Aftermarket Wiring Harnesses

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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So I have been reading a bunch of posts about wiring harnesses. It seems that a favorite are Ron Francis and American Autowire. There are also a bunch more out there such as Painless and Ezwire etc..

Myself I have used a Painless harness and I thought it was very well made and worked great. The instructions where vague in a couple areas, but with a simple phone call I figured out where that wire was to be terminated. Im currently looking at a EZwire 21 circuit to rewire my Scamp.

So with a whole array of different harnesses all with different prices. Most of which look to be very similar. What makes one better than the other?
 
i have installed the painless kit in a 46 dodge truck, does the kit work, yes. Does it make alot of sense? no... there is no master wiring diagram as alot of the wiring labels dont make any sense. for me it would just be easier to make my own harness using a ENOS "Black Box", they also can make you a harness.
 
THAT is just about the Great Big complaint I have with Painless and similar.......no real diagram, "plus"

Find to number and color code wires, but I dislike that Painless puts labels such as "headlights" etc on their wiring. In my case I have "a bunch" of spare circuits such as top, windows, and etc, that could be used for something "else."

I felt the need to sit down with the main harness and "ohm out" (ring out, tone out, your favorite resistive/ continuity term, LOL) all the circuits so I knew what went where.

I've forgotten now, but there were a couple (wipers maybe, heater?) that were hooked to ignition instead of "I'd preferred" accessory.

Also, some of these people refuse to believe there's something besides Ferd and GM
 
67Dart273 said:
THAT is just about the Great Big complaint I have with Painless and similar.......no real diagram, "plus"

Find to number and color code wires, but I dislike that Painless puts labels such as "headlights" etc on their wiring. In my case I have "a bunch" of spare circuits such as top, windows, and etc, that could be used for something "else."

I felt the need to sit down with the main harness and "ohm out" (ring out, tone out, your favorite resistive/ continuity term, LOL) all the circuits so I knew what went where.

I've forgotten now, but there were a couple (wipers maybe, heater?) that were hooked to ignition instead of "I'd preferred" accessory.

Also, some of these people refuse to believe there's something besides Ferd and GM
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electric choke on the heater/AC fuse... WTF...
 
805moparkid said:
electric choke on the heater/AC fuse... WTF...
Click to expand...

I used E Z , when I had questions(there were many),called and talked to Sean at E Z, he`s one smart dude. a little hard to get a hold of tho-------bob
 
Good morning Speed,
I've not put much research into the various wiring packages or the vendors or used them, so I'm interested in hearing from others who have used them.

Imho, the wiring in these older cars are not very complex and can be emulated without too much fuss. The process is very tedious and time consuming. I've found that I needed to crossreference the MOPAR service manual diagrams with diagrams from othe years or option specific diagrams to get the clear picture.

Keys to success for me have been:

Take your time
Review the schematic before starting
Trace each wire and circuit at least twice to get oriented.
Patience
Good tunes
And a cold one.

Take care.
 
coming from knowing very little about automotive electrical work i went with Ron francis. I found it easier then i expected. I was a bit worried that i would get lost in a rat nest but it was very straight forward and very simple to install. There were a few stop and think moments but i believe it was mainly i would work a weekend on the wiring then not go back to it for a month. So my brain had to refigure what i was up to last.

I called ron francis tech line twice and it was an immediate response with no hassle about anything. Once was about the steering column wiring and turned out i should of been smarter and tested the wires (stupidity on my part) The aftermarket signal switch wires were different colors.
The other time was about the hazard lights and clutch neutral safety. If i would of read the back page of one of the instructions i would have sorted out the neutral safety and the hazard lights just needed to sort out terminals.

I personally would not try another company since i am extremly happy with ron francis. All the wires are labelled and easy to trace and does not take a rocket scientist to sort it out. Just need to know how to solder, splice, shrink tube and attach terminals.

