Hey all, I'm new to the forums here, happy to be a member. I have a 1985 f-150 with a 351 cleveland that i put in myself and has about 1200 miles, 4spd manual, 4 inch lift, and some pretty well worn super swampers on it. I naturally have wiring issues with this being an 80's ford and having a 72 cleveland in it. The previous owner swapped it from the original 6 cyl to a cleveland and it was a pretty good hack job as far as wiring is concerned. I got the truck and all was well till the motor went out about 3 months later. I got a nice crate motor with a high torque cam and put it in and have had nothing but wiring problems since. So i have a nice brand new wiring harness now and just about have all the tools and parts i need to do the wiring harness but i have never attempted any wiring projects anywhere near this caliber and i'm wondering if anyone out there has any tips and tricks or just overall insight into what i'm getting into? I have done quite a bit of research on the net but i haven't found much pertaining to 80's fords so i figured this would be the place to ask. Thanks in advance to anyone with experience or expertise here. Sorry for the novel.

 

The under-dash harness?

Remove the dash pad, maybe glove box & radio, this will make your job easier.

It's really not a difficult job but takes time. And, it gives you an opportunity to clean each and every electrical connection that exists.

The novel isn't a problem, but it'd help if you'd use white space (make paragraphs) to make it easier to read.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'm talking about the entire wiring harness for the whole truck. New fuse box, relays, the whole 9 yards from bumper to bumper.

 

It is actually composed of several components, some of which were optionally added on.

For example, under-dash/glove box courtesy lights, power mirrors & windows, air conditioning, cab marker lights, those were add-on harnesses.

There are different harnesses for single vs dual gas tanks, manual vs. automatic transmission, and different for the different models (F350 vs 150, for example) as the lighter-duty trucks had lots more engine- and emission-control stuff than the heavier models.



In any case, label and disconnect everything under the hood, unclip any harness hold-downs, you'll have to push & pull the harness on both sides through the firewall. Which will probably be easier to do when it's disconnected from the dash and its components itself.

Again, I want to strongly urge you to clean all the connectors on your replacement harness (unless it's brand-spankin' new aftermarket or sumthin') and also ensure all your ground locations are scraped/sanded clean.

There is a different harness that connects to the main harness down near the driver's kick panel, this additional harness is for back-of-cab-interior stuff (dome light, seat belt buzzer, etc.).

There are also additional harnesses that run underneath to the transmission/transfer case (if applicable), gas tank(s) and rear lamps, these plug into the main underhood/underdash harness.

 

I think you are going to have a tough time. Unless you have made a major discovery that we all in this forum need to know about, you have probably purchased a universal wiring harness, and it will have to be adapted to most all the original components in the truck, unless you use different types of components. They gave you a new fuse box, so of course it will fit, but I am curious how it turns out trying to adapt all the other original Ford stuff to the new harness.

 

I do have a brand new universal wiring harness that I got from EZwiring.com. I went with a mini-18 harness just for the extra capacity even though I don't have power windows or locks.
I have no emissions equipment left on the truck and I have no air conditioning.
I only have one brand new fuel tank now as both the originals were terribly rusty inside and at least a partial cause to my motor going out.
I have a summit racing electric fuel pump and plan on using a summit racing ready to run distributor when I wire in the new harness to furthur distance myself from factory ford wiring and engine electronics to hopefully make my wiring easier and simplified in the end. Please let me know what you think on these ideas gentlemen.
And again thank you much for the replies and wisdom.

 

I think you'll like the EZwire kit. I've done a couple of them and they're really not that hard. Never done one on these trucks though. If you've never done one it does take some time. Just lay it all out next to the truck before you start. It just makes it easier for me when I did that. Good luck.

 

I'm glad to hear someone has used this kit with some success. I do plan to lay it all out and go slow and easy using a small battery to test lights and accessories as they are hooked up.
My main concern is the factory distributor and engine computer hookups. As I stated in an earlier post I want to use a ready to run style distributor, would this make my stock engine computer irrelevant? Thanks again for all the help gentleman.

 

Nobody else has any advice?

 

The 1972 351C didn't use an engine computer, as a matter of fact, it didn't even have an electronic ignition. In 85 and 86 the computer systems were an overlay since some engines (351HO and 460) didn't use computers. I would try to get a distributor for a 351M or 400 with DurasparkII, your left side harness should have the plugs for it where the computer system plugs in. One huge improvement you can make is to add some grounds up front.

 

That is good news 85lebaront2, my truck still has the computer in it from the original 6cyl but I wasn't sure if it was retrofitted to the cleveland or not. I do plan to add a lot of grounding up front since i'm sure thats at least part of my problem currently. Thanks a lot for the reply, I greatly appreciate it.

 

I remember Dwell meters! And feeler gauges!

28° - 32° IIRC

1970 Mustang 351W

Sorry for the rant, Jhan, inside joke.

 

Yep, me to. Still even have an old Sears Engine Diagnostic Meter out in the shop. About all it's good for now is Voltage, Amperage and RPM checks.

 

My dad's got one from Monkey Wards.

 

Does anybody have any experiance at all with ready-to-run style distributors?