

[alden]

I'm trying to wrap up the bulk of the wiring today and have a few questions starting with the generator.

The harness I got directs me to connect one wire to the F terminal, and the other to the A terminal. The problem is that I can't see any markings to distinguish which is which. Does anyone know which one is F? The old harness was so hacked to pieces that it's of little use to attempt to trace.

[terd ferguson]

Lol, I just went through the same thing. The genny is marked, but time, dirt and rust makes it hard to see. Standing at the frint of the truck, F is on the right and A is on the left. Shoot me a PM if you have any more questions about what goes where.

[alden]

awesome. Thank you very much!

[alden]

another quick question. Does the wire coming from the starter go to the positive or negative side of the coil?

[alden]

ok, I think I got the coil straight. The positive comes from the starter and the negative goes to the distributor.

[alden]

I'm a bit confused by my ignition situation. I purchased an "original style" ignition switch from classic parts and got this. My problem is I don't seem to have any wires for the ACC T/S or the BAT connectors.

Is this normal? Does this go to the heater or something?

Also with this ignition, I can take out the key in any position. Is this normal for the original style ignition?

[alden]

another question. There doesn't seem to be a single ground wire in the harness I have. I know the gas tank gets a ground wire, but what else needs to be grounded? classicparts sells a grounding strap for the battery, but is this a factory item? I can't seem to find anything in the factory assembly manual that mentions ground wires.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by alden

I'm a bit confused by my ignition situation. I purchased an "original style" ignition switch from classic parts and got this. My problem is I don't seem to have any wires for the ACC T/S or the BAT connectors.

Is this normal? Does this go to the heater or something?

Also with this ignition, I can take out the key in any position. Is this normal for the original style ignition?

Here's what I've got wired to my factory style ignition switch from the factory style replacement harness...


"SOL" terminal, top left- to foot starter switch side terminal
"IGN 1" terminal, center left- one goes to gas gauge "E" terminal (empty side on the back of the gas gauge), one goes to upper terminal on the resistor
"IGN 2" terminal, bottom left- goes to lower terminal on the resistor
"ACC" terminal, top right- goes to "C" terminal on the Temperature gauge (the cold side on the back of the temp gauge)
"BATT" terminal, lower right- goes to Ammeter "C" terminal (charge side on the back of the Ammeter gauge)


That's all I have hooked up and that's all the instructions I have have provisions for. I have a heater in my truck, but the wiring was such a mess, I don't know where it was wired to. Besides that, the heater hoses weren't connected to the heater. I assume the core leaked. It's not an immediate priority for me, so I haven't worried about it yet. Sorry I can't help you more there.

One possible use for the extra "BATT" and "ACC" terminals could be for stereo, but I'm not exactly sure how you'd do it. I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm about to figure it out though. I'm putting my stereo in after I get it back running. In previous vehicles, I'd always patched into an existing ignition wire for one stereo power wire and straight to the battery for the other stereo power wire.

Originally Posted by alden

another question. There doesn't seem to be a single ground wire in the harness I have. I know the gas tank gets a ground wire, but what else needs to be grounded? classicparts sells a grounding strap for the battery, but is this a factory item? I can't seem to find anything in the factory assembly manual that mentions ground wires.

This is what I KNOW. There is a ground strap on the negative battery terminal. There is a ground strap on the starter. There is a ground strap on the engine. There is a ground wire that goes from the headlight switch "GRD" terminal to bare metal under the dash. There is a ground wire on the gas sender unit.

I was about to ask the same question as I'm finishing up rewiring my truck. My factory style harness, which sounds a lot like yours although a different manufacturer, did not include any ground wires. I started pulling out factory wires before I figured out that part and noting where things were grounded.





I've got a question for you now, lol. Can you post a pic of your front turn signals wiring (if you have them)? Thanks.



Oh and one more thing I just thought of I figured out from talking to an old timer. You may already know, but I didn't. The hole in the ignition switch is for a bulb from the dash lights. I spent half a day trying to figure out where the extra dash lamp bulb in my harness went. When I bought the factory style ignition switch a couple of days later, the old timer told me that's what the hole was for. And yes, I can remove my key in any position the switch is in. I assume it's considered normal.

[alden]

Originally Posted by terd ferguson

Here's what I've got wired to my factory style ignition switch from the factory style replacement harness...


"SOL" terminal, top left- to foot starter switch side terminal
"IGN 1" terminal, center left- one goes to gas gauge "E" terminal (empty side on the back of the gas gauge), one goes to upper terminal on the resistor
"IGN 2" terminal, bottom left- goes to lower terminal on the resistor
"ACC" terminal, top right- goes to "C" terminal on the Temperature gauge (the cold side on the back of the temp gauge)
"BATT" terminal, lower right- goes to Ammeter "C" terminal (charge side on the back of the Ammeter gauge)


That's all I have hooked up and that's all the instructions I have have provisions for. I have a heater in my truck, but the wiring was such a mess, I don't know where it was wired to. Besides that, the heater hoses weren't connected to the heater. I assume the core leaked. It's not an immediate priority for me, so I haven't worried about it yet. Sorry I can't help you more there.

