There is a hole on the driver's side of the large side piece of the engine sheetmetal that is about 1and 1/2 inches in diameter that sits right behind the hole for the warm air tube. It is the hole with the cable coming out of it circled in red. What is this hole/cable for?

Alternator wiring IIRC.

Uhm, there should be a pair (one on each side) of big holes for the heater hoses,a nd I think (but not dead sure) that some later TIv's had a engine preheater tube, maybe that is it? I believe there would be only one preheat tube and hole.

just a guess.

alternator wiring most likely, or hole for the drain tube. funnel from rain tray to drain tube. 1st guess is alternator.

I just looked at some old pics and it's alternator wiring.

Okay, I should have guessed alternator wiring, but the engines outa the car and partially disassembled, so it wasn't clicking.
Next question........anybody know a part number for the grommet that fits here and if its still available?

Get grommets from Home Depot or Napa. Same size, and probably way cheaper.

Zach

The grommet is NLA....