December 31, 2009 - I'm trying to isolate the wires I need so I don't need to pull the entire harness from the car.
There are probably easier ways to go about this - more on that later - but I figure I'd rather put in the extra effort just in case.
Remember those disparate wire harness engineering teams that wouldn't talk to each other about connector design? They also didn't communicate on wire colors either. There simply aren't enough colors to go around, and the common trick of adding a stripe to distinguish between say, a white wire and a white wire with a green stripe. Adding the stripe increases the number of distinct wires dramatically. Instead, the instrument cluster has two white wires coming out of it. One is for the skip shift system, the other is the speedometer signal. Both go to the Powertrain Control Module or PCM. Thanks Chevy!
Now, the easier method. I just remembered that Painless makes an LS wiring harness. In fact, it turns out they make one for the unique 1998 Camaro PCM. It includes everything you need to run the engine and nothing else - even a fusebox - and is designed for jobs like mine. As a bonus, they'll also reflash your PCM for free, disabling the need to use a key with a particular resistor stuck inside or turning off the need for rear O2 sensors. The total is right around $500. When you consider I've probably taken $500 of potential resale out of the Camaro (should it remain a viable car, anyhow), I'll have to pay for the software to reflash the PCM and I may end up spending some money on a fusebox, it may have actually been a money-saving choice to make. Oh well, I'm committed to this plan now.
tags: wiring |
THE DIARY