Painless wiring, yay or nay?

I never completley rewired a vehicle before. I hear alot about the painless wiring harness, but don't quite understand it. Its just a bunch of wires bundled together and you connect one end to whatever it says and the other end to whatever that says? Regardless, does it make it more or less frustrating, because I can see myself getting very angry following instructions. How long on average does it take to rewire the whole jeep? And is it easier to just do it one wire at a time, the old fasioned way?

 

I used the http://www.ezwiring.com/ kit. It's about 1/2 the cost, about $130-$155. Is just as good of kit, is labeled the same, you won't get the specific plug for the ignition, other than that its basically the same kit. It took me and a buddy about 6 hours to do mine, I would expect it take a weekend, the hard part is the turn signal, brake light and flashers. The rest is pretty easy. The 12 circuit kit will leave enough left over for anything that you would want to add later. The mini is available in color coded wire ($130 kit) but is labeled the same as the black wire. You will need a test meter, good crimpers and a small kit of butt splices and such, the harness comes with some but depending on how you use them you will more than likely need more.

 

i've done the painless kit. you will need some patience. it can be finished in a weekend.

with that said, if i were to do it over, i'd spend less and use one of the cheaper kits, as noted in the above reply. however, now that it is installed, my painless kit has performed perfectly. everything works. no more shorts. no more lights out.

either way.

 

I would go with EZ. In my opinion, it is a better kit and less $$ too. Either way, the EZ kit or a Painless would be a lot better than trying to rewire what you have. I will never try to do that again.

 

X3
My best friend used one of the EZwiring kits no problems at all, worked great I would reccomend it as well.

 

When you do it, take the extra time to solder all the connections and use heat shrink over them also. The extra work will def be worth it years from now when your not having terminals with corrosion on them causing problems. Also it will make it look that much more professional.

 

I used a Kwik-Wire harness. I got the 21 circuit model which was overkill. The only circuits I have used so far are the two flashers (turn signals and hazards), brake lights, and headlights. I cut out most of the wires that came with it, to be honest. If I had to do it over again, I'd buy a fuse panel and a couple of rolls of wire and save a bunch of money.

Thegreat thing about re-doing the harness is that you really understand the wiring when you are done. It makes it super easy to troubleshoot things down the road.

 

ok, well the guy I bought my jeep off of has the painless wiring kit he'd sell me for 250. He said their usually 300 to 400. But I think the ez wiring harness is the way to go, thanks once again guys!

 

My Jeep had no harness and I had nightmares about jury rigging every light and gauge (since I had no connectors to splice onto a universal kit. So I had Vintage Jeep create an OEM harness for the '73. Plug n' play. All the correct NEW! connectors are there and it wires as per the tech manual...no remembering stuff 6 years from now. It was $475, 979-387-3388.

 

I use to think that Painless Wiring was "the bomb" until I read up on EZ Kits kit. I am getting sooo tired of making up my own harnesses. It was cool at the time, especially if I wanted to impress my friends. But anymore, it is just as cost effective to buy a kit versus buying all of the different colors of wires and parts.
Just my two cents worth.

 

I bought a "restoration" harness from Walck's for my '56, I think it was around $200. It's all pre-connectorized and looks like it will install pretty easy, but it's supposed to be just like the original harness. I believe they make them there in-house, or have them made just for them.

It's got the cloth-covered wires with the correct colors and slash marks on them. Probably not what you'd want for a trail rig or daily driver, but since I'm going for a nearly showroom restoration that's what I wanted. FWIW, it's not all one piece, but rather several sections that connect together to form one harness.

I'd also recommend getting some anti-corrosion electrical grease, and brush a thin film on all your connections, especially grounds. It helps make better contact, and will keep the corrosion at bay.

 

I used the E-Z wire harness and thought the price was great. Nothing makes me think I made the wrong choice. I would definitely recommend it.

 

I am nearly done with a complete re-wiring job on my 73 CJ5. If you can pick up a kit for that price, I would recommend it. I haven't saved a lot by doing it all myself, but it is nice to know exactly how everything is wired up and I can personally vouche for the handiwork, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist. That said though, if you need help with whatever route you choose, let me know.

 

I used the painless kit, just take your time and bring the eye drops, lots of squinting.

 

I just (almost) completed mine using a Painless Kit. It took about 2 weeks, working a coule of hours a day. The instructions are horrible when it comes to the older Jeeps. While their technical help is pretty good, though it took 4 different techs to finally get one that could help me wiring the turn signals. I'm still having problems with the stock light switch popping fuses. They had me send a pic to help troubleshoot, but it's been a week and a half with no fix yet. None of the switch connections in the instructions/diagrams matched our stock switches (lights, dimmer, wipers, and instrument cluster).

Jim

 

I used a factory fuse block out of a Chevy S10 and a whole bunch of left over painless wire from the hot rod shop where I worked. I wired it just like the S10, which worked great since my engine is a 1990 Chevy S10 4.3L. I also used a GM steering column and headlight switch. Makes it real easy to trouble shoot, just go by the S10 manual.

 

I just finished my new harness and the only issue I have come across thus far is that the ignition plug is a plug and my key lock has screws for ring terminals. Does anyone have (or can take) a pic of how this wired up stock? i.e., am I missing an intermediate piece? Secondly, can anyone send me a pic of the '73 stock dash? I started with nothing and would like to know what goes in each hole!