Has anyone out there ever built their own wiring harnesses be it rear tail light, dash or anything else? I was pricing all new wiring and I thought that maybe it would be cheaper to make my own than pay $800 + for new. Any suggestions???
I think to do a proper job you will end up spending more and have a lot of leftover parts. It would be difficult but not impossible to get all the correct color wires cut to the right length as well as all the right connectors. Still, it would be a fun project if you have enough hair left to pull
the headlight harness isnt hard as long as you have another car to look at or have your old one.
tail lights are even easier since there is no charging system wires there.
but, the dash harness is a booger and IMHO, should not be attempted by any but proffesionals, as this is an area that if caught on fire will almost always burn up the entire car.
I work in an electrical mfg facility and design harnesses all day long so I know how much information is needed. If you have harnesses to reference (length, gauge, type, connecotors, etc...) its doable to a degree. I thought about doing this myself last year, however, after looking at all the required harnesses it became painfully obvious to me that it just wouldnt be worth it to me. Aside from the time to remove and tag all the existing harnesses/building new ones, I would have a real hard time finding all the right connectors and gromets for the car. If I were to re-use the existing ones it would just further complicate things. Getting the wires out of connectors isnt that hard with the right tool (usually special tools that are hard to find), but 38 year old connector pins are a whole other story. Not to mention that re-using old electrical componenets is never a good idea. Now, keep in mind that unless you follow the factory color coding you will not have a schematic that reflects your wiring anymore. So you would need to do that or design your own schematic. My wiring wasnt that bad and didnt need to be replaced as I originally thought (just had to de-bug it) so I didnt worry about it anymore.
I guess it depends on what your looking to do? Do you have existing wiring in the car now for reference or is this a bare car and you need to re-wire the whole thing from scratch? If you have a reference I would say you can do some yourself but if you dont its going to be tough. I would agree with old_fart on the dash harness. Aside from fire, its just a pain and very complex harness. It would be a task to make this one on your own. The others I think are doable. Elaborate on your game plan a little more for me, I may be able to help you out a bit. I have acess to a lot of neat tools here. I can also have someone here build you a harness off the clock if we can give them a design reference.
I've made some of the smaller pieces (like the convertible top harness) but finding all the right connectors is impossible (especially the ones on the dash harness.) The metal terminals aren't that hard to get, but the plastic housings... And like the guys said, you'll never find the same wire colors (i.e. purple with a pink tracer...) so you would have to substitute a lot of them. I can give you some sources if you want to try.
-=>Lee<=- Due to budget constraints the "light at the end of the tunnel" has been turned off!
eBay is an alternative. I have sold some very nice harnesses cheaply on the Bay. Some on there may need a small item, like a missing factory end, and go bidless because they are not perfect. A tailight harness can be easily restored by adding some new sockets that you can find at the local parts stores.
I was just surfing around on ebay and found several people selling the painless kits. They range in price depending on what type you buy. You can pick up a 21 circuit GM set for $159.00. That's a lot better than starting from scratch.
I rewired my 68 Coupe this past summer with the Painless Wiring, 18-Circuit kit, P/N 20101. This kit is designed for the 67-68 Camaro/Firebird and worked out excellent!...and was alot cheaper than the $800+, which you stated.
Sorry I missed that post, actually. It's confusing reading the rest of now, which also had no place in here. For what it's worth, I hear that FactoryFit is the harness to get, NOT Painless. Never seen either one, but that what what I heard.
I got an under hood harness and rear tail-light harness from Classic. They were made by Factory Fit (had their names all over the package.) They were made exactly like the originals, had all the right plastic termianl housings, wire colors, etc. They are pricey but very nice.
-=>Lee<=- Due to budget constraints the "light at the end of the tunnel" has been turned off!
Hey I appreciate all the great posts!!! I have all the wiring harnesses in the car and they are working fine. No project car. I was just kicking around the idea of updating the wiring this winter. Just something to tinker with possibly. From all the posts though it just may be better to get one of those kits and not get myself in a heap of mess.
I made a wiring harness for my car. The reason I did was that there wasn't another option. I installed a 300 watt stero 3 amps @ 100 watts, a 12" sub, 4 5 1/4"s, 4 tweeters, eq, remote cd changer (trunk), and a head. Also I have in intergrated alternator, hei, and a trunk mounted battery with a remote solenoid.
With these changes, I didn't want to alter the origional harness or graft into the harness.
At first, I though about intergating the trunk mount battery into the custom wireing harness, but, but it would have created routing problems, with either the power harness haveing longer wires or the stero harness having longer wires.
The stero wiring harness was made outside of the car after measureing and making skectehes, and the stero has a closed loop ground, not chassis ground, which is included in the harness.
Your costs to make front or rear harness would be pennies compared to new/salgave, and it would be a piece of cake to make. The only issue you might run into would be the connectors, but I bet they could be had for next to nothing if you could find a source.
Do you really want to go through the trouble of making harnesses or do you want to but new ones & plug them in with no issues? Don't sweat spending money on your car, the end of spending money on the car is nowhere in sight, lol!!!
if you notice, on a charred remains of a car, the wires are the only survivors!...nothing really happens to wire, it's the connectors and sockets that go bad.
Just realized that to cure the underhood wiring problems with my 'bird, I figure that the easiest way is to put a new engine harness in it. What does any think of the NPD harness? They say that theirs can incorporate an HEI distributer into it.