Follow the instructions and do not look at a service manual, unless sorting out wire colors at a light or switch. Mounting the fuse box took some thinking, but after that it was like riding a tricycle.
 
One of these days I am going to dig through my files and find copies of the, ahem, "wiring diagrams" from some of the various folks out there. Some look like they were drawn on cocktail napkins. Some are better. Some are really good. Yeup, most are Ford or GM based. I tend to think the GM based ones are better, but it could just be personal bias and have nothing to do with how the circuits actually work.
 
Don't know about others but with Painless the left over un-used wires the printed markings wipe right off with brake clean.
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
coming from knowing very little about automotive electrical work i went with Ron francis. I found it easier then i expected. I was a bit worried that i would get lost in a rat nest but it was very straight forward and very simple to install. There were a few stop and think moments but i believe it was mainly i would work a weekend on the wiring then not go back to it for a month. So my brain had to refigure what i was up to last.

I called ron francis tech line twice and it was an immediate response with no hassle about anything. Once was about the steering column wiring and turned out i should of been smarter and tested the wires (stupidity on my part) The aftermarket signal switch wires were different colors.
The other time was about the hazard lights and clutch neutral safety. If i would of read the back page of one of the instructions i would have sorted out the neutral safety and the hazard lights just needed to sort out terminals.

I personally would not try another company since i am extremly happy with ron francis. All the wires are labelled and easy to trace and does not take a rocket scientist to sort it out. Just need to know how to solder, splice, shrink tube and attach terminals.

Follow the instructions and do not look at a service manual, unless sorting out wire colors at a light or switch. Mounting the fuse box took some thinking, but after that it was like riding a tricycle.
Click to expand...

I've done some research on this, and the Ron Francis kits look to the best option out there for us Mopar guys......glad to hear that you had good success with the kit. Which kit did you go with?
 
Revhendo said:
One of these days I am going to dig through my files and find copies of the, ahem, "wiring diagrams" from some of the various folks out there. Some look like they were drawn on cocktail napkins. Some are better. Some are really good. Yeup, most are Ford or GM based. I tend to think the GM based ones are better, but it could just be personal bias and have nothing to do with how the circuits actually work.
Click to expand...

This was something that pissed me off about the Painless... They expected you to use a gm alternator and GM column. Only because i have the 68 dart Color diagram from the ebay guy (spacing the name) i had to make my own diagram to mate the GM diagram into a mopar harness... BS

im sure i'll remember more as i go...
 
I do not understand why these companies are stuck on the GM stuff either. It is frustrating, but like stated if you take your time and work thru the stuff then everything works out good.

The other thing I like is that they are set up for a fan and fuel pump if you ever want to run those. Although the extra wires for the windows and locks are ridiculous but it is what it is. The EZ harness I can get for $75 so I can be ok with it having extra wires.
 
I used a painless kit on my dart. I used factory ignition switch and factory column harness. The directions lay it all out. I ended up using a gm headlight switch just for simplicity. Nobody remakes the mopar connectors for the back of the switches either. These cars are super basic to wire up. I have never wired more then a car stereo before I did the whole car. I like a harness that has the fuse box end already wired up. That's half the chance of me screwing up.
 
younggun2.0 said:
I used a painless kit on my dart. I used factory ignition switch and factory column harness. The directions lay it all out. I ended up using a gm headlight switch just for simplicity. Nobody remakes the mopar connectors for the back of the switches either. These cars are super basic to wire up. I have never wired more then a car stereo before I did the whole car. I like a harness that has the fuse box end already wired up. That's half the chance of me screwing up.
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M&H make complete harnesses with all new connectors first off... second good job! wiring isnt an easy task even with years of experience...
 
just an fyi. I used Ron Francis. They're "mopar specific kit" is a joke. Other than including the wires for the oem ignition, nothing is all that specific to mopar.

If i did it again, i'd save the money and go american autowire.
 
