Wires to Start

[mikedickbek]

Hi All,
I've been going over and over my wiring and can't seem to figure out where I went wrong. I took good notes when taking it all apart and am pretty sure I put all the wiring back correctly.
When I bought this 78 from the PO, he kept bragging about how he could start it with three wires. Do any of you know which three magic wires they are?
I'm not ready to start it, but before I move on to other areas of the truck to finish up this project I'd like to see something happen when I turn the key.
What's the quickest, most simple way to wire this cruiser to start?
If this has been discussed before, I couldn't find where.
Thanks a lot guys.
Mike

 

[dargreg]

I really suspect the PO has butcherd the harness if he brags about that,so we really have no where to start except .the oem wire schematic.Most of us have them and can help in a specific area.Heck most of us can start it with one wire but it still involves other wires already there.

 

[Pin_Head]

There is a schematic diagram with all the color codes for a '78 in tech links above on this site. This should make it easy to get it connected properly.

I don't know about "magic", but you really only need one wire from the battery + to the ballast resistor on top of the coil on the side that is not connected to the coil. Then you can run the starter motor by jumping across the two large lugs with a screw driver.

 

[mikedickbek]

Sounds good, I'll check out the schematic. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I installed a painless kit about 3 years ago and had no probs. When I disconnected everything for my build, I numbered everything and wrote down where it went back to when re-installing. I guess I miss numbered, and will check the schematics and try to decipher what goes where.
Thanks guys!

 

[hippi68]

have you considered getting a whole new wiring harness? i don't know the condition of the your existing one, but painless makes one that is good and labeled so not to hard to put in. even for ppl like me who don't know the first thing about wiring a vehicle.

 

[hippi68]

oops, didn't see the post just above ....

 

[IDave]

Well, you need a hot wire from the battery, a wire to the positive terminal of the coil, and a wire to the starter solenoid.

You can skip the starter solenoid wire if you have a hand crank.

So, actually, I guess if you had that, you could do it with one wire.

 

[Vicm]

What type of ignition does this 78 have?
If it is the fully electronic, running one wire to the coil is not going to start it.
Do you have coil/igniter and (pickup coil in the distributor)?
Or coil/igniter and points inthe distributor?
Or coil and points in the distributor?
Or something else?

 

[IDave]

Fancy, shmancy newfangled stuff. Jack Bauer and McGyver need it simple.

 

[antFJ]

don't forget power to the carb idle solenoid..