Projects Best bang for your buck wiring kit.

vote for making my own. not that much to it.

 

When I bought the harness for my convertible I was at the Street Rod Nationals and looked at all the vendors harnesses. I picked Ron Francis and have never regretted that choice. I bought a harness from them fir the 42 Chevy that I am building for my daughter too.

 

Everyone has their favorite. I’m a happy Painless customer. Will buy from them again.


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I would buy an inexpensive kit with good wires and use my own fuse blocks. One for circuits on all the time and the other for circuits on with the key. Relays on all the old switches and high energy circuits ie. headlights.

 

Coach Controls for me and mine.
http://www.coachcontrols.com/
I used their 23 circuit product on the roadster and my truck which will not be so elaborate, will get their 18 circuit panel. Every relay installed, simple wiring. Finest product I have ever used and the most expensive. I don't save money on wiring, steering, brakes and fuel delivery...or anything else my wife says.

 

So, about every company has been used one or more times and everyone is happy. Who used a harness kit they WEREN'T happy with?

 

I also build my own, then I can phone myself for tech support and complain about myself not helping myself! Then I generally send a nasty email to myself because I couldn’t understand the instructions I sent myself! In all seriousness in my Fargo I started with a fuse box from a car and built my own harness, even uses glass fuses! How’s that for traditional!


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Wired mine from scratch. No complaints.

Ben

 

Rebel wiring for me too..

 

if you can afford American ....excellent .

 

I used painless first and ez second.....if I do another, I'll go back to painless. Instructions were much better I thought.

 

In the past I've always used a fusebox/harness from a 70s GM car. Became very acquainted with the GM color codes....super simple. The local hotrod shoppe sold me a left over E-Z wire, 21 circuit setup for my 34 for $150. Couldn't pass it up. I suppose it'd be fine for a car with all GM switches with a small block chevy/automatic but I changed everything to the way I wanted it. I'd prolly been better off scratch wiring with a 7 or 8 circuit fuse panel.

 

The last one I did I used a Painless kit and I was very happy with it. I've wired from scratch before and I'm sure I will again, but that option isn't for everybody. There are a lot of good kits out there and the responses above would indicate a lot of happy users regardless of the brand used.

 

deucemac....I do exactly the thing ..... get the whole loom for $20 and there is more wire than you need all color coded with relays and circuit breakers ect ect.....

 

Use any of them you want , But paint under the dash white. You will be so happy to be able to see what you are working on

 

My Kwik Wire was $265 for a 14-circuit 2nd Generation GM harness and they threw in Ford column plugs since I have a Ford. It came with almost anything I needed but I opted to replace most light sockets that I got locally or online (The Wiring Depot). I needed some odd extra wire too and of course splices, lugs, shrink sleeve, etc.

 

It's great to hear there are so many good choices to support our hobby. We've come a long way in the last 30 years!

Phil

 

I'm a little surprised at only one vote so far for Speedway. I just wired my 3rd car in a row with their cheapest (12 circuit) kit for ~$145. The cars were a '29 Ford A CCPU, a '30 Ford A Coupe highboy, and a '40 Ford Tudor. No problems, and I still had a couple of circuits I didn't even need. Like the expensive kits, the wires are clearly marked all the way, and that resolves the biggest challenge of wiring a car IMO.
I guess I should also mention I'm a cheap old bastard. I will spend many hours of research to avoid paying any more money than I need to for a product that does the job. Speedway has met my requirements for many different parts over the years, at fair prices.

 

bought a cheapo fuzebox / harness, poor quality, cut it out and gave it to a buddy...
I prefer to use a non conductive panel about 6" x 8"...
I attach 3 neutral blocks, [hot, acc, and on]…
also a flasher, ballast resistor, circuit breaker, horn relay, voltage regulator if needed...
then run 1 wire at a time to where they go, # both ends, use the adhesive #s an electrition uses…
print up a diagram... I only found 13 different colors at local parts stores...
this way I can use my 70's seatbelt buzzer to test each wire if needed...
…. I recommend if you buy, buy one that uses a panel not just a fusebox with a bundle of wires coming out the back...
my $0.02.

 

I've had good luck with the Speedway Motors $129.00 wiring kit it has all you need.

 

Which kits use the best quality wire?

 

Which did you like best?



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Coach Controls is the ONLY company to ever print a wiring diagram I can follow.


Bob

 

Another vote for Speedway here. I bought the 25 {or was it 27?} circuit kit for my car knowing I would have power windows, electric wipers, and AC later on and some kind of stereo system also. It came with a good instruction booklet, a color coded "map", GM plugs and a headlight switch. I have more circuits than I need, but if I want to add something later on I have room. I wouldn't doubt the wiring is the same as used by other companies, it's labeled and color coded and sized according to it's purpose.

I used a Painless kit on an OT VW Bug once, it was far from painless! It was supposed to be a factory copy, it wasn't, it was about 2' too short to reach the back of the car, didn't have turn signal wiring, and was too bulky to run in the factory location over the door and back down the C pillar. I ended up running it down by the tunnel under the carpet. Poor instruction sheet, too. Couldn't return it because I had bought it a good while before I actually needed it, so I had to make it work. Gave me a sour feeling towards Painless...

 

Rebel all the way, especially considering "bang for the buck" as stated. The same in Painless was 3X the $$$. Have one in my 39 and I'd do it again without hestitation. Had a turn signal challenge, instant support and they were spot on.

 

Painless kits are good but pricey, the Speedway kit was just as easy at the Painless for me and cost less. For my current project I'm going with the DIY kit (wire, terminals, asphalt loom, etc. from RI wire).

 

I've had good luck with the speedway harness also.