AMC Eagle

[MIPS]

Does anyone know the name or brand of this style of connector? I've seen it referred to for older stereo wiring but this has the clip in a different orientation and there's a notch in the other side.

[old_tv_nut]

A quick search found an expensive complete harness, which may not even have both halves:
https://www.amclives.com/products/da...mc-amx-javelin

What circuit connects through this? Maybe a search by circuit name would find something?

[MIPS]

It's the harness end that connects to the solenoid manifold for the "Vacuum Switching Solenoid" (the vacuum-driven half of the Sol-Vac) and both solenoids for the air management. It's very unlikely that it's an AMC-specific part because of how much phoning-in there is with the rest of the vehicle's electrical. The hard part is finding who the connector OEM is because the connectors are being repurposed (EG: a 2-pin GM alternator connector is being used by AMC for the air cleaner temperature switch and a 3-pin Chrysler neutral safety switch connector is being used for the coolant temperature switch and yet another alternator connector variant is used for the washer fluid pump, so even trying to search pigtail ends is a challenge because it's being used in entirely different jobs)

The idea is that with further research you can technically adapt the Pulse Air solenoids to work with mechanical secondary air using two relays but I need to build an adapter that plugs in between the two parts of the harness. Instead of modifying the original harness it makes more sense to use the same connectors and then when I'm done I don't have to convert the connectors back.



I did a similar thing this summer while the engine was out. I replaced that pesky coolant switch with a modern equivalent but instead of altering the factory harness I built an adapter.



I was gifted a replacement air control valve so now other than this and the metal air tubes that go under the car it's ready to go for the test.
Speaking of testing, I finally bit the bullet and bought myself an Exhaust Analyzer. Someone near-ish was selling a Sun Modular Engine Analyzer for $100 and I'll be going to pick it up in a week or so. I see the later model units occasionally for sale around here and they show up at auction and sell for pretty much the same price range and they normally don't sell for a lot but they're massive and this gives me a reason to replace all the stacked boxes in the garage with proper benches and shelving because it it wasn't getting obvious all these spare parts, tools and equipment are turning the garage into a bit of a perpetual mess of things stacked on eachother.

[MIPS]

Time for another major upgrade.
The wiring harness mostly being assembled by Ford it has the same issue Ford (really everyone at the time) had with the full load of the headlamps routing form the battery, up to the dash, through the headlamp switch and back to the front of the car. Long runs meant voltage drop and that style of wiring was prone to overheating and burning up the headlamp switch and it's associated plug. I talked about this back on page 20 (gee, this thread is long...)

I had to go in and replace the switch in 2020 because the terminal had failed and roasted the switch and the main battery terminal but during the summer my headlamps started to fail again when the high-beams were on. Finally over the weekend I could smell hot plastic and the low beams would flicker out so it was time to go back in and see what failed, plus make a change.
Harness conversion kits are available that relocate the load of the headlights to a pair of relays in the engine compartment, leaving a few hundred mA going through the switch instead of many amps. You simply plug them in to an old headlamp socket, attach a battery link and grounds and you are set. They're also extremely cheap.

Usually you can get away with the packaged wire lengths as everything is nicely crimped and sleeved but the Eagle has a problem in that between the positive post and the front of the car is the battery. Either you mount the relays in the engine compartment and your headlamp wiring is too short or you locate the relays in front of the battery and extend its battery wire an extra 12 inches. I opted for the latter.




While not ideal because a relay issue means pulling the headlamp assembly apart, behind the headlamp bucket is a cavity which will fit a pair of relays with room to spare. I located it as high up as I could to keep water out of the sockets and then routed the battery cable through the adjacent hole, around the battery tray and up to the battery terminal on the starter solenoid. Each lamp socket gets a new ground cable which terminates at a new point on the body. Yes I ground down under the terminals to ensure a good contact. The harness tucks away cleanly in the cable path of the old headlight harness which I left in place but tied back. The white cable clamp below the relays supports the harness so it cannot unplug from the relays.
Then came testing. The new harness plugs into the 3-terminal socket of the old low-beam lamp. For some reason all three wires were incorrect so the socket had to be de-pinned and reconfigured.