One possible use for the extra "BATT" and "ACC" terminals could be for stereo, but I'm not exactly sure how you'd do it. I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm about to figure it out though. I'm putting my stereo in after I get it back running. In previous vehicles, I'd always patched into an existing ignition wire for one stereo power wire and straight to the battery for the other stereo power wire.

Gocha, I'm not really very focused on getting heat either, I just want the basics working at this point. My truck hasn't had a foot starter since I've owned it, but they had substituted out a button on the dash. My goal with this ignition was to just start it with the key and nothing else, not sure if that will actually work.

This is what I KNOW. There is a ground strap on the negative battery terminal. There is a ground strap on the starter. There is a ground strap on the engine. There is a ground wire that goes from the headlight switch "GRD" terminal to bare metal under the dash. There is a ground wire on the gas sender unit.

I was about to ask the same question as I'm finishing up rewiring my truck. My factory style harness, which sounds a lot like yours although a different manufacturer, did not include any ground wires. I started pulling out factory wires before I figured out that part and noting where things were grounded.

Good to know. I'll have to look further. I don't remember even seeing a ground wire on my headlight switch and I'll have to take a closer look at the starter. On my battery there was only the positive going to the starter, and the negative going to the engine block. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be at all.

I've got a question for you now, lol. Can you post a pic of your front turn signals wiring (if you have them)? Thanks.

I'll have to take a look tomorrow when I get back from work. Now that I think of it, I don't think I got new turn signal wires with the harness, just the headlight ones, but I'll double check.

Oh and one more thing I just thought of I figured out from talking to an old timer. You may already know, but I didn't. The hole in the ignition switch is for a bulb from the dash lights. I spent half a day trying to figure out where the extra dash lamp bulb in my harness went. When I bought the factory style ignition switch a couple of days later, the old timer told me that's what the hole was for. And yes, I can remove my key in any position the switch is in. I assume it's considered normal.

I really appreciate that. I was looking at it and trying to figure out what in the heck it was for but had no clue.

[terd ferguson]

Originally Posted by alden

Gocha, I'm not really very focused on getting heat either, I just want the basics working at this point. My truck hasn't had a foot starter since I've owned it, but they had substituted out a button on the dash. My goal with this ignition was to just start it with the key and nothing else, not sure if that will actually work.



Good to know. I'll have to look further. I don't remember even seeing a ground wire on my headlight switch and I'll have to take a closer look at the starter. On my battery there was only the positive going to the starter, and the negative going to the engine block. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be at all.





I'll have to take a look tomorrow when I get back from work. Now that I think of it, I don't think I got new turn signal wires with the harness, just the headlight ones, but I'll double check.



I really appreciate that. I was looking at it and trying to figure out what in the heck it was for but had no clue.

For the ignition switch starting, the factory style switch you bought should have a provision for key starting. Turn it with the key in it and you should feel the "start" part. I don't know if that will actually engage the starter solenoid (but it should).

The headlight switch definately has a ground terminal and should definately be grounded. There's a lot of power going through that switch with no headlight relay and no fusebox (your truck may have had these added). My battery has the ground strap going from the negative battery terminal to the firewall. I guess as long as your engine is grounded well, you should be ok there.

My harness came with wires for using or not using turn signals front and rear. You have to have double terminals on the front park lamp housing to add turn signals there. You can buy these at LMC and the like for cheap. My wiring instrcutions say you need no special add ons for adding turn signals on the rear. And of course, if your truck doesn't already have turn signals, you'd need the turn signal arm deal (I used the universal chrome deal like in the Brothers catalog that's around $20), and a flasher in addition to the front park lamp bulb housings. My truck already had turn signals added at some point, I just replaced the old dingy turn signal arm with a new shiny one.



Hope that helps and good luck. It's taken me much longer than I thought it should to wire my truck. Almost two weeks at a couple hours a day, a couple of days a week, lol. But I ran into the same issues as you and then some. I broke a stud on one of the terminals on the generator. It took a while to get some answers to some questions on the forums. And then I had to go out of town for a few days with the family for Thanksgiving. I've still got to wire up from the stop lamp switch to the rear stop lamps/rear turn signals along with the gas tank to finish up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be done and can drive it again.

[alden]

Originally Posted by terd ferguson

For the ignition switch starting, the factory style switch you bought should have a provision for key starting. Turn it with the key in it and you should feel the "start" part. I don't know if that will actually engage the starter solenoid (but it should).

Ok, I definitely feel that aspect, I guess it will just be a wait and see thing once I get all the wiring finished.

The headlight switch definately has a ground terminal and should definately be grounded. There's a lot of power going through that switch with no headlight relay and no fusebox (your truck may have had these added). My battery has the ground strap going from the negative battery terminal to the firewall. I guess as long as your engine is grounded well, you should be ok there.

