89 TA LB9 wiring harness to 82 TA 1st gen carb no crank
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 228
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From: Puyallup Washington
Car: 84 15th anniversary Trans Am
Engine: 305 H.O. L69
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.73
89 TA LB9 wiring harness to 82 TA 1st gen carb no crank
So here is the story...
I hired a mechanic (he would like to call himself that at least) to do an engine swap for me because my 305 blew itself up when the aircleaner wingnut went down the manifold. 6 months later... I get the car back barely running and having lots o problems. Went through a bunch of crap but I finally got it running halfway decent. Took it out for the first time and put it on the freeway and it pops the fusible links down by the starter leaving me stranded.
I then went through the horrible job of replacing them just to have them keep blowing themselves out every time I start the car. After it kept happening I took a really good look at the wiring harness and found the PO really screwed it up bad... so I decided to replace the whole thing. I have a 1989 TA TPI that I am parting out so I decided just to swap the ENTIRE harnesses of the cars. Right now I am at the point where I have the interior harness mostly in and the main parts of the engine harness in. Now for the question...
What all needs to be hooked up for the car to turn the starter? I have the distributor,starter,ignition switch and the alternator all hooked up correctly. The headlights pop up with the switch and the water temp gauge pegs out when you turn the key to the crank position.
I suspect that the issue is related to the vats system but I dont really know enough of how it works to confirm... There is a black box that I have connected near the steering column that I believe is the control box... Is there a way to bypass it just by splicing some wires around? it is all accessible right now.
Any insight would be much appreciated.
I hired a mechanic (he would like to call himself that at least) to do an engine swap for me because my 305 blew itself up when the aircleaner wingnut went down the manifold. 6 months later... I get the car back barely running and having lots o problems. Went through a bunch of crap but I finally got it running halfway decent. Took it out for the first time and put it on the freeway and it pops the fusible links down by the starter leaving me stranded.
I then went through the horrible job of replacing them just to have them keep blowing themselves out every time I start the car. After it kept happening I took a really good look at the wiring harness and found the PO really screwed it up bad... so I decided to replace the whole thing. I have a 1989 TA TPI that I am parting out so I decided just to swap the ENTIRE harnesses of the cars. Right now I am at the point where I have the interior harness mostly in and the main parts of the engine harness in. Now for the question...
What all needs to be hooked up for the car to turn the starter? I have the distributor,starter,ignition switch and the alternator all hooked up correctly. The headlights pop up with the switch and the water temp gauge pegs out when you turn the key to the crank position.
I suspect that the issue is related to the vats system but I dont really know enough of how it works to confirm... There is a black box that I have connected near the steering column that I believe is the control box... Is there a way to bypass it just by splicing some wires around? it is all accessible right now.
Any insight would be much appreciated.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 20
From: Cary, North Carolina
Car: 1992 RS
Engine: Carbed 350
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.42 posi
Re: 89 TA LB9 wiring harness to 82 TA 1st gen carb no crank
Assuming your carb setup is aftermarket and not computer controlled ...
All you need is the wiring on the driver side - pass side wiring is all computer related.
The VATS module dose two things...
1) sends a pulse wave to the ECM telling it to power the injectors
2) grounds a starter enable relay which should have been under driver dash (usually in the black goo under the hood release)
IF you are not computer controlled anymore, you can simply ground that starter enable relay (anywhere) and all should work with the starter.
Or, you can remove the starter enable relay (non-vats cars didn't have it anyway) and just directly connect the large yellow wire going into the relay to the large green wire going out of it.
Here's a good write-up on the starter circuit: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=38
For the starter, should have ALL wires to starter attached to the larger lug on the starter, EXCEPT the purple wire, which attaches to the smaller lug. Starter grounds itself on the block, so there is NO GROUND WIRE to starter. Anytime 12v+ is applied to the starter purple wire, the starter turns.
Good Luck!
All you need is the wiring on the driver side - pass side wiring is all computer related.
The VATS module dose two things...
1) sends a pulse wave to the ECM telling it to power the injectors
2) grounds a starter enable relay which should have been under driver dash (usually in the black goo under the hood release)
IF you are not computer controlled anymore, you can simply ground that starter enable relay (anywhere) and all should work with the starter.
Or, you can remove the starter enable relay (non-vats cars didn't have it anyway) and just directly connect the large yellow wire going into the relay to the large green wire going out of it.
Here's a good write-up on the starter circuit: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=38
For the starter, should have ALL wires to starter attached to the larger lug on the starter, EXCEPT the purple wire, which attaches to the smaller lug. Starter grounds itself on the block, so there is NO GROUND WIRE to starter. Anytime 12v+ is applied to the starter purple wire, the starter turns.
Good Luck!
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 228
Likes: 0
From: Puyallup Washington
Car: 84 15th anniversary Trans Am
Engine: 305 H.O. L69
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: 89 TA LB9 wiring harness to 82 TA 1st gen carb no crank
Assuming your carb setup is aftermarket and not computer controlled ...
All you need is the wiring on the driver side - pass side wiring is all computer related.
The VATS module dose two things...
1) sends a pulse wave to the ECM telling it to power the injectors
2) grounds a starter enable relay which should have been under driver dash (usually in the black goo under the hood release)
IF you are not computer controlled anymore, you can simply ground that starter enable relay (anywhere) and all should work with the starter.
Or, you can remove the starter enable relay (non-vats cars didn't have it anyway) and just directly connect the large yellow wire going into the relay to the large green wire going out of it.
Here's a good write-up on the starter circuit: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=38
For the starter, should have ALL wires to starter attached to the larger lug on the starter, EXCEPT the purple wire, which attaches to the smaller lug. Starter grounds itself on the block, so there is NO GROUND WIRE to starter. Anytime 12v+ is applied to the starter purple wire, the starter turns.
Good Luck!
All you need is the wiring on the driver side - pass side wiring is all computer related.
The VATS module dose two things...
1) sends a pulse wave to the ECM telling it to power the injectors
2) grounds a starter enable relay which should have been under driver dash (usually in the black goo under the hood release)
IF you are not computer controlled anymore, you can simply ground that starter enable relay (anywhere) and all should work with the starter.
Or, you can remove the starter enable relay (non-vats cars didn't have it anyway) and just directly connect the large yellow wire going into the relay to the large green wire going out of it.
Here's a good write-up on the starter circuit: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=38
For the starter, should have ALL wires to starter attached to the larger lug on the starter, EXCEPT the purple wire, which attaches to the smaller lug. Starter grounds itself on the block, so there is NO GROUND WIRE to starter. Anytime 12v+ is applied to the starter purple wire, the starter turns.
Good Luck!
Sad thing is I found antifreeze in my oil
I ran the engine for about 5 mins hoping it was just condensation but...it wasn't
Time to take the engine out and do it the right way...damn POS mechanics
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