Wiringharness.com vs. Painless wiring vs. ?

[Truckstr]

Bernie,

M&H panels use the glass tube type of fuses, I believe. The fact that the Painless kits use the newer plug-in type fuses is what has me going back and forth between the M&H and the Painless kits.

It's my understanding that the M&H fuse panel is a direct bolt-in to our trucks - depending on which one that you get. Painless offers both a 12 and an 18 circuit panel. The way I understand it, so far, is that the 12 circuit panel is a direct bolt-in, while the 18 circuit panel requires just a little trimming and a couple of drilled holes.

I keep leaning back and forth between the M&H kit (very "plug and play" - made for our trucks), and the Painless kit (18 circuits, plug type fuses). And then dtlilly has to come along and throw in the Haywire kit ( ).

You can look at the pictures of my "current" (pun intended) set-up and see that I'm going to have to do something.

Luck to ya!

Jeff

[Church]

There is one very important reason why Painless has become the industry's leading manufacturer of automotive wiring harnesses and electrical systems. It's because our customers are people who refuse to compromise their standards, who take pride in their work and in their vehicles, and who will settle for nothing but the best. Sure, Painless could compromise their own standards, cut costs by using inferior materials, engineer some cost and quality out of their process. But they won't.

They Never Will.

Painless products are for those that want the best. Their commitment to you is to always be the best. Not just in terms of the quality of our product, but also the quality of our engineering and the quality of our technical service and customer support.

There are those who are motivated solely by price.
For them there are other sources, other brands.

Painless exists, Painless succeeds and Painless grows because the vast majority of people who share our love of the automobile take too much pride in their work to settle for anything but the best.
Exerted From the Painless Performance Products Website


We offer two kits for the 67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks.

One is 12-CIRCUIT Harness and it includes:
Air Conditioning/Heat, Brake Lights, Coil, Electric Fan, Emergency Flashers, Headlights, Gauges/Dash Instruments, Horn, Radio (ignition hot and constant hot), Turn Signals, Wipers, Dome Lights & Third Brake Light.

The other is the 18-CIRCUIT Harness and it includes:
Air Conditioning/Heat, Brake Lights, Coil, Electric Fan, Emergency Flashers, Headlights, Gauges/Dash Instruments, Horn, Radio (ignition hot), Turn Signals, Wipers, Dome Lights, Third Brake Light, Accessory Plug, Power Door Locks, Power Windows, Electric Fuel Pump with constant hot and Backup Light/Cruise Control.

Nothing could make re-wiring your truck any easier.

Use 30901 A/C harness when installing chassis harness 10206 in 1967-72 Chevy Trucks with air conditioning.

On the 18 circuit harness you will have to modify the firewall to accomodate the larger harness. A template is supplied to make this a little easier.

Hope this helps,
Ryan

[6869704X4]

One big difference in these kits are the way it goes through the firewall. The ez kits comes with a grommet and says to cut a hole in your firewall and run the wire through there. I used some thick rubber mat to cover the stock hole and ran the wires through that. It didnt have a plug for my ignition switch. The plugs it did have were headlights, dimmer switch, and maybe a couple of others. I was going to put more pics on soon.
Here are some pics of my ez install.
http://64.246.42.114/vboard/showthre...threadid=42757

[Bernie]

Jeff,
My current set up looks like yours. I am swapping the cab and the frame on my truck, so this seems a good opportunity to sort out the harness. It would not be a good idea to transplant the present mess. it seems to me that the EZ set up is much cheaper, but the pictures put me off, that looks like what I have now. I was leaning to the painless set up, but looking at GMC Paul's website, he seems to have options like the one wire alternator harness. At present I'm useing one that I made myself. The difference in price between Painless and M&H isn't that much, but I do like the new type fuses......
Bernie

[Truckstr]

Bernie,

Yeah, I like the new type fuses and the 18 circuit panel option. I'm planning on adding A/C and, maybe even power windows and door locks later on. That makes me like the Painless kit. Then I like the fact that the M&H kit can be factory upgraded to handle the HEI and one-wire alternator and still be plug 'n play.

The M&H kit also calls for another kit to add on later to handle A/C.

Decisions, decisions...

[Truckstr]

Well, I still have a couple of questions, but it's looking more and more like I'm going with the M&H products over the others. If I had a street rod or was planning on doing a lot of fabricating/customizing or wanted to make my street truck into a heavily modded show truck (hiding the wiring, etc.) or a race car/truck, then I'd probably go for something else - probably Painless. Those newer plug type fuses and the 18 circuit panel sure do look nice though.

On the M&H website, it talks about a "front light harness" that can be ordered with the internal regulated alternator modification installed. My question is what is the difference between that and the "engine harness"? Do I need both?

I'm not an electrical guru. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

[sbrban]

I waited 7 months for the truck harness with the print on the wires.I didn't see any pics of the painless set so here goes...

[sbrban]

pic#2

[sbrban]

I looked at a lot of wiring companies out there and felt that painless used the highest quality products as far as wire,coating,connectors, and they got rid of that fusible link wire! I'm a tightwad (ask my wife) but somethings I fefuse to skimp on-but you get what you pay for.There's absolutely nothing wrong with some of the other harnesses but there's nothing wrong with 87 octane either-if that makes sense to you then we're on the same page.

