Need to rewire my car. Looking at the ez2wire sets. They have a cheaper one, sans connectors, and a more expensive one with thicker wires, connectors, and better instructions: Cheap one: http://stores.ez2wire.com/-strse-37786/E8--dsh--8-Circuit/Detail.bok More expensive one: http://stores.ez2wire.com/-strse-37775/Muscle-Car-Mustang-GTO/Detail.bok They look similar, but is the second one really worth $100 more? I could just use the instructions from the second one with the cheaper one, assuming all the color codes on the wires are the same.
Lots of places on a car to save a buck or two. The electrical system ain't one of 'em. Cheap wiring will bite your ass and set your car on fire. Now pays yo money and takes yo choice.
Wiring is the wrong place to cut corners. Go with more circuits than you think you will need. Go with the heavier gauge wire and the factory trype connectors. This will cut your risk or electrical fire and make your car more reliable. Do you want to be driving it or do you want to be on the side of the road somewhere trying to sort out an electrical problem?
Was leaning towards the more expensive kit for these reasons. Just wasn't sure if the extra money between kits was really bringing extra quality. But considering, a short, melted wires, and a nearly avoided full on electrical fire are the reason I have to rewire anyway, I think the better one will probably be what I get.
I am looking at wiring for my 36 Ford and really don't like the kits all that much. What I really want is to just buy the fuse block with wire connector points like the Painless 12-circuit unit http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-30001/ In my case, I am not putting a Chevy engine or a GM column in my car and way too many of the "kits" are pre-configured for Chevy's. I am also not putting in power windows and a lot of other options; just a simple hotrod. I find wiring a car fairly easy for me and the price of the kits to be too high. If your wiring is simple you might want to consider starting from a good fuse block and some wire. There are a ton of "hotrod wiring diagrams" out there on the web to get you going. I met the folks from http://www.delcity.net/ at SEMA in Noember and they have a lot of the pieces you will need to wire a car. I was surprised to find out they don't have any automotive style fuse block though but all of their other stuff seem to be really good. I also talked to all of the other wiring folks but could not get all that enthused about their expensive kits. I would be interested to know what other folks are doing. Joe
But then again, larger gauge wire will take more current, burn hotter and larger that smaller gauge wire in case of a short. "Fusible Links" have their purpose. Just playing Devil's advocate here. If this is for a 40's, 50's car, I would expect the larger gauge wire may be for 6 Volt applications, while the smaller gauge wire may be for 12 volts.
I have used kits from Affordable Street Rods (Rich Fox) in Great Bend Ks. in my last 3 cars. Very complete simple kits and great tech support if needed. Gary www.affordablestreetrods.com
Another source for wiring items is Waytek. This is the fuse block I use, 4 fuses, lock together for more, although you do have to crimp the wire to terminals that snap in. Easy to divide the fuses up the way you want them though-battery, ignition or accessory. http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/47080/FUSE BLOCK ATO ATC BODY/
Wiring is something good to learn.. If you have some time, there are some very good hot rod books on wiring and it's really not that difficult.. Can really be helpful over the years and impress your friends.. At least get a book to understand each circuit as you wire from what ever kit you buy.. But remember above all; wiring is fun.....
just used an E-Z wire 21 circuit kit good quality, easy to install ,good customer service. E-Z wire is diferant than ez2wire. check it out
Support your local HAMB member, not china!! Get ahold of Tugmaster on here and buy a Rebel harness from him. Do a search on them....good stuff.
Forget them both! Get yourself a kit from Rebelwire, you can get it right on here, get a HAMB discount, and when you have questions you get answers, American made too!
i just bought a kit off of eway .not a complete harness sent it back ,buyer beware. going back to ez wire or check out rebel .
Get a pinless trunk mount kit. VERY easy to do. Allows lots of extra wire so you can put it wherever you want. Comes with connectors to. Got to think here, buying a chapre kit, like rebel for example, is cheap. Until you need the connectors. THen you start to hear dollar signs. It is the only kit I ever install anymore. Tried it on a car that a customer already had a kit for and I will never be going back. Worth the money you ask me. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Painless-18-Circuit-Remote-Trunk-Harness,52932.html
Those rebel kits look good. Connectors in a kit arent a big deal to me, as they all seem GM specific, and it's going in a rambler. Does anyone happen to know how good the directions are though? This will be my first rewire so good clear color directions would be a big plus.
KJSR .... You make a really good point. Buy American and buy from a HAMB sponsor. I do everything possible to Buy American and to NOT buy Chinese. Every time you purchase a Chinese product you put another American out of work. In my business we never sell Made in China stuff, never. I just looked at the Rebel stuff and it looks real good. Maybe this is the time I start from a kit rather than doing it all from scratch. I'll get hold of Tugmaster when I am ready to wire up the 36. He is up in my neck of the woods (sort of). http://milltownautoelectric.com/ Joe
......Used three Kwik Wire sets in my three hotrods....no problems with lots of support team from a WI. dealer
Here I made it EZ for you! Just click on this:http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=7269 The 9+3 kit is very popular,just to pass this along,the connectors at Autozone and O'Reillys are made in China so here is a Surprise! The ones at Wally World are 3M brand from St. Paul,Minnesota.
The Rebel kit looks good -- appears to use the same fuse blocks as the EZ2Wire kit. Only thing obvious about the Rebel kit is it has two flashers (signal lights and hazard lights) rather than just one. May be other differences -- just stating the obvious. The EX2Wire "economy" 8 circuit kit just has the wire, fuse block, a relay, a flasher, fuses, and instructions. No connectors at all. You either buy what you need or cut off the old ones and use them. In the case of the Rambler some of the old ones, like the instrument panel connector, will need to be reused, but most others are just spade or round terminal connectors (or those can be substituted -- just make sure they are on right when installing things like the light switch). Head light connectors and such can be bought from any parts store. All the higher priced kits come with the GM style connectors, which in this case do no good. Someone else had that same issue. Not enough circuits isn't a big issue. I'm running the stock panel in my 63 Rambler and have added power seats and a few other things. I just connected a six fuse panel from the parts store to a relay and the relay to the stock fuse panel. Instantly added six switched and fused connections. Can't recall if I put an in-line fuse in the main feed to that panel or not, wouldn't be a bad idea though.
where's Tugmaster when ya need him??? i gotta wire my car too-looking at rebel 9+3 kit,but i need to call and get more info.
I used an EZ wire 21 circuit kit (not to be confused with the EZ2wire kit you posted, which I think is a different company) and I liked it. I would have picked up the Rebel kit as I heard good things about it too, but the EZ wire kit was available in all black. It was towards the lower end of the price scale, and the quality of the kit is top notch. I won't understand why people spend the crazy money they do on Painless kits unless its a application specific kit that fits perfectly out of the box.
I used EZwire. It was super easy and it works great. Everything worked on the first try and I absolute hate wiring.
Just to help clarify, this is EZWiring, and this is EZ2Wire. Two different companies. EZWire is less expensive, and I think probably has more satisfied users while EZ2Wire looks relatively unknown... at least based on the responses so far.
I'm right here. I've been following this thread from the start. Don't like to do the "hard sell" I think the quality and reputation of Rebel Wire speaks for it self. PM me with any questions, I will always do whatever I can to help. Todd
The Jalopy Journal
