Wiringharness.com vs. Painless wiring vs. ?

[Truckstr]

Okay, guys and gals, I've done a little homework and now it's time to get some input from the board.

I did a search here and came up with several candidates to aid in getting rid of what appears to have once served as a "rat's nest" uder the dash of my truck. It's awful! I counted four splices in one wire alone! The fuse panel even looks like it has "had it"!

Yuck!!!! Time to do something before I end up burning the thing down to the ground.

I've been to three sites, so far, of manufacturers:
Painless Wiring and EZ wiring and M&H electric fabricators

It appears that M&H has good wiring for those that are "stock" or near and that Painless has a good setup that is more "universal" (touchy word that 'universal').

I have a mild 350 (now) in my '67 with the single wire alternator, HEI ignition, electric fan and halogen headlights. I plan on switching over to a 406 that I'm slowly putting together, as well as adding a 200-4R tranny (with lock-up torque convertor). The '67 came from the factory with a straight six and "three-on-the-tree". As you can tell, I don't care a lot about keeping this truck factory-stock.

I would like to get rid of the glass-tube fuse box and go with the more modern plug type fuses. That appears to mean that I'd be going with Painless. painless also has a headlight relay kit that will allow me to get full voltage to those halogens.

On the other hand, M&H products look like they are very well tailored to the application (plenty of factory applied mods to the wiring harness to accomodate my HEI, etc.). The sticker is that they don't appear to offer new plug type fuse panels.

I know that GMC Paul carries M&H wiring harnesses (others?) and that Carolina Classic Trucks (Church), Summit Racing and Autozone all carry Painless products.

I'm not really familiar with EZ wiring, and they don't seem to have the "selection" that the others do, but I included them since they were mentioned by a couple of members here when I did my search.

So, what do y'all think? Which way would be the best and why?

Please be specific in your reasoning. Experience counts!

I appreciate everyone's input in advance.

Jeff

[Earl Junior]

I used an M&H kit from GMCPauls. It worked excellent. You do need to reuse a few of the stock connectors, and I had to supply a few electrical bits (butt joints, a couple of flat blade connectors, and more zip ties). Be careful with those older plastic bits. Most of the stuff you can do without, but I ended up breaking the dash bezel plug and had to epoxy it back together.

[Truckstr]

How's this for a "rat's nest"? LOL

[Truckstr]

Or this? Notice the broken glass in the fuse that's in the right lower corner of the panel?

[Truckstr]

And last, but not least:



BTW, can anyone clue me in on what position is what on this "factory" fuse panel. Somebody decided to spray paint the thing. When I try to wipe it off to read it, it wipes the letters off too.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Classic Heartbeat]

We also carry the M&H line. In my opinion they provide the best wire harnesses. They also have some conversion harnesses that are direct plug in to your truck. I have a couple of local customers here that bought and used the "Universal" Painless wire harnesses and were unhappy with them. For one they had to cut their firewall to fit the fuse panel and had to put all new plugs on them also. Both customers said the painless kit was a nightmare and if they had it all to do over again they would go with the M&H wire harnesses. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

[gmc67swb]

I USED THE PAINLESS UNIVERSAL KIT IN MY '67. ONLY BECAUSE THE ONE SPECIFIC TO THE TRUCK WAS ON BACK ORDER AND I NEEDED TO GET BACK ON THE ROAD(DAILY DRIVER). FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND THE KIT FOR THE TRUCK HAS THE CONNECTORS AND MAYBE PRE-TERMINATED. THE UNIVERSAL KIT COMES WITH NEW HEAD LIGHT PLUGS AND THE KIT IS BASED ON GM COLORED WIRES. IT'S JUST A MATTER OF CONNECTING THE COLORS. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS AS I DID THE TECH SUPPORT WAS AWESOME. ALSO, PAINLESS COMES WITH A "MAXI FUSE" 50A THAT PROTECTS THE WHOLE HARNESS FROM MELTING DOWN IF YOU HAVE SOME TYPE OF PROBLEM. HOPE THIS HELPS AND LOTS OF LUCK!

LARRY

[gmc67swb]

Originally posted by WES
We also carry the M&H line. In my opinion they provide the best wire harnesses. They also have some conversion harnesses that are direct plug in to your truck. I have a couple of local customers here that bought and used the "Universal" Painless wire harnesses and were unhappy with them. For one they had to cut their firewall to fit the fuse panel and had to put all new plugs on them also. Both customers said the painless kit was a nightmare and if they had it all to do over again they would go with the M&H wire harnesses. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

JUST LET YOU KNOW WES, I DID NOT HAVE TO CUT MY FIRE WALL. I DRILLED 2 HOLES TO MOUNT THE BLOCK, THAT WAS IT.

[lotik]

i have a ez wiring harness. works nice, and only $175.

[Blackhawkdc]

I've been very happy with my Painless Wiring kit. I got one specifit for the 67-72 chevy trucks. Yeah, its a somewhat universal harness, but remains factory colors. Each wire is labeled as to where it goes and it does have the big MAXI fuse protecting EVERYTHING. Two definite pluses to the Painless kit.

[jmanz69]

Hey Blackhawkdc

Is the painless harness already terminated? I would like it to be just a pull and replace operation. I don't want to use the original plugs, they are all a fire waiting to happen.

[Dreaminator]

We used the Painless kit and it is aptly named. Liked the security features too.

