Rewire 1980 K10

[BellyAche Jr.]

Getting ready to rewire 1980 K10 in prep engine swap. Any tricks, tips, etc... From anyone who "has been there, don that." Using painless wiring truck has too many shorts to keep screwing around with. Previous owner loved to cut and splice. Found entire lengths of harness cut at both ends to driver fuel tank and ac system. Tired of messing around. Thanks

[old Rusty C10]

anyone?

[lindstromjd]

I completely re-wired one of my trucks a while back with an aftermarket harness, and I am NO electrician. Seems like a daunting task, but easiest way for me was to figure out which wires would be grouped together, and keep them close (like with masking tape labeled "headlights, tail lights, under-dash" etc).

Just do one wire at a time. No matter how tempting it is to do multiples; it will confuse the hell out of you eventually. And don't cut anything at all until you're positive all your lengths are good (run the entire wiring harness, THEN cut). I ended up re-positioning some of my wires when I was done because I didn't like the way they ended up getting routed.

[csb#356]

If youre using the painless harness made for the 73-87s then you will need to keep your AC harness, and then you have to get rid of all the AC wiring that comes with the kit because it is for the later 80s trucks. Other than that it is pretty simple. I didn't really know that I was supposed to remove all those wires from the fuse block so now I have a big jumbles of wires tied to the firewall with electrical tape on the ends. haha. It would have been a lot nicer if I knew which ones to remove from the start.

[BellyAche Jr.]

Thanks for the heads up! The Rep at painless told me everything was included except for wiring for the driver's side tank, which of course is one of the major pieces of wiring someone cut out of the harness. Feel like getting a carfax and calling everyone on the list of prior owners and ask: "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!"

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by BellyAche Jr.

Thanks for the heads up! The Rep at painless told me everything was included except for wiring for the driver's side tank, which of course is one of the major pieces of wiring someone cut out of the harness. Feel like getting a carfax and calling everyone on the list of prior owners and ask: "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!"

M & H Fabricators make the AC harness for our trucks but it's expensive. Their dual tank wiring is just under the dash, firewall to switch, no under truck wiring.
Replacing the butchered sender wires shouldn't be difficult as long as the dash switch to firewall wiring is intact.
This diagram is for 1976 single wire. The 1980 single wire should be the same but I won't guarantee colors.

[BellyAche Jr.]

HA! Thanks the blue/green wire is what I found cut under the vehicle! No wonder my gas gauge doesn't work!

[BellyAche Jr.]

By the way, colors are the same. Thanks again.

[cableguy0]

you can also check with American autowire they will make a harness to your specs that will fit. I use there stuff at work and its great. The biggest thing with wiring is to break it down. If you look at it as 15 individual jobs instead of 1 huge job its a ton easier. Be neat and take your time.