so i have a wiring harness with crumbled connections and broken wires. last time i tried to start my 74 2.0 914 after gutting the interior i hooked up the battery only to discover magic smoke coming from near my aternator out of the fan shroud.
im wondering, rather than try and discover this short and then repair/replace countless crappy connections on a crappy harness would it be better to go through and remove the old one so i can prime paint more completely and then replace it with the complute used harness. the harness i have a line on is from a 73 1.7 which is also a d-jet but im wondering if the computers have different pinouts and such.

Sounds like your problem may be with the alternator harness, this is seperate from the FI harness. Take a look at that first. I don't think those FI harnesses are interchangable but you could use the connectors and boots to repair yours. Or better yet get a rebuilt one from Jeff Bowlsby.

if this started after you gutted the interior it would seem to make sense that the problem is up in the interior and not in the FI. If the FI was bad enought to cause the alternator to smoke I think you would see a fair bit of smoke from the FI too!. The FI is fused so any overload would just pop the fuse. I would be looking at unfused ccts. Like ed said - the alternator harness is separate and easy to check out. Also have a look at the routing of the heavy red wires from the battery to the cabin. I think the solenoid cct is also unfused.

To your original question about the 73/74 compatiblity Jeff is certainly the man to confirm it. I don't have my Haynes handy (I think my wife hid it!) so I can't confirm. Makes sense though that they would keep it the same - costs them big bucks to change the tooling. Only change might be if they added an extra smog sensor for 74.

The 2 FI harnesses are electically identical, but physically they are quite different. the 1.7L harness branches wont reach the right places on the 2.0L engine. Use the correct harness and fix it or replace it. I may have a used 73-74 2.0L harness available.

Smoke from the alternator should not be an FI problem. A new alternator harness is cheap and you probably have a short to groud in your existing harness where it passes through the engine tin. Got grommets?

BTW...the FI system is not fused.

let me know if you have a 73-74 harness and what itd be. its the interior connections that look the worst so far, nothing crumbling where connecter to the engine. ill have to check around this alternator harness to what the deal is threre. im prettty intimidated when it comes to these electrical gremlins.....

good to know the brain box isnt fused....great, now i wonder just how much ive fried.

Fifth vote for Bowlsby....