Painless 20121 (67 Mustang) Harness - Disappointed

[Bullitt]

I just received the Painless 20121 harness that I ordered from Summit to re-wire my '67 Mustang and have to admit I'm a little disappointed...

Some background. Car is a resto-mod w/ fuel injection. I was tired of tracking down ****ling electrical issues, so bit the bullet a few weeks back and decided to re-wire the car to get rid of the 43 yr old harness.

So after a lot of reading, I compromised between a "generic" Painless harness and buying the harnesses one by one through the Mustang resto shops by going with the 67/68 Mustang harness from Painless, expecting it to be at least somewhat vehicle specific and from the description appeared to be somewhat "pre-terminated".

What you get in the box, is anything but pre-terminated. The only terminations made are for the cluster and the turn signal connector, basically everything else is either an unterminated wire, or a wire which they terminated into a insulated spade connector (meaning you have to cut the factory connector off whatever you're attaching to and replace it).

So I'm really torn at the moment. I really like the factory connectors from the standpoint that you can't mess it up, but I would really like to avoid doing more cutting and splicing than necessary. That said, I understand there's some merit to cutting off the old connectors and putting in new from an electrical standpoint...

The thing I guess that is most frustrating, is what does the extra $150 to $200 over one of the generic harnesses really get you???

Anyways. I could certainly use the extra circuits (power windows, power locks), but really don't want to have to re-engineer the wiring harness to make it work (speaking on a generic one here and some of the GM/Ford uses that appear to have to be dealt with).

Can anyone offer an opinion on the "factory replacement" harnesses sold through the resto-shops? Are they good quality and in your opinion worth the money???

Not entirely sold on not using this harness, but guess I wanted to get some feedback on the other options out there.

 

[mustang6788]

I went through the same problem two years ago. The painless is not all that bad I like the fact that it has extra wire so you can route the wires how you like as I hid all mine. I bought a big weather pack connector kit from jegs and used all new sealed connectors for junctions. If you want direct plug in check with american autowire they recently came out with a kit for 1967-68 mustangs that supposedly has all the stock connectors. Price is similar to painless. I would have done that if it was available when I did my car.

 

[robbz28]

Come on...i just put that painless kit in my car 2 weeks ago...it took me 4 hours, by myself and it was a cinch....painless is the perfect name for it. No it doesnt look like the factory wiring, but it runs in the exact same locations. Even though you do have to terminate some stuff, its not that bad. Once again, 4 hours, connected it to the battery and just had a huge grin when EVERYTHING, even the brake pressure light worked...dive off in it, read the directions, and before you know it you will be finished.

 

[Bullitt]

I went through the same problem two years ago. The painless is not all that bad I like the fact that it has extra wire so you can route the wires how you like as I hid all mine. I bought a big weather pack connector kit from jegs and used all new sealed connectors for junctions. If you want direct plug in check with american autowire they recently came out with a kit for 1967-68 mustangs that supposedly has all the stock connectors. Price is similar to painless. I would have done that if it was available when I did my car.

I checked into the American Autowire and that may be the way I go. Looks like a really nice setup.