wet mess express

so here is the deal. i bought a really sweet 87 formula 223 ls with a 340 horse 454 mercruiser and alpha one drive. bad news is the engine had froze and busted. so i built a new engine for it and after a year i guess i must have forgotten where a couple of wires went. got it almost all hooked up but i have an extra oil pressure sensor and an extra temp sender that im not sure how or where they hook and also a wire near the starter that im not sure of. does anyone know where i can find a schematic for this old jewel

masonbig1

I too have a 87 223, the wiring is hacked up. Good luck finding a wiring schematic, haven't found one yet myself. A mercruiser alpha service manual has some wiring in it, it may help you. Based on my automotive knowledge, if you have the wires for gauges hooked up, the other 2 should be for the ecm. Have you fired the engine up yet? the second oil pressure sender should control the fuel pump. The temp sender tells the ecm engine temps, and lets it know for cold idle and fuel delivery purposes. Where are your current sending units tapped in as of right now? I haven't wired mine up yet, still building my 454, and since Im not FI, won't be running the 2 extra senders. Is your current temp sender in the intake? Current oil pressure on side of block, ran off oil filter mount or top back of block?

What color and gauge of wire near starter? Does the starter turn over?

wet mess express

havent tried to light it yet. gonna bring home some tools from work tomorrow. but this engine is carbeurated with a mechanical fuel pump, and no wires to either. all the wires im am not remembering are tan with a tracer on them. dont remember the color of the tracer right now though. it has the standard sender for the gauges in the oil galley on the filter mount on the block and the standard temp sender on the intake. then it also has a temp sender in the thermostat housing and a sender that is much smallet than the one used for the gauge in the front of the block in an oil galley

masonbig1

Ok, you got it made then. Oil sender unit on side of block is for gauge.you can mount it anywhere theres an oil gallery, but typically the side of the block is used for gauge sending unit. you can use either temp sender location for gauge, the correct one should be the thermostat housing though. the wires that are currently hooked to the sending units, try grounding them out and see if the corresponding gauge moves. since yours is carbed, lets try to eliminate the ecm wires.

when I bought my bird, it was originally a 350 fuel injected boat, by the time I got it, had a 305 carb motor. very hacked up wiring. I'm not sure how it ran with the way things were hooked up. one project I did before pulling the 305, was to remove ALL fuel injection related wiring and ecm, to uncluter and simplify things. I still have to do some wiring after my 454 is dropped in, but there is about 5 miles less of wiring to deal with now

tpenfield

Get the wiring diagram from the maintenance manual for the original 454 engine, it will show the extra wires. There are dual temp and oil pressure senders . . . one for the gauge and one for the alarm system. The engine wiring diagram will also show the connections to the starter.

masonbig1

where is this available? would love to have one myself.

wet mess express

thanks TPENFIELD. i knew it had to be something simple. but i didnt know if it went to the ignition box somewhere to lose spark in case of overheat or low oil pressure. i never even thought of an alarm for heat or low pressure.
And for MASONBIG1 I found all kinds of decent diagrams online for the powerplant by mercruiser but i was having trouble getting one that was boat specific. if i come up with one i will get back at ya.