Hello all, it's been awhile since I've been on here but glad to see all the info's still flowing. I was wondering if anyone has bought an interior wiring harness from one of the restoration companies like year one or npd that sell specific fits and also if anyone has bought the Summit racing general harness. Mine is for a 66 SS, with gauges. Not all work but I'd like to have the right harness for when I get it all put together. What I was wondering is how much were the harnesses and how did they fit. Mine is the usual spaghetti mess and after weeks of trying to sort it out and halfways try to clean it up, some of the wires have broken and it's still not much better. Figuring just buying 1 would be just as easy, though not as cheap. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Get one from M&H fabricators; www.wiringharness.com its plug and play.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out and see what they have.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out and see what they have.

hi
try, www.americanautowire.com (http://www.americanautowire.com), bought from them a complete wiring kit for my 55 chevy.
good luck

Another vote for American Autowire. We have used AA harnesses in all out restorations for 15 years. They build all their hernesses from original GM blueprints, and own much orginal tooling. And best of all you can save money at GPSuperStore.com on American Autowire.

When you check out American Autowire, look for "Factory Fit". This is their division dealing with OEM-correct restoration harnesses. They also have most of the terminals, connector bodies, and stuff for repairing your existing harnesses.

There are some times when you really need to just rebuild rather than replace. For example I just finished overhauling the rear body harness on my '68 El Camino. In the process I added updated backup light connections, an electric fuel pump supply, and a trailer light socket. All setup almost like factory with loom and harness wrap. And a lot cheaper than $115 for a replacement.

Nonetheless both Factory Fit and M&H will do common customizations up front for stuff like HEI distributors and internally regulated alternators.

vroom, did you just start from scratch and rebuild it using wire bought from auto stores or did you add on to one you recently bought? I read an article in Car Craft about the Painless wiring set-up, but it said they basically re-wired the whole car, according to the diagrams. I have the original wiring diagrams, but it seems like trouble to re-wire the whole car. But in the near future I plan on adding an MSD and possibly an electric fuel pump. Are these easily added on to the American Autowire "factory fit" harnesses? I checked through GP Superstore and they can get me one for cheaper than anyone I've found. Thanks for the advice.

I started out with my original harness.

One technique you *WILL* need to learn/use when overhauling an original harness it the wire splice. You will no doubt find any number of wires cut and spliced, perhaps just twisted together, and wrapped with "electrical" tape.

First unwrap and trash can all the tape and bogus little splicing connectors and wire nuts you find.

Next cut the twisted and mangled ends off of the wires.

Strip off about 1/2" of insulation from each wire. If the wire inside is not copper collored, gently scrape it with a knife until the copper is exposed. Just scrape though do not nick or cut.

Now you will need a 6" or so piece of scrap wire. Strip most of the insulation an inch or so at a time until there is only about one inch left on it. This will give you access to the individual strands of wire.

You will also need some quality heat shrink tubing. Not the stuff Radio Shack sells, it is too thin. Bonus points if you get the heat shrink with sealing glue on the inside :thumbsup: Cut yourself a 2" or so length of heat shrink for each splice and put it on the wire(s) on one side of the splice.

Now this is a bit tricky... but hold the wires together so the stripped portions overlap. While holding them wrap them with a strand of the copper wire in a nice neat binding wrap. Done well this will start holding the wires pretty well after 3-4 wraps but continue until the whole splice is wrapped or you use up all the wire strand.

Pull out the soldering iron and solder up the splice.

Finish by centering the heat shrink over the splice and shrinking to fit.

This will make it pretty much as good as new even if it is just a bit shorter. In most cases there is enough slack in the wires that you will not have a problem, or at least I have not found a problem myself with "too short".

If you want to make it all really pretty you can buy some wire loom and stuff all the wires into the loom and/or wrap the wires with NON-adhesive vinyl "harness tape". American Autowire sells the right stuff in the Factory Fit catalog, it is at the end of each model section.

I did buy a bunch of wire from the auto store in different sizes and colors that I used for customizations I was making. I tried to match up to the factory color scheme.

I am in the process of adding an electric fuel pump to my '68 El Camino. I have found that there is an unused hole in the connector bodies all the way from the dash back to the rear light harness. So I am adding my fuel pump power wire into the factory harness. I think this will be very trick :thumbsup:

For the MSD, you can get the engine harness modified by American Autowire. They will list it as an "HEI" modification, but it should take care of you.

I personally believe that "electrical" tape should be banned more strictly than freon. Over time the adhesive