Ok, my friend just bought a '8x RS camaro, TBI. He says that the wiring is all messed up (some is burned up, other parts are cut up) So he is smart enough to replace the wiring harness, and has enough time to tear it all apart and do it. The question is, what does he need? For example, Painless sells a 18 circuit harness with GM column harness. This supposedly includes:

• Coil, Wipers, Emergency flashers
• Electric fuel pump, gauges/dash, Cigarette lighter
• Electric fan, Air conditioning/heat, emergency flashers
• Headlights, radio, turn signals
• Horn, power windows, dome light
• brake lights, backup/cruise control, power door locks

So are we right to assume that this doesn't include any wiring such as fuel injectors, sensors, and all the other stuff associated with TBI (I'm not too familar)? And if so, what all does he need to make sure he can replace anything that might be messed up? Is there like a TBI wiring harness?

I don't know anything else about the car, I haven't seen it.

 

That would be correct, but painless also sells a TBI wiring harness, check Summit.

~M~

 

There is 2 seperate harness's. When I re wired my whole car I used painless. One for the engine to the computer then the 18 circuit which includes the fuse box and so on. Both ran about 300 each through summit.

 

Well being that I am that friend with the messed up harness I think I can help out in clearing a little up. First of all thanks 'Spifz'. I did finally get in touch with the correct part. Hawksthirdgenparts.com actually has the exact parts I need, got lucky there. I do still have a question for you, 89Irocz23. I was looking at the TBI harness from painless and the 18 circuit universal harness and neither one looks like it has the connection through the firewall, know which one I'm talking about? Did the ones from painless have that connection or a similar one or did you have to wire the harnesses into that connection...or did you do something completely different? I'm pretty sure I'll be getting that harness from hawks but I'm still curious.

 

On the painless harness it did not have that connector I had run the wires through a different hole in the firewall. It would be so much easier if you had a stock harness and you could use that connector. Right now I still wish I bought the stock harness, but it was way too much. Oh well if you have any questions let me know.

 

Do you know if I could use the harness from a car with auto trans on my manual trans? I know there are some extra circuits specifically for the auto but would I be able to just leaves those out and have it work?

 

Nope. How can you ask if something is going to work if you don't hook it up?

Your reverse lights wouldn't work, you won't have a clutch switch so you might not even be able to start the car. And there's probably several other little consequences of doing a half-arsed job.

You either have to get the right harness, or break out the diagrams and modify the auto harness to work correctly. And that's easier to do on the floor than it is to hack and slash while everything is in the car.

 

not real sure what you're refering to by that.

As far as rewiring stuff though, it is almost impossible to find the harnesses I need. Junkyard just kill wiring harness. No company that I know of makes a harness that will work without some sort of modification. So the only options that I know of now are 1)get the auto harness and rewire it 2)pay twice as much for a harness that needs more modification that the auto one or 3)spend an insane amount of money to have a professional redo the whole car. Now I am still just a kid trying to get by (hense the low end performance car (still love em though)) so I can't afford much. So if you have any suggestions as to where I might find a stock wiring harness for a 1990 RS with TBI then please share but so far this has been my best option.

 

Im in the process of re wiring my car with the painless 18 circuit with GM column harness. SO far so good. It was $300 for it. Quality is excellent and everything I need is there.

 

OK I have another small question for you then (and correct me when I go wrong here). I know there are two different harnesses involved: the TBI harness which goes from the computer on the passenger side, through the firewall on that side to the engine compartment. Then on the driver's side there is the main chassis harness which also goes through the firewall with that special connector. Now in the engine compartment it looks like the chassis harness and tbi harness connect somehow behind the block but that doesn't really make sense. Since I only have a problem with the wires right where they go through the firewall on the driver's side I shouldn't need the tbi harness should I? I guess when I finish taking the harnesses out of the engine compartment I'll probably answer my own question.

 

Right.. No problem, I totally understand your situation. It's just that some people expect to be able to plug something in that isn't right and expect it to work 100%, and then they want you to hold their hand all the way through figuring out what's wrong. As long as you understand that there will be some modification involved and you're up to that, then you're all good.

Somewhere in 88/89 they started combining the wiring harnesses. The older ones had seperate engine and chassis harnesses, which made it nice when you're dealing with just one piece of the car like the motor. It's actually only 3 or 4 wires that crossover in the bulkhead connector in the newer ones (two fuel pump related wires, a coolant fan wire, and a power wire for the AIR solenoids).

If you decide to go through with modding an auto harness, I/we are willing to make an attempt to help you through it. I glanced through some diagrams to make that last post, so I have a preliminary idea of what you're going to have to change. The rest is just details.

You could also check through some auto-to-manual conversion posts, as I'm sure many of those guys didn't throw in a whole new harness, just modified their auto harness to work.

 

I also have a couple of manuals with some wiring diagrams in them and I'm hoping that I might be able to use the old harness as a model for at least the transmission wiring. If for some reason I do encounter a large problem thought I do have one way out that I know of. See I am in the Air Force and live on base so I am fortunate enough to have at my disposal an auto hobby shop with cheap (as in per hour cheap) lifts and tools and with professional mechanics who might possibly be able to help me out (no guarantees though) if I need it. So the only thing I am really in need of right now is knowledge and the right parts, which I think I have finally found from thirdgenresource.com. I see where you were coming from with your post though. And this is really my first big car project but I love cars and figured that fixing this car would be a good start. But really in the end my goal is to have an all around better car than Spifz (j/k bud)(or am I).

 

HAHA
Awesome, well, my goal is to get all my friends to spend as much money on cars as I want to. That way I don't feel so bad. Its like justification: When jstarsart's car is as fast as mine, then I'll have no choice but to spend more money to make my car faster (I mean safer, Mom, really) Then jstarsart will have to spend more money, and the net result is that we all help the economy.

MORE FAST CARS = GOOD

 

Well technically, Spifz, you are paying for my car, indirectly of course. But I'm up for the challenge. It's go time.

Wait is that why you've been so helpful in the modification of(spending of money on) the cutlass? heh