Reconciling new wiring / ECU / alternator

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R3dplanet

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Well. Ach. I've got a '65 Barracuda that I've installed a rebuilt 360 into. I thought I'd be all smart and replace the wiring harness, move to a Mopar Performance electronic ignition, and Toyota (Nippon Denso) alternator.

The harness I bought is from Year One, part #HU352AM, which is supposed to be a '65 harness modified to use electronic ignition.

The electronic ignition is a Mopar Performance (orange box) that I bought from Summit Racing, part #P3690426.

Here's my issue.

First, I'm not sure which ballast resistor I'm supposed to use. The 2-prong or 4-prong ballast resistor? The Year One wiring harness came with two plastic connectors that connect directly to the 4-prong ballast resistor. But the instructions that came with the MP ignition unit show diagrams using the 2-prong resistor, as do the various write-ups I've seen in this forum. It looks like the question to use either the 2 or 4 prong resistor has to do with the control box you have, which is supposed to be either a 4 or 5 wire connector. Mine has 5 wires, but the diagrams show that the green/red is unused.

Now I'm confused. If I use the 2-prong resistor, it seems perfectly clear how to wire it up all up. No problem. That is, until I need to figure out exactly what to do with the plastic molded electrical connectors (two blue wires on one and brown/blue/red+green on the other).

Yikes.

Help?
 
Has the engine been started broken in yet???

I would used what the MOPAR wiring suggests as they know what their ignition module needs to work. Also in my MOPAR Performance book it shows just using 4 wires and not the green wire.

Mount the single resistor where you want it (remember it gets VERY hot, so mount it where the heat won't affect anything) Connect the blue side to either one of the connections you want, the other side I believe the brown/blue should be connected. You could check the brown/blue with an ohmmeter by: One lead from meter to the brown/blue and the other lead to the terminal that is supposed to go to the + side of the coil. The meter should be very close to ZERO ohms of resistance. In other words, it's the exact same wire and should be the same color.

If this was my project I would get it all installed (wiring and engine) Hook up the battery and check to make sure you have lights, working temp. gauge, power to the hot lead of the alternator. Next I would make sure the starter is disabled (unplugging the neutral safety switch) then I would take or still have the distributor out of the engine. At this point hook up it's wiring connection, have a spark plug connected to the high voltage (center terminal of the coil) wire and have the plug laying on a good ground, turn the key on and spin the dist. by hand and make sure you are getting spark at the spark plug. The next step would be to have someone hold the ignition key to the "start" position while you again turn the distributor by hand and watch for good spark. After you are assured it is getting spark in both ignition positions, then reinstall the distributor, correctly time the engine, hook back up the wire you removed to disable the starter and fire that baby up!
 
you have a YO harness for e;ectronic ign? that should be plug and play man. the terminals on the harness fit all 4 prongs on a 4 prong resistor?


electronic ign is pretty straight forward...

balck/yellow= -coil
blue/yellow= key (run) power at the ballast
green/red= not used
other two wires = dist plug


a picture of what you have would help see what the confusion is about better. i know my aftermarket harness used a 2 prong resistor..

the ballast on my car has on one side that goes through the ballast the ign 1 key power (run position on the ign switch) which if i remember correctly is a blue wire with a white traceer on it, and blue/yellow wire from the ecu plug.

the opposite side of the ballast has the +coil wire and ign 2 a wire that comes from the ign. switch when its in the start position.
 
I guess I forgot, did the kit come with two ballast resistors??? If it did use the double resistor and don't connect the green/red wire to anything.
 
Yes, the kit came with two ballast resistors. Also, the YO wiring harness doesn't have the connector that should plug into the orange box. It also has a few other connectors I can't identify:

1. A black and grey connector that looks like it wants to plug into the distributor, except that the orange box already is connected to the distributor.

2. The two plastic connectors for the 4-wire ballast resistor previous mentioned (two blue on one connector, one brown / blue / red+green on the other).

3. a T-shaped connector one purple and one green wire, bundled with a separate plastic spade connector with a wire that is black with a white wire.

These connectors just don't seem to match up unless I'm missing something. I double checked that this is supposed to be the right harness, but it clearly isn't right. The YO harness comes with no instructions, and the website says to consult the factory diagrams. But the factory diagrams for 1965 didn't have 4-prong ballast resistors and electronic ignition. Does the factory mopar electronic ignition have a different connector? I was under the impression that these connectors were the same.
 
