After not being very successful in searchmode and still in mental prep for the rebuild of my 82 F100 Flareside:
FTE community, let's talk about rewiring your truck. Everybody has to deal with some wiring in the process. The POs of mine were not good at it. Together with the age of my wiring harness sums up to the conclusion to replace it completely during the rebuild.

Problem: all manufacturers (kwikwire, american autowire, ....) of restauration harnesses do only offer them until 1979 trucks. Calling them reveals that they cannot tell, if the 79 harness will work with mine. Have no glue about the 21/28 circuit harness from LMC.

Question: Who did a complete rewiring? Which product have you used? Please consider ghe fact, that some of us are not very experienced in electrical issues. I'd like to use a prepared spec harness with labeled cables all three inches and all connectors in place ir included.
share your experiences and knowledge and let's start the storm...

 

I have wired many hotrods using the universal kits. I preferred EZwire, but I have installed Painless, Ron Francis and many other kits. Look for GXL wire and stay away from the 80's GM style fusebox. Nearly all of these kits use a GM style column connector and they are not compatible with Ford hardware without modification.

On something like our bullnose trucks, I would scour the scrapyards for a usable harness. There are plenty out there and you cannot beat the functionality of OEM wiring. I don't think anyone is reproducing a factory style harness and NOS Ford parts would be hard to come by and expensive. Fortunately, they are a good design and made of robust materials and if you find an unmolested harness, you likely can install and use it successfully.

One note on scrounging one from the junkyard. Leave the wirecutters at home. Unplug instead of cut!

 

Not sure about your specific application, but I rewired my 1983 CJ-7 with a Painless harness. Lets say I am horrible with electrical issues and applications, but it was fairly straight forward and their customer service folks were very helpful.

 

Thanks for the info. Talking about the harnesses from painless, ez-wire, ... They all offer different harnesses depending on the generation. Anyone out there, that can tell if a harness for a 79 F100 would fit my 82 F100?
If using a general restauration harness, how many circuits (21 or 28?)? My application is a 1982 F100 shortbed flareside with a 302, carb, factory A/C (intend to remove it as it is no longer legal).

 

I just used a painless harness on another project. all of there kits have their wires labeled for easier install. im also redoing my 86 f250 and will go with their universal kit

 

Thanks for all of the replies.
My original harness was not messed with much, but enough to make it a pain to find the broken or damaged connections. Nearly all connectors look horrible once you unplug them. Luckily everything works right now.

I will stay away from a junkyard harness. Down here in GA, there are not many Bullnoses around. Taking my abilities into consideration, I might miss some problem areas, install the thing and have problems afterwards.
As soon as I get the harness, I'll post the progress.

For all interested persons out there: If you have experiences (done the rewiring) or know someone that has: please tell them to post their experiences and recommendations.
Searching the web and the forums, there are many out there with wiring issues. They all think about rewiring, have no plug&play harness available and search for experiences and recommendations.

Thanks for all the support!

 

They do not make harnesses for our trucks yet. And the universal harnesses are just marked wires and a different fuse box. If you use a universal harness you will have to splice all those corroded dirty old connectors from your old harness onto the new universal harness, it does not have plugs on it for any of the devices. I don't think it's worth it myself and you are creating more places for failures with all those spliced in old connectors.

 

I think, you´re absolutely right. I don´t want to keep the old connectors. That´s why i´m now in the research to determine the better option out of the following:
1. Buying a universal harness and looking on my old connectors and the wiring plans, trying to find all connectors from aftermarket suppliers.
2. Buying the painless harness for Ford F100 until 1979, which has most of the connectors and hoping for not too many differences... (No one was able to answer that question so far - the differences between a 1979 and a 1982 F100).
3.Trying to rewire everything from scratch as a own creation (not really an option with my abilities in wiring).

Any experiences or advise is welcome. Right now, I´m tempted to go the expensive route Nr 2....

 

Why don't you look up some replacement stuff for a 79 and then for the 82. For instance, the headlight switch. If they had the same part number, then the harness should plug right in. Same for the ignition switch, the wiper switch, radio, blower switch, etc. If you expect this harness to work, all the switches will have to be the same and have the same function. I have a bad feeling about it though.

Depending on what radio you have, that might actually work. I took a radio out of a 78 Granada and it fit right in my 1980 f150. I also used the cluster light sockets out of the Granada, mine were crumbly while the car ones were good. I believe you will find too the brake pedal switch will be the same.

 

If you're doing a restore it's not that bad doing a harness from scratch, provided you do a few things.
1. Be methodical
2. Invest in a quality ratchet crimper with appropriate dies
3. Invest in quality terminals
4. Invest in quality adhesive lined heat shrink tubing

Then it's a matter of taking apart your old harness one wire at a time and matching it up with heavy string routed the same way with well labeled ends. Once you get that done, bundle the string with velcro tape and remove it from the truck. Replace each string they the appropriately sized and terminated wire.
Wrap everything in loom tape and install.

Here's a really good book that gives step by step. Plus a lot of other useful information.



I like these Eclipse crimpers. Lots of interchangeable dies for various types of connectors, including flag terminals.
Quick Interchangeable Ratcheting Crimp Frame | Pro'sKit USA

 

Also pick yourself up an EVTM
More Information for BISHKO 7088

Its an invaluable addition to your repair manual stock.

Devin

 

You might want to look at the Motorcraft connector catalog.
http://www.fordservicecontent.com/pubs/content/connectors/images/connectorcatalog.pdf
Take the part numbers and do a search.
You might be surprised at how inexpensive some of these turn up on eBay and the like.

The Pico and Repair Connector websites are also good for some of the plugs you will need.

I'm going to look for a washer pump socket myself..

 

Guys, thanks for all the replies. awesome tips. i have already started to get some tools (I need more tools), heat shrinking tubing and the like. But still need a good crimper, so I will look out for one like Roverbut recommended.

Right now, I´m tempting to the american Autowire harness for the 1979 F100s. It covers all I need and seems to have all the same connections with the following needed to be checked:
1. the ignition switch will be different, as mine is on the column and on the 79s in the dash.
2. the connector to the gauges, as they are set differently.

Good thing as I see it with that set: it comes with all the Ford colored wiring, nearly all the connectors and the few, that are different can be determined upon comparison on the truck with the original wiring. I will look into your recommended catalogues and as soon, as I purchased a set and start with that adventure, I´ll keep you posted on the progress!

 

Franklin2: good points, as always. The harness I´m looking at has the switches in the kit, so this should work out fine. They seem to be the same ones, that I have in my 82. There is currently no radio in the truck, but I plan to buy one of these classic radios, which have a USB connection in the back and just look retro but are digital. But thi sis still somewhere in the future....