New electrical system

1

1Michel

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Location
Saint Joseph du lac, Québec
I'm surely far from there but since the electrical system is out of the car and most probably out of date wouldn't it be a good idea to upgrade it with a system like this

www.americanautowire.com

http://www.americanautowire.com/HighwaySeries.html

I saw that in a build and am tempted to modernize the electric system "while I'm at it"

I could replace and relocate the fuse box away from under the clutch pedal for instance.

What do you guys think?
 
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As to spend 500-1000 bux on a harness all premade, and then to boot it not work with your ideas in the future, or maybe even presently....

I think to tear it apart and do your own wiring from ground up....

but being an old ET, it makes sense for ME, but I solder all wires, and so have no issues with that......

IF you don't know electricals....I fear you going to need some hands on help OR you need be a good learner....

we can help, but it's hard by remote control to see what is going on....

:hi:
 
Oh I dont intend to tackle this by myself, I'll get help for sure like I did for the welding of the frame gussets or something I'm not sure.

But I dont like the old fuse system and since the car is gutted it's a good opportunity and not wouldnt be too hard to replace.
 
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Buy the wire kit, we rewired V-Twins entire car and you'll spend more in connectors (and connector parts), shrink wrap, spiral tubing (or whatever you use), wires and so on than most of those kits. On top of that, wiring everything from scratch is a major PITA and takes a bunch of time. We had no othe choice with all custom stuff in the interior (gauges, warning lights, shift indicator, relay controlled stuff ehre & there, xenon headlights...and so on...and so on)
 
Twin_Turbo said:
Buy the wire kit, we rewired V-Twins entire car and you'll spend more in connectors (and connector parts), shrink wrap, spiral tubing (or whatever you use), wires and so on than most of those kits. On top of that, wiring everything from scratch is a major PITA and takes a bunch of time. We had no othe choice with all custom stuff in the interior (gauges, warning lights, shift indicator, relay controlled stuff ehre & there, xenon headlights...and so on...and so on)
Click to expand...

Marck, you post above seem to sit on the fence a bit...yeh, the stock system is fine IF your car is unmodded.....well more or less...but then like ME, all the system is custom from ground up maybe as well do it once and right.....

:bounce:
 
Twin_Turbo said:
Buy the wire kit, we rewired V-Twins entire car and you'll spend more in connectors (and connector parts), shrink wrap, spiral tubing (or whatever you use), wires and so on than most of those kits. On top of that, wiring everything from scratch is a major PITA and takes a bunch of time. We had no othe choice with all custom stuff in the interior (gauges, warning lights, shift indicator, relay controlled stuff ehre & there, xenon headlights...and so on...and so on)
Click to expand...

When you say wire kits you mean like those I mentionned before?

http://www.americanautowire.com/HighwaySeries.html

or

http://performance.alternatefuelsracing.com/painless.html
 
mrvette said:
Marck, you post above seem to sit on the fence a bit...yeh, the stock system is fine IF your car is unmodded.....well more or less...but then like ME, all the system is custom from ground up maybe as well do it once and right.....

:bounce:
Click to expand...

Not everyone gets a kick out of soldering fumes and wire spaghetty like you sparkies.

Seriously though, if you're not good with electrical wiring and soldering, plan on keeping the electrical system pretty much stock the money spent on a ready made loom is a good investment.

1 thing I would change even on an otherwise complete stock car is rewire the headlights to run off the alt, switched by relays
 
The stock GM harness is fine, and the General used good quality wire insulation.

The Painless wiring kits are also fine.

Ford wiring turns to stone. :crap:
 
Twin_Turbo said:
Not just ford, mopar uses the same junk connectors and wiring type.
Click to expand...

