going to convert my 54 mainline to 12v. almost every piece of wiring in the car is shot. what would be a good wiring harness for the car to use? im going basic nothing fancy just 302/c4 swap and am going to try to use all of the dash that i can.
Most guys are going with the Rebel 9+3 kit. A universal kit will be just fine. It's made in USA and I've heard a lot of good things about Rebel. They have a thread going on the main board right now, too. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rebel-Wire...162937686570?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10 The wiring is toast on my '54 Customline also. I got lucky and found an 18 circuit Painless universal kit new in the box at a garage sale for $25. The guy had no idea it was a $400 kit! Box is a little beat up but everything's there in sealed baggies.
I would contact them by phone only to place your order and be sure to tell them you are a 1952-59 Ford Social Group member on the H.A.M.B. (they may cut you break) also ask them to include a diagram on wiring your headlamp switch. http://rebelwire.com/rebel-wire-products.php?cat=Wire Kits
I went Kwik Wire on my '59 Ford. I was able to see the instruction book up front before I bought it, the Rebel book was not available at the time. After seeing both instruction books, I'd still go with the Kwik Wire kit over the Rebel. The instructions make a big difference at least to me.
I've been reading a number of posts on the main board comparing wiring kits, and many of them will not use Rebel because of their "inadequate and confusing" instructions. Not what a novice wants to have to deal with. If a basic wiring harness has instructions that are not perfectly clear, for a novice, why would you want to deal with it??? As a novice myself, I certainly would have been put off/panicked opening a box with a kit and a schematic. I don't think I even got a schematic with my Ron Francis kit. I got a bunch of numbered bags with detailed step by step written instructions that read like......"bag #7: remove the 6 wire connector, plug it into the "******", and run the #5 purple wire, the #6 blue/white wire, etc wires back to the fuse panel. run the #7 black wire to ground". Nothing to decipher, figure out, worry about if you got it right
"KEEP IT CLEAN" is a good and economical source from my experience https://www.keepitcleanwiring.com/products/wire-harness-kits/
I'd recommend a Kwik Wire kit to anyone over a Rebel kit. I finally saw their instruction book on the main HAMB site... 12 pages and the 1st 4 are an intro. Also Kwik Wire numbers all their wires, really something every harness maker should do. I broke out in a sweat when I opened the Kwik Wire box, but soon got a warm and fuzzy from going over the booklet and looking through all the parts that came with it. It was all bundled up for shipping... another sweat moment. I unwrapped all the wires and saw they were broken down into bundles by function. I made up a plywood harness board and determined what would be my main bundle (I design harnesses for military hardware for a living) and start with that. The fuse panel was the first thing I locked into place on the board, measure up to where I wanted the main horizontal leg would be. Harness boards are easy to make, plywood, finishing nails and a sharpie. I then decided where to break out everything else, used the steering column as a centerline. Worked everything left and right off that. Figured where the rear bundle would run, where the lights to the front would exit the firewall, same for the distributor and solenoid wires.
Universal kits are probably just fine for most of the builds you find here on the Hamb. Where you really want to spend some extra $ is when you get into late model retrofits, like mine, with A/C, power windows, etc etc. Any car that has a lot of multiwire connectors rather than a simple terminal, imho you really want a kit that comes with the connectors prewired, not the fuse panel. Take for example my car. I have a late 90's Mustang steering column I wanted fully funtional. That's headlights, turn signals,wipers, washer, hazards, horn, and a biggie....the ignition switch. The ignition switch has 20ish wires coming off it. The Ron Francis Express wiring kit that was made for my car, came with the ignition switch connector pre wired! Just plug it in and run the wires back to the panel, or other locations as directed. Then it's a simple trim to length and add a terminal as required. Same with the universal switch connector with a dozen wires for headlight, turn signals, wipers ect. Just plug it in and run the wires back to the panel! I could get a headache just thinking about what wiring my car with a universal kit would have been like. Besides, I love the fact Ron Francis can make a kit with FORD connectors, not the "universilly" accepted chevy stuff. Is that worth a few bucks more?? I think it's worth a lot of bucks more! I know I keep harping on Ron Francis, but they're the only company I know of that is heavily into the Ford scene, and is tops in quality and service as well.
I think a lot of you are over thinking this wiring project Rebel has this HUGE thread going on now on the main board but lets just skip ahead to post# 303 and take a look https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ness-diagrams-and-wiring-info.1120201/page-11
This something that can be a big help https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+rewire+a+car+wiring+harness
I have installed a Kwik Wire, EZWire, Haywire, and Ron Francis. The Ron Francis was best for neatness but took a good deal longer. The other three were faster and I really have no preference except a good friend who is well known as the guy to go to for wiring locally uses only EZWire. The next I use will be that because he can help with questions.
The Jalopy Journal
