classic car wiring advice before you order

[chpr1972]

I am an amateur, so take this advice with a grain of thought. If you are going to modify your car do not buy the classic harness made for your car. Buy a universal or modified style that has relays and other items that do not come in a classic car wiring harness. I bought AAW classic 66 GTO kit. I paid over $500 dollars for it. My car has electric fans,
vintage Air with front runner system, Dakota Digital Dash and fan controller, Power convertible top[some kits have this accessory but AAW does not have it for a 66 GTO] after market radio and soon to be bought amps, and soon to be bought alarm system. So I had to do a lot of rewiring with relays and new wiring into the car that AAW classic kit does not provide. So there is a lot of wiring that I cannot use because of the relays needed to power and run these accessories.
What are your thoughts on it.

[astroracer]

Good advice! Of course, knowing what you want/need when getting into a project like this is also part of the formula. Hindsight is 20/20 but doing a lot of research AND planning prior to any purchase will usually save a lot of time, money and grief.
I am glad to know that you did things the right way though. Most of the "wiring" jobs I have reworked were hack and slash with no fuses and twist nuts as connectors. The other way to look at this is you got quite an education and that is priceless.
Mark

[vintageracer]

AAW makes a fine product for the application for which it is designed and engineered.

It's all about buying the right aftermarket product for the correct application.

Part of the car building hobby.

Live and Learn!

[130fe]

Does AAW make a classic update harness for your car? Sounds like that's what you need.

[therobski]

What I did with my 64 F-85 build is my stock wiring and fuse box was in okay shape but did not to put anymore load on it. Being a base model F-85 there was not much to it anyway- am radio, heater,cigar lighter, lights etc. that's about it. So I plumbed in a the Painless 7 Cirkit Boss to properly wire, Olds Air Products A/C, Soundstream 300 watt amplifier, Kenwood Head unit,Flex-a-lite dual electric fans along with a high output alternator and plenty of relays.

[MikeMalibu]

AAW makes a Classic Update Kit for your year and model. That's what I used and it has enough circuits for lots of modern accessories.

[chuckd71]

I used a classic update as well and it has provisions for a variety things such as power windows/ seats/ etc, etc, hence the "update" part. If you can sell yours and go that route it might be worth it. Would make things easier, as getting everything to work on a stock harness is doable but a huge waste of time.
Otherwise, perhaps just grab a stock distro/ fuse box from something in a salvage yard. I got a nice one plus a ton of really flexible cables from a 5-series I think for under $20. I have an ls motor, elec fuel pump, power windows, power seats, speedhut gauges w/ gps speedo that needs constant power, aftermarket a/c, two amps, electric fans, remote starter solenoid, convertible top pump and HID projector headlights (also had a ridepro E3, compressor and trunk battery in the mix). Point being if I can do it you can do it, just figure out what you have, what you want and what you need to get there. Classic update is the best option, but walking the salvage yards and looking at oem solutions might help you figure something else out.

[kylewo0]

Good advice, I am about to run my new AAW harness. I'm pretty sure I bought the classic updated harness but will be sure to double check! Thanks

[BuzzKillian]

The classic harness is just That. If you aren't adding anything that didn't come with your car when it was manufactured, and don't plan to. That is the one you want.

If you plan on running FI, AC, Modern Sound System (amps and such),Electric windows, Seats, ect... You need the Classic Update Series. I installed this on my '68 Camaro, and could not be happier with it. It had 9 extra circuits for the higher demand of modern accessorys.

