wiring harness recommendation

keywestjack

keywestjack

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Apr 24, 2008
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I have looked at the ones form American Auto Wire, Zip, Volunteer Vette, ect. Do you have any recommendations. I am doing a complete mild resto mod on my 77 (my L48 is being rebuilt including being stroked to a 383). While I have the body I have noticed the wiring leave a lot to be desired. Recommendations on replacement will be appreciated. Much of the wiring was screwed up from the start when I purchased this project. Are there any that are labled etc. How about special tools. Is the "Power Probe III" worth my time. Your thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, Jack

BTW, my 77 is the second wiring version, alarm in the door. I do not plan to use the oem alarm.
 
I think most of the OEM style harnesses are made by Lectric Limited. Very nicely made but not cheap.
 
I used a Painless 18 circuit on my 63. All wires are already attached to the fuse box and each wire is printed on the wire jacket as to where it goes. The printing is repeated every six inches. If you have any talent with wiring and proper tools you can make a great improvement to your car.

I don't have experience with the American Auto Wire harnesses but I understand that you wire the fuse box to your liking rather than being pre wired from the fuse box. If you don't need all the circuitry of the Painless harness the custom wiring option would be nice.

Rich
 
I'm not familiar with Painless.

Lectric Limited sells repro harnesses. The connectors are the same as factory OEM. Also another harness manufacturer is M & H (?) in Orange County California, they have harnesses with the same factory connectors. I'v bought harnesses from both of them for my 68 and 70 Vettes.

The repro harnesses are really just beautiful. Everything fits. Most of my harnesses have came from Lectric Limited. Only a few from M&H, but there stuff is great also. I think that the harnesses from most of the vendors come from these two sources.

I think Painless sells generic, one size fits all harnesses. Could be wrong.
 
Dont know anybody who used it, but I like that.

http://www.isispower.com/

Heres an install on a fiberglass kit car, so theres souldn't be too much difference with our Vettes.

It's in 4 parts. good stuff
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZSZOCMMB8g[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeH327AU2AU&feature=related[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0wxZVRdVZg&feature=related[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MM6X9PkQd8&feature=related[/ame]
 
Last edited:
keywestjack said:
I have looked........ Is the "Power Probe III" worth my time. Thanks, Jack

BTW, my 77 is the second wiring version, alarm in the door. I do not plan to use the oem alarm.
Click to expand...

Power Probe is the single best auto electical tool ever invented.

Buy that and you'll be repairing your original harness instead of buying one.:smash:
 
My dash harness is super bubba'd and I mentioned to a mate that I was going to buy a new harness. He's not afraid of electrickery and wanted to make a complete new harness! Bugger THAT!

I got one from Lectric Limited. Like others have said, all factory connectors, colours, wire guage and length etc...
 
I got tired of all the :crap: to do with the '72 long time ago winter 01-02 I had the car totally apart, doors off, interior gutted, engine out, hood off, and was doing many a long list of mods, one of them was that wiring harness, the ONLY sections untouched are the lighting front and rear, all the rest is me, I totally eliminated that bulkhead plug and in this process, must have eliminated 50 miles of wiring from that car...

in that process I totally redid the harness/plugs to the speedo/tach assy, using white molex plugs from Radio Shack....I have the cluster set to plug and unplug all the electricals with two plugs, one for all the lights, one for the tach, and it's done, speedo cable unplugs and I can pull that entire panel out and reinstall in less then 20 minits now....

:hissyfit: I used all the OEM wire and resoldered as necessary, harnessed it up with cheeeep black wire wrap from car shows...same as for the FI computer...

:drink:
 
1Michel said:
Dont know anybody who used it, but I like that.

http://www.isispower.com/

Heres an install on a fiberglass kit car, so theres souldn't be too much difference with our Vettes.
Click to expand...

That's a lot more to go wrong. A Painless harness is bullet proof. The only advantages to that I see is adding special features like auto dimming dome lights.:rolleyes:
 
Just a suggestion when you get your new harnesses installed and ready to use.

Suggestion: Do not use your car battery to check out your new harnesses/wiring, etc. the battery can put out a 600 amp pulse if there's a short circuit somewhere. This can cause catastropic damage if you're really unlucky.

After all new harnesses and some new custom made harnesses were installed in my 68, I started check out with a 12 volt being produced by a pack of 1 1/2 volt dry cell flashlight batteries. This was good for some preliminary checkouts. I then bought a 14 volt power supply with a 10 amp rating. I was able to use this to check out the whole car; headlights, etc. The power supply cost $80.
 
big2bird said:
1Michel said:
Dont know anybody who used it, but I like that.

http://www.isispower.com/

Heres an install on a fiberglass kit car, so theres souldn't be too much difference with our Vettes.
Click to expand...

That's a lot more to go wrong. A Painless harness is bullet proof. The only advantages to that I see is adding special features like auto dimming dome lights.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...



Thats what I was thinking. My C4 (1990) is bad enough with all the modules, circuit boards, sensors, etc. The C3 is a welcome break, no matter how primative the wiring is. I fear that set up ( http://www.isispower.com/ ) may be more than my pea brain can handle.
 
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