Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Is there any “major” diff in AC and Non-AC harness. Trying to locate a replacement (1974 Dart Spirt) and found a non-ac harness. Is it easy enough to retrofit a non-ac harness to work?
AC Wiring harness vs. Non-AC Wiring harness
- Thread starter Ronald C.
- Start date
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My 69 had a separate harness for the a/c which made it easy when I changed harnesses and added factory air. Is yours one harness?
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Real quick, it’s not a Spirit, it’s a Sport. Damn auto-correct.
Best I can tell the harness for the engine bay and beyond is bundled as a single harness, but it appears to have 3 separate plugs when connecting to the bulkhead. I was thinking kinda the same thing as you mentioned in that there were not to many options outside of AC. As such, it should be an easy retro to add AC to the/a “non” AC harness....
I don’t have the original to compare anything to.
Best I can tell the harness for the engine bay and beyond is bundled as a single harness, but it appears to have 3 separate plugs when connecting to the bulkhead. I was thinking kinda the same thing as you mentioned in that there were not to many options outside of AC. As such, it should be an easy retro to add AC to the/a “non” AC harness....
I don’t have the original to compare anything to.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Got an idea on $?
The a/c wiring under the hood for mine just involved adding a wire into one of the three plugs. Pretty easy. Classic or year one sells the under hood harness pretty cheap. I bought one for mine. Make sure you grease up the bulkhead connectors before remating them.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Guessing I should be able to run through a schematic and make the “one wire change over”. Assuming of course the non-ac harness is conducive.
Good thought on the grease. Thanks! Voice of experience?
Yeah, made most all of the mistakes, just try not to make the same ones again...
"The a/c wiring under the hood for mine just involved adding a wire into one of the three plugs. Pretty easy. Classic or year one sells the under hood harness pretty cheap. I bought one for mine. Make sure you grease up the bulkhead connectors before remating them."
Make sure you use Di-electric grease. You can get it at any good parts store and it will both not react with the plastic in the connectors and won't conduct electricity so it won't short between wires.
Make sure you use Di-electric grease. You can get it at any good parts store and it will both not react with the plastic in the connectors and won't conduct electricity so it won't short between wires.
My impression from your thread is that you are replacing the harness in front of the firewall. Check the application charts, but that harness is usually not different between AC and nonAC (at least that was true in 1970) The wiring for the AC under the hood is a separate little harness. The big differences and the substantial AC harness is under the dash, like someone mentioned earlier.
1973 Dodge Dart Parts | MA4551 | 1970-74 Mopar A-Body ac/Heater Engine-Side Harness | Classic Industries
Green is the blower motor, blue is the compressor. The bare plugs plug into the connector that has the wires to the wiper motor. Has the connectors to first run up to the low pressure switch in the AC dryer in the grill before back tracking to the compressor clutch.
Green is the blower motor, blue is the compressor. The bare plugs plug into the connector that has the wires to the wiper motor. Has the connectors to first run up to the low pressure switch in the AC dryer in the grill before back tracking to the compressor clutch.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Thank you Jim! That makes things much easier, I did not know that.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Got it.
So the car I have was/is an AC car. Interior wiring is present and intact. But when previous owner pulled the motor, he unplugged all wiring under the hood and put on a shelf “somewhere” .
Yeah, I have that same shelf in my shop. Has a hole in it and it’s anyones guess where it leads. Good luck finding anything you put up there. Think I’ll just get another harness........
You will have to look inside to figure out which position the blue and green wire are in the firewall connector. That changes from year to year.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Makes sense. I figure I will need to double check a few things when plugin it up just to make sure things are correctly located....
On a similar yet separate note, have you any experience with using aftermarket gauges? Since I am moving away from the OEM cluster, I will need to retro the multi-pin connector that plugs into the factory circuit board. Was just wondering how that fairs.....
Nope I use the originals.
I have a temp and oil pressure gauge mounted under the dash. Much more accurate than the crappy original ones. That is easy. If you are replacing the dash there is a lot of good info here.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
I tend to agree. Just for what the car is, and the investment in the engine, I just want to make sure (best I can anyway) the information in front of me is accurate. Went with a full gauge package replacement so I suspect there will be a fair amount of changes made but would like to utilize as much of, or tie into best I can, the multi-pin connector where feasible.
Yeah, like to keep an eye on things too on an old car. I suspect that you will be able to use the OEM wiring, just have to swap out the original sensors for ones that match your gauges.
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
Which honestly, is probably cheap insurance in the long run. I have enjoyed doing the work thus far. But I things tend to be far less fun when you do them the second time around....
You can buy a new under hood engine harness as well which is cheap insurance. A new dash harness is harder to swallow at $500 and not as obvious if you are going to need to cut it up for the new cluster.
73hcode
Well-Known Member
On my 73 Sport I bought new under dash harness and the a/c harness was a two piece thing. The under dash piece and the engine side. The engine side was only around 40$ if that and plugged into one of the three connectors if your car is already an a/c car you just need that one piece.
Scamp Rhonda
Well-Known Member
You made my day. Those were the last two wires under my hood that I couldn't figure out. They were just exactly as you said. Now I know, thanks much
Ronald C.
Well-Known Member
I think I’m following, but the AC portion was only $40, and this did not include any of the other “engine “ wiring, this is what you are saying, yes?
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