Mystery wires behind gauge cluster?

[JunkYardFind]

My wiring replacement is nearly complete! Just the ignition switch left to do. Awhile back when I was restoring the gauge cluster, I noticed these abandoned wires (pics below) They are positioned above the radio, to the right of the gauge cluster.  Anyone have any idea what they are?

[anlauto]

There's lots of different accessory wire harnesses that can be added to the main harness, and that's all that those are, different power feeds for different options the car may have come with.

[Burdar]

That red plug either has power all the time or it's switched power.  I can't remember which.  Test it to find out.  I think it has power all the time.  I think my cigarette lighter was plugged into it.

[shawge]

Hard to tell what color/stripes the wires have.  Looks like some acc power feed as was suggested and maybe headlight buzzer (T connector) and delay relay (bullet connector).  If you can ID the colors/stripes and # of wires, then we can cross this w/ the colored wiring diagrams.

Edit: what year is the car?

[blown motor]

I'm the fourth owner of my car. I've talked to the original owner and I'm fairly sure he left it original. The second and third owner...not so much. Let me tell you about mystery wires! 

[Mrbill426]

That orange one looks like the dash/courtesy light feed.

My wiring replacement is nearly complete! Just the ignition switch left to do. Awhile back when I was restoring the gauge cluster, I noticed these abandoned wires (pics below) They are positioned above the radio, to the right of the gauge cluster.  Anyone have any idea what they are?

[Burdar]

There are (2) rubber three port plugs under the dash like the one pictured.  One is red and the other is orange.  The red plug is a + for accessories.  The orange plug is for lighting...only has power when lights are on.  The plug pictured looks red on my computer screen.

[dodj]

There's actually three, 3- bullet-connection rubber molded connectors under the dash.
Red = battery
Orange = lights
Yellow = Acc
I had to go look at the schematic...I get the colours and what they mean buggered up all the time.

[JunkYardFind]

I figured they are likely option plugs for whatever my car does not have. Everything I do have works

The 3 prong looks red but to add more mystery... I am replacing my ignition switch (the Molex connector was fried years ago) and in the connector going into the dash harness has Orange wires (see pic) These Orange wires were NOT connected in the old burnt connector. This is good as my new ignition switch does not have orange or any other wires that would feed this. The 2 black you see are fed by the the 2 red for the ign buzzer.

All this is just curiosity as everything is working correctly. When I install the new ignition, I will just use what is present in the kit. I have all those wires traced to their correct origins.

My question is...what do you think these orange were supposed to go to?

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

My question is...what do you think these orange were supposed to go to?

Illumination for an automatic column shift gear selector display if so equipped.
The other connections near the radio are the red tree-way bullet tap for unswitched power power accessories, the radio power connection, and the single bullet female is used for an optional key light time delay harness. Yellow with black tracer, door pin switch circuit.

[Chryco Psycho]

The problem is most aftermarket stereos use yellow for battery & red for switched power which is opposite under dash !

[JunkYardFind]

Really interesting info! Thanks for the replies!
I am in process of switching the Molex ignition switch connectors with the Powerpole thanks to @72RoadRunnerGTX post in the other e-body forum.

I really like the powerpole connectors and will likely do all my aftermarket radio connections with them. Got to finish the ignition switch first, then I will dig around and test these "mystery wires" and maybe use them. I have no idea where my current radio is getting power from  It's jut a mess under there and I am sorting it one thing at a time.

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

BTW, all orange wires in the dash harness are dash illumination, there is another one at the radio power connector. As well, an orange three-way bullet taps the light bar plugs into is located nearby.
Yep, like those PowerPoles too. They can be a bit of an investment however all said and done, special crimps and all. But they will handle quite a bit of current for there size. May be a bit of an over-kill for some low current applications. In the name of cheap and quick assembly, the factory used some quick-connect connectors in circuits that would see more current than they could handle over time. Then again, no car built back then was designed to last more than 5-10 years.
Note on the grange wires in the original ign switch Molex, there are some NOS factory replacement ign switches out there designed to cross platforms. Some C-body applications have an additional black wire located at the same position as the orange wires. Should this switch be used without removing the black wire, it will short the dash light circuit while cranking.
Also note this replacement switch comes with red & black wires having extra length and not installed into the Molex, Packard connectors are shipped with it. Indicates some later A-bodies used them, common practice was the by-pass the Molex terminals on all replacements.

[JunkYardFind]

@72RoadRunnerGTX
Yep, my repro ignition switch has the 4 wire Yellow, Blue, Brown, 16g Black and of course the longer 10g Red and Black. Going to cut the 10g Red and Black and use power poles on them and just run them even with the other wires like in your pics.

At a glance I think I traced every thing to their correct plug-ins under the dash. (will cut and install the power poles)
The 16g black I am a little unsure of. Also thinking about just removing the ignition buzzer, not sure on that yet also.

Gonna get this going Tue hopefully. I will post on my "fried connector identification" thread if I hit any snags or just post pics of the finished job compared to the fried molex pics hopefully!

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

Just make sure the small black ign switch wire is not connected to anything. It grounds while in the cranking position, on some c-bodies it turns on the brake warning light when cranking by design. In the Molex, it shares the same pin location as the orange wires on other models. If connected to the orange wires, it will blow the illumination fuse the first time the car is started with the lights on.