I bought the EZ wire harness last fall because my 60 wiring was a jumbled mess of splices, cuts, wraps, and twists of the original wire and work done to it in the past.
I could drive her around, but I had a drain on the battery that was coming from who knows where.

My plan was to replace the wiring over the winter and get her back on the road this spring.

Looking at that mess behind and under the dash had me nervous and concerned, to say the least. This was my first undertaking for a full rewire.

I managed to pull it all out. Mount the fuse box. And run most of the wires. I had all those extra wires, like power windows, AC, radio, reverse lights, 3rd break, ... Just wrap them up and save for later.

Due to my lack of knowledge, I have to route a few wires a couple of times (from dash to engine, or engine to dash).

I finished pretty'n things up today. I have one problem left (dome light stays on all the time), but all in all. I am quite pleased. I like it so much, that I am going to take some pictures and put them in my gallery.

This will get me back on the road this spring without worrying about my electrical system.

Just wanted to put out an update. And if anyone has an idea about the dome light, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Is it wired like the schematic.\?? What does EZ say about this if you have talked with them?/ Is it wired thru the headlight switch and it is turned to the left ( counterclockwise ) all the way?? If you have door switches, the dome should be wired to constant hot, and the ground wires in the domelight go to the door switch which gets grounded when you open the door. Do not send any hot to the door switches.
Jon

 

Wiring my '53 was some of the most fun I had on my project. Glad yours turned out good

I would recheck the wiring schematic for the dome light, and possibly test the switch. If it is in the door jamb, chances are, it may not be adjusted correctly, ie the plunger switch may not be touching the door. Also, just for the heck of it, make sure your headlight switch doesn't have it turned on either...you know how you can turn the headlight switch all the way counterclockwise until it "clicks" and it will often turn on the dome light. Just some ideas

 

EZ documentation is a bit thin. I did determine from the Painless website that the dome light wire comes out of the fuse box hot and then uses the headlight switch on the return to break power to the circuit.

Initially there was a ground wire on the dome light run to the cab.
I removed that and connected the ground (return) to the headlight switch.

I've got no door contacts. It is only connected to the headlight switch, nothing else.

I suspect the bulb socket must be grounding to the cab.
I tried the headlight in both positions - dome on / dome off, no effect.

For now I have removed the fuse for the dome light, but hope to find the solution this week.

 

Congrats on the wiring. I'm sure the dome light issue will turn out to be something minor.
I used teh EZ Wiring 21 circuit harness in my 49, I love it. I did have to route things 4 or 5 times before I got things where I wanted them. No fault of EZ Wiring, just my own stupidity. All in all the installation was very easy and the quality is excellent.

Bobby

 

I am contemplating the ''ezwire'' setup also. I am completely inept when it comes to wiring. I was amazed when I saw ksmith do his wrecker and thought I could do my 71 and my 56 project truck. I am happy for you,and I will try soon,hope for the best.....Bill

 

Wiring my '53 was my first big wiring project. It was a lot easier than I figured it would be. Common sense comes in handy when wiring as well...avoiding sharp edges, bare wires, heat sources, etc etc. Just imagine yourself standing in the middle of nowhere watching your investment burn to the ground and you will undoubtedly take extra precaution when it comes to wiring.

No matter how good the directions, there will always be one thing to give you a hang up. Mine was unwittingly ordering the Universal harness with a GM column plug from Painless Wiring. Apparently this must be a common mistake because the directions on their website explained what to do if you needed to wire a universal ignition switch if you had the "wrong" harness. Anyway, the directions were still rather incomplete. When it came time to start the engine, it would crank over, but would not start, I had no spark. I called their tech. support and all I needed was to run a jumper wire on my ignition switch. Good times! I still can't wait for my next project.

