The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Wiring Questions?????

Hello,

I am ready to begin to rewire my truck. I have checked with a performance shop and they want $500 for labor plus the harness. So I plan on doing it myself, much more satisfaction and I am not made of $$$. I forgot to ask them about the type of harness I need so I am bringin my question to the Stovebolter's. Because my 55.1 has a 1968 Camaro Small Block V-8 do I need to get a 68 Wiring Harness? Or do I just get a 55.1 Harness. New to restoring and have lots of questions. All help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

You need to use the 55 harness. You will however be changing a few things around if you use and alt. Nothing big . 500 bucks is not all that bad if its a custom wire job from scratch . I build my own harness and it is a lot of time and neck pain . Comes out much better than the stock harness. Have fun !

The wiring job would be with a harness and not from scratch. I would rather try it myself than spend the $700-$800 for someone else to do it.

Thanks,
Chris

On the cheap end of the scale, there's a $100 harness available from Chevy Duty. It's a vinyl-coated replica of the OEM cloth harness, nothing more. If you have accessories you'll have to tap into a hot lead and wire them separately. The harness itself doesn't care how many cylinders you've got, and the kit comes with a 12v (internal reg) alternator plug. The installation is brutally simple; follow the colors and match the numbers.

If you have a bunch of 12v accessories, you may want to opt for the more elaborate (ergo, more expensive) harnesses that already have auxiliary leads and a fuseblock. Shop around various vendors, and find something that matches your budget, power requirements, and skill level.

I had the basic harness installed in one day. Had I known it was a $500 job, I would have gone slower and used more 4-letter words!

Hedgehog,

My truck is running a heater(not used much due to she is stored in the colder months), headlights, push button ignition, turn signals and wiper blades. Pretty simple. I would like to add a disc changer and radio. So with this set up I can stay simple and look at the harness you recommended?

Thanks,
Chris

That all depends on your patience. I have added a $2.50 fuse block I found at Radio Shack and I now have electric wipers and power seats in addition to the heater, lights, signals, etc.

The basic harness accomodates turn signals and essential funtions, but that's about it. All accessory items have to be wired individually. I have been doing this for years, so it's no big deal to me; if this seems like a daunting task look for a more sophisticated harness. Remember that every electrical device needs to be fused on one end and grounded at the other. The rest is just "going with the flow."

I bought a 12 circuit harness at the Turkey Rod Run for around $250.00, I think it was Wire-Plus...anyway it was very simple and there were no surprises, I also have a 350/350 drive train. Harness was labled and GM color coded. my .02

Chris,

For the equipment you describe, I agree with Hedgehog about using the $100 Chevy Duty harness. With patience and care, you can easily install it yourself. It comes with wiring for turnsignals and is set up either for generator or for alternator (three wire alternator; just ignore wires if you have a one or two-wire alternator).

You should also buy new firewall grommets.

By the way, the Chevy duty 55.1 wiring harness is plastic coated but so were the original 1955/1955.1 harnesses.

The CD harness does not have wiring for the heater or for radio (these were accessories back then and came with separate wiring). As Hedgehog suggested, just get the right size wire and do these yourself.

Good luck,
Tim

You might want to check out the EZ Wire harness. It's universal and has everything you need. I bought it and I like it. Check out Alan Horvath's site on the installation of it. http://www.alanhorvath.com/54chevy/ezwire_day1.php

I've got a 350/350 drive train and did the EZ-Wire kit, like steppinwood pointed out.

I also added a stereo system, air-conditioning ... and this Spring I'll be puttin power seats in ... the EZ-Wire kit gives me plenty of extra circuits to add anything I please!

It was FUN to install and only cost $165.00

Go for it, man ... and if you have any questions, email me.

Chris,
I'm re-wiring my '59 right now. Ran out of time sunday so will be installing the rest this weekend.
I bought the chevy duty harness for $100 and got a new dimmer switch (moisture prone, being on the floor), headlight switch (was completely wornout), and bulbs.
I spent about 2hrs removing the old wiring, headlights, taillights, grill, instrument panel, etc. I was able to wire the starter/coil harness, headlights, and taillight harneses in another 2 hours. This weekend I'll install the two (main) harnesses that run the light switch, instrument panel, and key/ignition and I'll be ready to ops test it all.

This kit is SO simple. They number each end of all the wires/connectors and list the name and disription of what and where (exactly) you install each. (Example: #29 to top terminal of ignition resistor) You get the point!

This kit will supply the wiring from headlight to taillight minus the "radio, a/c, or anything else non-stock"

I'd say rewire the neccesities and then find your power to tap into for your radio after you install this kit, tidy up the wiring, and become much more familiar with you truck and how its wired. Its intimidating at first but once you look at and understand what your pulling out and installing you'll really start to get comfortable with everything.

Edit: They offer a genrator or an alternator harness. So with your sbc running an alternator thats the only differance you'll need to worry about. Dont mount everything back into its normal position (lightswitches, instrument panels, etc) to check for high current/ hot connections/ smoke, the unlikely bad stuff.

Good luck, keep a fire estingusher in your truck.
Jason

You will need to add a fuse block for any accessories (radio, cd changer, AC) if you go with the $100 CD harness. They also sell an original-style accessory fuse block.

This harness is wrapped with the cloth loom and not shrink-wrap tubing.

I rewired my '59 with this harness and am pleased with the results and the savings.

Good Luck!

There's also a lot of options at www.painlessperformance.com which has harnesses and other custom goodies. Another catalog I got is from Ron Francis' Wire Works. It too has many options. There site is www.wire-works.com
Scott