Re Wiring My 57, Need some help!!!

[BFS57]

Hello;
been a while but I have been busy. I purchased a EZ Wiring GM 21 Circuit harness w/fuse block . So Thanksgiving, I decide to do the deed.
The helpful hints in the manual (I call them hints because they can't be taken for instructions) seem to leave me confused in a couple places.
1. The alternator hook shows a wire going to the + side of the battery as well as the side hook up of a power wire W an exciter going to the fuse block. When I tried to bump the starter, sparks flew from the + terminal.
2. I have about 3 books including the repair manual, assembly manual and How to Wire your Car manual.  These all don't help when hooking up my collum plug. So far, I have no tail lights, Only have left turn in front and when I have the turn sig switched to center, I get a hazard blinking on the front park lights. Not to mention, no right turn, no tail lights. I'm real confused!?
3. I can't seem to find an explanation for what does what coming from the turn signal switch, just a diagram of what color wires come from it, not what they do!
I am trying to be careful and make sure all my connections are right but man, I guess I blew this one, by a mile.
Anyone got ant suggestions or has anyone ever used this harness with sucess? It looks good but we all know that looks are deceiving!

Bruce

[MrMopar64]

You might try here...... Not sure if they will have what you need
http://www.the12volt.com/

good luck

MM64  

[enjenjo]

There should be three wires to the alternator unless you have a one wire alternator. There will be a 12 ga. red wire hooked to the threaded stud on the back side of the alternator, a small red wire to terminal 2 on the side to bias the alternator, usually hooked to the battery terminal on the ignition switch, and a brown wire to terminal number 1 to excite the alternator. The brown wire should have either a 3 watt light bulb, or a diode hooked in series to control current flow.

57 Chevy used these colors, purple right rear turn, pink left rear turn, white brake light feed, light blue left front turn, dark blue right front turn, yellow flasher. The original tail light wire was black.

On the EZ wire harness, white brake light feed, green left rear turn, yellow right rear turn, purple flasher, brown hazard flasher, dark blue right front turn, light blue left front turn black horn.

On the tail lights, what headlight switch are you using? In the headlight switch section, there is a brown wire marked tail light power, it has to be hooked to the headlight switch,

[Leon]

You might want to look at the instructions for the Painless system at http://www.painlessperformance.com/Manuals/90501Manual-20106Sup.pdf
Their diagrams are pretty good.

[BFS57]

Hello;
Thanks for the input.
The way it was shown to hook up the alternator was (and this is how I have it) Run the Large red wire from the stud on the back of the alternator to either the large post on the starter cellinoid or the + battery cable (which I did). Then the plug went in the side of the alternator which have the power wire and a white exciter wire.
On the Collum Connector, what I find confusing is from the EZ harness, It has a couple wires that are double (I don't have the schmetics with me now) so I just clipped the end off and put both wires into a new end and inserted into the plug housing.
This Harness has more wires to go to the same places my old wires went to! I am using a stock (aftermarket) headlight switch. Lucky for me I had a spare switch which made it a little easier to figure out But my friend helping me seemed to think that the switch needed two power inputs, one where it is supposed to go and one near the front on the left side (switch facing you) so I used the brake switch power wire and ran a lead off the same wire & connector down to the brake switch? I Thought this was kind of wierd but my friend insisted that it needed this extra power. My friend Larry is really knowledgeable about Chevies and Corvettes especially but trying to put a update harness in a 57 chevy using stock switches and collum has us both finding ourselves stumped at times.
The EZ harness has a third brake light wire that if you read the "hints" says, and looks like you have to hook it to the Right rear and Left rear flasher wires in order to have break lights? No wonder I'm Confused about this.
Before I started, You all should have seen what was awaiting me under the dash! Someone had used wire nuts and in line fuses to "create" a fused harness. My main starter wire coming from the start switch was fried completely! It's a wonder my car didn't catch on fire!
Keep the helpful hints coming. as soon as I work through these gremlins I'm sure my car will really be a whole bunch better!
Thanks,

Bruce

[enjenjo]

The way it was shown to hook up the alternator was (and this is how I have it) Run the Large red wire from the stud on the back of the alternator to either the large post on the starter cellinoid or the + battery cable (which I did). Then the plug went in the side of the alternator which have the power wire and a white exciter wire.

The small red wire on the plug is to bias the alternator. What is does is lets the regulator sense the system voltage. You can use a short wire, and jump to the large red wire on the back of the alternator, and it will work, but may give you a low charging rate. I connect it inside the car at the ignition switch which give a better sense of the actual voltage in the system.

On the Collum Connector, what I find confusing is from the EZ harness, It has a couple wires that are double (I don't have the schmetics with me now) so I just clipped the end off and put both wires into a new end and inserted into the plug housing.

There are two wires on the harness that are doubled, light blue, and dark blue. The second wire goes to the dash indicators. the Hazard flasher wire will not be used, your switch is not equipped with that circuit.

This Harness has more wires to go to the same places my old wires went to! I am using a stock (aftermarket) headlight switch. Lucky for me I had a spare switch which made it a little easier to figure out But my friend helping me seemed to think that the switch needed two power inputs, one where it is supposed to go and one near the front on the left side (switch facing you) so I used the brake switch

There are two power wires in the harness for the headlight switch. there will be an orange and a brown wire. orange is headlight power, brown is tail light power.there should be two brown wires connected to the headlight switch

The EZ harness has a third brake light wire that if you read the "hints" says, and looks like you have to hook it to the Right rear and Left rear flasher wires in order to have break lights?

The third brake light wire does not have to be used unless you have a third brake light. It is connected to the brake light switch with the white wire that goes to the turn signal switch. as long as the white wire is connected correctly to the turn signal switch, you will have brake lights, trust me.

If you want to see a diagram with the correct colors for the harness, find one for a 75 Chevy

[BFS57]

Hello;
Man, I guess I better go over all my connections and re-verify I have them correctly done!
Right now, I'm fighting a bad cold and can't get to where my car is to work on it for a couple days until this cold passes, but it will be first on my list!
Thanks for all the super input!!!!

Bruce