Wiring Harness Qustions (1 Viewer)

[tomncis]

Hello,

I've been lurking for the past few months since I bought my 73' FJ40 project and have been learning quite a bit. The cruiser I bought had been in a fire and the wiring harness was completely removed when I got it. I bought a complete harness from a 78' cruiser and am trying to adapt it to my truck. I have all the switches, the gauge cluster, ignition switch and turn signal switch from the 78' so all that hooked up fine. I guess my questions are - Has anyone adapted a newer harness to an older rig? If so - Can you give me any advice or "heads up" on issues you ran into while installing your harness? What's the best way to adapt the ignition wiring to my old set up? I have it partially installed and now I have seen a harness for a 73' cruiser in the for sale section and am thinking about abandoning what I'm doing and buying the other harness and need a little guidance on which direction to go. I'm not real strong on the wiring end of things and am struggling.

Thanks for any input you might have,

Tom

 

[spotcruiser]

Hey Tom,

The trucks (73 and 78) are basically the same. Some of the components will be in different locations on stock trucks. It's not that daunting a task. You'll just have to ad lib a little.

If you have a 78 harness with all of the switches, I think you should stick with that harness. You should probably have a 78 schematic and wire your truck per that. I believe there is a 78 schematic in the Tech Links. If not, I can send you one. I think I also have a layout diagram, which can sometimes be of help.

Do you have the stock 73 ignition?

 

[tomncis]

Thanks for the response!

Yes, I do have the original ignition and the wiring harness has the green plug at the end where I suspect it's supposed to plug into the coil etc. I'll check the tech section for a diagram.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[spotcruiser]

I see in the Tech Links that there is a 71 wiring diagram. This will show the connections you need for a basic points ignition.

There is also a pdf of the 78 wiring.

You can either modifiy existing wires on the 78 harness to provide the connnections needed for your 73 ignition, or upgrade to a 78 distributor/ignitor and use the plugs and wiring as is.

 

[tomncis]

Thanks for the advice, I think I might look for a 78' distributor and ignitor so I don't have to cut up the wiring harness.

Thanks!