Technical How many hours would it take to wire a '32 Ford?

Approximately how many hours would it take a knowledgeable person to completely rewire a '32 Ford? Other than the usual equipment for a street car (headlights, tail lights, wipers, etc.) it has power windows, electric fan & a trans brake. No radio or horn. Electrical volt, oil press, water temp, tach & fuel gauges. Mechanical speedometer. Not using a pre-fab wiring harness but custom fitting everything. A rough estimate. Thank you!

 

I think you're going to find the estimates all over the spectrum, but I'm curious to see the responses.

 

Depends is the interior in it?

 

Why not use a wiring kit? There are some tailored for cars like yours. How many circuits are you talking about, like 12?

 

I’ll be honest wiring is my Kryptonite but I’m digging the fact that you have power windows with a trans brake.

 

With a blown hemi and a trans brake in a 32, it’s probably going to be faster than anything around it so there’s no need for a horn, won’t be anything in front of it. Radio not needed either cause the trips are too short (1/4 mile).

 

I’ve only wired extensively on one car so my guesstimate doesn’t hold much weight, but I would guess about 40+ hours for someone who is skilled at their work, cautious around your paint and interior with their tools, does quality work and is working 6-8 hours a day with few interruptions. .If they are working multiple jobs and constantly getting distracted by other work/phone calls, that will definitely add hours. As BJR mentioned, if the complete interior isn’t in the car and it isn’t painted they can probably work faster, but either way, they should be putting out a quality finished product that functions correctly, and that takes time. Labor rate per hour, no clue.

 

A wiring kit will speed up the process. As half the ends are on the wires. There are still a lot of variables. Do you want the wires hidden? How much planning went into the build to hide them? Or can they be just laid out all over the place.

 

about 40 hours

 

do it and find out!

 

Curious....is this a situation where you're trying to determine if a shop is charging too much to do the job?
I've wired about 7 vehicles using kits, never concerned myself about the amount of time it took, the benefit of doing it yourself, with no time line to meet.
To answer the question, my experience is 3-4 days at 6 hours actual working per day, so 18 to 24 hours (basic Hot Rods no excess of power options).

 

....That's what I'm thinking.

 

Like asked previously ,
you or a shop ??
Having a Trains brake Not difficult to wire unless Bump box , Cross Over , Delay & Ext...
So it sounds like your New /unfamiliar with wiring from scratch or not plug & Play harness, I have done a few 32 s Having all supplies on hand ,making my own harness,
I think / say I did in 8-10 hrs ,
My Race Rods have many electronics & mechanical, No power windows thoe.
That does not including making Kustom mounts , hiding, No switches on dash front Nor switches on column but having turn under dash
Its easer if you pull dash & wire ,

One with interior and one without, 32
Wiper & dome can be little tricky , (dome) originally from floor pan up the B pillar on passenger side , is only issue I had with interior,,
Your new to this wiring Front to Rear Fresh 30-40 hrs
Here are few simple wiring diagrams.

 

just be sure to use multiple colors wires & wire sizes. first time I rewired an abandoned project car, even custom turn signal switch, use all black wires of same gauge. worked great.

 

Maybe 16-20 hours with a premade universal wire harness. I did one in a weekend on my roadster, on my 40 I worked on it a couple hours a night after work and it was done by the following weekend.

 

A lot of factors would alter the answer- Fuse panel? All terminations soldered and shrink wrapped? Relays? Harness disconnects? Multi-position ignition switch? 40 hours seems a good rough estimate.

 

Are you asking to plan your working hours? or to check if an estimate you got for the job is reasonable? or how to budget for a shop to do it?

My answer if I'm doing the work myself is "as long as it takes".

 

I used a kit on my Model A with a flathead and lights and it took me probably 20 hours but I hid as much of the wiring as possible. The car was basically the shell and engine on the frame, there are too many variables to give an accurate estimate on your car.

 

No one can completely wire a vehicle from scratch (buying all components individually) cheaper and faster than using a decent ready made harness. Someone who is doing their own because they know how and already have many/some of the tools and stuff on hand can make a good harness and save some money by investing time. There are too many things that can go wrong or cause problems if the person doing the work isn't really knowledgeable. I'd go with buying a harness and asking questions as you install it. You learn something and you know there were no shortcuts taken.

 

^^^^^
& those $100 ,, Mostly seen on Flea Bay Amazon ,Walmart , wire harness are not compleat, cheap wire , incorrect gauge , cheap connectors, To many same colors , wires not marked, Missing circuits and components ,,their descriptions are misleading, I was curious and ordered one just to see.

I used this kit 12 ish years ago ,
SpeedWay , it was a decent well labeled kit and complete
Under $200
Should have dimmer & head light switch not shown in pick

 

Take a good guess then add 20% to that, an extra hour to cover looking for the wire cutters that are actually in your back pocket.

Take 1.5 hours off because because you decided against adding a few extra accessories because it's not worth the hassle.

But add 2 hours for the 6 pack your going to stop and drink along the way (this includes looking for headache pills from all the staring at diagrams).