I do now, thanks to my friend Amy.

Here are some photos to help clarify what's up.

4PRONGBALLASTWIRES.JPG


mysterywires.JPG


mysterywires2.JPG


orange_box.jpg


firewall_connector.JPG
 
Weird stuff going on there. So the YO harness doesn't have the plug that goes to the ecu ? Sounds like they sent the wrong harness.

The second pic looks like your coil wires. The black with yellow tracer goes from your ecu to the. -coil. I assume the other is the +coil
 
So where did the connector that is on the ECU now come from? I agree with Joe on the two seperate wires you are holding in the one picture, they are the coil wires.

The first picture with the connectors you circled are as you know, the ballast resistor connectors.

The one connector with the two wires in it, with the harness kind of installed, approximately where does it seem like the two wires will reach? The wiper motor?
 
this is an early A. correct? sure that connector isn't for the headlights? from what i remember the headlight wires run down the fenderwell and have a connector in the top of the inner fenderwell kinda behind the headlights. there should be a 2"? plug where the wires go through..

mysterywires2.JPG
 
Hi.

Abodyjoe - I'm not sure what the t-shaped connector is for, but I can say with certainty that it isn't for either for the headlights or horns. It's on the driver's side and it looks like it could mount anywhere on the driver's side firewall. The factory diagram doesn't show it this connector.

The connector for the orange box (5-wire) comes as part of the Mopar Performance electronic ignition kit. The kit came with two ballast resistors, the distributor, and the orange box. I mistakenly reported that I bought it from Summit, but I actually bought it from Mancini Racing. The 5-wire connector simply has five disconnected wires that I'm supposed to attach to the distributor, coil, and ballast resistor.

Someone made the comment that I shouldn't be looking at this as something to cut up and modify. It didn't even occur to me that I should have to cut to anything until you all pointed out the two coil connectors. My plan so far has been to work from the orange box first. Now I see that this whole harness could work without any modification (minus one mystery connector) if it had a 5-wire connector for the orange box. It doesn't. The exact quote from the part description is "Use this harness for plug & play termination of a Chrysler electronic ignition system." This raises a point: how is the Chrysler electronic ignition system different than the Mopar Performance system? Until this moment, I had believed that they were one and the same.
 
I'm a little confused here:

YO kit is a complete engine bay wiring harness?

Does the YO harness have the connector that plugs into the orange box?

If not, does it have the 4 or 5 wires hanging out of it so you could splice the wires onto the connector that came with the orange box?

It looks like the YO harness has the connectors on it for the double ballast resistor?

You call the one connector you don't know where it goes to a "T" connector. Does it truly look like a "T" or an "L"???


Last question, did the "Mopar Kit" come with instructions for installing their kit? Preferably which resistor to use and what wires to use?
 
spankmeister7 said:
3. a T-shaped connector one purple and one green wire, bundled with a separate plastic spade connector with a wire that is black with a white wire.
Click to expand...

My 1967 Dart/Coronet/Charger factory service manual shows: a "T" shaped connector going to the horn "relay". In the "T" connector it has, one 16 gauge dark green wire and one 16 gauge violet wire along with this, there is a 18 gauge black wire with a connector on it that also goes to the horn "relay"
 
You definatley ordered this harness from Yo for a 65 cuda with electronic ign?

Do us a favor and pull that harness out and get a good pic showing all terminals. If you ordered a harness for electronic ign it should have the ecu plug on it. If there is no ecu plug they sent you the wrong harness. You should not have to use that mp harness.
 
I'm triple sure about the harness and part numbers. These harnesses are a bit expensive, and spending another $220 to find out of I'm right or wrong doesn't appeal to me.

I've decided instead to make my own harness. I've done it before on my Falcon, and all the new connectors I have laying here between the two kits will provide me with an excellent base. I'll just get some good wire and start soldering.

If successful, photos will be posted.

Thanks very much to everyone who chimed in. I love the support.

-m.
 
I'm triple sure about the harness and part numbers. These harnesses are a bit expensive, and spending another $220 to find out of I'm right or wrong doesn't appeal to me.
Click to expand...


i didn't mean for you to buy another. but atleast call them.. i really think they sent ya the wrong one if it doesn't have the ecu plug


making that one work is easy but you spent money for a plug and play one and you don't have that.
 
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