Spaghetti, err wiring...ugh.

[ron19]

Alright, so I've pulled the engine and am in the process of building a mean street motor. While the engine was out, I cleaned up the frame and did some painting, looks much better. Then, since the master cylinder was leaking anyway, I pulled the out, now that it's gone I have no option but to do the front disk conversion from my donor 75' 1/2 ton to my 65'. Cool, but a lot of work. Also thinking about doing the power steering swap while the engine is out and I can reach everything, makes sense right? But then I started looking and I found spaghetti, well a wiring mess that looks like a complete nightmare in the truck. Not sure if I'm in WAYYYY over my head here but I think it really needs done as well. Take a look at pics and let me know if you think what I have there is salvageable or a complete loss and need to strip the wiring and start all over, not a project I'm really looking forward too.......

[ron19]

Oh ya, pics....lol.

[Musclerodz]

Looks like a mess to me.

Mike

[63lover]

if you dont do the wiring be sure to carry a fire extinguisher with you

I know painless makes a kit specifically for our trucks a little costly but you get all the modern luxuries

[pugs]

I'd start cutting wires and spend the money and rewire it the correct way, no worries of a fire then

[kdrodworks316]

I am in the process of rewiring my 62. your wiring looks good compared to mine. I am using a 18 circut kit from EZ Wiring. it came with high quality wire, but some el-cheapo solderless connectors. $165 and a couple days to install sure beats a fire under the dash, that will put a kink in your giddy up!

[pugs]

i've use the ez-wire kit myself, i did lay it all out, ran my wires the way i wanted and then soldered the ends, took me 4 days but i was waiting on gauges tho. I did 3 vehilces use the highway 15 kit(formerly amercian auto wire), one thing i liked about these kits is the the fuse panel is seperate from the wires

[LILRED66]

Good, quality factory reproduction wiring harnesses are available for a comparable price to the aftermarket kits on the market. I am electrically challenged and prefer the plug and play version, not to mention I like stock applications. Just like everything else with these trucks, take one step at a time. I hope this information is helpful. Try www.classicparts.com for the factory harnesses.

[ron19]

Thanks for the good info guys. I'm doing research on the wiring harness's now. What I don't see, is if they supply all the wiring, connectors and everything to do the whole truck right to every switch, knob, light, etc. I also don't see if they replace the two connectors going through the firewall. One connector does the alt,volt reg, horn,etc. and the other I think does ignition, starting, etc. These connectors appear to be messed up on mine. Years of splicing have taken their toll. I thought at one time that I had a fault neutral lock switch, and the truck wouldn't start unless I wiggle the shifter in and out of neutral. But when I took the trans out, there were no wires anywhere on the shifter. Now I know I was just wiggling the wiring around while doing the shifter and that I was getting a bad connection....LOL

On a side note, I pulled the mastercylinder out last night, in doing so I had to pull the bolt that connected the brake rod to the brake pedal, found the nut was so loose that it spun free by finger in only half a turn. Glad I found that BEFORE I had a major problem....haha

[kevindtimm]

I know that I have zero traction/reputation here, but I gotta beg to differ with tony (lilred66). There are 3 or 4 <$175 wiring kits that are every bit as good the kits from painless or classicparts.com, plus they are typically 1/3 of the price ($449 for classicparts, for example).

One concession for sure though; if you are electrically challenged in any way, the generic kits are NOT for you.

Just my $.02

[63lover]

here is the link to the wiring harness i was talking about
http://www.painlessperformance.com/w...rchField=10112

[LILRED66]

kevindtimm:

I am not sure what you are begging to differ with. My suggestion was a factory reproduction underdash wiring harness/fuse block from Classic Parts, which retails for $199.99, not whatever you are referencing from Classic Parts for $449.

We just purchased all of the wiring harnesses needed to do a complete '66 Chevy K10 lwb fleetside, that I am restoring with a fellow bolter. All of these harnesses came from Classic Parts, due to the price, fit and finish.

Wiring harnesses from Painless, American Autowire and EZ Wire, as well as, many others are available and probably worth the investment. As stated before, I prefer the factory look, fit and finish, so I choose to go with the factory reproduction wiring harnesses from Classic Parts.

[ron19]

Hey Lilred,

Do you have the part numbers that you used to do the complete install with? These are factory repo's? So they'll have the proper fitting's to go through the firewall and connect under the dash, etc???

[LILRED66]

Ron19:

Check out Classic Parts' online catalog at www.classicparts.com You can also request a catalog on their website. All of the part numbers are for a 1965 Chevy lwb, fleetside with a V-8, factory dash gauges and a Deluxe heater.

