New wiring harness suggestions . . .

The wiring on my 5 is absolutely absurd. Between the PO and the rats during storage, I can't tell who did more of an injustice. I'm looking for options and the faultless kits looks the easiest for a non mechanic/DIY person like myself, but that kit is around $500 so I'm looking for less expensive but quality built alternatives.

Any suggestions or experiences worth sharing? Anything special to look for or avoid?

 

Nicmil mentioned a eBay kit for 200. Sounds like the one I ordered too

 

I just finished up a kit from Northwest Autowire. They make a kit specific for jeeps with your dauntless engine. All in all, the kit was pretty straight forward, you do need to have a basic understanding of how electricity works and cars are wired.

 

EZ Wire is the what I used. Best price and great customer service!

Oh and I did it in a day and a half.

 

What do want in the new harness?

Factory replacement? Or a more modern DIY style with fuseblock?

 

Realize that the DIY harnesses are meant for hot rod builds. They give you a fuse panel connected to long runs of different colored wire, a wiring diagram, and not much more.

The main issue with repairing wiring harnesses is sourcing all those different colors of wire. That's the thing that the hot rod harness gives you. You still have a lot of thinking and cutting and splicing to do with one of these harnesses.

The Walck's harness is a replacement of the factory harness, and should be plug and play.

 

A few good things about the ez kits. Relays for headlights (much brighter) a fuse panel not inline buss, circuits you can use for other things, color coded and or labeled wire every 5", fully customizable. I bought my ez wire before they were even colored wire, purchased back in 2002 or so before anyone on the board heard of them. They are in my opinion the best on the market for what you pay, hands down.
They are not like a stock kit in anyway. They take a little thinking and prep work to install but they are totally worth it. Took me a couple hours of thinking of what I wanted and how I wanted it to be and about a day to install.

 

I uesd the speedway motors kit. Its like the ez wire kit but a little cheaper. It was very easy to install, i finished it in an afternoon.

 

I second the Speedway kit, great price and easy to install. $145. This is the kit I used on my build
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Economy-12-Circuit-Wiring-Harness,2352.html

 

Thats an excellent point I haven't considered yet.

 

Most kinda forget that part. I know I did at first.

 

I used an EZ wiring harness. Wish I had gone with something else. After buying some Ron Francis (ronfrancis.com)switches I like their more easily adjustable harness setups. Depending on what you are doing they have plugs for various steering columns, fans, HEIs, types of lights, and a wide variety of switches etc. They make a generic jeep harness but it is more expensive than EZ-wiring. I didnt think the EZ wiring harness instructions were that good and it took me a while to figure out what circuits got power when.
Jon

 

So lets talk expansion potential. I really don't know what direction I want to take with this project. I'm thinking of a resto-mod with a few additions; wench, KC lights, possibly a stereo and CB radio. So where would that leave me? Options wise; which direction is up?

 

Something to consider, I got lucky and found a donor Jeep for less than the price of a wiring harness. It was an all stock 1966 V 6, untouched by hackers. I used a lot of good parts and gave away the rest after the build.

 

You can expand from the original harness. Use an accessory fuse panel and run as many circuits as you want. http://www.delcity.net/store/Fuse-Panels-&-Terminal-Strip-Connectors/p_180

The hot rod harnesses have a 'size' based on the number of circuits. Look at the products to see what circuits you will get, and if they have the accessories you want and/or extras. A winch will need its own wiring, so that isn't relevant.

 

X2 I bought one from Karl, it was great. He will ask you questions that allow him to build the correct harness for you. If you have made any modifications, like an alternator with regulator internal, be sure to tell him.

 

A wench? What kinda wench? R)

 

I always liked wiry wenches. :twisted:

 

Well, there was the gymnast and the Irish one and the Jewish one and I'm going to shut up now. Needless to say, none of them would marry me...