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For you all that have upgraded your charging system, on the 81 the charging circuit from the alternator to the battery runs through the frame.
When you upgraded this harness did you thread it through the frame? I guess you might get one chance to connect it to the existing wire and pull it through? or were you able to thread it through the frame some other way?
bigjoepos
I say go ahead and try it! I would. It would be entertaining to find out anyway. Besides? How bad could it be?
Let us know how it goes.
Originally Posted by bigjoepos
For you all that have upgraded your charging system, on the 81 the charging circuit from the alternator to the battery runs through the frame.
When you upgraded this harness did you thread it through the frame? I guess you might get one chance to connect it to the existing wire and pull it through? or were you able to thread it through the frame some other way?
Steel fish tape or a metal coat hanger. I threaded two 4 gauge welding cables through the frame just fine. A positive and ground cable for the alt.
The worst part is at the frame kick up, you have to maneuver it through some turns between the frame and body. There is a little shield panel near the battery compartment you can remove to make it much easier.
And you could run that 4 guage wire directly to the starter solenoid just like the earlier cars. Have a perfectly fine charging system and actually not drive yourself crazy.
As I recall, only cars with a certain radio had that wire through the frame. Mine is an 82 and my wire went open, there is a fusible link near the Battery. Make sure you can pull your old wire back and forth a foot or two and if so use it to pull a new wire, don't forget to add a fusible link. I don't know how you would hit the small holes in the frame with a metal fiche by itself, two person job for sure.
As I recall, only cars with a certain radio had that wire through the frame. Mine is an 82 and my wire went open, there is a fusible link near the Battery. Make sure you can pull your old wire back and forth a foot or two and if so use it to pull a new wire, don't forget to add a fusible link. I don't know how you would hit the small holes in the frame with a metal fiche by itself, two person job for sure.
60
My 1980 Corvette has the alternator charge wire running all the way back to the battery. It has the standard electric clock gauge. The update was not just applicable to the digital clock in the radio on 1982 cars.
The 82 goes through the frame to the rear. I ran all new wire that way a while ago and it is no issue at all, pretty easy actually...what's the fuss about to do that?
My 1980 Corvette has the alternator charge wire running all the way back to the battery. It has the standard electric clock gauge. The update was not just applicable to the digital clock in the radio on 1982 cars.
Does your charge wire run through the frame or outside it? (Im guessing outside)
I was talking about 82's but I looked back in my notes from when my wire went bad, it seems that cars that came Equipped with ETR-(Electronic Tuned radio) radios had the wire running through the frame, the rest ran outside. (see the harness in the link, the shielding and clamps are for when it mounted outside the frame, the one I took out of my frame did not have them and was different). I was mistaken about the clock in my earlier post and this applies to 80-82 models.
According to the Black Book only 1533 82 models had standard radios the rest were ETR so its almost safe to say they all ran through the frame that year, 81 was 5100 standard, I did not see that radio listed for 80.
I purchases the car in 1983. The charge wire ran through the frame rail. I replaced it with a larger gauge wire when I upgraded my alternator for my fuel injection and electric fan install.
This made me curious. Where does the lead come out from inside the frame and out to the battery?
Originally Posted by KENS80V
My 1980 Corvette has the alternator charge wire running all the way back to the battery. It has the standard electric clock gauge. The update was not just applicable to the digital clock in the radio on 1982 cars.
03-18-2024, 12:34 PM
81 Charging Wire Alt to Battery Upgrade
