What should I expect to pay to have my car re-wired?

-
67CudaBob

67CudaBob

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2011
Messages
331
Reaction score
42
Location
Hugo, MN
If I were to hire it out, what should I expect to pay in labor to have my 1967 Dart GT Convertible completely re-wired? I see American Autowire has a well rated nice complete setup for about $900 - but what do you think we are talking about in labor? I would like some input from you folks before I start calling shops. Thank you in advance.

Side Back View.jpg
(Background: Last Friday, my alternator grounded out and very nearly caused a fire due to some 50 year old wiring and I would prefer to replace it all than to risk that again. Electrical is my weakest link, and I am not long on patience for a project like that.)
 
It will not be cheap. Sit in a comfortable chair when making the calls.
What is the problem with your wirring,??. You can get some good advise on this site, to help you.
 
barracudadave67 said:
It will not be cheap. Sit in a comfortable chair when making the calls.
What is the problem with your wirring,??. You can get some good advise on this site, to help you.
Click to expand...
Assuming you want the shop to do all removal and replacement of trim, carpet, dash panels, looms, hangers, factory plug/harness fittings etc. don't be surprised at estimates of 30 to 50 man-hours at the shop rate. You may be looking at $3k -$4k.
 
Strip interior, trunk remove cluster and anything that covers any wiring (headliner crosses my mind)
The only crusty wiring wil be under the hood and under the car.

Done incorrectly,un-secured wiring in hidden places that were fished through are a risk as well.

I am guessing a week to do it nice and neat.
 
barracudadave67 said:
It will not be cheap. Sit in a comfortable chair when making the calls.
What is the problem with your wirring,??. You can get some good advise on this site, to help you.
Click to expand...

I had a thread about the near fire earlier on here, and the safest advice was to re-wire. If everything inside the car checks out ok, perhaps I could limit the re-wire to firewall forward.
 
My buddy helped a member here rewire his car using a Painless Wiring system! He charged our member "unknownsnake" $20 an hour and I believe he ended up paying $300-$400 to get it up and running! If you were in Michigan I would turn you over to Rick, he has the patience and expertise to do jobs like this!!
 
cosgig said:
My buddy helped a member here rewire his car using a Painless Wiring system! He charged our member "unknownsnake" $20 an hour and I believe he ended up paying $300-$400 to get it up and running! If you were in Michigan I would turn you over to Rick, he has the patience and expertise to do jobs like this!!
Click to expand...

Hell, it almost sounds worth moving to Michigan! Further proof that Mopar folks are the best!
 
I did a rewire on my dart in two days in my driveway with no prior electrical knowledge myself. Turned out pretty good and was very easy to install no problems for six months. The only old wire on the car goes from the driver kick panel up to my dome light. I didnt feel like fishing for a new one and the old one seems to be holding up well.
 
if you go with something like the american autowire classic update it shouldn't be all that hard for you to do yourself.. very time consuming to do it right though.
 
abodyjoe said:
if you go with something like the american autowire classic update it shouldn't be all that hard for you to do yourself.. very time consuming to do it right though.
Click to expand...

I am starting to lean this way. Lots of encouragement to try it myself. Just gotta ramp up on my patience, or make damn sure the beer fridge is full, or both.
 
I bought a wire kit ($300) to do it myself.
If you can wire a stereo you probably could do it yourself. Just do a lot of research.
There's not to many circuits to deal with.
 
Been in your shoes before. Unless you have a bunch of aftermarket accessories, why not source quality repop harnesses and do the job yourself? Get factory shop manuals with the schematics for your particular car take your time, clean each component, replace all the bulbs etc... I like to use pegboard and some hooks to string the harness out. It's incredibly easy to follow the color coded wires and the specific plugs for each accessory or connection. Sharp car btw!
 
For the underhood:
Step One: Buy a Factory-style harness and diagram. I bought the one on ebay with a picture of my Dart on the front, and I keep it in the car, with all my modifications drawn in.
Step Two: Read up on the ammeter and bulkhead bypass.
Two A: Disconnect battery.
Step Three: Unless it's cherry and you can inspect it all, consider replacing the dash harness too, which you'll wanna do after you do:
Step Four: Unplug one harness at the bulkhead connector only. Inspect bulkhead connector for anything green or melty. Install new harness at the bulkhead connector only. (my connectors were such that only one would fit one location)

Step Five: Work from the bulk head connector area out. If the original harness is in a retainer, undo it, and lay your new one in and re-affix. If it's connected to something, disconnect old and reconnect new. Keep going until your old harness is out and the new is in, one component at a time.

Working so in such a manner makes this a monkey-rate job that you'll probably enjoy. I certainly enjoy laying the harness in nice n' neat. Hardest part is keeping everything untangled. Pack your new bulkheads with dieelectric grease, consider doing the above bypasses, keep fire extinguisher in the trunk because duh. The hardest thing about doing the dash is working through the instrument hole and glove box hole to reach the junk in the middle but it can be done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top