how lond did it take to wire your first hot rod?

how long did it take you to wire your first hot rod? seems like it is taking for ever its my first time,I seem to keep going back over everything I have done it has been a slow process but I want to make it as clean as I can and right

 

Thought about it for a month and then did it in six hours.....

 

I wired my first hot rod about 6-7 years ago and used a Qwik-Wire harness. Took me about 3 days working about 3-4 hours a day. I went slow and took my time. Amazingly everthing worked fine! alex

 

Spent a bit over one day wiring it.

 

Spent about 18 hours doing every square inch of wiring in a '57 Chevy.
I didn't own a good crimping tool so I had a lot of re-do's.

Tom

.

 

My first car wire job was an ignition switch, coil, head lights and one brake light. It took about 3 weeks. LOL Na, not really it was done in no time. Hang in there and do it right the first time no matter how long it takes... You will be happy that you did it right down the road.

 

sounds like I am doing about the same except for the six hours thanks!

 

Not too long and I think electricity is like magic. If you are redoing or repairing an old harness it may take a long freakin time to ID wires etc, especially if it has been jacked up by a PO.
OTOH I have a rebel wire harness and each individ wire is embossed with it's function so it's pretty bulletproof...I think most new harnesses have that feature unless you are going for a cloth wrapped original deal.
A short days work to get it all channeled properly but you'll get to every connection part as you build it up....take your time to make it as sanitary as poss especially behind the dash leaves excess wire for bundles. Save headaches later.

 

x 2.

just make good connections the first time and you will never have to fuck with it again.

 

I think it's easier to gut all the old wiring and start from scratch, than it is to repair or replace part of it. Mine had virtually no wiring anywhere, and not even lights or gauges, so starting from scratch with new parts (or rebuilt parts) made it faster.
I used NW Autowire's 12 ckt universal kit, and it came with a nice wiring diagram for various makes of cars. Simple, easy, and inexpensive.
http://www.nwautowire.com/servlet/the-10/hot-rod-jeep-14/Detail

 

generic wiring kit for my ex 54 chevy... about 6 hrs after reading the instruction and figuring out where all the connections were.

 

7-8 hours, Thanx Ron Francis. Not a problem in over 20 years.

 

8-10 hrs

 

two weeks @ 3 hours a day.

 

Wired my first hot rod(street rod) in the late 70's.. Took me about 1 month to wire my 38 Chevy and worked fine, all in BLACK wire... What an idiot.....

 

five days with loming counted in used a ron frances bare bones kit

 

Four weekends, but that included soldering and heat-shrinking every connection.

 

Did mine from scratch. All told, about 12 hours.

 

First one, probably a day or so, forty five years ago, mol. Car Craft had a Model T hot rod build in a series of issues. I just followed guidance of their wiring diagram issue.

Most recent rewire took me a couple months. I used an Enos box; wires from a Rebel kit; fusible links, relays and remote solenoid from MADD; gauges from Classic Instruments; and wiring diagrams - my own design adapted from multiple sources. Most of the time was figuring what I wanted, waiting for parts, and trying to resolve design issues of previous rewire jobs.

both were of Model As.

 

My ole 53 Cranbrook took a couple of days with a couple of friends helping. However it didn't turn out the best plus my friend wired in all in one color (red). I'm sure who ever has the car now is probably thinking what kind of idiot would wire a car with all one color.

 

I originally did the wiring of the Model A (I just rewired this last year) in all Black wires back in the 90s. It was tough to see and get enough light on the job. ...and then it was almost impossible to figure out any problems later on. Thankfully there were few problems that ever came up in over 15 years. ...but I agree, it was a big mistake to do it in black.

 

not very long
1wire from bat to coil
1wire from coil to dist
2bat wires [bat on running board]
jump start at starter
away to gas station& road test..............

 

Wired my first 30 yrs ago. Can't remember how long it took but i'm sure it took awhile. Still using it today. Althou looking around it could have been neater. No wiring kit back then. Glass fuses to. Makes me laugh.

 

scratch wired mine in 1 day. diagrams look scary but once you start wiring it that shit gets easier then stressin out thinkin about it!

 

My first hotrod is a 47 Mercury with 392 Hemi that I wired in the early 1970s and then spent 100 hours wiring just the console. I have toggle switches for everything.
I have a switch that turns the brake lites off!, you know, in case the cops are after me.
A switch that allows the interior lights to come on when the door opens and another that turns on the interior lights when the doors are closed.
Headphone jacks for four passengers, interior lites on the console, all my gages are in the console, radio is in the console and a couple of speakers, glove box with light in the console, you can tell I was influenced by the 60s custom cars
The car has a tilt front end powered by a convertible top motor and cylinders.

 

Good Harnesses, I've used them a couple of times with great results.

 

Rebel Wire kit, took 1 day for everything. Do yourself a favor and get a Power Probe.

 

It took the amount of time to cut a hole in the firewall and install the excellent '73 Nova wiring harness I scavenged from, what else, a '73 Nova, from which I also took the fuel tank, transmission, differential, dash cluster, brake lines, spare tire, sheet metal (for rust repair), and I forget what all else, for my '40 Chevy Master Deluxe. The two cars are almost exactly the same length and weight, and blend beautifully together. A '73 Nova wiring diagram, is available free online, and it's all in living color! Parts for all the Nova stuff are available at any NAPA store within 24 hours. I know this doesn't mean anything to you Model A guys, and I mean no disrespect. Just saying that a little planning and research can save you lots of time, headaches, and bucks.

 

I used Tex Smiths electrical wiring book. The book was great, it showed how to make a fuse block from scratch (glass fuses), each circuit is drawn out, how to wire headlight switches, sterring colomns, it covered everything. A great book, everything worked first time. It took longer to find everything I needed than it did to wire it. it took me about a week.

 

I did my 1st car in the 60's. There were no kits then. You bought spools of wire & glass fuse blocks. Probably a few weekends to do the car. I would draw out all the circuits before I started.