I was thinking since I'm gonna build a 383 carb motor I won't need the computer or related wiring to make it work. However, while that seems easily accomplished according to sofakindom on this thread https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...e-wireing.html My questions are, does removing all that stuff affect how the gauges work? And is there anything else in that harness that I really need to keep to make everything in the car function right?

I really want to keep my factory gauges and lights etc. I am removing AC for the time being unless I find parts and a new compressor for the car because most everything for that system is either broken or seized. Yes I will take his advice and keep the wiring for the car in a box in case I do end up in California or some other screwed up emissions state where I haven't made too many friends yet.

 

You can unhook everything for most engines up to around 87. Theres a 2 pin connector near the C100 with tan and green wires in it. Tan is Oil pressure sender, green is AC compressor 12v. The whole harness should disconnect and pull out without a fuss, just run the oil sender connector external

Gauges are not computer controlled, so they will still operate unless you leave a connection off

 

Not sure how diff 84 is from 82 Trans Am wiring but
when i did mine there was not a single wire on the
computer harness that was needed at all. I was able
to remove the complete computer harness with no
ill effect. All the gauge wiring is on the main harness.

When i say computer harness i mean the harness on
the passenger side. There is another harness that
comes from the firewall behind the motor that is for
A/C 'blower motor, a/c pressure switch, vacuum, etc'.
Leave that one alone.

P.S. the computer harness is NOT on the c100. The
computer harness comes out from the passenger side
of the car where the computer is and through the body
behind the passenger side fender. If you remove the
inner fender you will see it. Very easy to remove.

 

Ok so the only thing I might have to do is run an external oil sender line and I'm good? As I said my electrical sucks but this is how you learn. Jupiter, saw your car on earlythirdgen. Nice car again. I did find that connector you are both talking about on the passenger side (sneaky bastard with the clip). Now do I need to follow the wires to be sure I don't rip out anything that needs to stay? I'm guessing yes as it seems some wires cross over and share the same insulators. I am working on doing that now. I guess I am good with the gauges though. Just gotta work out the wires from the insulation.

 

If it were me, I'd leave the wiring in tact, and just tuck it in the fenderwell. I did this on my TBI car - tucked all the wiring out of sight in the fenderwell. I now have an almost unlimited supply of wires that already run from inside car to outside, completely weather sealed. I've used them for foglights, external lighting, TC lockup, manual fan switches, and all kinds of gadgets - I just pull one out when I need it, trace it to the inside, and use to my liking.

 

Camaronewbie, nice idea, but I am going for a bone stock look exterior, ditto for the interior, so any gadgets are out of the question.

Anyway, I did manage to pull out all the wiring and it came out as Pocket and Jupiter said. All came out once I found the three pin connectors on the drivers side that it hooked up to.

Now, what do I need to do to get the temp and oil pressure gauges to work because I think those two connectors came out with the computer harness. The temp sensor might be the knock sensor, had a blue wire going to the connector. I have an empty engine by so anything wiring wise that I need to do can be done now easily.

I'm putting the wiring for the comp and the comp itself in a box in case I ever need the stuff again. Amazing how it cleaned up the bay too. lol.

 

@L695speed
Sounds like you're on the right track. I really like
camaronewbie' idea of just tucking it away rather
then ripping it out. My car is a 'restomod' as
apposed to a restoration so i had no problem
tearing that harness out since i didn't need ANY
of those wires. I then sealed off the hole in the
body. I really like not having ANY wiring on that
side/fender. While i was working on that side i
also noticed that the A/C wiring harness fits easily
UNDER the A/C/Heater box so as to hide as much
wiring as possible.

@camaronewbie
HEH... Great idea

 

Knock sensor is purple according to my wiring
diagram. My car came with manual fan rather
then electric so temp and oil pressure wires were
on the main engine harness rather then computer
harness. I think on cars with electric fan/s the
temp wire may come from the computer. I could
be wrong!

 

Nope - electric fans cars still have oil and temp senders on the main driver side harness - no ECM interaction with gauges at all.

 

so I don't have to do anything to get them to work? I know about the two pin connector that Pocket mentioned.... just leave it alone?

Jupiter, mine is going to be a restomod albeit the idea is to make it as subtle as possible without giving away the fact that it will run with a new ZR1 at the strip. The suspension/chassis is getting totally upgraded, along with a T56 and a 383 stroker. So I have no problem with ripping the wires out as long as I keep them in case I ever put the numbers matching block back in. Some of them were absolutely naked too, and I didn't want to take the chance of a wire inadvertently getting hot and sending the car up in flames too.

 

OMG DOH!!! For some reason I kept thinking that the oil sender was a two prong sender...I forgot it was a three prong sender and the damn connector was wired into the car still anyway. The price of doing this at 11:30 at night on and off throughout the evening.

I need to find the one for the TEMP GAUGE. There are two or three green wires. One is for the electric fan switch, I hard wired that to a manual toggle switch because the end connector broke. Is this the one that I need? There is another wire that is green that has a broken connector that is in a protective wrapping with the AC wiring. And there is another one in there if I recall correctly.

Jupiter, you're probably right with the knock sensor being violet. It looked blue to me but I'm working in incandescent bulb light and the wires are dirty as hell so it looked blue to me.

 

Hello, I have an 88 TA and I am doing a twin turbo ls1, do you know if I can remove all of the wiring that goes to the old computer or not?

 

do you possibly have a picture of this connector i am trying to do this ecm and harness delete for my carberated 350 swap

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engine-swap/

 

Not sure what I didn't cover adequately in that post, so here's another on the same subject.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...ing-wires.html

This is for earlier cars, roughly 87-back, and does not strictly apply to the 88 and the "twin turbo" spank-off. For that, a complete LS1 harness would be a good place to start.