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So I bought this baby at an online auction. Mechanically sound. Looks good from 25' but single stage paint definitely showing it's age. First up - stereo, of course. Went to cut out the CB today (yeah, Smokey and the Bandit style) and what a rats nest of none OE 50 year old Porsche wiring. Have to take the floor board out on passenger side tomorrow as there are RCA wires coming from the same = amplifier. Too bad I only had one working speaker and I sounded like poo. So many relays, unconnected in line fuses, and butched splices to count and figure out.
1. On driver side there appears to be an OE plug that goes somewhere? Found similar plugs plugged in on passenger fire wall when I removed the radio;
2. Any idea on the all the extra twisted wiring to the left? Appears to be "bright" and "newer colored".
3. Somehow I managed to accidentally snip the hot wires to the front fog lights - any idea what color wire to look for?
Figured this should be simple wiring - ignition power, power to gauges, power to radio and lights. It is almost 50 years old. The other issue I found is that clock keeps blowing on a 16 fuse? Thought it was going to be any easy fix to get it running, but apparently something is causing the short. Hoping by Sunday to have it all sorted, thinned out, wired and a running Porsche and stereo. LOL.
Next up paint and interior decisions ... at least the mechanics appear to be well sorted. ;D
Took everything out of the frunk. Found one wire running to a siren, so I am guessing 1/2 of the mess is for an old alarm that doesn't exist. Will have to work my way backwards tomorrow.
That is quite a mess, but not that unusual. Probably lots of leftover wiring from 40+ years of stereo and car alarms. I have some wiring diagrams online here (several pages): 1978 Wiring Diagram
Unlikely you cut the hot wire to the fog lights. They are powered off a relay in the front fuse box. But they will only operate if the headlights are on (USA cars) or perhaps the parking lights if they have been rewired per the Euro rules. So the headlight switch has wiring that goes to the fog light switch. See this diagram: Fog Lights
This tells you how the wiring should be arranged at the fuse box to allow operation of the fog lights with just parking lights on: Front fog light wiring
Well, making progress. Managed to find all the relays and jumps. That said the ignition loom was not plugged in? Presumably b/c of the jump on the relay. Got it all wired up and ready to plug into the closest plug in the fire wall. However, what in the world is this rigged diode thing and considering it is not even plugged into a slot on the fire wall, what on earth could it have been attache to? Better yet, looking for where it plugs in?
UPDATE: Got it all back to "OE" - on its face - but still don't have working fog lights? There appears to be no power at the top, let alone the bottom, of fuse one. Tried to swap relays with horn, but no success. There is a dual wire loom with a black and blue dotted wire and yellow wire. Black/blue is connected to another black/blue - presumably "dash lights". No clue where the yellow wire goes or what is was for. Appeared to be connected to old head unit and figure it was a power lead. Fog lights worked before removing all the alarms/head unit/wires/jumpers, so something has to give? Will take some shots of the the three unusual OE connections by steering column. Looks like the ignition and light switch was replaced at some point, but these three loops out of harness must be there for a reason. Trying my best to keep from removing the blower in the frunk to access the fog switch. Clock doesn't work either, but the inside lights work, so figure it may actually be the clock as they are on the same fuse.
Hey F1LOCO,
It would appears that 1978 SC's are making the rounds lately! I can relate to your images. In addition, there was the 1978 posted that caught fire. I believe I saw that on eBay. I am in the process of trying to figure out and verify wiring issues myself. I just purchased a full set of Porsche Maintenance manuals in an effort to correct a few wiring issues. Mine is a 1978 as will which had been converted to electric windows, remote control door locks, not to mention all the cellphone communication items and a aftermarket alarm system..
I was also looking for some HELP, but wiring can be very tricky! The color coded wiring diagrams in the manuals will really help in my case..
Oh, and the purchase of an ABC rated Fire Extinguisher (maybe 2) are in the cards as well.
Cheers,
SkyPilot
Hey F1LOCO,
It would appears that 1978 SC's are making the rounds lately! I can relate to your images. In addition, there was the 1978 posted that caught fire. I believe I saw that on eBay. I am in the process of trying to figure out and verify wiring issues myself. I just purchased a full set of Porsche Maintenance manuals in an effort to correct a few wiring issues. Mine is a 1978 as will which had been converted to electric windows, remote control door locks, not to mention all the cellphone communication items and a aftermarket alarm system.. I don't like what I see right now, with that, I completely removed the battery.
I was also looking for some wiring HELP here as well, but wiring can be very tricky! The color coded wiring diagrams in the manuals will really help in my case..
Oh, and the purchase of an ABC rated Fire Extinguisher (maybe 2) are in the cards as well.
Cheers,
SkyPilot
Let's hope no fires. LOL. I only have two remaining gremlins that exist after getting it all cut out and soldering it all back together as OE. It is crazy the hacks people performed when installing stereo's and car alarms, especially in the 80's and 90's. My 16 year old daughter could have done a better job.
Loco: Sor
ry to say but after seeing your mess I feel a little better about the wiring mess on the 80 I just brought home. But I've not yet really dug into the dashboard area yet. It's crazy what 'experts' do to these cars that can take hours and days to sort out. Check out the photo attached to see what I found today on the 80.
The suggestion to have a fire extinguisher on board is a good one. Check out the Element brand that Pelican sells. I bought a three pack, one each in my truck, the 914 and the SC.
Cheers!
Rob
hot starting issues. I believe its wiring loom related. I live in Manhattan and dont have the ability to tackle on my own. Anyone nearby or suggestions of anyone nearby who can help me sort out some issues? Much much thanks.
with CIS , very unlikely to be wiring loom issues .. i would say more CIS related .. unless you are saying it just wont crank when heat soaked .. if that's the case its likely the starter.
with CIS , very unlikely to be wiring loom issues .. i would say more CIS related .. unless you are saying it just wont crank when heat soaked .. if that's the case its likely the starter.
it does crank and my mechanic just replaced the starter since he said it was on its way out anyway he also replaced the ignition control unit I want to avoid replacing things just to replace. Im going to have a fuel pressure run down done and go from there. Right?
it does crank and my mechanic just replaced the starter since he said it was on its way out anyway he also replaced the ignition control unit I want to avoid replacing things just to replace. Im going to have a fuel pressure run down done and go from there. Right?
yup thats a great start
sytem pressure , control pressure , residual pressure ..
first thing to establish is if you have spark when hot , if you are thinking a wiring loom, have you established you have no spark when hot ?
usually hot start issues can be attributed to residual pressure such as fuel pump check valve, accumulator etc. as you do not have cold start enrichment on a hot engine and requires good residual pressure to get it to fire up .
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1978 911SC Wiring - help