[chpr1972]

It is the update kit but the wiring harness is NOT set for a lot of add ons. The wire for the fans is a 8 or 10 gauge wire when all you need is a 14/18 gauge wire because you should not run the fans without a relay. The wiring for the vintage air does run out to the battery and connects into a relay, and it connects to the non a/c fan hot wire. But all the relays require a ignition on wire and a wire to make it work. I run dual fans so I had to run 2 igniter wires, their wire was the key on wire . AAW says that they give you 2 extra circuits for accessories but they are NOT marked as such and they do not specify which fuse they go to and if they are constant on or key on hot. Also their ignition switch has 5 positions [acc, key out,off, on,and start] not the usual acc, key out,run and start. I did not want to turn the motor over so when I was wiring everything I turned the key one click to the on position which was their off position and then spent 2 to 3 hours wondering why I could not get power to anything. When I called the and asked why it was not in the instructions all he could say was they do not get many calls on it so...... Also the sockets for the bulbs are crap. The metal ground retainer pulls out and spring preassure pushed the bulb out so you have contact at first and then later no light. I had to modify all the tail lire and a couple of others. 6 months later now I get a turn signal flash on the dash once in a while. I can give you more problems I ran into but really all I am saying is to talk to different companies and see how they handle all the accessories that you are planning.

[130fe]

I think you are talking about the large gauge wire on the engine harness side? Yeah, it seems a bit large but I just hooked it put to the batt side of my relays for the fans. I used the PCM ign wire for the ign power in my relays. Yeah, the ign switch is different just relearned the new detents. I had no problems with my AAW CU install. Did you tell AAW about the socket problems? Besides adding relays for fans (which you have to do anyway), what other relays did you add? I have VA, DD and other add ons to mine and didn't have any issues. Their customer service experience was good for me.

[Arctic_Ragtop]

I am in the process of replacing all of the wiring in my '65 Beaumont as I did not like the way the original wires were ran, nor how they looked underhood. There is far too much wire length to get 12v power from the battery to make the car start, so I began researching and feel like I made the right decision, although I am not done the project yet. I looked at all of the painless/AAW/Classic wire upgrade systems out there, but realized that putting new wires in place of the old ones doesnt fix the factory inefficiencies that the car came with. I did not like the Battery-Starter-Horn Relay Bruss Bar-Alternator-Dash-Ignition-N. Safetly Switch-Starter orientation. Way too much wire to get the required volts to activate the plunger on the starter solenoid on new mini-starter. And it looked sloppy.

I called Mark at MAD Electrical (Google search him out, best in the business IMO), and spoke with him for two hours about my plans and he sent me all the wiring to update this poor system to a system that will incorporate relays and a remote-mounted starter solenoid and make the entire electrical system not only much safer, but much more effective. The box arrived a little over a week after I placed the order, and the instrucitons provided are extremely clear and informative, and come with a CD Rom full of pictures to explain everything, as well as the tech behind how it all works. This was great for a novice like me who was intimidated by the thought of soldering. Now I am able to solder and rewire my entire car with confidence because I understand it all and developed new skills on the pricess. Do yourself a favor and at least search it out, give him a call, he provides a far better option, IN MY OPINION, than a kit with new wires and new fuses. he is quite the character, but is very experienced and likes to share so make sure you dont have anything to do for at least two hours before you phone.

[chpr1972]

the kit number is 510188. There is an igniter wire for your fuel pump but the fuel pump should be wired into a relay with a heavier wire, not with the kit. The stereo system wiring is non existent except for radio wires. There is a fan controller wire but no heavy wire and relay wire for the fan. My Dakota Digital dash requires a hot wire and an igniter wire. The point I am trying to make is that if you are adding a lot of accessories find a wiring harness that has a hot wire and an igniter wire for what you are going to add. I had to add a lot of extra wires for the vintage air, fan controllers, amps, digital dash, fuel pump, fuel injection,ect. The point I was trying to make is maybe a universal wiring harness with 4 or 5 relays already wired in might be a better choice than a classic upgrade kit.

[Later-A-body]

I recently rewired my entire car. As with your car, no company makes a kit specific to my vehicle. I purchased the AAW Highway 22 kit. It is a 22 circiut kit. It covered everything I needed including the LS ECU, fuel pump, fans, PW, and future stereo. That is what you need. I am not a fan of wiring, but it was fairly straight forward.