Okay so a little back story. I just bought this car, she a piece. I'm trying to whip it back into shape. As ive been replacing a shot intercooler I discovered this piece of art and thought someone might be able to give me more information.
Im going to assume the alligator clip is to steal power to kick on the AC compressor or something along those lines
AC currently does not work previous owner said it was a simple connection behind the dash/Hvac controls inside the car.

 

was the clip inserted inside the plug? where is the wire coming from? i believe supplying 12v to that plug engages the pulley

 

The clip was inside the plug circled in blue

 

there seems to be a few posts where they are missing the actual plug

 

I'll trace the wire when the suns out. I do know the motor was built and maybe in the process they decided it was an easier way to wire up AC when they dropped it back in the car. The home electrical end cap kills me though. I'm sure there has to be a better way to go about making this connection.

 

agreed. i do have an end cap on my car its for a lead wire to the starter... so I can crank the engine while i'm by the engine bay and/or when the starting circuit is(was) acting up. I used it several times when autocrossing, before I finally fixed the issue

 

That sounds pretty sweet I've been wanting to autocross with AWD for awhile I've only owned RWD prior.

 

you'd kick a lot of butts. go for it. most fun way to own an evo

 

This is probably the male end to the plug you have circled along with the rest of the clutch wiring. I pulled it from my dead compressor before throwing it out.
I'm happy to send it to you but no idea how long it would take nor how much it'd cost given that I'm in NZ.

 

I believe you're right I was referencing another "AC Help me thread" tonight for information.
here are the results.

I have determined that the connection is indeed the proper wire from the harness however since someone seems to have lost the original female plug or broke it they decided to use the alligator clip. so my solution will be to remove the connector itself and wire up a single pin waterproof connector in place of the old connectors and zip tie it to safety.

Cheers!

 

Your solution with new connectors is the best idea. It is definitely unusual to only have one wire for the factory wiring (and just run the ground wire to the chassis locally) given that none of the other factory wiring is only a single wire, at least that I can recall.

While on the topic of AC compressors, on pages 55-90 and 55-91 of the US Evo 8 service manual is the specs for the clutch to pulley clearance while activated. I highly recommend checking it while you're there as it will eventually go out of spec and may make the pulley break apart like mine did.

 

While I would love to check the tolerance of the pulley I have much more pressing matters.
Oil in the IC piping leads me to believe the turbo seals are going. But I havent noticed blue smoke. My hope is that it was a previous turbo that the motor chewed up