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Painless or not? (wiring harness)


Guest TerminalVelocity

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Thanks for the input. Some of the 'old timers' on here might know me as big on 'research'. I spend copious amounts of time on the net reading any info I can find on areas of importance, especially for safety. I often Google [e.g. " Automotive Custom Wire Harness"], then I read everything that I can find.

 

One of the tech sites had some electrical engineer/enthusiast reviewing harnesses. He SPECIFICALLY named American Autowire as a class-action lawsuit [for liability] waiting to happen. He was extremely critical of the AWG wire that they used. Now, granted, this discussion [forum] was a few years old; but the poster [critic] attends SEMA every year.

 

No cause for concern, just passing along information that I have read and printed out. I cannot deny or confirm the validity of the 'reviews'; but, he seems very well-informed and credible to boot. One of the harnesses that he was quite positive about was "Russ Francis' " ?? I might have it wrong, I'm sure it is bookmarked somewhere in my files.

 

As stated earlier, I am pre-occupied with using proper AWG wire for various circuits. I have experienced a car fire in a freshly finished 'show car' and it is something that I care not to repeat. If anything I want to error on the side of too heavy a AWG. Ideally, a very high strand count is said to be optimum.

 

Another 'button' of mine is that I want the fuse block COVERED. Alot of those ready-made kits do not have covered main terminals. It'll be a while before I need to have it all together; but, after pricing everything out to get the harness that best fits my 'needs', it is a 50/50 split for building my own with proper AWG wire that I order from Waytek Wire or eBay. Still 'shopping' for the best deals on Weatherpack connectors.

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I do quite a bit of reading and researching, and maybe sometimes scrutinizing to much, but that is me. That is good information to know about Autowire. I came across a thread were a Cobra kit car shop who builds kits for customers, hated the Autowire harness, but loved this I-Squared ( http://www.isqe.com ) then Painless next. The car shows I have been to locally, when I have asked car owners/builders about harnesses, Russ Francis comes up, Autowire and then Painless in that order. The 60's -70's hot rod guys are not to crazy about I-Squared ? The fear of fire, researching and health issue has delayed me getting this done. But, I have grasp of car electric in theory, hope to be getting it done in the next week or so.

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  • 4 months later...

As stated earlier, I am pre-occupied with using proper AWG wire for various circuits. I have experienced a car fire in a freshly finished 'show car' and it is something that I care not to repeat. If anything I want to error on the side of too heavy a AWG. Ideally, a very high strand count is said to be optimum.

 

I've been down the very same path as far as fire is concerned. On a side note, be wary of "cheap" wiring. You get what you pay for. Just because you get the same gauge of wire with the cheap brand doesn't mean you get the same strand count. Gauge of wire means very little without a good strand count. I have used Painless multiple times and would never buy stuff off ebay without being able to see the strand count. Go look at Wal-Mart wire. Made in China. Very very VERY few strands. May as well just buy solid core.

Anyone who has experienced a catastrophic failure of wiring knows to treat it like fuel. Both can start a fire. Don't skimp. Get the good stuff. It will flow more for the same gauge of wire. It will be more flexible. It's labelled. It will last better.

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  • 1 month later...

FWIW. the EZ wiring harness uses higher quality wire than painless does. painess uses TXL grade wire and EZ uses GXL which is the next grade up from TXL. here is a site explaining the difference between the two.

 

http://www.kayjayco.com/wiretables.htm

 

as far as wanting circuit breakers instead of fuses you might want to try these. they are a little spendy at ~$2.50 each, depending on manual or auto reset, but the point is that you don't have to replace them right? they plug right into any normal blade type fuse slot.

 

http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=151&childid=751807&page=1&tabset=1

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nice, just the thread ive been searching for.

i know the basics as far as wiring and electric theory (mecp cert). but what i dont know, is what would i need for my car? i plan on having a full system (subs, amps, deck, balancer), as well as a rb26 swap. i know that i will probably have to build my own wiring for the engine (want to run apexi powerfc), but how will all that work together with a custom wiring setup?

 

Lloyd

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nice, just the thread ive been searching for.

i know the basics as far as wiring and electric theory (mecp cert). but what i dont know, is what would i need for my car? i plan on having a full system (subs, amps, deck, balancer), as well as a rb26 swap. i know that i will probably have to build my own wiring for the engine (want to run apexi powerfc), but how will all that work together with a custom wiring setup?

 

Lloyd

I would get the engine with its harness, then install it into the vehicle, and begin removing the vehicle's wiring as needed. Then evaluate what level of wiring harness you need to purchase, and go from there.

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  • 5 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I have close to zero skills with working on any car. I ask really dumb questions too. I ordered an EZ wiring kit with the mini version and it took me awhile but it got everything working. 5thegenluder has a build thread with good notes on how to connect the EZ kit to the Datsun wiring.

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