My wiring is nasty and old, im thinking of buying a painless wiring harness but wanted to see if it really is painless. Any tips or suggestions.

NNNOOOOO painless was the biggest pain in the ass ..wouldnt recommend it

Painless can be painful.
It's an excellent product, but it's made for street rods with scrath built electrical system.
For an oem style system in an older car, M&H or American Autowire will be lots easier.
AA will happily do custom mods like HEI, tach, or one wire or internal reg alternator hookups.

I just saw somewhere that M&H or American Autowire is doing the OEM style wiring with the newer fusebox. It would make sense since I just put one in with the glass fuses! I've used both mfgs. and with both the fit was excellent. Mounting clips were where they should be and wire didn't tug anywhere. The guy at American Autowire was most helpful when I called asking for factory type connectors. Had them the next day.

Ummm, if you know how to wire and want to add accesories, i'd go with the painless. It gives you a chance to clean up the wiring, adds more circuits, uses newr style fuses, etc... I'd recommend using it if originality is not your purpose.

72 Chevelle... I'm slowly rewiring my rats nest in a 66 SS. Tonight I just replaced the wire harness in the console for the clock/light/courtesy light. The part is identical to what I'm replacing...colors, clips, connectors...down to the the plastic anchors that fit existing holes. I'm using the Autowire products and recommend them unless you're going to pull the car apart. The Painless system looks like a frame off wiring job. Plus, I'm trying to keep it as original as possible...

If you decide to go with Painless (if want to do extensive mods and are doing a near frame off resto.) then make sure you save all the connector ends from your old harness. I installed their Muscle Car harness, and while it had a modern fuseblock and loads of well labled extra circuits and wire runs, it came with VERY few correct conector ends. You'll need a good supply of crimp-on spade connetors and crimp tool, and just about everything pops back into the original connector housings. I'm real happy with my install, but I would NOT suggest it for anyone who not confortable with wire assembly and testing.
-Bill

Adding more crimp on connections just adds to more electrical issues down the road. I like the idea of a stock replacement harness with an updated fuseblock and extra circiuts for added gages, etc.

Is there a place to buy all the factory plugs? I am going AA or GM 21. To rewire a 70 frame off vert.

I used the Painless 18 circuit with GM switch plug. It was perfect for my application. I used their gauge harness in my custom dash so it just plugs in when you put the dash back in. If you are adding lots of modern electrical stuff and want to customize the look of your wiring, use Painless. When you add electrical fans, ignition box, power windows or high-output alt, you need to add a beefier circuit with relay and/or fuse protection. If you are going to use a "front drive" kit, that will relocate the alt and compressor. Aftermarket A/C eliminates most of the stock wiring in favor of it's self-contained wiring. Changing from column to floor shift moves some circuits too. All these would have to be spliced into a stock-type harness and it could get messy real fast. I found the Painless product to be very easy to use for my purpose. All my splices and terminals are soldered and shrink-tubed and the extra-long wire they use let me route the harness where I wanted it. Their directions are well written and the labeled wires are very easy to sort out. It really depends on what your need is and what your skill-level is.

Painless makes nice wiring kits, BUT, they are not easy to install.

- If you want a modern fuse block with ALL the accessories pre-wired, they are good.

- If you are good at working with wires, they are good.

- If you want original, they are bad.

- If you don't know much about wiring, they are bad.

Hope this helps :D

My wiring is nasty and old, im thinking of buying a painless wiring harness but wanted to see if it really is painless. Any tips or suggestions.
That statement makes me think that you aren't all that familiar with wiring a car...frankly few of us are. Think first about what it actually is that you're trying to accomplish. If you're just trying to replace your old brittle wiring for safety and reliability then make it easy on yourself and replace the stock harness with a NEW stock harness that looks, attaches and performs just like the one you are replacing (without the burning, breaking, & sparking). If you're building a custom rod...all bets are off and modifying a OEM style harness would be more difficult and a waste of time... Painless would probably be best for that type of project.

I used M & H on my Camaro and everything was perfect. The guy was really helpful and told me how to hook up my stock style new engine harness to accommodate an HEI and Internal regulator Alternator. They'll build the harnesses to suit your preferences but I wanted to be able to go back to original with my camaro for possible resale purposes.

I expect I'll do M & H when I go through my el Camino, but it seems worth looking at AA as well. When I do the EC, I'm gonna go ahead and have the harnesses built for HEI & internal regulator and see if they handle anything special for nicer stereos with CD changers. I'm interested...what are the advantages of the "new" style fuse block, over the "glass" fuses? I might go that route as well.

Good luck whatever way you go. ;)

As for the fuses just clean new and easier to find. I have used painless on rods, just never a simi-stocish car. But I can't afford to buy all the factory oem wiring. In the mags there are about 10 different ones needed. If AA or M&H can get it all in one wack. That is the route I am taking. It would help if I had all the light plugs.

i've got the painless preterminated fuseblock. just took a couple of rolls of 12 guage to hook up the entire car. no problems. oh wait, I'm an electrician. nevermind