Which harness

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deman360

deman360

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Thinking of replacing the wiring harness in my 1972 Demon. Wondering if I should use Painless, American Auto Wire, or Ron Francis. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this? Also replacing steering column and dash with a digital dash. Any suggestions on those also.
 
Painless, EZ, AREN'T!

only a OEM reproduction will be "easy"

And at that you might still need to make or get a good used special harness for thinks that are not typical
 
I've rewired two cars with AAW kits, one A and one B body. The wire they use is nice quality (TXL) but the rest of it kinda sucks. All their kits are based off GM wiring components and 'made to work' in other makes. To be honest, the '68-'70 B body one was way better than the A body one. I had done the B first so I figured the A would be the same but it was totally different and not for the better.

First, I trashed their fuse box which if I had to guess was sourced from an '80s GM product. It's this unwieldy two-piece thing that takes up way more room than it should. Everything in it is permanently bussed together which I can't stand. It also hangs off the back of the bulkhead right next to the heater box so forget about ever trying to get at anything in there. I don't know how anyone in their 'engineering' dept. would think that design was OK for an A body Chrysler product because it wasn't.

The main issue with the AAW A harness is that it covers everything from '67-up so you end up with a bunch of extra wire. The ignition key position changed in 1970 to the column rather than the dash but no matter, they stuck both styles in there. Unless you're willing to unpin/cut/splice the extra ignition harness you'll have a bunch of wire just sitting there taking up space. Same with the backup lamps/NSS wiring and whatever else changed between those years. Every circuit variation for all years is there whether you want it or not.

Some people might like the fact that they give you harnesses for accesory stuff like power windows and seats but again, most of the time it's just extra wire creating clutter. I don't know of any A bodies that normally had those options anyway so in my estimation they should offer it as an add on rather than a standard item. Leave those gee gaws for the street rod crowd.

If I had to make the choice again I would not buy the same kit. I'd probably just make a new one myself since that's essentially what I ended up doing after taking theirs apart to make it work the way I wanted. I think I ended up using about a third of what was provided and most of it was just the wire.

Live and learn.
 
I'll be installing AAW classic update harnesses in our 69 Barracuda Fastback.
It's still in the box. I'll come back and update when finished.
 
rmchrgr said:
I've rewired two cars with AAW kits, one A and one B body. The wire they use is nice quality (TXL) but the rest of it kinda sucks. All their kits are based off GM wiring components and 'made to work' in other makes. To be honest, the '68-'70 B body one was way better than the A body one. I had done the B first so I figured the A would be the same but it was totally different and not for the better.

First, I trashed their fuse box which if I had to guess was sourced from an '80s GM product. It's this unwieldy two-piece thing that takes up way more room than it should. Everything in it is permanently bussed together which I can't stand. It also hangs off the back of the bulkhead right next to the heater box so forget about ever trying to get at anything in there. I don't know how anyone in their 'engineering' dept. would think that design was OK for an A body Chrysler product because it wasn't.

The main issue with the AAW A harness is that it covers everything from '67-up so you end up with a bunch of extra wire. The ignition key position changed in 1970 to the column rather than the dash but no matter, they stuck both styles in there. Unless you're willing to unpin/cut/splice the extra ignition harness you'll have a bunch of wire just sitting there taking up space. Same with the backup lamps/NSS wiring and whatever else changed between those years. Every circuit variation for all years is there whether you want it or not.

Some people might like the fact that they give you harnesses for accesory stuff like power windows and seats but again, most of the time it's just extra wire creating clutter. I don't know of any A bodies that normally had those options anyway so in my estimation they should offer it as an add on rather than a standard item. Leave those gee gaws for the street rod crowd.

If I had to make the choice again I would not buy the same kit. I'd probably just make a new one myself since that's essentially what I ended up doing after taking theirs apart to make it work the way I wanted. I think I ended up using about a third of what was provided and most of it was just the wire.

Live and learn.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your in depth response of American Autowire. I will consider other harnesses. I just don’t want to p___ away hard earned cash.
 
Dana67Dart said:
Painless, EZ, AREN'T!

only a OEM reproduction will be "easy"

And at that you might still need to make or get a good used special harness for thinks that are not typical
Click to expand...
Painless was on the bottom of my list. I will consider other harnesses just want to one that’s easy to install and will work easily with a digital dash and aftermarket steering column.
 
deman360 said:
Painless was on the bottom of my list. I will consider other harnesses just want to one that’s easy to install and will work easily with a digital dash and aftermarket steering column.
Click to expand...
That might limit your options. I'd figure out the connections on those two things first then look at harnesses. If you have an aftermarket column it likely has GM connectors which would actually work seamlessly with the AAW harness. The digital dash is probably LED lit so that may require a lighting inverter that you will have to figure out how to connect to to whatever harness you buy. Anything digital is not going to just plug and play with an OE derived harness whether it's based on a GM design or not.

I should clarify my previous post a little bit. I don't fall into the 'typical installation' category. I have pretty specific ideas about how I want/need things and have no problem altering stuff to make it work the way I want. Most people who buy these kits want them for convenience though so if that's what you're after and you're not planning on changing things, the AAW kit may work fine. I don't know anything about the Painless one but my guess is it's similar. Frankly, I don't know anyone else who would pay that much for a harness and then cut it up like I did. Like I said, I probably should have bought a bunch of bulk wire and connectors and made my own harness. Would have saved me a lot of headaches and money.

Just be aware of the things I mentioned before you pull the trigger. There's other options out there but they will probably be much more generic which may not be what you want either.
 
I did not install it but a friend did my car with AAW and he said it was a nice kit. He restores Mopars and other classics as a business.
 
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