The truck did have the fuse block but I'll have to look and see if there was anything for the headlights in use. Otherwise I guess I can always add a ground wire in separate from the harness.

My harness came with wires for using or not using turn signals front and rear. You have to have double terminals on the front park lamp housing to add turn signals there. You can buy these at LMC and the like for cheap. My wiring instrcutions say you need no special add ons for adding turn signals on the rear. And of course, if your truck doesn't already have turn signals, you'd need the turn signal arm deal (I used the universal chrome deal like in the Brothers catalog that's around $20), and a flasher in addition to the front park lamp bulb housings. My truck already had turn signals added at some point, I just replaced the old dingy turn signal arm with a new shiny one.

My truck had an aftermarket turn signal switch, but it had an original setup as well (the original on the column was cut at one point in time, likely because it stopped working). I have ordered a new cup and wiring setup for that so I can use it in the factory style again (that leads to another question, I can't get the dang steering wheel off - I removed the horn button and the main bolt but I'm not sure if I'm missing something else). My harness does have a clip to connect to the plug in the front radiator support to hook up to the signals (just doesn't include the actual turn signal wiring beyond that). I'll get a picture of that tonight.

Hope that helps and good luck. It's taken me much longer than I thought it should to wire my truck. Almost two weeks at a couple hours a day, a couple of days a week, lol. But I ran into the same issues as you and then some. I broke a stud on one of the terminals on the generator. It took a while to get some answers to some questions on the forums. And then I had to go out of town for a few days with the family for Thanksgiving. I've still got to wire up from the stop lamp switch to the rear stop lamps/rear turn signals along with the gas tank to finish up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be done and can drive it again.

Yeah I'm going on probably 3 weekends of working on this, but I'm a complete novice when it comes to anything automotive and have been taking my time in an attempt to avoid royally screwing anything up

[terd ferguson]

You'll need a steering wheel puller to get your steering wheel off. My local parts store like Autozone will loan them to you for free.

And I hear you on the novice part. This is the first time I've done anything more serious (electrical anyway) than wiring up a stereo or running down a short. But in the end, I now have a much better understanding of the pathways of the circuits. It'll make diagnosing any future electrical problems so much easier. Not to mention being able to say I did it myself.

[alden]

is a steering wheel puller like a pully puller? I have one from an old engine project (where I went in way over my head) but it was too small. I'll swing by one of those places and try to check one out.

here's what I've got for photos of the signal harness:




They aren't plugged in yet because I wanted to clean up the signal plug and I've got a replacement wire set for the headlights/brights.

If you need pictures of anything else definitely let me know, I'll be glad to run out and snap some.

On a slightly different note, just to make sure I've got the starter wired up right (my intention is to shorten a few of the wires once I have it setup properly to clean up the bay a little bit):




viewed from the front of the truck from left to right I have the following:

Left - Starter motor resistor terminal to ballast resistor/Coil "BAT" terminal to starter motor resistor terminal

Center - Starter motor "BAT" terminal to ammeter "+" terminal (also "+" battery cable right?)

Right - Starter motor "switch" terminal to neutral safety switch

Is that correct? Based on the flow through the coil I'm wondering if I've got the battery cables confused. Is red positive or negative? I thought it was positive and went to the starter while the black (negative) went to the block, but I could be way off on this.

[OrrieG]

puller

[terd ferguson]

My starter is still the foot variety so I can't say for sure if yours is wired right or not. I'm sure Orrie G will pipe in, he helped me out when I had some questions.

Thanks for the pics of the turn signal wires. My harness is a little different. The front turn signals were the one of the very few wires with no connectors already attached, just bare wire ends.

[alden]

Originally Posted by terd ferguson

My starter is still the foot variety so I can't say for sure if yours is wired right or not. I'm sure Orrie G will pipe in, he helped me out when I had some questions.

Thanks for the pics of the turn signal wires. My harness is a little different. The front turn signals were the one of the very few wires with no connectors already attached, just bare wire ends.

that's how my taillight was wired, for some reason the headlights/turn signals came with the plugs though. funny how one place does one thing and the other does it differently even though they're both "factory replacement".

[alden]

I know this is a dumb question, but just to be safe, the battery negative terminal goes to the starter right?

Also, if anyone could answer the question about the starter wiring I posted above (whether or not I have it wired up properly) it would be greatly, greatly appreciated! Last thing I want to do is light this thing on fire!

[OrrieG]

I replied to your email and looked at the starter picture. The big post goes to the positive battery terminal EXCEPT on some GMC trucks. I think all the 55-59 pickups are negative ground. The black wire on the big post goes to the amp meter. The purple wire on the inside terminal goes to the ingition switch start terminal. The green wire goes to the + side of the coil. I don't know were the second green goes it does not show up in any of my wiring diagrams.