Well, went to the shop to check on my car(it is in to get a painless performance harness installed) and guess what!!??? NOTHING IS DONE!!! IT HAS BEEN THERE A FREAKIN MONTH NOW AND HE JUST NOW IS GETTING TO THE INTERIOR!!! All he has done in a month is the frickin front bulkhead!!! I am sick of this and so im about to take it back. My question is: is the dash and rear really that hard to install? I know some people will say to look at other posts but i have and none mention a 71 chevelle, and i know the earlier dashes are different. Also, i know a lot of people trash talk painless, but i had no other choice. And i have a multimeter and a test light and i took AP Physics so i have a GOOD understanding of transistors, relays, series, parallel, terminals, etc... is this enough knowledge? Thanks

I have a 71 Chevelle and i installed a painless kit in my 18 circuit muscle car harness it not hard to install but im having trouble out of mine currently my alternator is charging 20 volts and im not sure why also every time i cut on my head light my fuses blow i fried my tachometer the first time which i have everything grounded correctly but just cannot get this thing right im currently trying to finish my air condition work and there harness is not made right for the air condioning if you have it & the blower motor relay wiring has me lost currently you might want to take a look at the harness and your car first and look over it but it is simple to install it just getting everything to run right im going to go with a M&H wiring harness now im tired of fighting with painless.

We got an engine harness from M&H for dads 67. It was a perfect drop in.

Putting in a harness is not that hard of a job. But it is time consumming and sometimes you need small hands/arms to reach in out of the way places. Remeber that the harness is just a bunch of simple circuits tied into a bundle. It's routing the bundle to reach everywhere and then making all of the connections. Check, double check and the before you cut, check it one more time. And make sure you have a wiring diagram of the original to reference.

Its not to difficult to pull the old harness and replace it. What is difficult for me is to test each circuit. There is a systematic way to do this (if I could only figure it out!). If I were paying someome to do it, I'd expect them to not only do the installation, but test all the functions and give me a guarantee that they will fix any related issues for me. I guess what I'm saying is, you have to weigh having someone else do it against your piece of mind. Of course and the time you can't enjoy your car.

A basic understanding of electrical circuits is a good start. Whats your comfort level with doing it? Confidence and a willingness to tackle the job can make all the difference in the world. As others have said it's not brain surgery but can be time consuming, tedious work. Another thing is that understanding electrical circuits is one thing, knowing how to troubleshoot them is another. Guys with degrees in electrical engineering don't always make the best troubleshooters and you will most likely need to do some troubleshooting.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it or saying you can't do it. Just be sure you're willing to take the time and ask questions when needed to get the job done right. If so go for it, plenty of people here that are willing to help. If my car needed a new harness I'd do it myself.

rian,
Did the shop give you a completion date ? Is he doing it as "fill in" work, or is this type of work his primary occuation ? Are you getting a good deal ? Installing a wiring harness is not rocket science, but it is lousy, time consuming, laying on your back under the dash, basically hateful type of work. If I was doing it for a customer, I would charge a minimum of $140 per hour. What does the shop say as far as when it will be done and why they are taking thier time ?

swapping dash is the easy part, you can have that thing changed out in like a couple of hours hooking up the a painless harness I couldn't tell you never had to do that before, I just got a harness out of another car and installed it basically plug and play, and if you have any issues somebody here is always willing to help or explain things! Jim

rian,
Did the shop give you a completion date ? Is he doing it as "fill in" work, or is this type of work his primary occuation ? Are you getting a good deal ? Installing a wiring harness is not rocket science, but it is lousy, time consuming, laying on your back under the dash, basically hateful type of work. If I was doing it for a customer, I would charge a minimum of $140 per hour. What does the shop say as far as when it will be done and why they are taking thier time ?


Well, he said oh yea, it will be like 2 weeks, then i go there after two weeks and he said "Yea, i ran into a problem last saturday and needed to talk to you." That is when i lost it the first time and said stuff like why dont you have the sense to call me and tell me and he said he didnt think of that! So we got all that settled and he said another week, i go and check on it, NOTHING HAS BEEN TOUCHED!!! So, then i said, i will give you 300 dollars extra if you can get it to me by nest week(that would be about today or tomorrow, because i have a car show sunday) and so i hadnt heard from him, i went to him today and NOTHING AGAIN WAS TOUCHED!!! So, i said i want my car back now and handed him $200 for installing the front bulkhead/engine bay section. Of course, he didn't believe that i was going to take it because when i had my friend come with me(a MAJOR car buff, wired a few cars in his day) my friend said he and i could do it, so i called the tow-truck company and had it towed to my house!! All the time, the owner of the shop was saying stuff like: "I promise i can have it for you next week!" and "You dont know how to do it!" and (my favorite) "Please, i need the money!!!" LOL, so i leaned out the window and waved goodbye! Yea, i kinda have a problem with making a situation worse!? Oh well, it has actually gotten me some good prices in the past!! Oh, and if i do need help, i'll be sure to come here! You guys rock! Oh, and the reason i dont just have my friend help is because he is going to New Jersey for some personal thing tomorrow and wont be back until September!!! And i go back to school in august! Thanks again!

