Help with header install

[Chillin014]

that wire isnt loose, thats one of those wires where the boot is a long straight tube rather than the 90 degree bend. The connection sits further out towards the edge. I think maybe that wire is supposed to be connected to the number 2 cylinder and correspondingly on the distributor.

those wires are a couple months old, they are bosch stock length from Autozone. I was thinking I bought the good stuff too!! haha. Once they burn I'll get some more high performances ones, I was wondering how they'd hold up too..I thought maybe wires were just designed to handle that much heat but yeah I definitely dont like it sitting against the header.

I'll figure out that temp switch later. I have alot of lose harnesses in the engine bay. Most likely half that switch is missing and i'll need to buy a new one. hopefully a cheap part.

 

[Chillin014]

I keep forgetting to ask. Do you think I damaged anything by running it for that short while ...like 15 minutes with the 4 and 6 wires mixed up?

edit- i burnt through one of the damn boots already. ONLY cause it was sitting right against the header though, it was the number 1 cylinder where the boot is for some dumb reason that long shape rather than the 90 degree angle. I picked up an accel spare wire and noticed some shorty accell plugs at the store meant for aftermarket header clearance problems. one day...one day..

edit again- here is the type of temp switch i've got...but i have no connector to go to it I dont think.

I'm trying to decide on a muffler but I dont know if anything more than a glass pack will fit anywhere under the car.. and I dont want to spend alot on mufflers anyway.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Engines are more resilient than you think. If it runs fine it is likely you hurt nothing. The only thing you could hurt may be if the cylinder got fuel washed and was basically being run without oil, but I don't think this is too much of a concern. If you are worried, just run a simple compression test and check for balanced compression across all 8 cylinders.

The wires you have are designed for the stock manifolds which is why you have the 2 straight boots. I run them on the front two cylinders of the passenger's side on my car, and they work just fine. My headers are designed to keep all of the factory stuff so I actually need them. I run 2 cheap wires in those positions because the MSD universal wires I got were all 90 degree boots and they did not work for mine. I plan on getting a set of MSD direct fit wires for a MCSS in the future as they come in black now and it goes better with my car than the blue ones I have. It's no rush though as it is a purely cosmetic consideration and my engine bay is not meant to be pretty.

As for the temp sender you posted, it takes a common female spade connector, but it slides on at a 90 degree angle rather than going straight in like the other ones you saw in the other posts. It is actually a better type for you to have as it allows for more clearance from the header.

 

[Chillin014]

i see...hopefully its laying around somewhere in my engine bay then.

I got to school yesterday and the car started misfiring and even back firing a little. I saw that the long boot was burnt and I could see through to the metal inside. This would cause a misfire right? Cause i turned it over to the unburnt side and drove home later and it seemed fine and when i got home with my replacement wire its almost as if the boot melted back where there was a hole before cause I could no longer see through to the metal and after removing the boot the wire seemed undamaged.

I hope these mufflers sound good and dont sit too low cause I dont want glass packs.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Look for a dark green wire in the general area of the sender. It should be on the harness that sits on top of the manifold on the driver's side, the one with the A/C harness in it. It may have turned brown or black over the years, so if you see on in those colors, check it further back to see what it''s color really is. It may also be dark green with a white tracer.

 

[Chillin014]

Look for a dark green wire in the general area of the sender. It should be on the harness that sits on top of the manifold on the driver's side, the one with the A/C harness in it. It may have turned brown or black over the years, so if you see on in those colors, check it further back to see what it''s color really is. It may also be dark green with a white tracer.

okay thanks man..yeah these are some old wires.

I still haven't figured out where the two vacuum lines go for my a/c. I connect the purple (turned brown) vacuum line to the little ball canister but there is a second grey one thats loose and the damn flap in the dashboard doesnt open so I only get the air coming out my defrost vents.

 

[markcp]

Look for a dark green wire in the general area of the sender. It should be on the harness that sits on top of the manifold on the driver's side, the one with the A/C harness in it. It may have turned brown or black over the years, so if you see on in those colors, check it further back to see what it''s color really is. It may also be dark green with a white tracer.

okay thanks man..yeah these are some old wires.

I still haven't figured out where the two vacuum lines go for my a/c. I connect the purple (turned brown) vacuum line to the little ball canister but there is a second grey one thats loose and the damn flap in the dashboard doesnt open so I only get the air coming out my defrost vents.

If it is the size of an ink pen tube, it could go to the side of the pot where the heater hose goes to, off of the intake manifold? You can see a yellow like vacuum line going to the painted red temp pot.

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[Chillin014]

Look for a dark green wire in the general area of the sender. It should be on the harness that sits on top of the manifold on the driver's side, the one with the A/C harness in it. It may have turned brown or black over the years, so if you see on in those colors, check it further back to see what it''s color really is. It may also be dark green with a white tracer.

okay thanks man..yeah these are some old wires.

I still haven't figured out where the two vacuum lines go for my a/c. I connect the purple (turned brown) vacuum line to the little ball canister but there is a second grey one thats loose and the damn flap in the dashboard doesnt open so I only get the air coming out my defrost vents.

If it is the size of an ink pen tube, it could go to the side of the pot where the heater hose goes to, off of the intake manifold? You can see a yellow like vacuum line going to the painted red temp pot.

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OHHH. yeah that line is sitting right next to the heater core valve piece. neither of them are connected, I'll have to connect them. They are so dry-rotted I might have to run some new line or something.
Do you have a picture of your a/c vacuum cylinder thing as well? My line is connected but I dont understand why the flap still doesnt open. I think someone broke the little plastic nipple the small vacuum line connects to because its really short and keeps popping off. I did my best to get a small vacuum line connected the dry rotted line and the spherical canister but like I said..no luck with the flap.

edit- i have my valve coming right off of the heater core, yours is all the way to the intake manifold nipple. is there a right or wrong way?. MY stupid thermostat housing AND nipple leak. 🙁

 

[markcp]

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I don't know if this will help at all? About the best I have on the computer right now of that area.

I just placed the pot where it was on the original 305, right on the intake manifold. Now this is on a 78, so things have changed compared to your's

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

(...pulls out 1985 Oldsmobile Chassis Service Manual...searching.....searching... FOUND IT! ) page 1B1-10 has the answer! Okay, since that means nothing to anyone reading along, here's the gist of what it is showing me. The violet hose runs the vacuum for the switch in the car. it needs to be on the outlet end of the vacuum ball and gets manifold vacuum from it. The gray tube is for the heater control valve. There is also a vacuum check ball inline with the line leading to the vacuum ball to prevent loss under hard acceleration.

I took a pic of the page from my FSM. It's not that great, but I don't know how to use my all-in-one as a scanner yet so it'll have to do...