I not a Ford mechanic by any means, but the few I have looked at are fine wiring wise, connectors too....well maybe except those shitty head/tail light connectors on the Escort....they are a PIA.....and the foreign made keyswitch and interlock crap from Japan, and that Bosch engine control module POS totally not needed anyway....it was only the a/c compressor relay that burnt up, but a FREE relay out of my junk pile and it's fine now for several years...did the same for a buddy's wife's Escort too.....told him to flat out change all the coolent to glycol and chang that thermostat for a MURRAY, and NOT STANT because a Murray supposed to fail OPEN I"m convinced that was the reason my wife' engine overheated and blew sky high....but ti's running fine for the last several months now....

but like everyone else we cutting back driving to nil too....

it was fun on the mini vacation last week cruising 90 mph on I 10 and being passed by SUV, trucks, vans....etc....at 90....jeebus....vette got 22.2222 mpg at that speed.....got 23.7 something overall for the trip....can't complain too greatly, but still considering a switch to 308 gears....

:banned:
 
The 81 wiring is still prestine.
The 84 Lincoln I just junked, (read 3 years newer), was complete cracked/bare trash. :twitch:
 
big2bird said:
The 81 wiring is still prestine.
The 84 Lincoln I just junked, (read 3 years newer), was complete cracked/bare trash. :twitch:
Click to expand...

Dayum, Bird, what in hell is the diff about Ford wires and GM wires???

they just looked the same to me.....GM use Belden? and Ford use someone else??

we always had that little saying....
better buy Belden'.....back when.....

:hi:
 
mrvette said:
big2bird said:
The 81 wiring is still prestine.
The 84 Lincoln I just junked, (read 3 years newer), was complete cracked/bare trash. :twitch:
Click to expand...

Dayum, Bird, what in hell is the diff about Ford wires and GM wires???

they just looked the same to me.....GM use Belden? and Ford use someone else??

we always had that little saying....
better buy Belden'.....back when.....

:hi:
Click to expand...

The GM is a higher grade of insulation. Much more heat/oil resistant.
 
My '81s wiring is completely Bubbaized, with everything from "2 twist" connections with no tape, masking tape, and household electic cords wired in to God knows what. I ripped out the whole rat's nest, and I am going back with an aftermarket (Painless or equivalent) style harness kit. I have used them before (not on a Vette), and considering all the planned electrical mods it just makes sense. I'll use all the factory connectors off the original harness where needed, and get the proper terminals from Napa. I'm planning to relocate the fuse block to the passenger side storage compartment (where the LT1 PCM will reside), and hide all the underhood wiring, so the extra length in one of the kits will be perfect. For the quantity of wire they give you, the kits can't be beat. I'm still using spare wire from my last Painless install, and that was about 10 years ago.
 
1981Z06Vette said:
My '81s wiring is completely Bubbaized, with everything from "2 twist" connections with no tape, masking tape, and household electic cords wired in to God knows what. I ripped out the whole rat's nest, and I am going back with an aftermarket (Painless or equivalent) style harness kit. I have used them before (not on a Vette), and considering all the planned electrical mods it just makes sense. I'll use all the factory connectors off the original harness where needed, and get the proper terminals from Napa. I'm planning to relocate the fuse block to the passenger side storage compartment (where the LT1 PCM will reside), and hide all the underhood wiring, so the extra length in one of the kits will be perfect. For the quantity of wire they give you, the kits can't be beat. I'm still using spare wire from my last Painless install, and that was about 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

eh....I dunno man, I looked longingly at that compartment for my computer on my '72 here I have DPFI and decided behind my map pocket is a better, closer location, I didn't think much of all those wires running under that console and the lumps/bundles necessary...it's a LOT of wires, and then putting the FUSE block there you got long length of heavy wire there, and I"d be concerned a bit over gauge and ability of alt to charge bat correctly as a result, much less fans and blowers and lights.....don't forget that if we drop 2 volts out of 120 vac so what?? but 2 volts in a car about disables the thing....getting close anyway....which when I rewired my car completely in 01-02 I went with stock fuse block location, and I had that silly sob out and all over the place concepting WTF to do with it.....

but really, IF the fuse block is not corroded or rusted out, and MANY ARE, how often you really change fuses??? they are crimped/stamped steel for the spring connections on the fuse ends....I would go for a later style fuse block when going aftermarket....at least cover that base...plus glass fuses are much less common anymore.....

:beer:
 
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