Painless 21 Circuit Wiring Harness; Is it worh a shit?

[68_383charger]

So I've been looking at the wiring of my 68, and I was thinking about saving some time, and buying some piece of mind by getting a 21 circuit wiring harness from Painless. I already know I need the forward lamp harness and engine harness. The under dash harness looks ok, but I have yet to test it. The harness available through year one is a bit pricey and you have to piece it together. you have to buy each section separately from what I have seen. What I am wondering if anyone on this forum has any experience with the painless harness and if it worth a shit, or should I spend the extra money year one harness. Thanks Nate

[moparguy01]

go to www.ezwiring.com

I used their kit on my charger. It went real easy. Just like a painless kit, but half or less the cost. The only difference I've seen between them is that Painless has wires labeled i think every 4 inches. This harness is only every 6.

I have installed both painless and the ezwire. they are very close. both work good. But keep in mind they are GM based, so you need to do some wiring at the steering column and a few other places to make it all work the way its supposed to.

[mopar0166]

just got my painless kit, and it looks great.  from all the negative comments on here , I was more then well surprised with the quality, what cam with the kit etc. 

ill make a post one its done, im in process of getting the car ready for a new harness. 

[frank1966]

go to www.ezwiring.com

I used their kit on my charger. It went real easy. Just like a painless kit, but half or less the cost. The only difference I've seen between them is that Painless has wires labeled i think every 4 inches. This harness is only every 6.

I have installed both painless and the ezwire. they are very close. both work good. But keep in mind they are GM based, so you need to do some wiring at the steering column and a few other places to make it all work the way its supposed to.

I have a Ron Francis kit, its purely a GM kit, little to no mopar. There is a fair amount of rewiring, its hard to figure out IMO but I think it will be worth it.

[myk]

I didn't want to spend the money on the sky high Year One type stuff;  so I went with the EZ kit as sell.  The only drawback is that you have to reuse some of your old connectors, but so what?  You get an updated wiring system with extra circuits for future add-ons, and I like the modern blade type fuses in the system.  Who wants to buy all those harnesses separately anyway?

[garner7555]

I ordered the American Autowire highway 22 kit.  It cost a lot more but it comes with a ton of stuff like ignition switch, headlight switch, dimmer switch, ect.    For quality I dont think you will beat American Autowire.      

http://www.americanautowire.com/view-product/highway-22-complete-wiring-system/

[Finn]

go to www.ezwiring.com

I used their kit on my charger. It went real easy. Just like a painless kit, but half or less the cost. The only difference I've seen between them is that Painless has wires labeled i think every 4 inches. This harness is only every 6.

I have installed both painless and the ezwire. they are very close. both work good. But keep in mind they are GM based, so you need to do some wiring at the steering column and a few other places to make it all work the way its supposed to.

2nd this. Used on my 63 Savoy, great value.

[UH60L]

I bought my painless #10127 kit back in 2007 or 2008 so it's the older, 14 Circuit harness.  It took me a long time to get enough money, time, and motivation to start working on my car again.  Since about the middle of last year I have been working on it a little every weekend, mostly on the wiring harness.

I don't know what the extra 7 circuits are for in the newer harness, but mine seems to have most of what I need plus a few extras such as a relay and wiring for an electric fan, if I had one.

The majority of the wires match the original colors of my old harness.  So far it's been pretty easy to install.  The hardest part for me so far has been deciding how to secure the fuse block.  The old one had a bolt/screw that held it to a mount left of the glove box.  The new one is designed to clip onto something.  I finally gave up and just temporarily zip tied it to the original mount (no one's gonna see it and it doesn't have to be grounded...).

Some things were not included in mine, such as the harness between the wiper motor and the wiper switch.  I had to trace the old harness and make a new one.  Same for the wiper/washer tank motor wire, not included, had to make one (and will have to make the ground wire for it).

Almost none of the connector housings were included, so I put new connectors on the wires and cleaned up the old housings and popped the connectors into them.  My kit did not come with enough of the female "Packard 56" connectors to finish the job, and none of the local parts stores sell them (they need to have the locking tabs to stay in the connector housings...).  I had to order some online.

Mine included 4 connectors with wire already in them for the headlights.

The one connector housing that did come with my kit was a generic early '70s era headlight switch connector, but unfortunately it won't fit my '69, and mine is melted...

I'll hopefully be testing my system in the next few days, and starting my engine for break-in in a few weeks.  I'll let you guys know if I have any issues with the harness.

[UH60L]

Well, the initial test using a battery charger revealed a problem.  I've got constant power to the dash lights, they stay on even with the key and headlight switch off.

Also when I turned the headlight switch to "PARK" I blew the 15 amp fuse for the park/marker lights.

Starting my troubleshooting today.  Hopefully it's an easy fix.

[Derwud]

I ordered the American Autowire highway 22 kit.  It cost a lot more but it comes with a ton of stuff like ignition switch, headlight switch, dimmer switch, ect.    For quality I dont think you will beat American Autowire.      

http://www.americanautowire.com/view-product/highway-22-complete-wiring-system/

I second the American Auto Wire recommendation. I have not ordered or installed one, but they are working on a B-body kit and if it is anywhere as nice as their A-Body kit, it will work out perfectly.

