Looking for feedback and experiences on full replacement body harnesses (e.g. Painless and whoever else?) - what do you like and what don't you like? I am fed up and frankly a bit terrified by how bad the wiring is on my 59 Cadillac - over the years it's been butchered and cobbled together by someone who has no business touching wires. I've already cleaned up the area behind the dashboard as much as I can with what I have and found so many wires just twist tied together without solder and just taped up. That tape works it's way loose over the years and exposes many potential shorts. I've gone through all that and soldered it and heat-shrink-tubed it all. But then having done that last month, today I've lost the power window circuit and found the culprit to be a melted modern fuse inline on the wiring harness behind the kick panel, but in the process discovered many more wires that are just twist tied and not properly insulated So... based on how bad the stuff I CAN see is, I'm worried about what I haven't seen. I want to rip it ALL out and start from scratch. Looking for the best (not necessarily cheapest) harness for a 1959 Cadillac. The car already has 4 power windows, and lots of cigarette lighters and will have many more electrical accessories added soon (Vintage Air air conditioning / audio / nav / sunrooof / air suspension / fog lights / DRLs / trunk illumination) - so the more independently fused circuits the better. Lets hear what worked for you or what you found frustrating! Thanks in advance!
I personally use REBEL Wire on all my cars. A good quality product that you dont have to pay triple the price for a name.
I heard a ton of good about rebel wire on here, and there is a member who gives hambers discounts on their purchase, so thats what i went with. will be starting my install soon, so far it looks good
I've always done my own from scratch but they were on simple cars and trucks, I'm thinking that would be a tall order on a 59 Caddy.
I've used painless(my first) and EZ-Wire......The Painless was more money, (It also had more circuits so that may offset some) but more complete and the instructions seemed easier. I wired a 36 p/u with the painless kit with heat/air and it had electric window wiring etc for future use if needed Your Caddy is so big, I think I would talk to each company as a normal kit may not be long enough Good luck,new wire is the best!!!
Get a Rebel Wire, you will be glad you did. Dont cost an arm and a leg and good quality stuff, no complaints from me. Just order one already.
After wiring my 47 with a no-name harness I think if there ever is a next time, I'll build my own from scratch. Unless you are involving a computer most all wiring circuits are surprisingly simple. The obstacle you are up against is that there are going to be a lot of little circuits. Study, learn how it works. It only looks overwhelming.
Yep, divide and conquer. I'm not really overwhelmed by any of the complexity - it's all simple 12V stuff. I'm just looking for the least time consuming pathway and best Fuse-block to start with. After restoring power to my power window circuit and putting the whole car back together just now - it appears my rear passenger window UP wire from the switch is making no connection to the first junction connector... it would appear that while working on it, I've bent it somehow and the 53 year old wiring just doesn't like that. Just had to close it by using a jumper wire to 12v to the appropriate terminal on the junction connector. Figuring this stuff out isn't difficult for me. I just want it figured out once and for all!
I use different wiring kits for different cars, But for your cad and mine The people at Yn z wiring in Redlands Ca make exact wiring with all correct ends, I used them on my 57 eldorado seville, and my friend used them on a customers 57 eldorado brougham. not cheap, but exact
Check out American auto wire I have there highway 15 kit and I am happy with it Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
x2 on YnZ. High quality stuff, not the cheapest but worth every penny. I worked with the owner 30+ years ago and he is still in business producing great wiring looms. Tim
After using many different kits, I always return to american autowire, they're complete and foolproof, for me...best kit on the market.
Rewired a 63 Cadillac using American Autowire Highway 22 kit. Mainly use American Autowire and Rebel Wire Kits. Doing a all black EZwiring kit on a 49 ford, seems pretty good.
I was wondering the same thing. I need to rewire my 50 Chevy. The po wired it positive ground for some reason and I want to convert to 12v. There is also a lot of stuff that does not work. Has anyone used the autoloc cloth wire kit? I like the look, but it is a lot more than a rebel kit (alliance discount). Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Painless too expensive. EZ used to be inexpensive but have gone up over the years. Rebel wire on the hamb I have used 3 times and is pretty much the same as EZ but are less expensive. Get the most amount of circuits (21 I think) for that caddy if the caddy had lots of power options. Seats, antenna, locks etc etc
Hey cornbinder, I got some cloth wrapped wire thru snyders and I think Sacramento ford has some too, I used a rebel kit and any wire shown in the engine bay I used cloth wrapped to show off. It may not be cloth wrapped throughout the whole car, but its shown where you can see it. Save you a lotta $$. They have all sizes and lots of colors. Sold by the foot
Pretty much all the kits being made today are of very good quality, and as you can see, there are fans of almost every brand out there. IMO, the American Autowire kit is about as good as it gets, but somewhat pricey. Down a little from that, but much more reasonable, is the Rebel kit. For the money it is really very good but does have the disadvantage of all the wires being part of the fuse block, whereas the AA kit allows you to install one wire at a time into the block, keeping things less confusing during installation. BUT, if I had a 59 Caddy, which probably has a wiring harness as complicated as the Space Shuttle, I would go with the ynz kit the guys mentioned earlier. It will be a make and model specific harness which should make hooking up all the accessories and switches that your Caddy has so much easier than a universal kit, like all the rest. You said price is not a consideration, and in this instance, with this particular car, I think you would have a much easier install and end up with a factory quality job when done. Just my opinion. Don As you can see, they sell their harnesses in sections, just like the OEM did, and they are not cheap, but they sure are good. http://www.ynzyesterdaysparts.com/pdfs/ynz_cadillac_catalog.pdf
another vote for American Auto Wire, used them on a 50 Buick and a 55 BelAir and very happy with both results...........
Thanks creepyjohnny. That's a good idea. Don't care about the areas that don't show, just under hood.. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I've installed harnesses from Ron Francis , Painless , American Autowire , CenTech and no-names into hotrods & literally dozens of factory replacement wiring harnesses in vintage British cars . It's my job - I restore British tin . It's funny that I stumbled upon this thread , because just this afternoon I ordered my harness for my '49 Ford Coupe mild custom ... from CenTech . That ought to tell you who I like . Their harnesses are very nice , complete , have nice instructions , they're reasonably priced and they're nice to deal with . I ordered a K40-B harness for my car , BTW . You can see their stuff at www.centechwire.com .
I use EZWiring kits in all my cars (16) and the ones I build for others. At around 165.00 it doesn't cost your first born, and they are very easy to install. Tech help is great if you need them.
I had the occasion to call Painless a couple of days ago because we are using one of their turn signal relay setups and it keeps blowing out one of the 4 relays after a few months, and one brake light stops working. I wish I could say I was thrilled with the tech support I got, but I can't say that unfortunately. Really had no answer for me other than "maybe a loose connection or a short somewhere". Kind of one word answers. Don
I heard that the guy that runs EZ Wiring used to work for Painless. He quit because he felt Painless was over charging. I made a living at doing custom wiring harnesses and I'm using an EZ kit on my 30 A Tudor.
If your on a budget I would go with rebel or EZ. At the end of the day it's a fuse block, fuses and wires. Maybe I'm in the wrong biz
My favorite is Centech, they use a compact printed circuit panel with the horn relay and two flashers incorporated. They also do complete harnesses in sections(engine, under dash, rear) I don't like any panel that has the wires attached to it, they are cumbersome and untidy. Ron Francis stainless cover is placed in such a way that blowing a fuse during removal or installation is likely.
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