how bad is wiring the V8 if you use painless wiring harness

[Guest 2002sentraSER]

has anybody used it and it is easier or harder to do than trying to tap into the stock harness and will it work everything from head lights to horn and other assoreries

[BillZ260]

First of all, the stock harness is CRAP. You will realize the over kill and un needed wires when you pull it ALL out and put in the Painless kit. I am using the Painless kit and I took me less time to route the wires and mount the fuse pannell than it did to PULL the Stock harness! The painless kit is very straight forward, every single wire is labeled for what you need to hooki it up to. I havn't yet connected anything but, shouldn't be too bad. the only think I don't like about the kit so far is that it doesn't supply ground wire with the kit. Just thought that was odd.

[namz7791]

Does painless list a specific wire harness for the Z or are you planning on using a generic type harness?

[BillZ260]

Since I am going V8, i went with the generic 18circuit GM model, the one for non GM steering coulums. YOu can get the 12 circuit, but for the bit more it costs, the 18 is the way to go so you definatly won't run out of accessory power when you start adding gadgets.

[Mikelly]

Nope. I have the Painless kit as well, and I think it is a well done kit. However, you pretty much get a universal kit, which is nice. You can CUT each wire to fit perfectly for your application. However, as My daddy used to say... Measure twice and cut once!

 

High quality kit.

Mike

[Guest BigWhyteDude]

Is the painless kit just for the engine or all the other stuff too??

 

Andrew

[BillZ260]

Is the painless kit just for the engine or all the other stuff too?

 

Mine is for the complete car, but I think you can get them for all types of different apps. Some are just for guage pannells, to TBI swaps. Check their site out, lots o' stuff.

 

http://www.painlessperformance.com/

[Guest woodyhooten]

does the kit come with instructions or do you have to buy them separately?

[Owen]

I too have the 18 circuit kit, was like $225 at Summit a long time ago. Some engineer-types have said it's a waste of money, but to a non-engineer like me, it was well worth it.

 

It comes with basic instructions, this wire is positive to the headlite, this wire is positive to the parking lite, etc. It doesn't tell you how to connect to the Datsun stuff. You need a stock wiring diagram (good luck with it!) to find out which wires to keep and which to pull.

Owen

[Tim240z]

Spend $20 on a auto electrical book, buy a crimper and wiring supplies and do it yourself!!

 

Tim

[Dan Juday]

Well, I'am going to be the voice of decent and state flatly that there is nothing wrong with the Nissan wiring design. Many of the electrical components reflex the level of quality consistant with the Japanese car industry of the 1970's. Which was mostly a mixed bag of: not bad, so so, and not so good. When all the conponents work properly the design is flawless. I find no extra or worthless wires.

 

Most of the problems the poor car gets blamed for are caused by the string of boneheads over the last 30 years that have tried to "custom" install audio systems, extra map lights, and other gizmo widgets. I've seen failed switches bypassed (wrongly) and replaced with cheap Radio Shack crap.

 

So, what are you going to do with the car? If this is going to be a stripped out race car then yes, pull out the stock wiring harness and replace it with an abbreviated one. You can probably make it yourself for less tham $100 with good quality parts.

 

If this is a street car that you want everything to work just like it did when it was new than fix the problems, replace the failed parts, and follow the JTR book to wire in the new V8. Don't be intimidated just because you can't fix it with a wrench. Auto electrical is not rocket surgery. Like Tim says, buy a little book and read up. After an hour reading your anxiety about wires will fade away. Buy a $10 digital multimeter and start having fun.

 

And the bonus. The next time you or a friend have an electrical problem in a car you can fix it! You'll be like Superman!

[Owen]

Spend $20 on a auto electrical book' date=' buy a crimper and wiring supplies and do it yourself!!

 

Tim[/quote']

 

See? engineer-type! ha ha!

I'm telling you, it's not so simple for some of us (me). I would do it on my own the second time, but I sure as hell didn't wanna try the first time!

 

Owen

[Tim240z]

Dude, I'm about half retarded and I can do it.....It just takes time and patience, which I have more of than $$$$. Calling me an engineer is a slap in the face to all engineers out there

Tim

[Guest KillerZees]

true for me also. Tim quick question, did you replace most of the wiring in your car, because I want to replace most of mine (i wouldnt mind takin the time to redo it all if its not too hard)...and is the info available in the JTR handbook (I dont have one yet).

[Turbo Meister]

has anybody used it and it is easier or harder to do than trying to tap into the stock harness and will it work everything from head lights to horn and other assoreries

 

Much of my wiring was burned or chopped up in my Z when I bought it. Therefore I purchased the Painless Chevy 18 kit. It was quite a project since none of the wiring diagrams acurately reflected what I had. Since I was unaware of HybridZ, it became a "Painful" task. However, I was impressed with the helpful support of the Painless staff.

The kit is not cheap, so if your stock wiring is in good shape I would keep it and modify as needed.

Hanns

[CruxGNZ]

Since you guys are talking about wiring, and some might do the wiring themselves, then check out this website. It shows you what type of wire to use, since many have no idea what to get.

http://www.rbeelectronics.com/wtable.htm

 

!M!

[silicone boy]

I agree with the Turbomeister. I think the whole process was fairly painful. My harness was not all that bad, but I thought I would clean house and re-do everything. That way I would know where every wire goes to. Big mistake. Maybe I'm not an electrical type, but I found the "Painless" term anything but painless. Nevertheless, I got it done and everything seems to work. The wires are clearly labelled and color coded. You have to get a wiring diagram, and the Painless folks were as helpful as they could be given the situation (as you can imagine, it's kind of hard to explain this stuff over the phone)

[Tim240z]

true for me also. Tim quick question, did you replace most of the wiring in your car, because I want to replace most of mine (i wouldnt mind takin the time to redo it all if its not too hard)...and is the info available in the JTR handbook (I dont have one yet).

I do not have any of the OEM wiring left. all new.

[Mikelly]

The reason I bought the Painless Wiring kit was the fact that the chassis I bought from Chris was without wiring. I needed to start from ground zero, so I figured I'd spend a few bucks and go ahead and do it right. Mine isn't installed yet, but I did lay it out on the floor and trace all the wiring in the harness kit. Looks pretty straight forward... Just plan to take your time... There is a good 16 hours in wiring the car properly.

 

Mike

[BillZ260]

I mounted my Fuse block last night, i mounted the plate that came with the kit where the stock ignition modue was on my 260. Some of the wires for the combo switch look as though they will be very close to being short. All my wiring is pulled, easy enough, and now just have to go through and connect everything. Not so easy...

 

In reveiwing the wiring diagrams in the haynes manual, the stock stuff was worse than I thought. Lots of redudnand, complicated, no-nonsence couplings. Of course, I don't really understand too much of it any way, so you can take what you want from me.

 

I'm glad I went with the painless kit so far... Does anyone have a source for better electronic schematics? In the Haynes Manual, the diagrams for the 260 are so small that you can't read anything. So going off of the late 240, which I know is not the same, but should be close right? Any help with this would be greatly appretiated. .