An added time constraint to be figured out is whether to add the extra trips to part stores for needed parts (solder, shrink tubing, connectors, etc) to the above or not as you might be making the trip to pick up an oil filter and 6 qts of oil anyway.

So after adding/subtracting the above I'm going to say 20 to 24 hours.....

. ..

 

Agree with others, "from scratch" means buying spools of wire in different colors, every connector, tools to cut and terminate, and wrap. It will be much less cost and time to start with a kit. Tools, some connectors and wrap will still need to be bought.
Time to do the job depends greatly on experience, layout, and final neatness desired. Having it in ugly convoluted split plastic and loose zip ties verses cloth wrapped traditional style wire with waxed thread will make a huge difference in time and money.


While it's not the black hole that many dread, it does take a lot of planning, adjustments during the process and patience.
Things to consider include main shutoff for track use, window switches in the center or on both doors, hiding from view, color coding, disconnects for engine sub harness and/or body harness, relays, and of course having a legible diagram for later diagnosis and future owners.
This thread covers a lot of ground doing the job.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/rebel-wire-harness-diagrams-and-wiring-info.1120201/

 

How many hours?
All of them, and it doesn’t matter how many circuits or how fast and half assed you are or your work is good enough for NASA.

 

Power windows screws things up for sure, they are crappy kits anyways and worthless to install.

That said. 8 hours for a basic wiring job, extras for AC and Electric fans etc, Push you another 8. Power windows and radio with all things, I would say Maybe total all in 40 hours for someone who is slow, but this would be all soldered connections if I was doing it, heat shrink etc. A crimp and go can do it faster. Probably 25-30.

Hence why I do my own work. A shop rate at 25-30 hours would be a hard bill to pay.

American Autowire highway 15 is my go to for these situations, works stellar, cut to length kit with all the pieces, the Painless is anything but, Its more like PAINFUL.

I have wired traditional cars with Cloth wires everywhere, still soldered though and have done some where it was a crimp and go due to customer being a cheapskate, I don't crimp and go anymore, its all solder and all heatshrink or go kick rocks.

 

I was at Rebel Wire picking up a harness, and asked Jeremy how much he would charge to wire my '46 four door. He estimated fifty-man hours, which seemed like a lot to me until he started talking about how long it would take to clean up or replace terminals, light sockets and anything else that might be cruddy that would prevent the flow of electrical current.

 

I remember wiring a '48 Ford F-1 from scratch a long time ago and it took me 3 days.

 

This is big part that some might forget. A lot of time is spent on wire covering and hiding the harness....whether it's split loom, zip ties or inside polished tubing.

 

Well, I used to do electrical estimation for a living so I can throw some numbers out. YMMV...

I'd say that installing a 'kit' with basic loads, nothing fancy would be in the 24 to 32 hour range, assuming that at least some planning for the harness was done during the construction process. Let's look at the 'adds'... I'd also read this... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/wiring-101.843579/ to give you an idea of what's involved so you can ask the right questions. The devil really is in the details. I'm not a fan of the kits as they cut all the same corners the OEMs do, plus few more.

Interior in? Finished paint? Gauges in? Is the dash easily removable? R&R the interior, add 4 to 8 hours. Finished paint? Add another 4 to 6. Gauges in, non-removable dash, add 6 hours, 2 hours if the dash comes out.

Scratch-built harness? Add 8 hours. 'Custom fitting'? That's a question-begging term, I'd add a minimum of 4 hours, maybe 8.

Power windows? Add 8 hours. A big chunk of that will be working out and installing a viable method of getting the motor wiring across the door hinge point.

Keep in mind that each wire termination will average about 5 minutes, and that's for a basic crimp & shrink. You'll have a minimum of 24 terminations for lighting, add another 12 for turn signals, at least 12 for the windows, and another 12 for gauges. That's 48, and still doesn't include the charging or starting system, ignition, electric fan or trans brake. You'll be pushing close to 70 at least, that's almost 6 hours right there. By the way, a horn is legally required in every state... Similar story for component mounting. Planning, needed fabrication and installation will likely average out at about 1 hour each piece. Start adding 'goodies' like strategically-placed plug connectors for ease of maintenance, that adds up.

Personally, if you get a quote much under 60 hours I'd be very suspicious, and over 120 could be a rip-off or a first-class, guaranteed zero problems system with clearly drawn wiring diagrams and a parts list (VERY useful down the road). I'd also ask for customer references...

This all reflects my personal philosophy for turning out a good job. I was always very thorough, not rushing or leaving things 'until later'. Doing it right is faster than doing it over. How thorough? Well, some inspectors told me to make some 'mistakes' for them to find or they would get questioned if they were doing their job... LOL

Good luck!

 

The last rewire I did for a customer took just over 40 hours. 10 hours to remove the old wiring and route the new loom. After that I spent 30 hours cleaning up sockets, terminals and plugs on the car. This was a 1957 chevy with a horn, dome light, stereo, heater, ect... remeber good work aint cheap and cheap work aint worth it!

 

How long is a piece of wire?