Crimped connections are best. Soldered connections have issues down the road, even if they look really nice. This is why you don’t solder connections in aircraft- they are all crimped terminals.
I bought an American Autowire kit for my ‘50 pickup and was pleased with everything except the switches they included- headlamp, ignition and brake switches were all later model GM and using them would have required enlarging the headlamp switch hole in the dash, etc… although it was advertised as a kit for my specific year truck, it was designed to cover trucks well into the late 60’s. The wiring coming out of the fuse box wasn’t thought out very well, and I think that laying one wire at a time would have resulted in a much nicer looking harness.
As far as swapping out the steering column, I think that would kill the whole vintage look and feel of the truck- nothing wrong with doing that, but it takes it further away from being a classic, I think…
I’m not sure how you would do one wire at a time while continuing to drive the truck, unless you are willing to keep the substandard fuse layout though (or install several fuse blocks, one at a time)…. Also, in-line fuses are a nightmare when you have to troubleshoot something down the road- I would not recommend the in-line fuse route.
I’d like to hear ideas about upgrading the fuse setup while driving it and wiring it one wire at a time… this will be an interesting challenge.
Last edited by Norcal Dave; 06/03/2022 12:43 AM.
