hello everyone, newbie here. i've been doing research on wiring harnesses and i've decided thats its between rebel wire or ron francis. i know ron francis is more money, and my question is why? is it more of a "plug and play" type harness or do i still have to cut and splice onto the cars original harness. like i said im a newbie, this is my first "custom" and i want to do all the work myself. so any input would really help. thanks in advance folks.
If you are going to purchase either. You need to yank out the origional harness. Rebel is a good harness. Ron Francis comes withe all the switches and ignition switch also. At least mine did when I got it some years ago.
I have installed a lot of ez wiring harneses, they are low cost and work great, very simple to install also.
EZ wire is a great kit. I've used the Ron Francis kit before on a 36 coupe and it worked out just fine, but not worth the extra $$ in my opinion.
Rebel also has EXCELLENT customer service, they will answer phone calls with a real person, that knows the answer to your question - no question too simple or bone-headed, and they don't make you feel like a newbie/idiot for asking! Now, how exactly do I know this for a fact??? Well, my Rebel harness works fine now, I did it myself (After 4 phone calls!), and I aint no electrical genius.
thanks for the feed back guys ill probably end up going with the rebel harness, besides ive heard theres a guy there thats a HAMBer. like i said before thanks for the input.
I looked at a lot of harnesses when picking one for my truck. EZ and rebel look very similiar, but I thought Ron Francis was a cut above the rest. That's what I bought and I still have the same opinion 2 years later. I think in terms of quality Ron Francis is at least as good as anything out there, but in terms of asthetics (I bought the express model) nothing else even compares - I know I know, it's only a wiring harness how much can asthetics really matter, but I still think it does. It cost a bit more then some others but it's going to be in my truck for a long time, and I'm going to have the truck for a long time so a few bucks more isn't really a big deal.
I'm likely not your typical user in that I used to own car audio stores a decade ago and was a Masters certified installer. As well I went to college for certificates in electronics, PLC, and ECU programming. I pretty much had to know and work with every wire on all the new cars, ecu related and all. I tell you this because my next statement is that I cannot fathom anyone needing a pre-made harness on an older car. Like I say, I'm likely ahead of many in the vehicle wiring aspect since it was a career for many years, but in these older cars it just doesn't seem necessary to buy harnesses. I rewired my '50 with raw spools, solder, and shrink wrap and I know there isn't a "smart harness" out there to plug in that could be as good as me hand picking the wire I wanted to use and making the connections all myself and it simply isn't that hard in these older cars. If you are installing it you can make it as pretty as you want with tie straps and flex loom. After spending many years in the newer cars wiring security systems into the ecu's and installing audio products I understand I have an advantage, but there is just so little in the older cars and it is so simple I suppose I miss the need for a premade harness short of time constraints........ and I can't imagine time constraints being a part of most of our builds here in the HAMB. There's nothing wrong with using them, I just don't see a lot of purpose in them. You built the whole car, but you won't drag a spool of wire though it and solder a connection? I'm missing something I suppose.
I like Haywire, and there are a few here on the HAMB that sell it. I got mine from Elpolacko if I remember correctly. Far as connecting into any of the old harness, you are way off base. Get rid of all of the old, put in all of the new.
I've put a Ron Francis set up in one of my cars 10 years ago and it has worked great, but I vowed never to buy another one because of the attitude I encountered from their tech line people when I called with questions. I have used Affordabel Street Rods wiring kits since then and the tech line is handled by the Co. owner and he is great about helping. If you are doing your first install, the availability and willingness to answer questions is way more important than whether the wires are labeled every 6".
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