Hello...i'm new here.
I have a 1987 trtuck with a 1984 22r engine.
I have electrical issues, to say the least.
Since the 87 was efi, and the engine is carbureted, i have a rat's nest of unused, but still connected wires..
the previous owner/s have left another rat's nest of wires under the dash. For who knows what.


I look forward to learning things here.

 

Pull old wires out, go to junkyard, find an 84+ that was carbed, take that wiring harness, and put it in place. Or get a painless wiring kit..

Otherwise, you'll have to go through and piece together what you already have.

 

perfect.
where does one score a 'painless wiring kit'?

 

I hate to say this The best way to do this is with both year vehicle Electrical manuals. Or at least the parts you need .

That gives you all the color of the wires the plug locations so you can get rid of all the wires not doing things .

You just have to take your time and work through it If you have any help close by this is a good time.

welcome to Yota tech

 

Gonna have to go back on the painless kit. It became apparent to me just a few mins ago that nobody makes a kit that is "painless"
However, you CAN get a general wiring harness for under the hood. I.e., starter, ignitor, alternator, regulator, etc etc. and then adapt it to your pickup.
Check on ebay for wiring harnesses from wrecked trucks.

 

Brother you just described my truck. Mine is a 1990 reg cab 22r and it looks like a motor swap is what happend. I dont know the year of the motor and that made it even harder. There is NO "painless" harness but you can get a kit from them in either 8 cuircut or 18 curcuit configuration but you will still be dealing with a rats nest of wires. I have began to just cut out and replace wires my self. It is slow going but at least you will know where those wires are going and that they are not going to fail on ya.

 

Why not find and install the proper engine with EFI, it would be more reliable and have more power, and get better gas mileage.

 

I would recommend a Ron Francis Wiring kit. They are modular in design; so can add items in the future. Their components, quality and instructions are the best. In addition, their tech guys are the best-they won't abandon you in the years to come like most other brands. I have wired street rods, customs and trucks for myself and my friends for 30+ years and I would not use any other wiring kit that is out ther presently. Check out their WEB site, they have a lot of tech information on wiring installations.

 

$ is why or an extream lack there of in my case any way.

 

I think the best way to make sure the wirind is correct is first get owners manuals for both years and find the wiring sections and read read read... make sure to also get a wiring harness for your truck that you can rig up right before you get intosplicing wires all over... I would find a wiring harness from a junkyard for your motor and then replace it so you know exactly where all the wires are going so you can trouble shoot from there.... good luck

 

It all really comes down to this!!

Either remove all the wiring and rewire from scratch.

2 Merge the engine harness with the vehicle harness till it looks factory.

Now unless you build harnesses or do engine swaps for a living neither is going to be fast .

This is a time consuming job and if you don`t have the electrical manuals all most impossible.

There really is no fast and easy way out .

With putting in the correct engine for the vehicle your back to being over budget before you start.

If it was me and it ran I would break out the cable ties and make it as neat as possible about the cheapest way.


Good luck.

 

You have a big mess on your hands. You need to decide if you want it to be carbed or efi and get the correct wiring for it. Either way you go, swapping a wiring harness isnt bad if you do it within a few days of it.

Dont think that you will take it out today and a week or two you will install it back. You would forget some steps. I have swapped harnesses a couple of times, just pay attention to what you are doing and take a few notes like steps on getting dash apart, air vents and so forth. You want to remember the order they came out.

I would suggest taking the fenders off as it makes it easier to get to and it does have plugs to seperate it into more manageable pieces. The part number to the harness is above the steering column under the Vin metal piece that runs across the lenght of the windshield (white tag about 3 inches long). You wont be able to use 86 and older for EFI as harnesses have some changes from 86 and down and 87 and up.