[hobby67stepside]

I used the EZ kit in a previous project and found it easy to work with. The wires are all labeled and grouped for the specific area of the vehicle they go to - dash, front lights, engine and engine accessories, rear, etc. I haven't used any of the others such as Painless, but I don't know what they could be like to make them worthy of the higher price (almost double in some cases). I plan on using the EZ Wire in my '67, but I am not using any of the original components. I filled in the square hole in the firewall and will just drill a hole where needed and use a grommet to run the wires where needed. I'll fasten the fuse block somewhere under the dash or upper inside firewall. For your halogen headlights you might have to do a little creative wiring, adding a relay or whatever, but that really shouldn't be a problem if you have a little wiring exeperience.

['72 Shorty]

The painless kit isn't pre terminated. You have to reuse the taiol light plugs, side marker and front park/signal plugs. The plugs for the engine harness are pretty easy to come by, and IIRC, where mostly included. The under dash part of the harness is a plug and play operation, with the exception of the turn switch plug. for that one you have to remove the pins from the old one and re use the plastic part. The new pins are already on the new wires.

I also had to enlarge the hole in the firewall. maybe the 12 ckt harness uses a smaller connector that will fit in the stock hole, mine is the 18 ckt.

I like that the painless also comes with speaker wire, PDL wire and fuse, power window wire and fuse, and 3rd brake wire. The only original wire I had to re use was the ones going to the cargo/dome light and for the door pin switches.

I wouldn't consider it a pain to install either, only took me about 8hrs to strip the old harness and install the new one. Of course, I make my living working on electrical systems with a lot more wires that my truck has.

Oh yeah, I also really like that the painless kit has all the wires labeled(as in written right on the wire) what it does.

[gmc67swb]

in response to '72 shorty, my harness was the 12 circuit..also this was the first attempt for me at wiring and was a complete success. i did have to add a diode to keep the engine from running on when the ignition was shut off.

[Truckstr]

Thanks to everybody for all of the feedback and opinions. The more info that there is, the better decision that can be made.

I really like the 18 circuit feature of the Painless kit, but also really like the "plug and play" features of the M&H kit. The determining factor 'may' be that I don't want to reuse the old fuse panel. Does M&H offer a new fuse panel?

Also, let me ask one more time about the labels on the factory '67 fuse panel (as pictured above). Does anybody have a pic that they can post or info telling which circuit is which on the old one?

Thanks again.

Jeff

[dtlilly]

Haywire Inc. in Joplin MO is also producing aftermarket wiring harnesses. I have an invoice for $362.14, for a 14 fused electrical system from them.

It comes complete with all dash, engine, lights wiring, module panel with 14 fuses, 3 relays, 2 flashers, floor dimmer switch, ignition switch, headlight switch, terminal ends, fuseable links, grommets, heat shrink, splice clips, ground wires, and instructions. It even comes with wire cutters/strippers/crimping tools. All never been opened, nothing missing.

I'll sell for $250 plus shipping, as I am in the Guard, and we are expected to be called up soon, and won't have time to work on my GMC project. I will include everything including the orginal invoice and sales reciept.

[Truckstr]

Bttt for the morning crew!

Thanks,
Jeff

[Truckstr]

dtlilly, sending you a PM with questions.

Thanks,
Jeff

[GMCPaul]

Truckstr the M&H wiring harness does include the fuse block as a part of the underdash harness. Some of the harness's will not have a plug on the wire because that wire plugs into a connector on another in system. IE- Such as a heater harness on the plug included to attach it to the blower motor switch the wire for power feed to switch is not included in the harness and the slot is left open to install it in the plug on the new harness. The reason this wire is not present is the heater switch power supply wire is a part of the under-dash harness and when you receive the underdash harness the heater power wire does not have the plug attached to it as that plug is part of the heater harness.
Earl Junior I believe that dash harness plug was supposed to be included in your under-dash harness. I'll check with M&H and if so will get you a new one, if not I dig up a good used one you can have, as I am currently working 16hour plus days if you would be so kind as to email me with ship to info we will get you taken care of. Time required to strip all original wire from a truck and install M&H reproduction on a entire truck by us is 1-2 hours, have never heard of anyone taking more than 3-4 hours with breaks throw in doing one. I do recommend to anyone considering using any harness to get a hold of the electrical wiring diagrams or a service manual with them in it as its amazing how many do not know what TCS wires are, where they go and colors, we get phone calls and emails from many wanting to know where this small wire may go or another since there harness was hacked so severly or parts removed that wires went to.
GMCPaul

[Smooth68]

Originally posted by lotik
i have a ez wiring harness. works nice, and only $175.

I also went with EZ wiring - very nice product

[paintpyro]

Ive used some of the M and H harnesses. The engine harness (with HEI conversion) took all of 2 minutes for everything. I live about 5 minutes from M and H, and have met the guys there. Really cool guys that back up their stuff.

[Reumster]

I hear M&H are the best choice for our trucks. Direct bolt in. I just ordered the front headlight harness for mine. It converts to internal regulated alternator

[Bernie]

Boy is this an interesting thread ! I am about to rewire my truck and was wondering which harness to go with. A couple of other questions : what type of fuses does the M and H harness use ? Do any vendors give a discount for buying all of the M and H harnesses needed for a truck ? Do the fuse boxes on these harnesses fit in the origonal hole ?

[krazy_texan]

i used a painless kit when i had my falcon and i loved it just run the wire and then plug it up simple as that and very detailed instructions and good tech support