Dash wiring harness questions .....s10

Horsepwraddict

Pro Stocker
Mar 3, 2007
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Princeton MA
In my '91 S10 the engine harness is untouched and in good condition. Whoever took the dash out of the truck cut some wires and I really dont feel like dealing with and sorting through other peoples mistakes and shortcuts. I dont want to have to go with a painless kit and rewire the entire truck, though i will if i have to.

Has anyone removed all the dash wiring, only keeping what is needed to run the truck (ignition and turn signals/wipers/headlights). I will be wiring all my guages seperatly anyway (autometers in custom panels, sheet metal dash if im feeling ambitions). The truck is going to be a carbed small block truck too so all the uneeded wiring is going to be removed from under the hood too.

Any tips or idea's are greatly appreciated.

PS. Do painless harnesses have wires for guages?
 

injected

Frequent Racer
Dec 21, 2006
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Quebec , Canada
Very easy for the engine !! All you need is 12v source on the ignition switch tha run to the distributor, a start wire from the switch to the starter solenoide and there you go !! As for the wippers and signal you should look at the factory wire diagrams and it wont be a hard job ! Only time cosuming! :awesome:
 

Horsepwraddict

Pro Stocker
Thread starter
Mar 3, 2007
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Princeton MA
Thanks, I dont mind spending the time. It gives me more satisfaction anyway.

Truck looks goofy without a dash in it anyway lol
 

540Malibu

Pro Stocker
May 22, 2003
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Shrews., MA
i think i have the ignition/wiper and headlight pinouts somewhere on my computer.

i may also have an extra un-touched s10 cab harness ill look and see if its still in the truck

yes the painless harnesses have guage wires, but only 1 wire for guage power, and 1 wire for lights, so youll need to group your own off the gauges.
 

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
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Catalina, AZ
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I'm not sure, but you may be able to use the dash/engine compartment harness from a pre-computer S10 (pre-'87). That pretty much gives you the necessary wiring you'll need, including wiring from the engine compartment to the interior for the gauges. Then you'd just need a factory wiring diagram to splice the wiring to the aftermarket gauges (i.e. factory temp. gauge to aftermarket temp. gauge, etc.), which would make any possible troubleshooting in the future much easier :)
 

Horsepwraddict

Pro Stocker
Thread starter
Mar 3, 2007
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Princeton MA
well, i looked at it briefly the other day and i think this is what im going to do.

-Keep neccesary wires under the hood (starter, alt, coil)
-The column is still wired, buzzer comes on when key is on, blinkers work, and everything dies down when you hit the key but nothing happens starter wise (have to figure out, whatever, im good at chasing electrical problems) ...so im not touching the column wiring
-Pull blower out, radio out, all heater/ac controls and neccesary wires.
-Pull computer and all wires associated with the fuel injection
-Run my own guages and wire seperatly
-Figure out speedo later on lol


going to start the swap tomorrow, once the motor fires up, wiring comes next so i might be coming back with a few question in the upcoming week or so.
 

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
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Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
Well, a suggestion I have as a theft deterrent (my '91 was stolen a couple years ago & found a couple days later minus the stuff in it, but it's remarkably easy to break into, think <30 seconds=gone) is to wire a hidden SPDT switch or a switch to an SPDT relay. So you can set it to either start normally, or to honk the horn any time a would-be thief tries to start it. Mine is fairly easy to work around (when the relay is energized the horn circuit is closed instead of the starter). I could whip up a little schematic for my thought on a better way of wiring it if you'd like. It's more along the lines of the relay is energized and works normally only when the ignition is on, so if they manage to find the switch and cut the wiring to it, it de-energizes the relay, so it switches over to the horn, and they get a nice little surprise when they go to start it. I'd also run another one for the coil, and possibly a dummy switch, only to further confuse them :D
 

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