I have a 71 Chevelle and i installed a painless kit in my 18 circuit muscle car harness it not hard to install but im having trouble out of mine currently my alternator is charging 20 volts and im not sure why also every time i cut on my head light my fuses blow i fried my tachometer the first time which i have everything grounded correctly but just cannot get this thing right im currently trying to finish my air condition work and there harness is not made right for the air condioning if you have it & the blower motor relay wiring has me lost currently you might want to take a look at the harness and your car first and look over it but it is simple to install it just getting everything to run right im going to go with a M&H wiring harness now im tired of fighting with painless.

Just wanted to be the first to quote the LONGEST sentence ever.

I rewired my whole car by myself, and I know very little to nothing about wiring. Although a wiring diagram can be kind of hard to read, it is helpful. It is easy to hook everything under the dash up, since usually each plug can only be connected to one thing.

I rewired my whole car by myself, and I know very little to nothing about wiring.

Yeah but you're a midget :D

Yeah but you're a midget :D

Right, but I'm 6' tall, thats why I'm a huge midget! :D

if you pull the seat out, it makes it real comfortable to work under the dash.
david

Ok, so i started working on it today and i dont see what i was worried about!! There are only like 15 connections on the dash. Oh, and the seat and dash are out, i'm kinda big, 6'4" and i've been lifting weights since i was 13 so yea. LOL, anyway, i had a question, i've got most of the big connectors hooked up(turn signals etc...) but on the end of the steering column is the half moon thing and i dont know what connector it is!? I think it may be this one:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/8784b5e9.jpg

Is that it? If not, does someone have a pic or good description of it? Thanks alot and i think this will be a lot easier than i thought! Thanks again!

Nevermind, sorry, i found out that connector goes the headlight switch. What goes to the half moon? Thanks

The "half moon" is the column connector. It contains the turn signals, horn and possibly ignition.

The "half moon" is the column connector. It contains the turn signals, horn and possibly ignition.

Either that or the neutral safety switch down near the floor.

Either that or the neutral safety switch down near the floor.


YEA THATS IT! Sorry, i found out earlier because i had the ign hooked up, and the turn so that is the only one left on the column. Plus, it is right at the end, by the floor. There are four spades. I guess there isn't one connector for them all so can someone tell me which is which?

Here are the spades from bottom looking up at them (clearest pic i could get):
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/0957c114.jpg


And here is the spades from further back:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/ccd36634.jpg



Once again, i can't thank you guys enough!!! Oh wait, there is one other thing, there is a blue and black(the reason i dont say blue/black is because one wire is blue and the other is black but they are binded together, like speaker wire is) that goes to the back of the car on the pass side. It has a female conector on the end with two spades. Do you have any idea what this might be? It seems to go under and back behind the air/heater in the front of the interior/dash. LOL, sorry for my descriptions, oh, and this car has ac.
I can't believe i'm actually getting through this! Actually, the hardest part is the guy has extra wires because he had an amp and stereo and the wires look like stock ones so it is hard to tell the difference! Thanks again!

Ok, update(sorry for all the questions! How embarassing!) the question above, about the half moon still remains. I found out that the blue and black wire described was a factory speaker wire. I have a new problem, i ran all the wires to the back and have more to look at back there and now i'm starting the dash, that is when my question comes in, i am starting the warning/dash lights(like where they say gen, hot, right arrow, etc...) and i am looking at the bar of lights that clip into it and they all have two wires(which makes sense seeing as how they ARE lights, duh me, i expected something else!!??) but the painless wiring has single wires. What do i do? LOL. Thanks
Ryan

the connector on the right, the two flat side by side should get a pink and green for the back up lights, and the two flat on top of each other is for the neutral safety it get purplr and purple and white, Jim

THANK YOU!!! LOL, ok, i have those hooked up now, next are those dash lights. I forgot to mention i have the malibu dash, sorry bout that. What i'm thinking is: i need to run a wire to each one to a ground, is that right? Thanks again guys!

Uh, hi, yep, back again!? Well, i was thinking about that half moon thing being hooked up. I found the two connectors in the old harnes and reused them. However, does anyone know which terminal the pink and which terminal the green goes to? And which terminal the purple and purple/white goes to. The painless kit doesn't keep the exact factory color code so all i need to know is whick individual one goes to which terminal and then where it goes from there. LOL, is that confusing, here:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/rianbechtold/DCP_0021arrowed.jpg

For example: (lol, this may or may not be right)
1. Purple- starter solenoid
etc...

The reason i need the place where it is going to is because the painless kit has written on the wires where they go so if i can use that, then i dont have to rely on colr. Thanks again! And sorry for all the questions but i only want to do this once! LOL

Can't remember which wire goes on which terminal and both my Chevelles have the neutral safety switch in the console.
If I needed to connect a neutral safety switch and didn't know I would check out the continuity with a meter or test light while the shifter is in neutral, park and reverse.

Maybe one of these diagrams will help if someone else don't jump in and say which is which.

http://www.elcaminocentral.com/article114.html&mode=&order=0&thold=0

Ok, update!!! I figured out the half moon finally!! (Trial and error!!) Now, i still don't understand the dash lights. So that is left on my to do list. Oh, and also, the turn signal connector(with the d-p letters raised on it) the one in the painless does not have the two wires on the end (pink/black, and black) what are these and do i need them? I know i've said it every post but thanks for the help!
Ryan

bump