Did i screw up bad?

[c20pickup]

So i had my cab painted, very nice job done on it, and i went and mought a painless wiring harness... As you may know it requires trimming of the firewall to install, which i did to the painless template... The harness isnt fully installed and now im looking at the ece wiring harness with all the factory connectors and such.. And it uses the factory hole.. I may buy the ece harness and eat the 400$ i spent on the painless, question is how bad did i f*** up by cutting my firewall? Will the original connector even fit in that hole anymore without slop? Or should i take my lumps and continue to install the painless kit... Kinda frustrated with myself because im an electrical idiot and onbviously didnt do enough research before buying a kit, i do like the idea of the preterminates and pre crimped wires with all the connectors in place, help! What do i do next

[c20pickup]

Excuse the bad grammar, hopefully you can understand my babbling

[70shortfleet]

I thought it was suppose to be painless! Just go aheadan use it and don't worry about it

[MARKDTN]

I would not use a Painless (or any do-it-yourself) harness for a basically stock truck. I much prefer a stock type harness. Just plug it in and be done. It is way more work to get ends and wrap it to use a Painless style and do it right. If you don't, you are no better off than where you started usually. Sell it on Ebay, Craigslist, here, or throw it away. If it was me, that is what I would do. Not sure about the cutout. I would make an aluminum plate and polish it to cover the gap if I had to.

[Jahloha]

From all my research, not taking your firewall situation into account, AAW is the best complete wiring option that is specific to our trucks. I know it doesn't answer your question, but if you end up selling your painless, I'd opt for the AAW.

[c20pickup]

Really kickin myself for cutting the firewall... May just have to use the painless kit and finish installing it, really going to be frustrating when i come to attach the plugs and stuff when i know there is a kit out there to bolt right in..

[MattPSU]

How big of a hole is it? You could always make cover for it. Here's one I made for my stock harness that I made out of an old voltage regulator cover. I borrowed this idea from N2Billet.

[CG]

Originally Posted by MattPSU

How big of a hole is it? You could always make cover for it. Here's one I made for my stock harness that I made out of an old voltage regulator cover. I borrowed this idea from N2Billet.

Thats a neat idea.

I like the American Auto Wire kit myself. Plug and go, and it has a bunch of extras in it. Look it up online to get a full list. There are a few board vendors that sell those at a reduced price.

Maybe let your Painless kit go on eBay or something along those lines. Or just use it. Tons of guys on the board have gone with Painless, just a little more work.

[c20pickup]

The hole i cut matches painless' template they sent in the instruction book, 2 3/4 x 2 7/8 if i remember right, could be wrong on the 2 7/8

[Sklptrljay]

Maybe you could get someone skilled at metal fab to make an insert/adapter that will take up the gap and still let you use the harness you have now.

[magwakeenercew2jh]

To directly answer the question(s):

For me, it's hard to say how bad your new hole is because my sense of space is buggered
up purely with measurements. A pic on top of the measurements of the newly cut hole would
probably do the trick.

On the second question, pretty much the same answer...Except that if you take the stock fuse plate/firewall
connector and hold it up to your new body work, you'll know right away.

With an M and H (I think it's the same as AAW) from ECE...which is what I always use....if you order correctly,
you'll get an exact dimension match...and a match of everything else...of all the wires, connectors, colors, etc.

Disclaimer: I'm an ECE *and* an M and H fan. For a ton of reasons. All good.

Here's the replacement.

[my67c20]

could not resist

[c20pickup]

I can get pics tomorrow . How hard is the painless kit going to be over the aaw or ece... Maybe i should stick with the painless. And ece harness just seems easier purely because of the factory connectors

[c20pickup]

Does the aaw require a firewall cut?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Depends on the truck,

for 67/68:

•Fuse box designed to fit in original location with slight firewall modification (template included). All required hardware supplied. New ATO fuse panel allows for easy fuse and circuit breaker accessibility. Harness is laid out and formed to allow for nearly all after market accessories such as; gauge packages, wiper systems, heat and air conditioning systems, etc.

for 69-72:

3.Fuse box designed to fit in original location. All required hardware supplied. Location selected for easy accessibility and clearance of under dash accessories such as all gauge packages, wiper systems, heating and air conditioning systems, and stock original or aftermarket GM tilt steering columns.

AAW:

http://www.americanautowire.com/prod...d-restoration/

[davepl]

I got mine from Brother's, but it's an M&H. Could not be more pleased with the quality. Proper connectors, proper wire and color gauge, customized for HEI, but otherwise entirely stock in appearance and functionality.

I'd only go with the "generic" painless harness if I could not find a quality factory replacement, but since they're out there, that's the way to go.

With the cab painted I'd make a plate that has the stock hole and that covers up your cut hole. Mount it on the firewall side, as no one will see the inside cab part anyway. Once it's as perfect and small as it can be, take it to the body shop to get it painted in the same color (if they paint that color often, it's cheaper if you just wait until they're doing something in that color).

Mount it neatly, either with self-tapping screws (not the best) or rivets. I'd rivet it for a cleaner appearance. Drill all holes before you get it painted!

If you wanted to be -really- fancy you could weld studs (or bolts with the heads cut off) to the backside of the plate before getting it painted. Most people would never see it.

Why am I so smart? Because I've already made most every mistake there is. But if you can just finish the project with the Painless harness but its more work, and you can't get your $400 back, I'd honestly probably finish it with that. More work, not stock, but I think they're good quality from what I've heard.

[leftybass209]

Since you already painted, and you now have modern blade fuses, unless you're going for a restoration, I think you'd be backtracking to buy that harness. If I were in your position I'd continue forward with the painless wiring and be happy knowing I could run the wires where I wanted.

[c20pickup]

The blade style at this point seems like the only advantage to my painless kit... I will get over there to work on it tomorrow and post some pics

[merlin3]

c20;i would ditch with the painful harness,mine was a hassle to install i had to call the tec hot line a few times and of coarse they are closed on weekends so it took a month to install.the firewall plug still does not fit right it just won't bolt together right.