 

I am more of a painter than an electrician...and anymore want to do less and less. My health is so bad. I figure I will buy the setup for my truck and hope I can do it. I just called ezwire and not tooo happy with how they suggest a universal setup. I like to have a kit that is like my truck---I don't want any hidden problems. I will hopefully get it done this summer......Bill

 

Thee booklet that came with the EZ Wiring harness was a bit lacking and if you don't have alot of electrical experience I can see how it could be a slight stumbling block.

It is definatley NOT going to be close to the original wiring in that the wire colors will be different, there will actually be a fuse block, and there will be certain EXTRA circuits that you may or may not use (electric windows, air conditioning, electric fuel pump, etc).
The plus side is that the EXTRA wiring is easy to remove from the fuse block. The connectors are standard Packard style connectors that have a locking pins tohold them in the connector body. If you look down into the connector or fuse block you will see a small recessed area where you can slip a small pick or flat blade down to release the lock and then pull the wire/connector from the connector body.
All the new wires will be labeled every 6" along their lengths

Here is a great technical article on installing the EZ Wiring harness;
http://www.alanhorvath.com/54chevy/ezwire_day1.php
Please don't shoot me, the article deals with installing the wiring on a 54 Chevy but most everything applies. The information and pics are good. Its well worth a read for anyone contemplating the project

Bobby

 

we are just finishing putting an ez wire mini set in my '49 f-1. it went well once we dove into it. i agree the instructions aren't that helpful. it would be nice if ez would at least produce a diagram of the harness itself, showing which wires come to/from fuse block vs. those that just go dash group to under hood, etc. between the harness and the truck wire diagram, we worked everything out. i also talked my brother in law into buying a truck, unfortunately, he picked out a '49 ch**y. he wants to do the same harness in his. i don't plan on using the wire for the electric antenna. dick r

 

Well I'm glad to hear that all you fellas have had good luck with the EZ wire kits. That's what I bought, and plan on installing this spring, if I get that far. Mine will be a little bit different with the TPI fuel system, and the computer(Not looking forward to that) Congrats on getting yours done.

 

Another vote for EZ-Wire, I'm picking one up at the Portland Swap Meet next month. I've heard a lot of good stuff about a little mini-book called "How to wire your streetrod" I'll be getting a copy of that as well, it's supposed to make up for the lack of quality instructions from the manufacturer and has pictures as well. 10-15 bucks depending on where you buy it from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/How-T...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Rusty,
I'll be crossing that bridge before too long. I think I finally got enough money saved up to purchase the MegaSquirt EFI kit for my big Caddy engine.

It should be fun summer
Bobby

 

I wonder if your headlight switch has 2 blades for the dome, 1 hot and 1 ground?? Mine has both so you can use the hot if you have no door switches. The neg if you do so you can turn the sw to the left and lite the dome with the doors shut. . Just a thought..
I still do not get the ovewhelming popuarity of EZ Wire. I helped a guy put one in last year and I thought it was ok but not even close to American Autowire Hwy 15 and 21 series. His was in the truck when he bought it and has long been sold, so I wonder if it is popular due to price. What did you guys pay?? BTW, the AA 15 and 21 has a schematic that is dummyproof and printed in the same colors as the actual wires. The wires are marked as well. I paid a a bit over 200.00 but it had no options left to purchase. It had ALL connectors,dimmer,light sw,column conn,quick connects for the dash,and extras I did not even need. The box has a 1 way wire mount system that wont let go. Ea bag of the sub-systems is marked and has it's own small schematic for that part of the system.
When I finished, everything worked on the first try. When I did call AA it was just to express my happyness and let them know. They told me to call back anytime if I ever had a problem, just give them a model number.
I wonder if the schematic can be used for EZ and others as I still have mine. Maybe it can be of use...??

 

As long as you guys are touting your favorite fuse box maybe some of you
should look at the Enos Black Box. I have it in my `56 and am just as happy as
you guys with other brands. Has very good instructions that are easy to follow.
If you talk to them, they can tailor it to your application. Check it out.
www.enoscustom.com They also have a great online catalog.

Gary