I got your basic street/strip '55... and I need a wire harness for it. I've installed sveral Painless kits... but they have too many "options" and their "modular" kit scares me. Is there someone that has an 8 circuit unit? The main thing is that I have turn signals... brake lights, headlights and running lights... oh, and ignition. The rest, like the fuel pump, fan... will be wired separately. Thanks for the help. Sam.
Check out the ARC (Auto Rod Controls) panel. It has turn signals, headlights, starter, fuel pump, ect. I bought mine from Jegs a couple of years ago for my 40 Willys Sedan. It' s small enough to put in your glove box on a 55 Chevy or they make mounts to put them overhead on a roll bar. I've also used the Ron Francis Bare bones kit in my 32 Ford five-window. I like it, but it may be more entailed than you need for a street/strip car. Good Luck!!! , and post some pics of your installation when you get it wired up.
I put an E Z wiring harness in ny 55 Cad and now I am doing their mini fuse box in a friends 67 Mustang. The mini version he got for $130
I installed an American AutoWire kit in my '57, and absolutely loved it. It does have a lot of options though--power seats, windows, etc etc etc. I just eliminated those wires, so it was no big deal. It has a circuit for the electric fuel pump and electric fans though, and I'll end up using those. It might also be worth your while to install a Newport Engineering electric wiper motor. They've very small and compact, and with a coat of paint they look the part. (I'm building a '57 Gasser wagon, so you and I are going for the same look). I liked the following about the kit: Very complete--all fittings, etc. included excellent, detailed instructions And perhaps best of all, the wires are all silk-screened with what they are for, the entire length of the wire, so it almost falls together. Run the wires where they need to go, read what they are and hook up. The kit was fairly affordable, too. Was very, very happy, and (obviously) recommend them. -Brad
I used a haywire pro t kit. It was like 110 bucks, 8 circuits. all the wire was labeled every 3 inches. it is the only one i have ever used butt i liked it.
I've used Haywire in the past myself. Very good kit. Goes in easy. Gm color coded, labeled all the length of the wire. jerry
how about the Painless 8 circuit "t bucket " harness ? Did one in a old falcon, bare bones ride, and it worked great.
Don't buy the ones on ebay.... i bought a 21 circuit off ebay and all the clips for the column are really cheap and break easily. Another vote for Centech.
Ditto on the EGAY ones have had bad luck with one I bought and no warranty or recourse once the bucks are gone had to rework part of it faulty workmanship
I haven't used their wiring harnesses,but RF was pretty helpful when I was trying to utilize their Brite Bulbs in a Pontiac sequential tailight unit. Might be who you get when or when you get them?
Another vote here for American Autowire....their fuse block is so easy to wire and you have the freedom to hook everything up as you like. I don't care for the "pre-terminated" type fuse blocks. The last two cars we built with American Autowire and the next ones will be the same.
sam, here's a bit that C9 put up a couple of years ago that i really like for an application like yours. in a race car you could put these right into the dash with a label under each one. C9 Old Skool HAMBer Reged: 03/03/01 Posts: 4634 Loc: Kingman, Arizona Re: more wiring questions [Re: Dan] #307369 - 02/17/04 09:28 AM Attachment (4 downloads) Edit Reply Quote I looked for terminal blocks that incorporate a fuse, but found none when I wired the 32. What worked well were terminal blocks mounted to 1/4" aluminum plates - the alum for a good ground - bolted to stand offs on the floor under the seat. Fuses were taken care of in a couple of ways. Twenty of them are panel fuse holders as shown in the pic below. The only disadvantage I've found to using these in the seat pan is one time my granddaughter - about five at the time - kicked her foot back and unscrewed the stoplight fuse. Other than that, no problems and access is easy. Fuse wire is used for some of the main run stuff. Since the 32's body is a Wescott you need a good ground. That was accomplished by drilling and tapping the 1/4" aluminum plates 10-32 in several places at the end and running dedicated ground wires from the electrical device - lights, fuel pump etc. - to the grounded aluminum plate. The aluminum plate also carries the ground cable from battery to block. The ground cable is bolted to the frame in several locations as well. The engine block is grounded to the frame also. Makes for a good starting car. There are a few heavier duty fuses in a single as well as triple fuse holder under the seat, but that's it. No commercial wiring block required. Reason for so many panel fuses is that each electrical device in the car has it's own fuse. Left low beam, left high beam, left stop, left tail etc. If - haven't yet - I have a problem, trouble shooting will be easy. Nice part about the individual fusing is if you short one wire or device in the lighting circuits, you don't lose every light in the car. -------------------- C9
i used a Saint Kwik Wire harness.They have any size and combination you want.Individual parts all the way to 24 circuit harnesses. (920)-921-2637 www.kwikwire.com good prices and great people.Also a big sponsor for the Pig-n-piston car show.worth checking out. Dan
I installed this same kit in my 55 same. does a good job. The nice thing is the extra power stuff you don't have to plug into the fuse box if you don't want to. all the harneses are separate theres an engine harnesss a front light harness a dash harness . you wire em up and the ryun back and plug into the fuse block. I believe they have a generic 8 and 12 circuit kit as well. Their customer service from my experience is excellent as well.
