A whole new wiring harness - 88 E350 swapped 351w?

[DudeFromEngland]

Hi guys, I've been lurking for a while learning, hopefully, my luck here continues! I recently bit the bullet and got a project van, the wirings a mess and I'm looking for advice on whether I should replace with new or OEM parts. I think it's beyond repair, and id like to have reliability as i plan on it being my main vehicle and doing a full restoration over the next few years.

its a 1988 e350 Pathfinder Quadravan the previous owner swapped in a 351w from what I can tell, it wasn't a 351 before and when the swap was done the original harness was used and spliced into. I've got 10+ connectors that aren't plugged in and dont match up. That being said it does run and drive albiet for 30 minutes, but thats hopefuly a fuel issue ill have sorted soon!

any advice on procedure or what and where to buy would be really helpful!


Thanks in advance

 

[Corneilius]

Its very common to have unused connectors. Im not familiar with that generation of van but the 92+ vans have TONS. They are generally for options/engines that your van doesn't have. I would focus on running/driving first. Swapping a harness (especially into a drivetrain swapped rig) might be opening pandoras box. What makes you think its beyond repair? Is it engine/tranny harness thats been hacked or has someone added sketch wiring for lights/batteries etc?

 

[DudeFromEngland]

Well, it seems like all the things I try to fix, the wiring is the first thing to check. So I've given a lot of the systems a good look over.

Some splices are crimped, some just twisted by hand, multiple colors are used, (a pig tail of 5 colors will be spliced into and all 4/5 become black) there'samage on a lot of the insulation and animals have nested and eaten a little too. It's not TERRIBLE, as my lights all work and as I said it will run.

Maybe I'd be better of piecing together a new harness so I know all the connections are solid and all my colors match up?

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[dazdconfsd]

If you come down to the Boulder area I'm happy to let you crawl around my 1990 E250 w/351. It is a Class B so there are some extra wires, but the basic engine harness isn't changed AFAIK. I can tell you that the E150 harness I had at one point was slightly different though. Also I can confirm there are some unused connectors.

 

[DudeFromEngland]

If you come down to the Boulder area I'm happy to let you crawl around my 1990 E250 w/351. It is a Class B so there are some extra wires, but the basic engine harness isn't changed AFAIK. I can tell you that the E150 harness I had at one point was slightly different though. Also I can confirm there are some unused connectors.

Thanks! I got it all running and I'm leaning towards keeping mine, now that I havent got to go through everything testing/checking I'm now able to just fix what I find when I find it!

Thanks for the help!

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