Cost of rewire

[TERMN8OR]

How much do you think it would cost to completly rewire a 69 camaro ? Would have to remove the old harness and install a new one.

Thanks

[rocketrod]

Are you talking for a car that is stock, or a resto mod? Depending upon the answer to your first question you may want to consider doing it yourself. I am currently rewiring mine with the AAW Classic Update harness and it really is pretty simple.

[ProdigyCustoms]

It is 40 hours for a Classic Update in a gutted car, in a running car like your add 8 to 12 hours and $500 or so for the wire kit.

[TERMN8OR]

Frank,
Which harness do you recommend, the AAW ? I currently have a painless harness in the car, but you already know the story with my car. I think I was better off hiring a monkey to wire the car. What a butcher job this guy did on my harness.

[ProdigyCustoms]

We sell and install the AAW Classic Update harness. I should have one on the shelf if you decide to takle it.

[TERMN8OR]

I'm probably gonna send it out to get done. I'd rather have it done professionally so it's nice and neat. Don't want another birds nest under the dash like I have now.

[Mkelcy]

It's been a while since I did it, but I rewired my entire car (1968 Camaro with no interior installed) using the M&H OEM replacement wiring harness and did it (IIRC) in less than a day. The harness is entirely plug and play - no soldering, crimping or other additional wiring of any kind needed - and replicates the original factory harness perfectly. If the old harness is in the car, you simply pull out the old harness one section at a time and replace it with the new harness. The M&H harness was about $1,000, but saves a lot on labor. I believe the AAW Factory Fit is a similar product at a similar price.

The Classic Update is nice if you want to run portions of the harness in a non-stock location and/or have additional power needs. I believe the AAW Classic Update harness comes with the lamp sockets uninstalled, so you have to wire in each of the various light bulbs in the car. The unterminated bulb runs, however allow you to customize how you do the runs, and the Classic Update harness has power drops for things like power seats, etc.

M&H also has a classic update type dash harness which connects to their standard engine, front lighting, rear lighting and other harnesses. So you can get the convenience of terminated bulb runs with the additional power taps of the AAW Classic Update harness.

For myself, given a choice between paying 40 hours in labor for the installation of the Classic Update harness or the additional cost of the M&H update harness and doing it myself, I'd prefer to do it myself. There's nothing like knowing EVERY aspect of your car.

Be aware that as you get into things like AC, electric cooling fans, EFI, aftermarket ignition systems, CD changers, amplifiers, "Bright Driver" type headlights and so on, you're still going to be doing a lot of wiring and if Frank's 40 hours includes that sort of thing, that's a pretty good deal.

[Adam@Autoloc]

Me and my dad spent about 2 weekends rewiring his chevelle. we took breaks throughout the weekends. We got the main wiring harness and a few others we needed from KEEP IT CLEAN. I think we were about $400-$500 into it. We solidered alot and did wire loom too. So that took up more money and time.

KEEP IT CLEAN WEBSITE (http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/keepitclean/product.lasso?prodinc=wirepanelsystems&r=5033)

[MCMLXIX]

Not sure if you're interested but there is a group buy on the ISIS system. It has alot of benefits, like built in security w/ remote with lots of options to customize. It should also take less time to install then a standard harness. I guess it depens what your looking for... check out this thread and ask Wellis77 to PM the details.... https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

[Mkelcy]

Not sure if you're interested but there is a group buy on the ISIS system. It has alot of benefits, like built in security w/ remote with lots of options to customize. It should also take less time to install then a standard harness. I guess it depens what your looking for... check out this thread and ask Wellis77 to PM the details.... https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

I'm seriously considering the ISIS system for my project, but there's no way it takes less time to install the ISIS system than a standard harness for a relatively stock installation. Now when you start adding lots of non-stock requirements and options that's a different story. My guess is that they'd be about the same time for what I'm planning to do - LS3 in a '68 Camaro with power seats, power windows, GPS stereo and non-stock gauges.

The thing people need to remember with the ISIS system is that you need to separately wire every switch into the master cell and separately wire every electrical output from the power cells. That's a lot of wiring.

[wellis77]

The cost of a rewire is really going to depend on how complete of a harness/kit you go after. You can get a universal harness for cheaper, but you're going to have to spend more time and effort planning and installing, or you can spend 2-3 times more and get something completely designed for your car or get a system like ISIS that's programmable w/ additional features.

The times it takes to install, based on my experience, is really going to depend on your preparedness and understanding of the system/harness you are installing. As for the time to install ISIS, again I think it depends on your understanding of the system and your preparedness. I think I'll be able to install ISIS faster than a traditional harness because (1) I have spent a lot of time researching it and designing my layout and (2) there isn't a premade harness for Mopars. You Camaro guys got it made in many regards.

[Mkelcy]

The cost of a rewire is really going to depend on how complete of a harness/kit you go after. You can get a universal harness for cheaper, but you're going to have to spend more time and effort planning and installing, or you can spend 2-3 times more and get something completely designed for your car or get a system like ISIS that's programmable w/ additional features.

The times it takes to install, based on my experience, is really going to depend on your preparedness and understanding of the system/harness you are installing. As for the time to install ISIS, again I think it depends on your understanding of the system and your preparedness. I think I'll be able to install ISIS faster than a traditional harness because (1) I have spent a lot of time researching it and designing my layout and (2) there isn't a premade harness for Mopars. You Camaro guys got it made in many regards.

I agree the time and cost to rewire a car with a universal harness is going to be pretty substantial. But, as you point out, us Camaro guys can buy a complete factory replica harness that is an absolute plug and play - no need for any crimping or soldering of any kind. For a stock rewire, it's hard to beat in terms of time (but will be about $900 to $1,000 for the harness itself). When you start going significantly non-stock or are dealing with a car for which there are no replica harnesses available, the ISIS can prove to be a pretty nice alternative.