TOPIC: After 3 sets of wiring harnesses, it's still wrong

I have purchased - or traded for - three different wiring harnesses for my 1964 Starflite VI, electric shift motor and not one of them matches the schematic.

The first one had no connectors, the second one had the wrong connectors, and the third one has the right connectors, but they are reversed and six pin instead of eight pin. Today I looked more closely at the junction box and it is for a manual shift engine and also has no rectifier. The voltage regulator is from an earlier engine as well. I don't know how many variations Evinrude had of this wiring over a few year spread, but the number must be in the double digits.

The engine has the correct wire bundle and connectors coming out of the cowling, but I haven't been able to find the matching junction box and harness which runs up to the instrument panel.

I give up and I will just assemble a wiring harness with a modern combination voltage regulator and rectifier, plus a solenoid.

This is quite typical of electrical work.

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Lots of guessing leads to wires cut and splicing in different colours until it all looks like a mess of spaghetti.

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Typically many people think that this stuff is " all the same "

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Getting the right / working junction box needs time and patience.

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E-BAY is one scource.

Professor ...........

Yeah, I bought one on eBay, and have gone through a whole pile of them at the local (40 miles away) used outboard dealer (wrecking yard). He came up with one that he said would work, I took it home. Wouldn't.

Drove back out there (80 miles round trip with a bridge toll) He had another all picked out that looked pretty good. Took it home. When I opened it up to clean it up, it was for a totally different engine - manual shift, the two main plugs were reversed on the two harnesses, they were 6 pin instead of 8 pin, there was no rectifier, the voltage regulator was for some other Evinrude.

I just called him up to tell him I'd be out tomorrow for a refund. He got ticked off at ME! As if it was my fault he kept giving me the wrong parts, even though I supplied him with model and serial #, a wiring diagram and pictures of the harness that is on the engine. He says, "I've only got so much time I can spend on this. Well, shiver me timbers! I've spent more time on this one aspect of this project than all the others put together.

I just wish I had some pictures of the actual box I need, so I could show him and he could say, "Yes I have one" or "No I don't. Tomorrow, before I go back out there, I am calling a Marine Electrical supplier in Portland to see if they can fix me up with a new, combination voltage regulator and rectifier. If they can, I can get Molex plugs and a plastic electrical box and wire up my own unit that will work.

It looks like

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One of our members has come up with the correct box and wiring harness! Report to follow when it arrives.

People who know this " old stuff " inside out are few and far between.

professor wrote:

People who know this " old stuff " inside out are few and far between.

It seems that way. You may not believe this, but as he (the dealer) and I were looking over a box, I indicated the voltage regulator and he said, "I've always called that the 'Alternator'. That's what it is! There is a rectifier inside."

Sad really when you have to deal with people like that.

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But if you do not know that you are being fed the BS than what can you do.