Wiring Harness

Want to rewire the car either this winter or next. Anyone use kits that are any good or should I go through a distributor that uses my existing fuse block for rebuilding a harness?

Is it hard to rewire an entire car? I've got more and more electrical issues coming up due to old/faulty wiring.

starchief59.....It depends on what you intend to do with the rest of the car. If you are interested in originality, the M&H harnesses are great. Just feed them through the right places and hook them up. I didn't need any for my '59, but used them on my 67 Firebird. Perfect reproductions, but pricey! They don't reproduce the fuse block though, so you have to send them yours. The major parts companies (Ames, Performance Years, Etc.) sell them, but it's best to deal with them directly if you have any electrical modifications (HEI ignition, modern audio equipment, alternator etc.) There are three basic harnesses for these cars. The engine compartment, including wipers, front lights, horns, charging system, starting system, and engine sensors. The rear harness includes the rear lights and the fuel sending unit. The interior harness has the rest of the circuits including dash and courtesy lights, steering column, and radio etc. Accessory systems like power windows and seats and air conditioning have their own circuits that get power by tapping into the fuse block or horn relay stud. Hope this helps......John

If someone made a reproduction harness I might be interested if it's not way too overpriced. I've never driven my car so I have no idea what works and what doesn't. I know the starter and the headlights and the horn work.

Robert, the harnesses I've found like John said require the original fuse block sent in and typically cost between $500-$600 for the entire car.

I will be keeping everything original except I will be installing a powermaster alternator in place of the generator. They look just like the generators so I can keep the stock look.

I bought a harness from American Rebel wire through the HAMB website, they are fair priced and simple to use, and very nice overall. 10% if you mention your a HAMB member. I rewired my lady's 59 ford fairlane and it took me about 20 hours over 4 days and a 24 pack of booze to do it. it doesn't come with the connectors and light bulb housings but all that stuff can be found at a mom n pop store. I would say a 21 circuit kit would be good cause it has options for everything, I used the 12 circuit and the only thing it didnt have was reverse lights, but it has 3 accessory ports where you can wire it up if you don't go 21 circuits. the more expensive kits (to me) are not worth the money, cuase I've had friends buy them for mercurys and buicks and they don't give you enough slack because they are cut to car length. the universal kits give you plenty of wiring in case you want to re-route it differently than stock. wires are wires, hook em up, ground em, the car will run.

creepjohnny wrote:

wires are wires, hook em up, ground em, the car will run.

I'm gunna get my ass a giant wirenut then and just tie them all together and let 'er buck.

Not sure what I'll do yet. Just looking for some info.

That would be one hell of a wirenut! haha

Let me know what you decide to do.

can anyone tell me the easiest way to remove the fuse block? Its a pain for me to reach and dont want to tear it apart without any info on removing it. It is really rusty on all the contacts and i would like to pull it and sandblast it or clean it somehow. Most electronics in my car are dead but i dont want to chase wires with it looking this way. On a side note, i was out dicking around with my car then i heard a loud hum then static noise. I started looking around and found my radio and speaker just decided to come back to life! I even built an am transmitter myself and put a bunch of 50-60s songs on my mp3 player and played over it. But anyways, any info or pictures regarding the fuse block removal would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!