83 wagon "blue"

[Longroof79]

Sounds like it might be a classic case of your alternator excite circuit on the fritz. What's your voltage coming off of the alternator? Does it have a alternator charge light...or?
Do a search on the site about this topic. You should come up with a lot of info. It gets discussed on a regular basis.

Otherwise I'm glad to hear that you got it running and shifting well.

BTW, What springs did you install up front?

 

[sbc383rulz]

THANKS!

the problem with this car is it used to be a computer controlled qjet and when the PO took it off they hacked all the wiring and vacuum lines so my heater controls dont work and the wiring is a mess.

i may end up just re wiring under the hood,the wiring and troubleshooting is not daunting to me since thats what i did in the army.

not too sure what front springs they were, my buddy bought them for his cutlass that he was autocrossing and forgot what they were when he gave them to me. i love the way it rides with the spring package it has!! ill reserve my performance judgment untill i get decent back tires on it, 205/70r15s on a 8" wide wheel does not work well....

Thanks guys ill keep you posted on my wiring endeavors!

 

[sbc383rulz]

I have the factory idiot light panel and none of them work, the gas gauge and speedo work but nothing else. I am not sure where to start with the wiring on that because i have not seen a diagram for wiring the idiot lights only gauges. I would venture to guess my charging problem may have to do with my wiring mess since the alternator tested good.

After doing a bunch of reading i get some conflicting results, the brown wire that comes out of the back of the alternator is a straight ground in my car with some resistance and I am not sure if this is correct. Help is greatly appreciated!

I am fairly competent when i have diagrams to start troubleshooting with but i have no idea where to start and cant find HARD facts about how stuff is wired and dont want to mess it up anymore than it already is!

 

[sbc383rulz]

It would be nice since i cant afford real gauges right now to have working idiot lights..

 

[sbc383rulz]

FOUND THE ANSWER!! I think....
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=42668

This thread shows what i need to do to hopefully fix the charging system, i have a ground on the brown wire even when the engine is running causing the field circuit to never energize!

Ill keep you posted when/if i get to work on it today.

 

[Longroof79]

If you decide to go with optional factory gauges, here's a diagram that would help you in that respect.
http://www.maliburacing.com/gauge_conversion.html

and a link to other wiring diagrams http://www.maliburacing.com/wiring.html

where was the wiring hacked off, under the hood? Perhaps you can locate an underhood harness and vacuum lines from a parts car.

 

[sbc383rulz]

If you decide to go with optional factory gauges, here's a diagram that would help you in that respect.
http://www.maliburacing.com/gauge_conversion.html

and a link to other wiring diagrams http://www.maliburacing.com/wiring.html

where was the wiring hacked off, under the hood? Perhaps you can locate an underhood harness and vacuum lines from a parts car.

the wiring was hacked under the hood yes. Im not sure where the factory ecm was located so i dont know about that wiring but the fuse is still in!
That is the diagrams i found but they dont give anything for the idiot lights.
That gauge swap guide is a little misleading. It says to "Remove the brown wire from your alternator. If you have a cluster WITHOUT a tach, just coil it up and tape somewhere under the hood - DO NOT CUT IT OFF!" and if you follow that your car will probably not charge.

all the fuses are still good in my car so im going to have to start following the wiring and chasing the ground till i find the issue. THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!

as far as the heater and controls im just going to change to a JCWhitney Mojave heater and put a patch panel on the firewall.

 

[Longroof79]

I have found a few decent wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual. It's the manual titled Chevrolet Chevelle V8 & V6
Below that it says 1969 thru 1987- Chevelle -Malibu- El Camino

The ECM would have been located on the passenger side kick panel.

 

[sbc383rulz]

Picked up a Vortec 5.7 from a 97 suburban and a 700r4 out of a 87 camaro!
305 and th350 are on craigslist. Ive got a quadrajet and performer intake for the vortec, I also picked up a pair of 235/75r15s for the back to level her out a bit. Going to roll some bearings into the vortec clean it up real good paint it and run it.

Should make it a bunch more fun!

 

[sbc383rulz]

Engine and trans are on the floor. Nasty crud all over everything. I will try to post pictures later but next week is finals so it may have to wait till after that.