[UH60L]

Ok, so, on my headlight switch I checked the 2 wire connector that goes to the park/tail lights and it has continuity to the green wire on the headlight switch (goes to headlight dimmer switch), all 3 wires on the panel light dimmer and all 4 wires on the hazard light switch.

Something doesn't seem right about that. 

Bought more fuses, continuing to test...

[UH60L]

Well, turns out my front turn signal quick disconnects were not plugged in, so that magically seems to have fixed the fuse popping issue, and turn signals and park lights seem to work.

Still can't get my dash lights to shut off though...

[UH60L]

Ok, swapped the yellow and black wires on the instrument panel dimmer (roller switch) and now the dash lights are off until you turn on the headlight switch.

All previous testing was done with a battery charger.

Tomorrow, stage 2, hooking up the battery!

[Aussiemadonmopars]

Well at least the painless kit looks like an actual full kit and wired differently i.e. a better way. I am using a RF kit and the indicators in the back still work off the break lights by the looks of it. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case and I will definitely change it for safety reasons. I have had to run extra cirucits with the RF kit as well for stuff like AC and Thermo fans (even though the kit controls the fans they still have to be fused from somewhere else). I'm also not happy with the small gauge wire that is running to the RF fuse box, looks to be too small. Good luck and hope the Painless kit works out for you.

[Pat1973charger]

Is this for interior harness only or a whole car? What do you guys use for factory look?

[miller time]

I bought a painless harness and it was a waste, I don't know about new styles but mine had zero again 0 connectors and I didn't have an original harness to canabilize so I hit up Craigslist and found one still in the car for less then $200 so I took a 5+ hour round trip and couldn't be happier, painless harnesses are nice design but with no connectors you might as well buy a mess of different colored wires and make your own and save $ and have a mess of wire left over for other projects,

[mopar0166]

I'm loving my Painless harness,  I did my research and knew what to expect going in.  it did everything I needed and I completely scrapped using a 40 year old harness and trying to run modern stuff through it.  I haven't completed mine yet but I'm doing it at the same time as redoing the dash frame, windshield, rebuilding transmission and center sections and a few more interior mods.  so its taking a bit longer but
I'm testing it along the way with great results thus far.  The amount of connections/ terminals needed were very few and I used them for good order to continue to use the original switches.  (wipers, lights, hazards, console) that's it .  I was missing an ignition plug but when I get one ill deal with it then. 

I'm also running electric fans, electric fuel pump, cb, aftermarket radio, led lights, msd ignition. aftermarket gauges, Dixie horn, electric exhaust cutouts etc)


This Harness was good to me so far,  not recommended for a stock application. and id advise if you really don't know wiring find a friend that does.

[mopar0166]

A little update, dash frame is off. old wiring is out, firewall and dash frame cleaned and repainted.

last night I compared the painless to the factory stuff.  besides re using plastic terminals ( which id do anyway if they were good) it matches up nicely.  my charger had the extra light harness for the console dash stuff and ign as well. I don't think their will be any big issue as well as running dual electric fans, elect fuel pump, Dixie horn, electric cutouts, and MSD ignition. 

pics will come later in the week, not much to see right now.  No its not plug and play but since evey car is different this is a great option.

[mopar0166]

dash is almost done, fuse box is now in the glove box for easy access

[Aussiemadonmopars]

dash is almost done, fuse box is now in the glove box for easy access

Hey Mopar0166, did you have a look in the RF Kit thread, Ive posted a few picks of how I did mine in the glove box with an RF fuse box.

[mopar0166]

Ill have to take alook, when I get it done I have progress pics then ill do the final write for people to reference.  I try to give updates because I know people like that.

[mopar0166]

form the pics it looks like you doing some the samethings im doing to hide the wiring. 

Look good Ill have pics up next week

[Aussiemadonmopars]

Yeah, I think I have to change the position of the coil though. I didn't want to put it on the engine but it's looking like thats the best place for it. 
I am also looking at the firewall coil connector and putting the coil under the dash but am worried about routing.

[UH60L]

Ok boys and girls, I started my engine yesterday for the first time.  After sitting for 8 1/2 years after the rebuild, we put a little oil in the spark plug holes just to make sure everything was lubed good.  The timing was off just a hair, but after turning it over 6 times, she started right up.  Plenty of smoke from the oil we put in, but no issues of any kind from the wire harness.

Everything seems to be working on the car except my dome light, but I need a bulb to test it, and the tach, which I haven't bought/installed yet.  So far so good.  I'm loving how easy it's gone so far.

We only ran it for a few minutes to adjust the timing and carb.  Next step, break in the cam, then test the tranny.  It's been a long time since it's moved under it's own power.        

[Aussiemadonmopars]

Ok boys and girls, I started my engine yesterday for the first time.  After sitting for 8 1/2 years after the rebuild, we put a little oil in the spark plug holes just to make sure everything was lubed good.  The timing was off just a hair, but after turning it over 6 times, she started right up.  Plenty of smoke from the oil we put in, but no issues of any kind from the wire harness.

Everything seems to be working on the car except my dome light, but I need a bulb to test it, and the tach, which I haven't bought/installed yet.  So far so good.  I'm loving how easy it's gone so far.

We only ran it for a few minutes to adjust the timing and carb.  Next step, break in the cam, then test the tranny.  It's been a long time since it's moved under it's own power.        

Greeeat news Buddy. I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to taking time but I bet it's a good feeling knowing it's getting closer to driving on the streets again, huh?