Guys,

I have multiple electrical add-ons that came on the -6 I'm now considering removing:

Aiwa stereo and amp
Derringer VS8300 alarm system
voltmeter
driving/mileage computer
remote trunk release
fuel pump oil pressure bypass
power windows
power mirrors

The PO was an electrical engineer but his "wiring skills" are questionable. I lowered the fuse panel today afraid of what I would find and saw this:

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I am no wiring genius and looking at this mess is quite daunting! The problem is that all of this was installed back in the mid-80s and there is so little documentation of the mods included in the records I have. And even looking at the installation instructions for the alarm, I can see that the wire colors included in the instructions don't line up with the way the alarm was wired. The alarm is tied into the starting circuit so I'm concerned that I might disable the car and have a tough time getting it running again.

I through about checking with a local alarm / stereo installation shop but I'm not sure if they could handle it without full documentation.

The only way I know how to do this is to take pics and notes before I undo each wire and start with the simplest add-on first.

Any other recommendations / thoughts?

First response: Run away!

But, that is not much help. So, I would slow take it apart and document. Cut all the tire wraps and get the wire spread out enough to follow the wires. I like to use a label maker and tag the wires as you identify them. I also have a note pad next to me and draw a schematic. Using a multimeter can help.

And an electrical engineer here also. My wiring skills are so-so.

-- brett

...use digital camera every time something is cut or unwrapped. Start with the easy stuff ... like elec windows...

I hate to say it, but that looks like the typical run-of-the-mill "professional" install skills of any stereo shop. The biggest hacks in the professional automotive world have got to be your average stereo shop installer. You wouldn't believe some of the foolish ways those knuckleheads wire things in.

If I were you, remove each component one wire at a time. It looks like they used liberal use of those pinch-type splices that come in your typical aftermarket electronics box. I would begin at the stereo head unit and one-by-one, trace each wire through the mess and remove it where it's spliced in. Careful use of dykes can remove those splices without damaging the original wire (more than it already is) and make any wire repairs as you go.

Don't look at the whole job. Break it down into individual components with their associated wires and it won't be so daunting of a task.

As already said, work from the accessory component toward the harness.
Typically, accessories have brightly colored wire with no tracers.
OE wires (other than red + and brown (ground) have tracers.
All those bright color plastic things are aftermarket connectors.
Most will be obvious.
Good luck.

Vendor in Holland or Germany is making reproduction harnesses. Not cheap but ?

Couple more:

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Some sort of connection block

plus he added a power block under the dash just above the fuse panel

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Yea, the only way I know to do it is the same way you eat an elephant but it seems like a daunting task right now. I'm going to wade into it slowly tomorrow, starting with the simplest item and do all of the documentation as suggested.

Kroon makes a 914-6 harness. pricey but perfect.

Remove the stereo and amp first.
It may remove quite a bit of the extra wires.

That 'added power block' under the dash is standard on six's and early cars. . It's fed directly from the battery and not fused.

I absolutly hate wiring nightmares, even perfect factory wiring is borderline IMO. That's why I never cut a factory wire, ever, only exception is undoing hack work by others.
Problem with all those add-ons is every wire goes in different directions,making it hard to do a neat install. Stereo shops don't care, the boss wants the job done quick and cheap so a hack is inevitable.

Don't mess with any wires not associated with your job at hand. This is how one gets over their head with wiring. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Your wiring doesn't look that bad to me. I don't look at the curlicues of wires as much as I look at the connections. The connections look pretty solid. Electrons don't care how many turns they take to get to their destination.

disconnect battery first - neg and then pos -

Looks like he tied all the hot wires to 1 or 2 fuses.

Start at the thing you want to remove and work back to the fusebox.

Stereo would only be 3 wires at the fusebox: battery hot, key hot, amp battery hot. The rest go different places or ground.

In my experience the alarm is going to have the most wires and be the most insidious to remove. The order I would remove things is:

1. Windows
2. Stereo head unit
3. Amp w/ speakers
4. Alarm and all associated switches/sensors (these absolutely make a mess out of a car).

Start at the component and remove one wire at a time doing any repair necessary to the OEM wiring as you go. Slow and methodical is the ONLY way to assure you don't tune your car to a halt. And of course, as Jim Kelly suggested: DISCONNECT the battery negative, then positive before doing ANYTHING.

Once you let that magic smoke out, you can't get it back in again!!

Cut the blue wire. No! The red! tick tick tick tick.....

I hate such PO wiring "art", which I have faced many times on cars and bikes before.

Basically You have two options here:

Either you do it yourself - with the learning and pain expiriance or

You pay someone to fix that mess, which doesn't necessarily mean it will be done the right way.

These cars are not overly complicated, hence I would suggest the first option.
Look up car electric/wiring books at Amazon for some basics. It's very straight forward.
Get a good wiring diagram, study the circuits and fix one problem at only.

You have plenty of knowledge here and great group of guys willing to help.

Looks simple to me...

I have been in the trade for 30 years. I have found that Engineers ( no offence to the EE's) care more about the A-B connection and pay little attention to how it looks.

Neat wiring is easy to troubleshoot. Spaghetti is... well you know...

Don't look too bad. You may have to reverse engineer some of his creative connections.

Well, it took a while and at times over the last several weeks, it wasn't the top priority but I can say that I was successful!!!

My biggest concern was the alarm system since it was tied into the ignition with a disable circuit but I got through that. Then, after removing the funky Awia stereo and amp installation, I reworked the Radio Shack Realistic speaker housings and retrofitted them with some vintage ADS200i speakers. I thought I was going to need an amp to drive them from the period correct Blaupunkt AM/FM I had refurbished but it turned out that the system actually sounded better w/o it.

So, the dash is cleaned up, the alarm is gone, the old stereo and amp are replaced, the old and slow electric window motors are out and I've removed about 18 lbs. of junk!!!

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And I put in some new carpet while I was at it.

WOW ...

You know, that wiring job looks so much better than what you started with...

And as an EE, wiring is tech work and not taught in college.

Agree that stereo shops are awful. PO spend a couple grand on a custom installation, your PO's wiring job was much better. Removing the stereo has been on my todo list since I bought the car 5 years ago - this thread has motivated me to get rolling on it - Thanks!

I agree. Being one of those EE's I have found that wiring (like many tasks) is somewhat of an art form....seriously.

I don't have the talent or patience for it.

I built custom vans in the 70's and quickly learned that is was very important to get wiring all bundled up and good connections. You had to make sure it was not going to get in the way of the 100's of screws that were involved. It was a real pain to try and find THAT screw that went through the harness or THE connector that came apart.

Glad you were able to get that nightmare reduced to the trash can.

I remember back in high school we used to install car stereos for people. A friend asked me to help him, his step-dad had installed it and it wasn't working right. He used brown lamp cord for everything, no labels, nothing. And he had cut the wires on the radio so close all the labels were gone there too. This was pre-internet so there was no downloading a wire diagram, we figured it out but it was a nightmare!

db9146 - Great job. I would have done the exact same thing.

Loved the 80's

I may be a guilty party. However I will be writing schematics.
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Making flags using white cloth tape (or white "gaffers tape") and a Sharpie works well for labeling wires prior to disconnecting them.

Also shoot a few photos with your cell phone prior to disassembly, in case you have to refer to its original state. If screws or bolts are involved, punch holes in a sheet of cardboard with a screwdriver in the pattern of the assembly, and push the screw into the proper location on the cardboard as you remove them from the car. Makes reassembly a snap.