[gmachinz]

Ok times up. While it is odd that GM did this crimp/solder method typicaly in 1 spot in the firewall harness, 67-88 A and G body vehicles (Chevelles, Monte carlo, Malibu, Regal, etc) had this crimp soldered connection to join the AC relay feed wire to the alternator voltage sense wire and the charge wire to the starter. As for why? I really dont know other than it must have been the most economical way for GM to assemble the main engine harness for these cars. While it would have made more sense to just go ahead and route all leads to the starter lug vs using a solder crimp, I dont think it would have been easy to pass all those wires through the metal heat sleeve-the 73-up trucks dont have this problem because they use a common firewall junction which makes a whole lot more sense! Why GM didnt do this on passenger cars I dont know.

The pic is from one of my Monte Carlos in storage (1980 model) and Ive built countless custom harnesses for these cars as well. Contrary to what people have opinions on with regard to a soldered connection-it is NEVER a failure point-the AC blower relay feed connector inside the 4-cavity packard connector gets hot over time and it will literally melt the connector housing cavity to the point of complete blower speed failure. This is an unsealed connector and corrosion is the usual culprit here.

But, Ive never seen OEM soldered crimps ever fail-and I have seen standard crimp connector failures over and over again-anybody troubleshooting LH power window switch connectors from 77-87 can surely attest to that-I know I can lol!