For a simple car like what you're talking about (or a roadster), I would seriously consider one of these itty bitty panels from Waytek. Item #46073 is this 10-fuse version, but they have 4, 6, & 8- fuse versions. This is assuming you're comfortable wiring a car from scratch. Otherwise, I would consider the American Autowire deal for a more complicated car. I've installed EZW, Painless, RF, and Haywire. Each has good & bad, and I have been a fan of EZW until the last couple years... seems a growing # of people are having quality issues, but I've been lucky enough to avoid them.
I really like the ones from ENOS. They have a nice, simple cover and all of the wires come out on one side. Not like a gangly spider like others. Also, the wires are not pre-attached like some of them come. That make it MUCH easier to install.
Two votes for american auto wire. I put on in my 30 tudor. Great diagrams, cables are heavy gauge, color coded. You will not be disapointed. This was the first wiring harness I installed and the diagrams made the job duable. I help with a painless kit in a 64 ss. I did not like the quality in a painless kit and the diagrams are not that great. Best part Ameican Auot wire kits come with every thing. Conections, zip ties, odds and ends. I bought mine at pomona....I liked it so much I would do a commerical for 50% off my normal asking price.
I used a stock replacement harness from Danchuk with a single wire alternator option. I then added to it for an MSD box and extra gauges.
Springfield Street Rods sells this for $60.00 I used it and it was easy to use for small applications without alot of circuits.
I used a Kwik Wire I bought from Enjenjo on here. I'm not totally finished with it but it went in super easy and everything is great quality. My Father-in-Law who wires up off shore buoys for research and stuff was impressed by the quality as well and he's very picky. Price was great also.
Simple suggestion. I re-wired my '54 Chevy truck with a kit from the old Chevy Duty (now Classic Parts or somethinglike that). It's for a '50's Chevy truck but can be used for anything requiring a simple harness. I added an 8-circut fuse box ($12) later. I'm using the same kit for my roadster and it evens come with a cool vintage looking wire cover to boot. Cost? It's a little pricy, $95.00. I had my truck wired in an afternoon. the only bug I ran into was when I crossed the tail light and rear brake wires... It was the first time I ever completely wired a car from scratch. r
Sam, American Autowire kit. From 5 different people I respected, 2 of which are pro builders, and the other 3 are educated hacks, all recommended their kit. I bought one for my rpu, and have to agree that they are great. Note: they do cost alot more (upfront) than some of the other kits availible, but they have all the switches, are well thought out, userfriendly, and you get what you need. If you 'newbies' did a search you'd have seen alot of threads coming to the same conclusion Cheers, Drewfus
afoordable street rods in great bend has a nice one and it is cheap i have installed a couple of these and really them they are easy and gm coded and rich the guy that owns the place will help tou if you need it great value
My Last 3 cars have had a Saint Kwik wire In them same as Scallop 53 Great people and tech support..... My starter switch went out a show they were at, the sold me a new one (a lot nicer switch) and lent me the tools to put it in ....that saved my day you don't forget that stuff ....Louver Dude
If your looking for just basic Racecar stuff, no frills, i used a Haywire PRO T in my modified. It worked pretty well. a friends shop sells american Autowire, and i will be buuyiung one of those for my 56 chevy 2door wagon. i reccomend either, just depending on what options your wanting.
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