Those of you that have wired your hot rod,whose kit did you use and how did it work? I have a fiberglass model A and I am rebuilding it? I need some recommendation. Thank you
I've used painless for my first,ez-wire for my second. I preferred the painless and their instructions. Both were in steel vehicles. In glass, make sure you run good grounds
My choice is Ron Francis. I like his design, where wires are routed to the fuse panel vs from. RF offers more accessories and information, along with several panel kits. One more item I would recommend for a glass body is their ground wire kits that I also use on steel bodies. No, not cheap, just very high quality with great customer support!
On Model A's, I just wire it up myself. Like upspirate said, "make sure you run good grounds". My last couple of builds I just rewired them without a kit. The last kit that I used was on my '46, it was a Rebel Wire, Inc. kit. I will use them again, the next time I use a kit. Quality stuff, good helpful people plus they are an Alliance Vendor!
Rebel Wire, Alliance vendor. Great customer service. Im no pro, and I'm about to install my 4th kit from them
I have used several Enos Black Boxes. They are gone but someone else is making the black box. I think they are an excellent board. Use google if no one else posts it. I have used Rebel kits just for the good quality wire, but not used their fuse holders which are pretty generic. The Rebel kits would not at all be a bad choice.
I have a Ron Francis kit in my Wescots '32. As others have pointed out, with a glass car grounding is an issue, ground everything!!
I start with 3 of these, one up front for lights, horns, Fans (heavenforbid), etc. Another under the dash for the gauges and accessories and finally one in back for tail lights, fuel tank sender, intank pump, reverse lights, plate marker, etc. They come with a plastic cover to make them somewhat weathertight. Run a #4 or larger to a good frame ground to the big lug on either side. I do this for steel cars, I would definitely do it for a glass car. Then design the stating/charging circuit through a disconnect switch, a 150 amp breaker and a ford style solenoid. Fuse panel use depends on the car you built. If you have a ton of relays (PW, fuel pump, Seat Heaters, Fans, Lights, etc) I'd go with Coach Controls.
You want service after the sale? Go with Rebel Wire look how much they have helped out here on the H.A.M.B.,this is HUGE and they are always as close as a phone call. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/rebel-wire-harness-diagrams-and-wiring-info.1120201/
Another Rebel Wire fan here. I bought mine "second hand" from BlueOne and they were still super helpful with answering my questions.
American autowire, you don't need support on the hamb, directions are crystal clear, and the kit is complete. Don't need anything else, its all in the box.
3 cars done with Rebel and I didn't have any questions to ask. But I did buy some cloth covered wire to make my own for the '28.
I will bet their directions aren't crystal clear for things like wiring an ignition with a push starter. There are always things that can come up that might need answering and having someone actually answer the phone when you call and walk you though it is priceless.
I've used painless in the past and was happy with the kit and the result. Rebel looks good (I've never used one) and the support certainly seems to be there. I'd use one. I'm wiring a 50 Ford right now from scratch, which I've done before but I wouldn't recommend doing that without some experience behind you. As stated above, in a 'glass car grounding is mega important, almost like a separate wiring system in itself.
Hard to beat Painless and EZ for quality, price, overall value. Both assume a level of knowledge about wiring theory, not super detailed cook book instructions but not too bad even for a novice. Main advice I can give for any wiring job is pay close attention to grounding, 'glas or steel. Grounding problems are 99% of what you run into.
Buy a name brand kit. The ebay none brand is very hard to read the wire identifying name. Unless it's printed on a white or light color wire it's very hard to read. I wired my neighbors pick up with a wire harness (non branded) it was a bitch
I used a Kwik Wire kit for my 49. Great instructions and everything worked first try. They have a harness with a ground kit just for fiberglass cars.
Made my own...based on a '70's Harley bagger wiring schematic... and many of the components, Bosch relays, circuit breakers and connectors.
I used an American Autowire. Went with the most accessories possible. Great kit, no issues, but total over kill for a basic deuce coupe. We considered doing it from scratch, but as I am a farmer, living out of town, I didn’t want to be making multiple trips to town for something I missed. By buying a kit Everything is there, no wasted time.
We actually did this, worked it out for ourselves ! Plus tail lights which are different here as indicators must be separate from tail lights. I guess a lot depends on you individual level of capability. I’ve heard of a guy who was an regular electrician, but wouldn’t touch the wiring on his own car . My son wanted to be an auto electrician as a teenager, never pursued it, yet wired most of my car with the kit.
Rebel is currently helping me with a custom project and I have not bought anything from them yet, but I’m going to. Customer service is alive and well at Rebel.
As an old electrician friend advised me; do one wire at a time and then test to make sure it is working . Most all the kits mentioned previously are good and I have used Ron Francis, Painless, Speedway, and EZ Wire but I plan to try the Rebel Kit on the next one. The last one was a Painless panel I purchased second hand without any wire. I called Painless to see if I could purchase the wire only but was told they couldn't sell it to me without a panel. However they did send me the instructions for the panel I had and I then used their color coding/wire guage to buy the wire from an on-line supply house. Wouldn't recommend that for the first timer though. As stated previously: GROUNDS ARE CRITICAL.
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