Hey guys,

Ive been working on restoring my car for over a year now. Recently Ive begun to wire everything together. Long story short:

Has anyone ran into aluminum wiring used in the body harness? - the harness from the dash to the tail lights...

was this something that shouldve been replaced in a recall or TSB?

the car is an 85 TA.

Anyone else run into this?

 

Other than battery cables,i have never seen aluminum
wire in an f-bod or any other car-not that it couldn't
happen
not sure if my '82 had aluminum battery cables,but my
'74 nova did...caused me some trouble too

 

It's called 'Tinned' Copper, a thin coating of solder is added to protect from the elements.

 

Hmm, interesting. It certainly feels like one solid wire, when cut, it is silver all the way through... The insulation is also different, it appears to be "translucent" I'll try to take a pic tonight.

Theres no worries here, just something interesting I thought I'd share, and see if anyone else has seen it in their cars.

You learn something new everyday!

 

Is it possible it may have been added later.........where exactly does it end up at,I know you mentioned tail lights but where on the tail lights

 

It is the harness that has a connector up under the dash on the left kick panel, and goes back to the left rear corner, where it connects to the tail light harness. The newer cars run a different setup- I parted out a 89 GTA and the harness connected at a different point.

 

I wasn't sure what you were talking about at first, but then I remembered that the end of the body harness, where it connects to the tail lights harness, has a coloured clear insulator, and you can see the wires inside. That's in my 84, I didn't really look at it in my 89.

 

Yes! Must have been something they tried/tesed and decided it wasnt need in future years

 

Caddy used aluminum wiring in some of their cars years ago to reduce weight.