. . Have one #ell of a mess thanks to the previous owner. . Don't know why but he chopped off the ignition switch plug and ran individual wires out to the alternator and did mechanical gauges. .
. . I am trying to put it back to the original idiot lites. . I have lots of extra wires that he disconnected under the hood but none seem to be active for the water temp or oil sender. . I'm sure the green wire with the alternator wires is the temp wire but it's dead. . Have three choices for the oil sender but they are also dead. .
. . What I would like to do is find a new under the dash harness but neither Ames or OPG have harnesses for automatics with consol. . So rather than buy a new one for something else and adapt it I'd rather find a used one and adapt it if I have to. .
. . Anyone have access to an under dash harness for a '66 full size convertible? ?
-- Edited by hdcolo on Monday 7th of September 2015 08:13:03 PM
Wow, I wish I could help but all I can offer is a maybe from a 66 Grande Parisienne parts car, not mine. There is a site member who seldom visits (meteor61) who has a parts car, if the harness is still in it. I am pretty sure I have Kevin's number somewhere.
If nobody else steps up, let me know.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
This is the entire wiring diagram, for the 66 Pontiac from the shop manual. Should help you with your problem. I do have a fairly complete wiring harness for a 2dr hardtop with column shift. It is not prefect as one of the contacts at the dash plug was burnt.
. . Thanks for the diagrams. . They were a big help. .
. . Now I have another problem. . Seems finding parts for this thing is a bit of a trick. . Some Pontiac, some Chevy, some '65, some '66 and some that I don't think exist anywhere else in the world except in my car. .
. . Bought a '66 Pontiac wiring harness and it does not match anything in my car. . Found that my speedometer is the same as in the '65 Pontiac so I bought a '65 wiring harness. . It matched my speedometer and had an 8 terminal ignition switch plug but nothing else matched. . Chopped the 8 terminal plug off of that one and with your diagram wired it to my original harness. . Then I found out the original owner had used a later style ignition switch with different terminals than my 8 terminal plug. . Finally found an 8 terminal switch from a '65 Grand Prix. . Now the later style ignition lock cylinder won't fit that so I found one for a '65 Pontiac. . Well that one and every other one I can find are not deep enough. . Seems this "Grand Prix" switch is slightly recessed and needs a lock cylinder about a 1/4" deeper than anything else that exists in the world. . Can you hear me starting to loose it. .
If you bought a 66 Pontiac wiring harness from a US car, that would be the problem. Our Canadian cars used a printed circuit for the instrument cluster and the US cars used individual wires.
I am right that you are in Colorado but you are working on a Parisienne?
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
. . Yup, in Colorado. . This is my second Parisienne. . The first was a '68 Parisienne convertible but the '66 has always been my dream car so I sold the '68 when I found this '66. . Both came from B.C. . .
. . Yes the American '66 full size Pontiacs have the individual wires but the '65 had the printed circuit. . Neither had the rest of the Canadian version wires. .
. . I like the Canadian Pontiacs because of their differences to the American versions. . Maybe you know, , I understand that back then Pontiacs were built in both countries because of import tariffs but no one has been able to tell me why they chose to cross a Pontiac body with an Impala drive train. .
Patience, Grasshopper! It's all part of the fun of owning a classic vehicle. The satisfaction when it all falls in place makes the aggravation almost worthwhile.
Has nobody stepped up yet to help with a dash harness? If not, I can try to find the contact info for Kevin Jackson who is close to Winnipeg. He had a Grande Parisienne. It had a console but that harness is not tied in much with the dash harness other than the neutral safety switch which is simple re-do and a power wire for the console light.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I parted out a 66 Grand Prix a couple of years ago and it had the ignition switch lying on the floor when I got it. It never occurred to me to check if they were the same. At a glance they looked it but clearly they aren't. I'd love to have the two side by side to see the difference. It seems crazy that GM would do that.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I think I figured out the problem, if I understand your information correctly. You are trying to put in a 65 switch and cylinder? If so, they are not the same as 66. I have a parts book for Canada and a parts book for US models, and both models for 66 use the same switch and the same cylinder, so a 66 Grand Prix switch and cylinder will fit your dash. It just may not plug in to a 65 harness, you may have to move some terminals around in the connector.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
. . Well started out needing an eight terminal switch and plug because the original owner cut the plug off after a wire melt down of some kind. . Fiddled around trying to find the correct harness then gave up and just repaired my original harness with the plug off a different one. . Then found out that the switch I bought for the eight terminal plug uses the deeper ignition cylinder lock for a '65 full size. .
. . But have now found a brand new NOS cylinder lock for $50 so I am going to order it now. .
