The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Help with eclectic wiring rework - 57 3100

I am in need of help in figuring out how to return my truck to a safe, mostly stock electrical condition so I don't burn down the house. The wiring is a horrible hodgepodge of whatever wire the PO had laying around as things broke. He mostly used yellow 16-ga to wire everything from turn signals to ignition switches.

The Mess: http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa397/fourbrads/57%20chevy/DSC03207.jpg

I am most concerned about how the alternator is wired (I would like to keep an alternator in the truck, but am open to suggestions).

Here's how the PO wired the alternator: http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa397/fourbrads/57%20chevy/DSC03383.jpg
10-ga jumper wire from the plug to the stud on the back of the alternator.
16-ish ga brown wire that runs in the loom to the main harness connector.
14-ga white wire running from the alternator stud to the BAL terminal of the rusty old mystery box on the firewall (I suspect this is a voltage regular of sorts, but down't know - see the following).
On the main harness, the PO used a house wiring wire nut to tie together a large brown wire and the two large red wires that run in the loom, I suspect because these used to go to the voltage regulator which used to reside on the firewall.

The "mystery box" on the firewall has the following terminals:
A large stud marked "batt" to which nothing is connected
A terminal marked "BAL" to which the white wire from the alternator is attached
A "G" terminal that runs to firewall ground
A terminal marked "EGR" that is jumpered to the terminal marked "SOL" - A red wire (10-ga) is connected to the EGR blade and runs directly to the battery positive

http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa397/fourbrads/57%20chevy/DSC03380.jpg

The ignition switch

The ignition switch is a mess. As with most of the other wiring, when I moved it, a couple of the wires broke off. The three/four wire plug that carries the violet, dark green, brown and pink wires was a molten mass of melted plastic. All of these wires, except the pink one were no longer connected to anything and were hanging out near the battery on the other wide of the firewall, having been disconnected after their meltdown. Never disconnected from the ignition switch of course…

http://i1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa397/fourbrads/57%20chevy/DSC03375.jpg

Here's what I would like to do…

I have replaced the under dash harness (and several runs from it that were just rotted away) and have a main harness (original type, but for alternator, on backorder from Classic Chevy). I would like to return the truck to a healthy function state where:

-the starter resistor bypass works again
-the alternator is wired correctly (and I may need to replace this one as it doesn't seem to produce much power)
-I can wire in my Autolamp 9000 turn signal set, and;
-wire back in the electric windshield wiper set that is in the truck now (it works, or did until I started wiggling wires under the dash).

Any advice not the classic chevy harness is helpful and I really need to understand what the mystery box is and what it should be doing.

Thanks very much in advance,

Jim

My 57 Panel sounded kinda like what you've got now,I kept trying to repair what was there.
Then finally bought the Ron Francis wiring kit. Best thing I have done, shoulda done that long ago!
I'm not anywhere close to being an electrican,but I installed mine and everything works right.
My advice is to read up on wiring kits,buy the one you like, then rip all that crap outta there and do it right the first time.


Don J

That wiring job is quite a piece of art! I don't think there is anything there that one would save. If the alternator is OK then I would keep it.

When you said yellow wire I thought the same guy that wired mine did it. My '56 had a mess worse than that under the dash and most of them were yellow. Looked like a bowl of spaghetti.

I ripped all of it out and completely rewired the truck with a Hot Rod Wires 12 circuit harness. I have been entirely happy with it. I bought another for a truck I'm building.

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the input. Any thoughts on what the mystery box is, why he wired it in, and how to return to semi-stock running?

If this is some type of voltage regulator, could I just find a way to properly attach the new wiring harness leads to a "real" voltage regulator and still use my alternator?

