I feel like an explorer after stepping into quicksand and realizing that every move seems to make my predicament worse.
My '78 Alfetta Coupe is not running. I bought it that way, for a song, and am finding serious issues. The electrical on this car is in EXTREMELY poor condition. Under the dash, there are at least 4 cut wires (red, red/black,white and thin yellow). There are at least 3 disconnected wires as well, two black with male connectors coming from the steering column and a red with female connector. The relay's are heavily corroded, many of the wires actually attached to the fuse box are not where the wiring diagram says they should be (connected to 4 instead of 5 for instance), or are cracked and frayed or even split completely. There are about 20 wires that are stereo wires, that are all over the place, confusing the already jumbled mess of wires even more. In the engine bay there are multiple wires not connected, and with no easily determined place to connect them. There are wires I cannot locate, and wires that are frayed and in varying states of disrepair.
So my options are to struggle to try and fix them circuit by circuit, understanding full well that what is not updated, is 30 year old wire. Or, I yank the whole lot, buy wire in varying gauges, and reqire the entire car updating all the circuits (as well as fuses, relays and the other switches that need updating).
My gut tells me to take the time, and do it all since the car has obviously not been treated kindly. Any opinions are appreciated, particularly from any that has prodigious skill in auto electric repair. I worry I bit off more than I can chew with this as my first project.
Fix wire by wire, or replace the whole harness
Linear Mode
