I was following this thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...060811-2-071514.html , made by Cliff.

But I encountered a problem when removing the old harness. I was able to disconnect everything (side markers, front turn signals, both horns, brake master cylinder, etc) and I removed the hood. But, the harness goes under 2 brackets for the radiator up by the nose of the car. I couldn't find a way to remove the harness from this area, so I just cut it out. Was there a better way of doing this? Cliff barely mentioned anything about removing the old harness.

Also, it looks like the driver's side turn signal isn't working properly. I bet its a grounding issue again...

I guess it's too late to tell you this, but you really don't have to replace the entire harness to upgrade to the 87-88 headlight system. All you need to do is to take the 87-88 harness and separate out those wires that go to the headlight motor control module. The wires from the 4-pin connector will separate out completely, because they go to the motors. The wires from 5-pin connector will separate out for about 2 feet, at which point they join other wires in the bundle. Cut them at this point.
Now open up the cover on your existing 84-86 bundle (still in place in the car), where it goes past the brake cylinder, and there are two fusible link wires coming out . Locate a yellow and a white wire "upstream" from the fusible links and the two read wires "downstream" from them. Splice the two red wires from the 5-pin connector to the red wires you found, and the yellow and white wires to the yellow and white wires you found. Connect the black wire from the 5-pin connector to chassis ground.
You can mount the control module near your master cylinder, and connect the 5-pin connector to it. Unplug all the relays, replace the motors, and connect 4-pin connector to the module, and the other end of the wires to the new motors. Test it to see that it works, and then shorten and route all wires neatly.
The good thing about this approach is that if for some strange reason you want to go back to the old system, you just have to remove the module, plug all the relays back in, and replace the old motors.

Eh.....I would rather swap out the entire harness instead of cutting and splicing stuff. To get the harness past the two "horns" just flatten the wires as best you can and squeeze them through the space.....it's tight, but it will fit. You should also loosen/remove the 2 bolts that hold the radiator/ac condensor to the frame.

Once you have done the swap a couple of times it becomes a piece of cake.....I can remove the harness in no time and could probably complete an entire swap in less than 2 hours. Next time I do this, I'll be sure to take pictures.

quote Originally posted by mrfiero: Eh.....I would rather swap out the entire harness instead of cutting and splicing stuff. To get the harness past the two "horns" just flatten the wires as best you can and squeeze them through the space.....it's tight, but it will fit. You should also loosen/remove the 2 bolts that hold the radiator/ac condensor to the frame. Once you have done the swap a couple of times it becomes a piece of cake.....I can remove the harness in no time and could probably complete an entire swap in less than 2 hours. Next time I do this, I'll be sure to take pictures.

Hmmmm...you should take pictures next time . I know I could've used more pictures.

Pat I just don't feel comfortable doing a lot of cutting and splicing. I can handle soldering 1-2 wires, but I don't want to do something as complicated as what you did. I saw your setup and it looks very good. But, I don't think I'd ever want to use the Gen 1 system again. They are a pain to work on.

quote Originally posted by Tinton: Pat I just don't feel comfortable doing a lot of cutting and splicing. I can handle soldering 1-2 wires, but I don't want to do something as complicated as what you did. I saw your setup and it looks very good. But, I don't think I'd ever want to use the Gen 1 system again. They are a pain to work on.

I have quite a bit of experience cutting and splicing wires, so for me, my way was way easier. Another reason I did it is that my existing wiring is very clean, and the 87-88 harness I had to work with was dirty and ugly. I wanted to keep my car pretty.

quote Originally posted by pswayne: I have quite a bit of experience cutting and splicing wires, so for me, my way was way easier. Another reason I did it is that my existing wiring is very clean, and the 87-88 harness I had to work with was dirty and ugly. I wanted to keep my car pretty.

Well there you go! I hate cutting and splicing since I usually mess something up. This is a good case of everyone having their own method to their madness.

It works (mostly). The objective of the work was accomplished though, the headlights work and they go up and down. That's 100% better than the old system. However, I also have a bunch of other problems now.

1. The horns stopped working, as did the blue beeping thingy (thing that beeps when you have the ebrake up), and my emergency flashers. The horns were working but then they stopped. Not sure about the flashers, I knew they were working but I haven't tested them in a while. The beeping thing was working just before I started work. Do all these things run off the same fuse/relay that may have blown?

2. I'm having the same ground issue I had before with my old setup. The driver's side parking light (also known as the front turn signal...) does not light up with the parking lights or headlights. The turn signal indicator for it is lit up though. Also, the turn signal works but the light seems to be on "low-beam" if that makes sense. The car also blew the turn signal/backup lights fuse, which I just replaced. I fixed this problem before by opening up the turn signal, and pushing on the wiring, which seemed to give it a better connection. I tried that this time with no luck. I'll try cleaning the 3 front grounding eyes (already cleaned the screws a month or 2 ago), if that doesn't work I'll try to cut out that socket and replace it with my relatively good socket from the Gen 1 harness I just removed. Any suggestions or second opinions though?

I also have a significant issue with Cliff's write-up. This is besides the issue I had with him not mentioning the removal process for the harness from under the radiator. When I was removing the hood I did not follow his instructions completely, I removed the headlight assemblies before trying to remove anything hood-related. Putting the hood back on I followed Cliff's write-up. I had the headlights in there, and it is nearly impossible to reach the bolts for the hinge for the hood with the headlight assemblies in there. I was lazy so I just got 2 bolts in best I could, raised the hood, attached the support, then finished aligning and bolting down the hood with it in the up position. I recommend only removing/reattaching the hood with the headlights removed.

[This message has been edited by Tinton (edited 02-26-2007).]

Bump, brake lights don't work either now.