I completed my rewire. EZ Wiring Harness review

[DissFigured]

I finished my rewire today, and everything is working. I almost can't believe I did it.

At any rate, I went w/ the EZ Wiring 21 circuit harness because it was so much more affordable than painless. My experience was very positive, and I recommend this harness.

I expected this to take all winter because I have never done anything like this before. If I had no other committments, I could have completed this job start to finish in a week. The harness they give you is a GM harness so you can cut off and discard any of the plugs that are attached to the harness. Every wire is labeled every few inches so you know where it goes. The only tricky part is figuring out how to route the wires, and there are a few times I had to go over things many times w/ a multimeter to get the right connections because Ford uses different, Headlight switches, wiper switches, ignition etc....

I actually ended up purchasing the EZ wiring ignition switch cuz mine sucked anyway.

I thought their tech support was great. They are eastern so I had to make all my calls by 1:00 my time(they close at 3:00) but the guys emailed me anytime I had a question, and walked me through some of it over the phone. I am impressed.

So, take it from someone who has never wired much more than a home stereo, This was a great experience for me, I have no gremlins, and all of the circuits seem to be functioning properly.

Now on to the Brakes!

 

[1965-Mustang]

Hey thanks for the review. I have been looking into this for some time now but I had all the same worries as you and the same experience with wiring as you but this makes me feel a lot better. I think now I wont hesitate to order the kit instead of the pricey Painless one. Thanks.

 

[CarFreakGT]

Thanks for the review, diss. I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

 

[DissFigured]

One more thing

Also, EZ wiring sells the following on their website all for around $20 each:
Headlight switch
Wiper switch
dimmer switch
ignition switch

If you buy them , you will have a smoother install. The biggest problems I had were w/ the switches listed above. Message me if you need assistance w/ any of it. I threw in the towel on the ignition and bought EZ Wiring's, but I figured out the others after banging my head against the wall for a few hours.

If I were doing it again, I would order the harness and those switches just so the instructions will make sense.

My other piece of advice is roll up the wires you dont use and tuck em away in the dash or something for future use. Now that I have the harness installed, I have wiring available for power locks / doors / cooling fan / AC/ etc..

 

[rbohm]

nice work. wiring a car from scratch is not too hard of a job, but very time consuming. the aftermarket harness's do make the job easier overall.

 

[toolwench]

...And when you tuck the unused wires up under the dash for future use, make sure you tape up the ends or do something to make sure there's no bare wire anywhere.

My car caught on fire because an unused wire wiggled its way up to the backside of my ignition switch and shorted against full voltage. Toasted everything in the vicinity before I could 1) realize I was on fire and 2) shut the car off while in traffic. Got back on the road after utlizing an awful lot of electrical tape, but the week of rewiring after that really sucked.

 

[1965stangcoupe]

Is there any reason to use the mini fuse circut(20circut/20fuse) instead of the 21circut/18 fuse? Or the other way around? http://www.ezwiring.com/

I just see that it is cheaper and am wondering if it matters?

thanks

 

[rbohm]

Is there any reason to use the mini fuse circut(20circut/20fuse) instead of the 21circut/18 fuse? Or the other way around? http://www.ezwiring.com/

I just see that it is cheaper and am wondering if it matters?

thanks

use which ever works best for you. that is the beauty of the aftermarket system, you can practically design the system to suit your needs.

 

[xoxbxfx]

use which ever works best for you. that is the beauty of the aftermarket system, you can practically design the system to suit your needs.

I did the mini20 myself because of size. My panel is in the drivers wheel well, not under the dash.

 

[xoxbxfx]

Also, EZ wiring sells the following on their website all for around $20 each:
Headlight switch
Wiper switch
dimmer switch
ignition switch

If you buy them , you will have a smoother install. The biggest problems I had were w/ the switches listed above. Message me if you need assistance w/ any of it. I threw in the towel on the ignition and bought EZ Wiring's, but I figured out the others after banging my head against the wall for a few hours.

If I were doing it again, I would order the harness and those switches just so the instructions will make sense.

My other piece of advice is roll up the wires you dont use and tuck em away in the dash or something for future use. Now that I have the harness installed, I have wiring available for power locks / doors / cooling fan / AC/ etc..

how do the switches mount compared to stock?

 

[1965stangcoupe]

Ok besides size is there a reason for doing the bigger one? can you run more powerthrough it? I dont really understand how any of this stuff works but I am getting some books off of amazon to learn about it.
thanks

 

[ron67fb]

Did you go 1-wire alternator or wire in the stock voltage regulator?

 

[Edbert]

I finished my rewire today, and everything is working. I almost can't believe I did it.

WTFG!

Now, can I see your diagrams?

 

[DissFigured]

yup

how do the switches mount compared to stock?

They wire up great but mounting the ignition switch was a trick. The switch was a bit too small and would go completely through the hom ein the dash so imimprovised an adaptor by getting a piece of 1 inch PVC pipe and cutting 2 pieces off the end of it 1/4 inch thich basically creating two washers biggenough for the ignition switch to barely get through but big enough on the outside to press against the dash. It worked greay and the plate that goes over the outside of the ignition switch hides it completely. It looks stock.

 

[DissFigured]

Did you go 1-wire alternator or wire in the stock voltage regulator?

I wired to the stock alternator. works great.

 

[DissFigured]

Ok besides size is there a reason for doing the bigger one? can you run more powerthrough it? I dont really understand how any of this stuff works but I am getting some books off of amazon to learn about it.
thanks

If I had to do it again, I would go w/ the mini fuse box. THe reqular one is the size of a toaster. Seriously, the pictures on their site don't do it justice. The thing is huge. You will likely not be able to get it up under the dash. Mine is mounted just below the dash on the left kick panel. It is out of the way but the mini one would have been more convienent.

 

[DissFigured]

WTFG!

Now, can I see your diagrams?

I don't really have any diagrams, I just plugged the wires where they said they went and when confused, I did the following:
1. Asked this forum for help
2. Called Tech Support for the harness (They were great)
3. Trial and error w/ Multi meter

This in combination w/ the diagrams that came w/ the instructions for the harness, and I only blew 1 fuse during the whole install.

 

[1965stangcoupe]

Wow thats pretty big!!! I think I will go with the mini thanks!!

 

[Edbert]

I wired to the stock alternator. works great.

The stock alternator is/was of the "externally regulated" variety, did you retain the factory's external voltage regulator (located by winsheild washer-bag on 65-67s)?

 

[DissFigured]

The stock alternator is/was of the "externally regulated" variety, did you retain the factory's external voltage regulator (located by winsheild washer-bag on 65-67s)?

Yup. I actually replacet the voltage regulater a few months ago. I did however relocate it. Rather than having it on the drivers side, I mounted it down low on the passenger side so it is only about 4 inches away from the alternator. This was the last thing I wired and migrating it there made it more convienent to wire.