So with a whole array of different harnesses all with different prices. Most of which look to be very similar. What makes one better than the other?
Click to expand...

for me its quality of parts and what is included in the kit.

i used the american auto wire highway 22 kit. i ended up using the gm turn signal wiring connector because i liked it better than the chrysler one. i rebuilt some stock connectors because as far as i know you can't just buy those connectors new. also used the gm headlight switch. used a stock ign and turn signal switch (changed the plug over. wires were in the same order on the plug. just different colors) used the stock wiper switch (couldn't find a new one) and just rebuilt the stock connectors. the basics are pretty much the same on all these cars. lighting really doesn't change. the ignition system was really easy to adapt to a chrysler ign. so was the charging system. it helps if you look at them as stand alone systems.. when i was done with my car there was not one old wire left in the car. not even a little length going to a light or anything.


I do not understand why these companies are stuck on the GM stuff either. It is frustrating, but like stated if you take your time and work thru the stuff then everything works out good.
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because it probably out sells the other stuff 3 to 1.. :)
 
So another question. When I go to do my car again I want to get the correct crimper for the terminals. Does anyone recommend a good source to buy one. The ones I have seen have been upwards of $200.

Also as for the terminations do you suggest crimping or soldering. I've soldered before but only with a solder gun. I've been told the pen type is much better to use for this type of thing. Thoughts?
 
straightlinespeed said:
So another question. When I go to do my car again I want to get the correct crimper for the terminals. Does anyone recommend a good source to buy one. The ones I have seen have been upwards of $200.

Also as for the terminations do you suggest crimping or soldering. I've soldered before but only with a solder gun. I've been told the pen type is much better to use for this type of thing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

the best crimping tool is a soldering gun...
 
theres some connectors that you don't want to or cant't solider. hell some will argue that solider is not good because it makes the wire brittle and it should be crimped. the proper crimp will be as good and in some cases better then solider..

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Tool-Aid-18920-Ratcheting-Terminal/dp/B0002STTTI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386039565&sr=8-1&keywords=tool+aid"]S & G Tool Aid 18920 Ratcheting Terminal Crimping Kit- 5 Piece - Amazon.com[/ame]


they make a damn nice crimp..:)

DSC_9153.jpg
 
i agree if you are a very bad at it and melt solder 1/2" into the wire then yea, but dont do any of the rest either lol...

i solder those connectors, its not hard. kiss of solder and shrink tube and your good to go
 
straightlinespeed said:
So another question. When I go to do my car again I want to get the correct crimper for the terminals. Does anyone recommend a good source to buy one. The ones I have seen have been upwards of $200.

Also as for the terminations do you suggest crimping or soldering. I've soldered before but only with a solder gun. I've been told the pen type is much better to use for this type of thing. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I used a ratchet crimper from harbor freight(like 10-20 bucks) and did my entire car with it. You just need to double check your crimps. It worked perfectly with the ron francis connectors and my dads old aeromotive crimps, but the ace hardware crimps were garbage.(Need to redo my dash panel since i don't like these crimps on my car)
 
Graminizer said:
I've done some research on this, and the Ron Francis kits look to the best option out there for us Mopar guys......glad to hear that you had good success with the kit. Which kit did you go with?
Click to expand...
I used the express kit
http://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=XP-68

Yes there are alot of GM connections and gm references or even the ididit steering column, but why complain that its based around gm? I am the only one that should be seeing the wiring behind the dash:violent1:
 
805moparkid said:
i agree if you are a very bad at it and melt solder 1/2" into the wire then yea, but dont do any of the rest either lol...

i solder those connectors, its not hard. kiss of solder and shrink tube and your good to go
Click to expand...

no need to solider anything with a crimp like i posted a picture of. those babies are done right and are not going anywhere.
 
Thanks Joe! you posted a link to that tool once before and this time I didn't mess around I just ordered it and the jaws for doing spark plug wires too! no more messing with the little tool they send with the MSD wires.
 
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