[Church]

Just let clear up something about the Painless kits. In their instruction manual, it shows how to install your choice of alternators w/o having to buy anything extra.

[GMCPaul]

The M&H wiring harnesses are 100% like original in appearance, the fuse block 100% like original, the only way it differs from the original is the wire insulation and connectors are better than OEM was in the late 60's-70's due to improvement in wire insulation and materials made since so all insulation wire and connectors use modern formulas to create them to resist the enviromental conditions they are subjected to better than the originals did. In regards to a lower price on our wire I am currently selling their wire at M&H wholesale level prices so I can't get lower, most of their wires I am supposed to be selling at 25-40% higher than listed on our site but I hate suggested retail. So most every wire on our site made by them you can buy from us at a lower price than they sell to theirretail, jobber and wholesale customers for.
sbrban the resistor wire in the harness is their for a reason it prevents you from firing a entire wire harness in a overcharge condition by burning throughthe resistor wire before ruining the rest of the harness.
Truckstr the engine harness has temp, dist & starter, back up lamp switch, brake prop valve wires on it for gauge dash trucks and a additional oil pressure wire on idiot light equipped truck harnesses, the forward lamp harness serves charging system wiring, headlights, turnsignals, marker lights, & horn. These are 2 separate harnesses that both connect under the hood to the portion of fuse block that passes through firewall. 1 screw in center locks with engine harness being on top and forward lamp on bottom.
If a wire connector was originally installed by factory on a harness its on the harness, if the wires supposed to be a certain color and gauge it is, in regards to upgrades such as a engine harness with HEI they build the new engine harness without the resister wire to feed the coil and instead use a non-resistor wire with the correct plug on it for plugging into a HEI harness, if you want to use a foward lamp harness and are going with a Internally regulated altenator they replace the connectors for altenator with externally regulated altenator with connectors for a IRA and then change wiring in harness so that it works correctly. This is done so everyone wanting to do these modern upgrades can do so without having to modify their new harness.
In regards to Earl Junior having received the under-dash harness without a instrument connector plug on it the connector was supposed to be on it and Earl I have a new one headed to me get me your address!!!! M&H definately did not understand how your underdash harness got out of there without that connector on it as they plug all harnesses in and test them after construction before final packaging, they will Earl install the connector on your harness for you if you prefer, in fact that was the only way they were going to do it was you send back the harness and they would install the connector and ship it back to you but I assumed you are currently driving the truck. So in order to get your new instrument panel connector I had to make a disclaimer and sign it releasing them of any and all liability in suppling us with the instrument panel connector to install on your harness. The reason they were so adament on not sending a connector and you returning the harness for it to be installed was 2 fold.
#1- Liability reasons, if you installed the wires into the harness incorrectly you can fry parts or wiring, so if your not driving the truck currently or it can be parked a short time we can return the current harness and they will install the connector, if you feel competent to reinstall as you did using your old one I'll send you the new connector as soon as I receive your ship to address.
#2- The final reason they really didn't want to ship connector is they test all harnesses before final packaging and he swears that its just impossible for a harness to get out the door without a connector installed as it has to be to test the harness. So I don't know how yours did as he said it was impossible but the choice is yours now on how new connector gets installed. Let me know!!!
If anyone else ever receives a part thats missing something LET US KNOW right away!! We'll get it corrected, if somethings not right let us know, if you modify the part, wait, or don't let us know we can't correct the problem.
QUOTE "Sure, Painless could compromise their own standards, cut costs by using inferior materials, engineer some cost and quality out of their process. But they won't. " LOL neither will M&H
GMCPaul

[sbrban]

in reply to the resistor wire....thats what the maxi fuse is for.sometimes newer innovations are worth the upgrade.if it's something you don't like then buy what you want. my 2cents worth.

[Reumster]

Just put in my new M&H front harness to convert over to internally regulated alternator from Early Classic. This thing fit perfect, and is very well built. Simple install. Works great. Now I have to get the other harness for HEI conversion,

[Long Knight]

This is such a good topic, but honestly I didn't see anything wrong with Truckstr's pictures. Then again, I have wire nuts at various places around my truck connecting wires together. I don't worry about it much though, just re-torque the wire nuts about every 10K miles.

[Truckstr]

Originally posted by Long Knight
This is such a good topic, but honestly I didn't see anything wrong with Truckstr's pictures. Then again, I have wire nuts at various places around my truck connecting wires together. I don't worry about it much though, just re-torque the wire nuts about every 10K miles.

Haha. Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. Me, well I looked under the dash and didn't like what I saw. I guess either the pictures don't do the poor state of the wiring in my truck justice or I'm just too much of a perfectionist. Oh well!

Whatever the condition the wiring on my truck may actually be in, the fact remains that I just purchased a new wiring harness for it. The parts came in today. I got a complete under dash harness, a complete front wiring harness (modified to accept my single wire alternator) and a complete engine wiring harness (modified to accept my HEI ignition). All the parts came from GMC Pauls' (Thanks, Paul).

I let ya'll know how it goes in, but it's going to be a few days before I get to work on it. My Grandfather (92 years old) fell and cracked his hip. They had to put a pin in it. I'll be riding the roads for a while as I'm putting taking care of him as my first priority.

Ya'll wish me luck!
Jeff