I just got done rebuilding the engine harness in my '83 760 GLE, as per various posts in the archives here, for which thanks very much to all for the help. I pulled the harness right out (taking VERY copious notes) and rebuilt it on the bench, using all the old connectors, leaving just a tail of the old wire and soldering on new, with heat shrink disappearing right into the connector. The results were very satisfying, the whole works is cased in new wire loom and looks pretty slick. To my relief she fired right up and ran, but do document anything you can think of as you go along if you do this. I numbered and tagged all old wires, and drew sketches of where everything went and where each wire at each connector ended up. The whole job cost about $50 and took about 20 hours, including setting up a workbench on sawhorses 2' from the front bumper, and cleaning up after. Going back and forth from bench to car was invaluable -- the hardest part was getting all the exits and crossovers positioned right.

I used about 100' of 16 gauge tinned marine wire from Hamilton Marine here in Maine (http://www.quikpage.com/H/amil/). This was pretty cheap at apx. $7 for a 100' spool, is rated at 230 deg. F rather than the usual 175, makes very corrosion proof connections and is a joy to solder. I used various colored tapes and heat shrinks to match Volvo's color coding at the ends. I considered rerouting but in the end put it back where it was, figuring: a.) it's easier, b.) I might inadvertantly choose a worse path, and c.) the old lousy wire lasted 150,000 miles and sixteen years, if the new good stuff lasts as well it'll probably outlast the car.

Having done this though, next time I think I'd cough up the 300 bucks for the harness, but it depends on your budget.

Thanks again to those who went before and best of luck to those who come after. Be glad to help by e-mail, too, if I can.