Need help... Olds 403

[Bossman317]

So I have a rather peculiar set- up. I think you guys shouldbe able to help me figure some things out though. Nothing too wierd, I just haven't found any really good info on what I need.

I bought a 1970 Buick Electra for my new summer cruiser. This baby is damn near flawless... The wierd thing is that it has an Oldsmobile 403/th400 in it. Now, I suspect a buick motor was removed because it is a 1970 for one and they didn't put olds motors in 70's and the 403 was only made from 77 to 79 if I've researched correctly.

Now the guy said that it shifted like crap if it ever shifted out of first gear and he told me it had no kickdown.( I knew in the back of my head that was because the th400 has the electric thing that goes to the switch at the pedal). He also said the Power steering pulley was crooked and needed to be fixed before the alt. belt ( no a/c) would go on without getting slung apart. I found out the wire from the pedal to the transmission was unhooked so I fixed that, and then I got a new belt and straightened the p/s pulley out.(no bolt where the p/s brkt. meets the alt. brkt. was the problem).
So I went to start the car after repairing and noticed the pully for the p/s wasnt turning and this made the alt. just turn without turning the belt.
THEN I realized that the distributor's BAT and TACH spots werent plugged in and there was no wires in sight to plug into it.
I don't know where they went, but the car won't start now and I drove it home with no alt. belt already, so I know there was something there to make it start the first( and only) time I've driven it.

My question is...
1. I suspect that they used a buick wiring harness for an olds motor...is this possible?? the 403 looks to be bone stock.
2. Does anyone know of a wiring diagram so I can find an IGN wire to splice over to the battery terminal for the olds 403 HEI dizzy? there are 2 wires that are somewhat close to the dizzy. One is red and thicker and the other is green and they're on the same little connector. My guess would be it's the old harness that went to the coil for the old points dist. set up.
3. Kind of unrelated to my problem, Can I fit an edelbrock 4 barrel 1401 600cfm carb on the stock 403 intake?? I loved my eddy on my old chevy 350, just didnt know if I could switch out the old stock carb for the fresh eddy. I just wanna drive it down the indy streets and make the old fellahs slobber at the classic buick with the 22 year old in it haha

and NO I won't be putting 35" rims and 6 12 inch woofers in the back.... lol My daddy raised me with some dignity...

Thanks in advance for the help guess, you haven't steered me wrong yet!

 

[bigdan]

first ,
does the 403 have the HEI distributor ? ( electronic«)

how could you drive it home without any wires connected on the distributor ?

if so, use the + wire that was originaly used on the coil and plug it in the batt terminal on dist it will have juice .

to be followed ....

 

[G-Body_Vet]

how could you drive it home without any wires connected on the distributor ?

That's what I was thinking.

I'm more inclined to think the battery is just dead if it was driven home without an alternator belt.

Is it cranking at all or just dead?

You don't need a tach wire unless you have a tach in the car.....which wouldn't keep it from running anyway.

 

[Bossman317]

That's the part that is messin with me.
I KNOW I drove it home( about 10 miles) with no belt.
I got home and started it once again with no belt for my dad and the battery DID die.
I recharged the battery and fixed the P/S pully and put a new belt onto the P/s and alt. assembly
I let the battery sit for a day on the charger for a nice slow charge and tried to turn the car over, no luck...
and a few days went by(cold days, like 20 degrees and lower) and I haven't gotten the car started since.
I looked under the hood 3 days ago and THEN noticed that the distributor only has the 3 wires that come from the base to the 3 socket on the cap in the position closest to the coil/cap. But the 2 wires that are for the battery and for the tach( which I don't have on my dash) are nowhere to be seen.

so basically I'm confused that adding a new belt and properly tentioning the alt./power steering set up. Or if the car has no fuel..frozen lines...bad distributor...no wire for the BAT socket on the dist.... I dont F****in know anymore...lol
I basically feel like I messed something else up because I corrected the belt situation..

 

[Bossman317]

and it does try to start but it never starts it will just keep cranking until the battery dies again...
Today I checked for spark with this plug-clip thing my dad gave me...had spark
recharged the battery, then I put the battery in the car and ran an extention chord to the car so the charger could sit on it there and it still won't turn over. It did that 3 stroke chug and die thing , but it never did it again....
and I THINK it's a 403, it has 4a heads and it's that blue color they painted oldsmobile motors back then. the dizzy is a HEI, i don't know if it came with the motor or not, but there is no remnance of a seperate coil or cut wires. I am going to try and put a pic of the engine with the harness so you guys can see what I'm dealing with.

I really dont think it's just the battery

http://s1099.photobucket.com/albums/g38 ... nd%20more/

 

[RockSS]

Ok the first thing I noticed in the first pic thiers a ground wire not hooked up and the plug with 2 wires should be for an alt. that what it looks to me ... next I know u said you had spark but I don't know where your power came from in the 3rd pic that red and green wire set up , the red should be your power for the distributer. just use a volt meter or test light turn key on should be power and non with key off. the 4th pic shows there is no power to dist. so I'm not being rude but there should no way be any spark period... (is it possible you knocked it off when workin on the car?) good luck

 

[Bossman317]

SEE, now you see my confusion. But i was actually getting back on to say I got the car to start and run finally.
I tried connecting the red and green wire to the dist. and it did not turn over. So I took that little pink wire you see in the bundled loom on the picture and connected it with a spade grabber to the spade for the BAT on the dist. and it turned over and started in less than a second.
But then the OLD belt that I did not touch started squealing and smoking and ended up getting slung off the balancer/fan pulleys. So I'm going to put a new belt on in the morning and hopefully I won't have anymore problems with it not starting...

But that still doesn't answer my question of wether or not the harness is for the car...?
the EGR isnt plugged up to anything at all, and I cant find a book for my exact year of car to try and differentiate the 2 wiring diagrams to see if the harness is even correct for the motor.

So tomorrow i'm going to try and get the belt on and then tackle this transmission not wanting to shift out of first... hopefully this wire to the detent solenoid will solve the problems and I can get to rollin without worrying about the car blowing up or something. lol

Tell you what....That suspension is SWEEETT....floats like a cloud, Makes train crossings feel like a rouch patch on the pavement. i love it!

 

[bigdan]

if the belt started smoking there has to be something seized ....alt ? p/s ?

 

[dan2286]

You should really do yourself a favor and get an engine wiring harness from an Olds that is the same body style/platform as yours, maybe like a B or C body. Not sure what yours is exactly. The way the previous owner did the wiring, you are going to have endless electrical issues. This way you will be able to plug it all in and everything should work perfect. No trying to decipher what goes where and does what.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

That distributor connector and wiring looks pretty bad. That butt connector is corrosion waiting to happen too. I always hate having to unf*ck someone else's mess. You might be better off finding a different harness or using new wires. At least that way you eliminate any surprises down the road.