The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Aftermarket wiring harness

Looking for the best and easiest aftermarket wiring harness to use on my 1963 C10. Any suggestions?

I used one called "It's a snap"

http://www.itsasnapwireandcable.com/

I completely re-wired my whole truck with it. The wires are marked about every ft so it's easy to identify them and they use the same color code as GM. They give you way more wire than you need to reach where you are going - so no splicing needed. I went with the larger one because we were adding power windows and a/c.

.... and you can add to the above Painless, Rebel and a few others.
Note: I kind of like what I saw in the link listed above so I called them. This kit is a "universal" but I suppose they all are to in some way... use what you need and leave the rest!!

I forgot to ask "Its a Snap" just where in the USA its made but at least its not China!

Kind of depends on if your truck is stock or custom and how savvy you are at doing electrical work.

I have wired (2) vehicles from scratch and used kits from Painless. I have no negative comments, the kits were complete and their tech support was great. I chose Painless because both cars were non-stock street rods.

These kits are not plug in type units. You have to do terminations and cut the wires to length. Not really a big deal.

Jegs and Summit also sell harnesses now. So there are a lot of vendors out there.

Hey, thanks guys.My truck has been completely gutted{thats the way it was purchased}so have to start from scratch. Wasn't sure to go universal or reproduction. I found reproduction very expensive.Only concern was connectors with factory switches,gauges,turnsignals ect.

Here’s a bit of input on my experiences wiring my last two car projects.

Back in the early 80’s I built a 1946 Ford using the entire running gear and wiring harness from a mint condition Chevy Nova I purchased as a donor car. I pulled the entire harness including the fuse panel and swapped it over to the Ford. Over time, I discovered how limited my options were, and started buying spools of wire from the local parts store (all 3 colors) so I could connect more accessories. It soon became apparent the stock “through the firewall” fuse panel was a poor fit in the car, so I bought a very early aftermarket fuse panel from California Rewire. It was a great panel, and the system worked fine, but entire harness looked terrible with splices everywhere, very few colors for all the circuits, and all of the parts store wire was vinyl, not crosslinked like the “good” wire found in kits. Eventually I sat down and added up the receipts and discovered I had spent over $250 on my “free” wiring harness, at a time when a Ron Francis kit sold for just over $200.

In 1992 I started building my 1960 GMC and was determined to do the wiring “right” this time and purchased a Ron Francis kit. It turned out to be one of the best investments I’ve made. It was very easy to install, and over the years there have been countless modifications to the electrical system, and the ability to add or change wires at the fuse panel by simply unscrewing a terminal has proven invaluable.

Recently I’ve been questioning the wisdom of continuing to recommend Ron Francis because of the perceived cost of their kits - $449.95 for their Express kit, which is the current equivalent model to the one I purchased. Memory told me I paid about $250 for the kit, but I recently found the original receipt and the cost was actually $345 for the main kit and $35 for the gauge kit – so almost $400 18 years ago. All the accessory extras can add up quickly, but considering the price for a basic kit, and how much everything else in the economy has gone up, I’m inclined to think the Ron Francis kit still remains a relative bargain. There are many less expensive good quality kits on the market, indicated by the number of satisfied customers. The Ron Francis solution is not for everyone, particularly on a nearly stock vehicle with very limited accessories. But if I were to wire another project, I would still prefer this design if for no other reason than the ability to add and remove wires at the fuse panel. It’s clean and easy. And there are other reasons including the quality of the fuse panel itself.

If I had it to do over, the only change I would make is to have mounted the fuse panel behind (or in) the glove compartment, with a removable cover. The older I get the more miserable it is to access the fuse panel in the conventional location just to the left of the clutch pedal. Sitting in the passenger seat working on a fixed panel would still be the ideal mounting location for my preferences.

Here is my harness supplier of choice:

M&H Electrical Fabricators, Inc.