The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay EZ wiring harness

Anybody have any experience with EZ Wiring? I notice they offer a 21 circuit harness and a Mini 20 circuit. Just wondering what the difference is and will either one work for me.

buddy of mine got a Painless 21 for his TF truck w/ 350/350, pretty much the same as the EZ .... not at all painless, with a whole mess of unused wire to try to jam into small spaces, or throw away

21 circuits means alternator, AC & aftermarket heater, elec fan, 4x4 controls, 3rd brake lite, power windows, power door locks, etc etc etc [to 21, the 20 has 1 less ]

I strongly recommend getting an OE style repro harness, which will be enclosed in the correct shaped loom for your truck and really be easy

Bill

Depends on what you need now & future. If you are building bone stock an original harness is fine. if you are " rodding " the truck, the extra wiring provided for AC, windows / locks, third brake light, gauges, etc. are needed. I put a Painless kit in mine - never wired a vehicle before and thought it would be a big deal - worked out fine. The few questions I had, Painless were very quick with answers and sketches.

We just finished installing a 21 circuit EZ harness. You can use some of the circuits, like auto door locks for other hookups in your vehicle. I would say we had about 8 circuits we didn't use. Job went pretty smoothly. I think we called twice for technical assistance for them.

I've installed a few "custom made" harnesses over the years and when it came time to redo my truck I just figured out what I needed and the circuit protection I wanted and built my own. No crimped terminal ends....everything was soldered with heat shrink....no excess wire to clutter up the under-dash.

Granted it wasn't a single weekend project, but I know what I have, my schematic is much simpler for the next guy to read, should the need arise, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that my electrical system is more than just new wire. The addition of circuit protection, security protection and relays brings me up to par with today's technology. Isn't that what it's all about? Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the input. My truck is fully modified, so a stock or original harness won't work. Know what you mean Fla54Chevy3100. On my first old truck, a '53, I did the same thing. Was working for an electric supply company and they gave me a bunch of TEW wire in various gauges. Colors didn't match the original, but it worked fine. Had enough wire left over to my neighbor's '51 when I got through.

I used a ez 21 cicuit harness on my 61 4x4. It was a nice harness, easy to install. Can't beat the price too! I figure it had to be better than the 45 year old harness!

I used Hot Rod Wires in my '56. It uses the standard GM color code and the wires are bigger. There's plenty of extra length to the wires. I took the time and effort to solder all connections. I'm very happy with it. I plan to get another when my '54 is ready.

I did the EZ-Wire kit 4 years ago and I'm totally happy with the whole deal.

It's great having extra fuses and lines ... I just added a 1955 Buick clock under my dash -- no problem figuring out where to wire it. I just grabbed a spare wire that has steady power from under the dash, wired the clock, put a fuse in and I'm all set. You can see the clock install Here

And when I put power seats in, I'll have the same enjoyable experience.

You can see my 10-Day EZ-Wire project, day by day, Here

ez wire kit worked great for me with my 46 truck. Very easy to do and nice little packaged setup. It was less expensive than others and worked well.

I looked into the quality standards of EZ-Wire ... their wire and coatings are of the *highest* standards available. And you're right, zipper ... their prices beat everyone else.

I used the YnZ harness and (despite the wait) was very much pleased. Looks like a brand new version of the one I removed with new insulation and terminals. These trucks are pretty simple compared to the vehicles now being produced, which is why we like 'em.

I used the EZ 21 in my 42. I actually had bought it for a 67 Mustang I was going to rebuild, but sold the car. Kept the harness for the 42. It was way more harness than I needed right now, but I carefully snipped wires I did not need, shrink-tubed the ends and bound them back into the wiring bundles in case I need them later on. Alan is right, these are terrific harnesses and a bargain. On the 56 I just bought, I spent more and got the American Autowire Highway 15 harness. It is a $130 more, but it does provide separate harnesses for front engine, guages, rear harness, etc. The quality is maybe -- and I stress maybe -- a little better than the EZ harness. You could accomplish the same thing using the EZ harness and buying separate connectors to separate the "sub-harnesses". All this is to say, the EZ Harness is a very good, cost-effective, modern, fuse-protected unit. So is the AAW, and I'm sure many others. For the money, if cost is an issue, I don't think you can go wrong with the EZ Wire harness. BTW, they are always available on Ebay usually saving a few bucks.

How bout for those of us running original generators instead of alternators? Is the ezwiring kit adaptable? (Perhaps I'm exposing my ignorance of automotive electronics here...)

Also, Alan, I love your website! Nice, clean work with the wiring. Makes me ashamed just thinking about the mangled mess powering my rig...

If you are running the original generator and a basically stock truck with no accessories you have no need for one of the custom harnesses. Get a stock type one from one of the parts vendors and save a hundred or more.

I'm with Cletis, and the factory style ones now come with the turn sig wires built in and in a variant for use with an alternator - even if you only save $20, a repro factory harness will have all the correct colors, and correct connectors, in the correct places, and be a much simplier 'drop in' improvement .... and they use the same quality material as any hot rod harness - makes it easy to use yer shop manual later for working on anything connected to the electrical system

Bill

I took all the wires from my EZ-Wire kit that I wasn't employing, curled them up under the dash, and removed the fused for each of them.

When I installed my clock and needed a wire with constant power, I grabbed the wire for "Power Door Lock" and used that which sure made life easy ... every wire in the kit has it's intended destination printed, every 6 inches or so, on each wire.

vtapache -- Thanks, man ... I'm glad you enjoy my site.

And, yes: The EZ-Wire kit includes instructions for generator or alternator, whichever you're running.

Alan,
Any difference, besides the fuses, in the regular E-Z harness and the "Mini" one?

I haven't looked at the differences, if any ... I never saw a need for the mini. If it's the same number of circuits, then I would guess they're the same.

I have installed about 6 or 7 EZ wire kits, and, for the price, you can't beat them.
I only had one minor problem with them, which is, to hook up an MSD box where you need constant power with key on, both start and run, I found that the only circuit having both was the radio circuit.
Their instructions are a lttle vague, but not as bad as with some other things I have bought.


Paul

Also, I didn't want a mini....in the older trucks I have installed, quite honestly the stock (regular) size was small enough when bending over to find the fuses. Smaller would have been worse.

Hey, Gman

I needed a wire with constant power for my '55 Buick clock that I recently put in my truck ... I used the wire for the door locks -- so, that plus the radio makes two - there must be another there somewhere, no?