Wiring kit, competition for painless ?

[Rusty67]

I was looking on ebay.... as I often do, and I found this kit. The quality of the wire looks good and the price is nice but I'm not too sure about the connectors. I've looked at the directions they give and there is a lot of good info in there. Has anyone else seen this or used one of these kits ?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Delu...emQQcategoryZ34206QQihZ009QQitemZ190035399607

The same guys also sell a kit made specifically for Mustang/Cougar but I didn't like it, it was to generic (not year specific).

 

[6T6coupe]

I've used these before. They are generic kits with GM color codes and unterminated ends. It worked well on the last hot rod. I am installing one in my 66 coupe now.

It works fine, but you have to keep in mind a couple of details. First, the ends are not terminated. That means you need to keep all the old connectors and plugs from the old harness if you intend to plug things back in (ignition, steering column, wiper, dimmer, lights, instruments, etc). Second, the GM color codes don't correspond to the Ford wiring so you'll have to make sure the wires are connected properly. Third, there is no firewall connector or pass thru. You'll have to adapt a grommet or come up with a connector. Finally, unless you have a lot of stuff on your car, there are probably more wires than you need (power antenna, electric choke, power windows, A/C, fan, third brake light, trunk light, etc.), so those will have to be dealt with.

Other than that, yep, it'll work, but it will take longer than a harness specific to the Mustang.

 

[Spoofty]

The one for the Mustang said color coded only, not GM color code. I wonder how much is different on the Mustang one!

 

[Gailahan]

Here is a link to the mustang one, I can't tell why it costs more, maybe just because it has mustang in the title.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190034144945&fromMakeTrack=true

 

[Rusty67]

Basically anything that says its car specific will cost more then a "universal" kit. I don't want to buy a kit made for a Mustang because I know I'm going to have more stuff in my car anyways.

Since I'm going to be trunking my battery I'm not sure if I should rewire the car until after I do that or at least at the same time. Puting the battery in the trunk could change things quite a bit or not much at all. I havn't really dug deep into the details or made any real plans on that end yet.

EDIT
About the connector ends, I do have a spare harness that I can cut up, but I'd rather put brand new weatherproof connectors on everything. Does anyone know a good place for some weatherproof plugs that have a lot of pins, not just like a 4 pin connector ?

 

[Gailahan]

Since I'm going to be trunking my battery I'm not sure if I should rewire the car until after I do that or at least at the same time. Puting the battery in the trunk could change things quite a bit or not much at all. I havn't really dug deep into the details or made any real plans on that end yet.

Doing things twice always sucks =).

 

[Ford68Pony]

My Rewiring experience

I used the EZ2Wire 12 circuit wiring and there were some pro's and con's too it. I'll list them below. The biggest help that I got was from another member who shot me this link to some wiring diagrams. I will let you know now unless you have good eyesight and have some working knowledge of electronics then you will be good to go. It's not really that complicated to at least get it running but there were a couple of hiccups I ran into such as getting the horn to work. I will let you know it's gonna take some work but hey, that's the fun part isn't it. Here's the link to the 1968

http://www.hammar.dyndns.org/wiring.htm

Pro's:
Cost
Easy to install
Length of cable is sufficiant

Con's:
GM Style connection (Need to use old Ford Connections)
Need wiring diagram to fully complete (wiring diagram from EZ2 Wire is not fully functional)

I say the price cut is worth the extra work, but then again, I'm on a military budget.

Good luck

 

[truck90278]

For "weatherpak" connectors, and the proper tools to install them with, check out Ron Francis wiring. He carries full line of wiring harnesses and components

 

[Rusty67]

I didn't see anything on his website but I searched ebay for weatherpack and found basically what I wanted. I'm gonna try calling him because I'm also looking for a few 20 pin connectors as well.

 

[66mustangg]

i used the painless wiring harness and it came out really nice. i never had any wiring expreince before i put it in and the directions were very detailed.. but the kit you from ebay for 160 looks like it doesnt come with nearly half the stuff that painless came with but then again thats why its only 160 and the painless kit was around 650

 

[Rusty67]

I think the painless kit you are talking about is the prebuilt one, painless also makes a universal kit as well. I am wondering how this setup compairs to the painless universal kit.

 

[truck90278]

Remember, you get what you pay for. The quality of the wire and the components is critical. All the major suppliers of wiring harnesses are pretty competitive in price ($350 + even for the "universal fit). If somewone is selling something for one half the price, I would be wary. It would be unfortunate to save a hundred $'s or so and have your car burn to the ground. I learned a long ltime ago, that even if I have to wait to save some extra money to do the job right your far better off. Regarding Ron Francis items, I do have one of his units in one of my cars. I've had it in for about 7 years with a lot of driving and I have NEVER had a problem.

 

[Rusty67]

Oh man, the do it once do it right credo. I try to live by that. I've seen too many parts that cost 100 or 200 dollars more that have nothing extra but a name attached to them. I don't buy low quality parts, thats why I wanted to know if anyone had heard of these before. So far no one has complained about the quality of the wire or the fuse block, or anything contained within the kit.

 

[6T6coupe]

It's definitely GM color coded, even the so called "Mustang" kit. But if you take your time, pay attention to the Ford-GM color code interchange, it does work well.

I kept a lot of the extra circuits rolled up under the dash for later.