Hi there...I am planning on re-wiring my 56 Ford F100. I have never done any electrical work before and am wondering just how hard it can be. I have looked on line at many different complete wiring kits and don't know which one to get. Is there anyone out there that can give me some advice on what to look for? Or is there anyone that can give me useful tips? Anything will help....
Most people on another forum seem to prefer the "painless" kits. It depends on what all modern electronics and electrical items you will be running on which you buy (how many circuits). I am not sure what is preferred around here.
My 56 has all new wiring, but it is not a modern kit. It is wired like it came from the factory, just with new stuff. None of the old cloth wrapped wires or anything left. :nono:
Then again...mine is a stock vehicle. Well...mostly stock.
When my sons and I rebuilt the Jeep, we reworked the stock wiring harness. If I had to do over I would have bought a kit.
Even reworking the stock harness was not that hard, just very time consuming. My son did most of the actual work with me looking over his shoulder -- he was 15 at the time. We did have to redo some circuits a couple times.
These guys get little publicity, but make a good product. I bought one. They know what they are doing and have good products, but their advertising and web site aren't the best.
By the way, the kit comes with instructions, the wires are labeled on each wire every few inches where they go, AND they have a customer support line. One tech even offered to give out hi cell phone at a seminar he gave!
The challenge for most folks when they do a major rewiring job on a vehicle is that you have to be extremely methodical and structured. This is usually not a strong point for shade-tree mechanics. You can sometimes get by with shortcuts, but in most cases taking shortcuts just adds to the overall troubleshooting time.
A single missing ground, or a ground that isn't supposed to be there can cause at least a half dozen other problems. Electricity won't flow through an open, and will always take the shortest path to ground (and the one you didn't expect).
Some circuits are always live, and the ground is switched, while others are exactly the opposite. If you somehow get them cross connected, you can get wierd results. Those are the cases where you get symptoms like - step on the brake pedal and the radio and dash lights come on (brake circuit is somehow providing power to the dash or - when you turn on the left turn signal the gas gauge starts moving back and forth in time to the flashes (turn signal flasher is somehow providing intermittant ground to the fuel gauge).
Thanks to all of you for you answers. All very good information! Ive decided to go with the Ron Francis "express" harness. Wish me luck...I think I might need it! :sweat:
Jill
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