should i replace my wiring harness?

[roberteberts]

Hi all,

I'm attempting to restore my 71 blazer and most of the electrical works OK besides a few issues but it's just a huge rat's nest under the dash and under the hood and alot of the wires look old and brittle not to mention over the years things were obviously modified, like different guages and extra componets & switches, so my question is should try to fix whatever needs fixing the best i can with what i have or should i get all new harnesses and install them? the thing is i'm really not very good with electrical, is there any really good wiring diagrams or manuals out there that would help alot or would i just be better off taking it to someone who knows what thier doing and having them do it, keeping in mind i don't have alot of money right now to pay someone.

[Bowtie67]

If your wiring is old and has been modified for addons, Cut/Spliced/eliminated then it would be a fairly good idea to have it done. If your thinking of having it done by a garage it will cost you a pretty penny. I and a few others here have used the Painless Wiring Kit for our trucks. All the wiring is numbered and named as to what it goes to as well as in groups to where they belong. It was really fairly simple and with a manual to help you through it. If you get stuck on something post a note and maybe one of us will be able to help you with it.

[71Rat]

i am replacing my wiring because i bent a wire the other day and it broke in 1/2 so that kinda sketched me out so i went out and got an ez wire kit... painless was a little to expensive for my blood.

So i would replace

Rat

[Jeepster376]

I'm curious why everyone opts for the painless kit, when you can buy reproduction/replacement harnesses. I think if I had a bad set of wires, I'd rather swap in a original style replacement harness, than gut the whole thing and rebuild it all with a universal harness kit like painless.

[dinnut]

the painless isnt a universal kit, jeepster 376, they make a kit specific for our trucks i beleive. as far as ive seen, the painless is a very nice setup and nicer than stock. it is also upgradable and has more accessory slots built in.http://painlessperformance.com/harness8.htm

[Rakort]

I hate cobbled up wiring myself for a number of reasons...

The approach I used on my truck was to take the original harness out, get it on the bench, and carefully unwrap it. I did the same with a $5 donor harness from the junk yard. Now I found all the hacked, melted, cut, or otherwise bad wires in the original harness and carfully extracted them from the harness by unsoldering, removing the terminals from the plastic plugs, etc and replaced them with wires from the donor harness. There was only one or two instances where I had to do a solder repair job on a wire to make it right so the harness I ended up was in great shape. It was essentially OEM when I was done. I also took the time to upgrade the original idiot light harness with correct OEM wires for a gauge dash. After a bit of messing around I wrapped it the harness all back up with the original black tape wrapping material. I had plenty of the tape becuase I unwrapped two harnesses. I plugged the harness back in and never heard from in since. You look at it today, even carefully, you would think it came from the factory that way.

I got away quite cheap too.......

Now your milage may vary. If all the OEM insulation is brittle and cracking then you have a problem or if your OEM harness is WAY hacked up then you may want to start with the donor harness as being the one your restoring....

Rak

[Hooter]

I would do what Rakort said, take it all out carefully, fix up the wiring with solder and heat shrink rewrap all the wires and put it back in, I did that with the underhood wiring harness on my Monte and you cant even tell what isnt stock anymore

[Lippyp]

I have a new M&H engine wiring harness that I bought from Wes at Classic Heartbeat, it's a direct fit, factory built for an HEI distributor and looks real easy to install, going in soon. Remeber the harnesses come in several different sections so you can spread the cost and do a bit at a time.

[70c10]

Replace it now before you proceed on the truck. You will be glad you did!

[teeitup]

I just pulled the wiring out on the blazer, yuk!!!! How much does it cost for this painless wiring?

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I would just replace the harness and be done with it, I am currently saving to buy a painless kit along with some good wiring accessories.. My harness is hacked up pretty good and need's to be replaced before the whole truck burn's to the ground..