I have a project car that has the engine bay wiring harness burned up. Is there a way to start the engine WITHOUT the harness in place? I would like to see if the engine will turnover or start before i dive too much deeper in to this project. Any help is appreciated. Picture attached of the burned harness at the fuse block area.

 

As long as you have power to the starter and the HEI distributor (if not toast from the fire) even if you have to run a jumper wire for it she should start, the ignition is all in the distributor including the coil. I'm not sure if those early 3rd gens have mechanical or electrical fuel pumps so you might need to make sure there is power to the pump if it's electrical. You might have to jump the solenoid on the starter to crank it over if the wires to the starter are fried.

 

Thank you Y2K, That's is good info. For now I want to eliminate all the other harness power connections so i don't create any more damage than already occurred. So let me know if my thinking is correct.... I will install a battery and connect it to the the ground, run a wire from battery positive direct to the the starter and run a wire from the battery positive direct to the HEI distributor. Use a remote starter switch to turn over the car. other details about the car. The car has sat in a garage since 1996 so I'm going to clamp off the fuel supply and use starter fluid to get the engine to turn over. This would allow the engine to run(hopefully) only as long as I'm supplying the starter fluid. If in fact the engine turns over, my plan is to replace the wire harness, fuel tank, fluids and plugs to get the 82 on the path to getting back on the road. I'm no mechanic but have some experience working cars(maintenance and DIY repairs) so I'm open to any and all suggestions/questions so let me know you thoughts on my plan and if I'm leaving out a connection or step to attempt to temporarily starting the car. thanks

 

If the car is original there is a computer running the carb and the HEI ignition system. There is a way to bypass the ignition system but I seriously doubt the distributor cap/rotor and coil survived the 1000+ degrees the engine compartment saw. Back when these cars where not that old a small crack in the cap would cause a no start condition.

If the car is original there will be a 4 wire connector on the HEI besides the main power and ground. Its been a long time but I think you have to jump terminal A to C on the distributor side to get it to fire.

If you get it to crank over I would suggest a compression test first. If things are warped from heat that could end up be a very scary startup. Ever see fire shoot out between a head and the block? Also you want to verify oil pressure with the starter cranking before you start it.

 

I don't think the fire was a severe as you may think, The picture below shows how the fire was small and contained to the driver side bulk head location. The fire melted the insulation on some of the wires but no real structural or mechanical damaged appeared to have happened. I'm hoping to get the car to my house in the next week or so to dig a little deeper. Just trying to get a game plan together when i do get it here. if the engine is still mechanically sound and not seized. i will pursue the resurrection. If it is seized i will sell it off for parts. It will need a wire harness and i plan to go thru painless wire for that. On that note, could I eliminate the ECM on this car since it is a carbed car and i don't need to go thru emissions for inspection?

 

I don't think the fire was a severe as you may think, The picture below shows how the fire was small and contained to the driver side bulk head location. The fire melted the insulation on some of the wires but no real structural or mechanical damaged appeared to have happened. I'm hoping to get the car to my house in the next week or so to dig a little deeper. Just trying to get a game plan together when i do get it here. if the engine is still mechanically sound and not seized. i will pursue the resurrection. If it is seized i will sell it off for parts. It will need a wire harness and i plan to go thru painless wire for that. On that note, could I eliminate the ECM on this car since it is a carbed car and i don't need to go thru emissions for inspection?

 

Sure you can eliminate the ECU, you just need a new Carb and distributor.

I honestly hope you are right about the fire but every fire car I have worked on, every single one has had damage that was unsuspected even by me. It only takes about 260-270 degs to damage an engine. Paint burns at 500-600 degrees. The air around a fire will hit 1200 in a mater of seconds at that point its just a matter a thermal transfer. Even when you think you have everything fixed a month later a seal blow out and when you pull it you see it was partially melted. This is why insurance companies almost always total car that have had an under hood fire in them.

Like a said I worked on these cars back in the day when they where new. If you asked me what was needed to get one that was in storage for 20+ years to run, Distributor Cap and rotor would be on the list even without the fire. These caps would crack if the car over heated and unlike many cars these coil mounted in cap will not even try to start with a cracked cap. I may start with the existing cap but the odds are against it.

Also the compression test and slow crank oil pressure test I would do on any engine I had not heard run that has been siting that long. A plugged oil pick up screen is a $15 in parts fix, replacing the engine can cost little more and a compression test will tell you more about an engine condition than hearing it idle on starting fluid. If you got lucky and the car fired right up you could damage the Cam, Cam bearings or the lifters. Over time the oil drains out of everything the more years that do by the dryer everything gets. The oil pump could take some time to prime. If the car starts before the pump can prime damage will occur.

A 14 year old car that was then put in storage for 20+ years should have every soft part in the engine bay replaced. Every seal, every hose. I would not even start it. Just pull it, tear it down reseal it. Heck I am thinking about doing it to my 67 and it only has about 5000 miles since being rebuilt in 1998 and I run it every year at least some and last year the rear main started leaking. Cars just sitting do not age well.

 

GORN/Forum,I would really like to eliminate the ECM from this build, especially if i go with a new Wire Harness i would like to keep it as simple as possible. What (budget friendly)HEI distributor should look to get to replace the current distributor? I would be open to going to a junk yard if that is a good option. ??

 

I think any Pre-82 HEI will work. Jegs and Summit have a reasonable one. Keep in mind on a just yard units you may be into rebuilding the thing. There are a lot of parts there. The spark module, cap and rotor should all be replaced. Not sure what your plans are for the car but the old GM module where slow had electronics and would start to retard the timing above 5000 RPMs.

You could also use pre 86 pickup HEI. The 86's look right with the vacuum advance but they had a spark control module.

I would not buy anything until I verified compression and oil pressure.

Also search youtube for a home made smoke tester. You can do a lot to verify an engine is in good working order before starting and possible damaging it.

JEGS Performance Products 40002: HEI Distributor, SB & BBC | JEGS

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...001r/overview/