If I go with the entire 4th gen interior and drivetrain, would it be feasable to use almost the entire body, IP, and engine harnesses from the 4th gen car?
Make it a simple plug and play wiring affair?

 

I am going with a LT1 though. I bought a painless wiring harness for the LT1 for $150 (BIG discount. usually $600). I am probably going to buy the painless wiring 18 circuit harness for $75 (normall $300). It covers everything and anything. If you buy those two harnesses you should need no others. I am probably going to keep stock dash but put a 4th gen instrument cluster in it to make it fit easier. Most of it may plug and play but it is still going to be very complicated

 

That may not be as easy or useful as you think, as far as the two "painless" (painful) harnesses go.

 

Here were my choices for wiring:
1) Hoped I bought a LT1 engine that came with wiring
2) Buy a wiring harness separate from GM $$$
3) Buy a painless wiring harness

For that price, I was not going to pass up a Painless wiring harness. Can't be too hard. I don't expect it to be a piece of cake but I have two cars so I am not worried about getting it done soon. Plus the other car is also stripped out completely. Shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

How'd you manage the large discount? That is pretty awesome.

 

Yeah it is awesome. Actually I didn't plan on it. I found a guy that had the LT1 harness. It was used as a test for a few hours and that was it so I took it off his hands The other one I am still talking to the guy about it.

 

The painless engine harness i'd still consider using, but not the chassis harness. Having the 4ft extra long painless harness wouldnt be bad at all.

 

I am not 100% sure about the chassis harness but that is just what I am thinking of doing because my car is all tore apart now anways + the old one is butchered to no tomorrow

 

Sorry to burst your bubble buddy, but the 4th gen gauges wont fit in the 3rd gen dash. Ive tried when I was Swapping in my 4th gen dash and the 4th gen gauges are too wide and not tall enough. The 3rd gen gauges into 4th gen dash are likewise, being that the 3rd gen gauges are too tall and not wide enough. If you want you can try, but it seems really pretty much impossible. Just find a wrecked lt1 firebird or camaro and buy the whole dang thing. That is what im doing. One of my buddies bought a 1995 lt1 firebird w/ everything good except airbags and radiator. All for only $800 from local junkyard. That way you can sell all the extras, like glass, doors, rims, transmission, rear-end, driveshaft, seats, dash, t-tops, ect. The list goes on. You could keep all you want and sell the rest, saving you some money. That is what im doing. Just a thought.

 

well then how did you make your gauges work? or did you use aftermarket ones? if i could find a lt1 car with all that in it for $800 i would have done bought it.

 

hey zepher do you know steve with the Green LT1 TA.... old licensplate "yellow fever", new licens plate "va sucks", i think his online name is usualy "illusional ta"

 

Ya, I know of him. I probably met him a few times, but I am terrible with peoples names.

 

aight.... next time you see him (well if u want to)... tell him i said hi from long island and call him a "hick" hell know who ur talking about

 

Zepher,
If I were to do an interior and drivetrain swap like that, I would definitely give it a shot to move over all the wiring.
The reason Im saying that is that I have done a very similar swap some years back on german Ford. The car I owned was a "1st gen" and the interior/dash/engine/trans/rear end etc came from a "3rd gen" of the same model (granada). I thought the same thing you did, that it should be a near plug and play if swapping the wiring harness as well.
So, I did, and the only major headache on that car, was that the fuse panel originally was located on the drivers side, while the new harness had it on the passenger side. However, I customized that to fit - and in the end the only things that had to be spliced were the headlights/taillights, fuel gauge sensor, blower motor and dome lamp. Everything else was plug and play.
So, as I said, if I were to do a similar swap on a thirdgen f-body, I'd most definitely try to use the stock 4th gen harness.



Ken

 

I am still considering doing the swap, but I still like the way my gauges are set up. Too many decisions, and the dash swap is really low on the totem pole. Need to get my car running first.