What are these wires for?

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GasDaddy140
Posts: 327
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:57 pm

What are these wires for?

Post by GasDaddy140 »

Hi!
Have a grn and blk wire hanging underneath the bucket seats area. 1965 Corsa, what are they for? My reverse light cable needs a connection too.
Thanks!
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Alan Duquette
Rohnert Park, CA
"When in doubt...Hit the gas!" A.J. Foyt.

1965 Corvair Corsa (field find) Project
1971 Dodge Sportsman "shorty" 318 van
2015 Nissan Juke S
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terribleted
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Re: What are these wires for?

Post by terribleted »

Good question. Are these in the original harness? Has the harness been re-wrapped (you might not be able to tell)? From the wiring diagram the back-up lamp switch on the transmission is fed by a Black with Light green striped wire in the main harness out to the plug on the switch at the trans and B/LG back into the harness. I do not see an all Black or light Green wire in the main body harness through the tunnel at all in the 65 GM diagram. There are a number of black wires but all are black with some stripe color. You will likely need to trace these wires to find out what if anything they do. If they are wrapped in the harness I would look (depending on which way they go into the harness toward the back or the front of the car) at the connector from main harness to engine (large plug in the L front of the engine bay) or main harness to dash (large plug above gas pedal under dash where main harness leaves the tunnel) to try to locate where they go. They could be bypassing the plugs or could feed into the plugs. Use a meter or continuity tester to find which wire. If they feed into an original harness plug it is a simple matter to follow the wire on the wiring diagram to see where it goes from there. If not running through plugs it is likely going to be a visual tracing from there.

If the wiring harness has been replaced there is a good possibility that the Light green wire is the wire to the back-up lamp switch as 1967 and later wiring harnesses used a light green wire for this function. 66 used a dark green into the switch plug and light green out, 67 on were light green in and out of switch plug according to the shop manuals. I see no all black wire in this harness for any of the years however. Note that I have seen black and white wires from the switch itself to the switch plug before.

You can do a quick test of these wires to see if either are powered when the ignition is in the run position. The back up lamp feed would be powered when the ignitions switch is in run. The switch on the trans sends 12V to the backup lamps and would have a 12V feed to it when the switch is in run.
Corvair guy since 1982. I have personally restored at least 20 Vairs, many of them restored ground up.
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GasDaddy140
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Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:57 pm

Re: What are these wires for?

Post by GasDaddy140 »

TerribleTed- thanks for all the information. These wires actually connected into an orange and white long bonded wire, maybe an add on. Not sure. I will investigate more.
I can't find any connector for the backup lights though, maybe they're related.
I do have a new rear e-brake cable and a functioning e-brake now!
Alan Duquette
Rohnert Park, CA
"When in doubt...Hit the gas!" A.J. Foyt.

1965 Corvair Corsa (field find) Project
1971 Dodge Sportsman "shorty" 318 van
2015 Nissan Juke S
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Frank DuVal
Posts: 342
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:58 pm

Re: What are these wires for?

Post by Frank DuVal »

Yes, those are the back up switch wires located there for manual transmission Corvairs from 1960 to 1965. In 1966 they changed manual transmission types (what is known as Saginaw, even though they were ALL made by Saginaw) and the 3 and 4 speed shared the same switch location, so the harness connector is at the transmission.

Yours is the early design, and the body harness for any manual transmission has the two pin connector in the middle of the tunnel, as was required for the 3 speed. The 4 speed switch is on the transmission, so it has a several FEET long wire to get from the transmission to the harness connector.
Frank DuVal

Fredericksburg, VA

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