Thread: Painless wiring

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Originally Posted by Don Shillady

I bought a book by Overholtzer of Painless and he says to use EITHER solder or crimping. I would like to crimp connectors and then sweat solder into the crimp, Overholtzer says this makes the end of the wire brittle. Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I did just that when I wired the relays for my fuel pump and 12v MSD signal. lots of wiring and no problems.

Interesting thread here...and appropriate since I'm installing Painless in our EC.

Love the wiring with the number and i.d., but maybe all of the suppliers spoken of do that.

The problem that I'm having is with the 2 speed wipers and park setting. And from my last thread the neutral/park transmission thing. PW offers no ideas in the instructions and the forum seems silent on this issue. Oh well, its electricity!

But one thing that I've read alot about is not soldering connections.

Itoldyouso what made Ron Francis the go to product? I know that my next project will need wiring and I'd love to get a better kit!

Thanks again!

Poor Big Tracks
All he wanted to do was buy a harness

I went with american autowire. I've called them several times with questions related to stuff, like lighting, halogens, wire guage, etc.. They are very helpfull. No preterminated wires, all switches provided, and packaged per system to be wired. One down fall is it has all GM connectors, but since my car has no connectors or stock wiring to deal with,thats ok with me. I haven't started wiring yet, so I will hold off any other comments until after I'm done. So far so good (it is their hwy 22 kit) bought on ebay which they honor the warrenty to.

Originally Posted by stovens

I went with american autowire. I've called them several times with questions related to stuff, like lighting, halogens, wire guage, etc.. They are very helpfull. No preterminated wires, all switches provided, and packaged per system to be wired. One down fall is it has all GM connectors, but since my car has no connectors or stock wiring to deal with,thats ok with me. I haven't started wiring yet, so I will hold off any other comments until after I'm done. So far so good (it is their hwy 22 kit) bought on ebay which they honor the warrenty to.

This good customer service is exactly what I found from AAW. Mine is the predecessor to the Hiway 22 and way overkill for my car as it was purchased for a sedan that was sold partway thru build for the roadster(20-20 hindsight says that I should have kept the OEM iron, but.....). I asked AAW once why all GM connectors - their response was that the steering column builders and most accessory manufacturers use GM and that the GM connectors are the most common after market connectors sold at auto parts stores.

In the realm of Good News/Bad News, the "Its A SNAP" (1-866-462-7628) harness has terminating plugs on the ends of the cables. The good news is that for instance the whole plug is there for the three prong dimmer switch; it's a snap, just push on the connector (harness uses GM connectors). Good so far BUT you have to have the room to get the connector plugs to the end use. I had to reroute the wiring to allow for the size of the connector compared to just sliding the wires through a small place. It looks to me that I will have to cut the wires to the headlights to fish them through the flex cables of the Model A headlight buckets, so I guess that means soldering and shrink wrapping the reconnections. This is trivial stuff and unnecessary chit chat but I am trying to keep this thread going because as other folks chime in I learn new things and I really need help. My wife thought I would do the wiring in one day and John York told me he can wire a Cobra replica in 1 1/2 days but to me it looks like months are needed since every little thing needs thinking and rethinking because of the learning aspect. I have the Model ZZ-20 harness with 20 fuses and I bought the "Its A SNAP" harness because the same company makes the TPI-Tech instruments that I have, and they were selected to get the 4-in-1 quad unit. With 20 fuses I will have to block off some unused features but it is not sure yet what accessories I will/will not use. Again, has no one on this Forum used an "Its A SNAP" harness? I sure would like to hear some comments from some one else who has worked with this harness. Check out:

www.itsasnapwireandcable.com

Maybe I have something good but am too inexperienced to appreciate it. The wire discussed above from the alternator to the battery looks like a red 12 gauge multistrand wire that is clearly marked "alternator to battery" but I have a 100 amp one-wire alternator so I will look around for some 6 gauge or 8 gauge wire to substitute. On a previous dune buggy I used a solid 12 gauge (house) wire as a grounding bus to all the electrical items attached to the fiberglass body and it really improved the brightness of the headlights and brake lights but as I recall multistranded wire can carry more current than a solid wire so I guess that "alternator to battery" wire should be multistranded?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
This might be some good reading for your alternator wiring. You'll have to drill down para.12 to find their awg recommendation, but it looks like #6 or possibly even #4 depending on where your battery is mounted. (Which reminds me........I need some #6 )

FAQ-Alternators

I've only seen the It's a Snap Advertised, never encountered the system. As far as wiring your car - my guess is that if you have decent instructions and nothing exotic like a computerized management controls, a week of 2-3 hours a day should do the job which is my plan. A few more hours to neaten it up and off you drive

Originally Posted by Geronimo

Poor Big Tracks
All he wanted to do was buy a harness

Very true!!! But there's a whole lot more to having a good electrical system then just how much it cost.....

What is it Richard says about the money saved is forgotten, but the quality isn't?????

Lots of good "been there, done that" information, which should all be considered when buying components.....

Originally Posted by Geronimo

Poor Big Tracks
All he wanted to do was buy a harness

Thanks, Geronimo, and everybody else for the input.

I'm facing the fact that rewiring my '70 F100 is no longer something to be put off.

Dang it, you would think that wiring ought to last at least a lousy 38 years!

I inquired about Painless because I visited with a guy at a car show and complimented him on his neat wiring job. He told me it was Painless, but I'm not necessarily locked in on Painless and am looking at options. I'd be lying if I said that price isn't important, and Painless (by my standards anyway) is pricey.

A former employer of mine wired in control systems at manufacturing facilities and they regularly scrapped some fairly long pieces of RHRW (heat/water resistant) wire, which I had access to. Kitz, Don, Dave, and others have discussed the importance of using wire of the correct gauge for different applications. I can now see that my use of this scavenged wire has resulted in "overkill" in most cases. I'd guess that it's better to err in that direction than to put in wires of insufficient gauge.

Again, thanks for the information, gentlemen.

Jim