Engine harness #52-130 (63-66) V-8 with gauges $29.95

Front harness #52-230 (63-66) Alternator with gauges $39.95

Parklamp harness #52-512 (62-66) $24.95

Main Underdash harness #52-328 (64-65) With gauges $199.95

Instrument Cluster #52-356 (64-66) With gauges $44.95

Headlamp harness #52-562 (62-66) $29.95

Taillamp harness-front #52-623 (62-66) $30.95

Taillamp harness-rear #52-662 (62-66) Fleetside with taillamp pigtails 29.95

Heater harness #52-720 (64-66) Deluxe heater $19.95

Dome Lamp harness #52-805 (60-66) $7.95

Gas Tank Sending Unit harness #52-814 (60-66) 4.95

Wiper Motor Jumper harness #52.875 (64-66) $18.95

All of these part numbers, descriptions and prices are pulled from Catalog #3, Volume #1. I believe they are currently issuing Catalog #3, Volume #3, so some of the part numbers, descriptions and prices may vary.

I hope this information helps.

[kevindtimm]

lilred66:

Only that the underdash is more than the whole ez21 wiring kit. I agree that the factory connectors are far nicer, but since I rewired the whoile truck I just couldn't compare $175 to $450. Again, that said, I must reiterate my love for the stock connectors.

[LILRED66]

I have never seen a complete wiring harness from head lamp to tail lamp, including all the harnesses listed in my previous post for $175.00. I have used the American Autowire and the Painless kits for the '64-'66 Chevy trucks and neither were under $400.00, nor as "painless" as the stock reproduction harnesses. If you found one that will do an entire truck for $175.00, post it here, so others can give it a go.

[badriand]

Or until you can get a kit do what i did and just trace one wire at a time and see what it's function is. I had about half that didn't serve any function maybe at one time but not now so i just cut wires off and unhooked wires that had no purpose. Looks a lot better now.

[ron19]

Good idea on pulling wires that go no where. I'm thinking I can't even start without a book or wiring diagram telling me where things go and what they do. I do like the thought of the stock connectors, but since it's a hotrod, modified to whatever I want, I guess it doesn't totally matter. Hell, I have buttons and knobs on the dash that I have no idea what function they serve. I think I'll post a pic of my dash and see if anyone can identify what knobs do what. I know where the lights are and the wipers, that's about it....LOL.

[protrash64]

I would say that your wiring doesnt look too scary to me........both my trucks looked like the space shuttle crashed. I ve yet to fix either but I have cleaned them up and I will replace my pick-up w/ EZ wire harness which is extremely budget friendly...........I always figure on extra stuff as my pick-up has MSD, power windows, and shaved door handles. etc.

I will also be installing some old Caddy power buckets which should be interesting to get working again.

Good luck and post your results.

[kevindtimm]

tony, ezwire will do it for $185 (but it is sans sockets, connectors, etc.) so you have to do that amount of work.

I love mine.

[Musclerodz]

http://musclerodzstore.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=261 AAW makes a complete update kit specifically for 60-66 trucks. The most complete kit on the market. Trying to compare AAW to EZ wire is comparing dogs to cats. I messed with most the other universal kits and I just won;t touch them anymore.

Mike

[greg64]

Hey Ron, I think your truck and mine were separated at birth! My wiring used to look exactly like your spaghetti. Now, I'm completely comfortable with wiring, but I just took my time and chased every wire and made sure it had good connection and no nicks. I also removed any butt-splices or wire-nuts (called Marette's in Canada) and soldered the junction. Nothing worse than unreliable wiring! Also like badriand, I found a bunch of unused wires that the PO has hacked in, which I removed. They had also bandaided a bunch of problems instead of fixing them right, but I took care of that too.

So, now everything works properly, with no risk of fire, and no new harness. I don't like the look of that red wire that is wrapped around the main harness.

[ron19]

Originally Posted by Musclerodz

http://musclerodzstore.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=261 AAW makes a complete update kit specifically for 60-66 trucks. The most complete kit on the market. Trying to compare AAW to EZ wire is comparing dogs to cats. I messed with most the other universal kits and I just won;t touch them anymore.

Mike

So with this system, do you just completely remove and cut all the wiring in the truck and start over with the kit?

[rss396]

Looks to me that the original harness is decent. You have several wires added from the after market gauges and stereo. Put it back stock and repair the harness as needed. Should only cost a few bucks to do so.

[Musclerodz]

Originally Posted by ron19

So with this system, do you just completely remove and cut all the wiring in the truck and start over with the kit?

yes, and includes instructions on how to install in a 60-66 truck