I REALLY don't want to cut up my "new" harness and start down the same "hack" road as the PO.

find out exactly what alternator you have and whether it needs an external regulator or not, pry up those tabs and see what's inside, it may be just acting as a junction box regardless of what it was made for .... or easier, just pull that mess off and wire the truck correctly with the proper harness sections and a good alternator

Bill

I have the same engine and had the same mess of wires. So I re did my 55 2nd series 3100 using a EZ wiring 20 circuit kit and went with a Pretronix electronic ignition. The EZ wiring kit ran me $140 and the Pretronix ran me $75.00. The wring kit was real easy to install. And changing over to a Pretronix is very simple. You keep the original distributor just take out the points and replace with the Pretronix parts. You can always go back to the points if you ever wanted to. But I really like the pretronix and have not had any problem with it and it performs better then the points in my opinion. You can buy more expensive wiring kits. But they are basically all the same thing. The EZ wiring kit wires are all marked to what they operate. All you do is route the wires to where they go and hook em up. You can do away with the external voltage regulator and go with a alt that is internally regulated. Or stay with the external regulated alt. I liked the EZ wiring kit because it was not expensive and it used GM wire color codes. I would go with a new alt or get the one you have rebuilt. They don't cost much and you would know you had a new alt charging your battery. The EZ wiring kit I picked up had some extra circuits that I did not need. But I kept the wires rolled up in case I ever wante4d to go with a differnt engine or do some mods to the truck.

I have a 31 chevy I changed to a 12 volt, I installed a 3 wire alternator and my amp gage shows a discharge when lights are turned on but the amp gage doesn't show a charge any sugestions.???

Have you double checked your wiring? And is the gauge a new one or one you re used? The gauge maybe bad or the alt may not be charging that battery. I always find that it is the simple things that mess me up. My turn signals were not working. I checked the fuse panel and when I pulled the signal fuse it tested good. Come to find out, I had installed the fuse block upside down. And i was reading the cover wrong. When i turned the cover upside down and found the signal fuse it was blown. So check the simple thing first and go down the line. You may have one of your wires in the wrong place.

the amp gauge worked when I was using a 12 volt generator--I had the alt just checked out and is OK, I think it's in my wiring as I have a new harness so I'm thinking it's the way I have it wired-- I've been looking all over for a wiring diagram, I'm so frustrated thanks for your help !

I need help to find out in what order do I wire up the alternator -ign-and amp meter..I must have a wire in the wrong place like you said...thanks for the help !

Run a search on the net for a Painless or EZ wiring instruction manual. That way you can douwload it to your computer. If you have Adobe Reader you can enlarge the pages and see the wiring instruction better. The Adobe Reader can be downloaded also for free. The EZ wiring and Painless wiring manuals are basically the same. They use the same GM wiring color codes. And there are diagrams in the manuals that show all the differnt ways from early alts to one wire alts how they are wired up. The manuals also show ignition wiring and a bunch of other useful stuff you may need.

Sorry guys, need to hijack my thread back to my 57 3100...

tracern1; Thanks for the inputs. My first job will be to find out what type of internally regulated alternator I need to go with. I have doubts that what the PO put in here is the right thing to match up, considering the rest of the hack wiring jobs.

I should have gone with EZ wiring, but opted for the original style harness instead. With my skill level, I was looking for a simple swap-out where I could "Garanimal" my way through. I have received the new harness and will likely attempt to install it this weekend. Will keep you posted on how that goes.

Do you have a suggestion on a known alternator type (brand/model) that works for my truck, or should I just ask NAPA for a GM internally regulated unit of (what) amps?

Thanks again,

Jim

You posted in your threrad that you were just going with a radio and no power windows and such. I would go with the standard GM internal regulated alt. I went with a 1 wire Alt just to see how they work. They are easy to install, 1 wire to the battery. But a 3 wire alt will do just as good. And the 3 wire alts are cheaper then the 1 wire.

Just so I have it right, then...for a one-wire, the wire to the battery would go to the ammeter so as to register charging? If it's a 3-wire, one large wire goes to the stud on the back, and the other two go...?

Also, it wasn't me that posted about the radio and power windows (at least not that I remember...but I get older every day, as the wife reminds me).

Thanks again for helping me out.

Jim

No problem on the help and PM me with your email and I will send you the diagrams on wiring the early, late and 1 wire GM alt And i think I got mixed up on on the power windows and radio

Thanks !! I'm off to the auto parts store to get a DA Plug...I'll let you know how it goes !! We have a parade next weekend so gotta get this 31 Chevy going !

I was reading http://www.fifthaveinternetgarage.com/tech_tips/tech_tips_generator_or_regulator_bad.html