Update: I bought at full, used wiring harness off Ebay for ~$30 shipped! Will see how it looks, I hope to use some of the harness complete with plugs if in good enough shape, or use some of the wire to replace damaged areas.

More to come!

 

Good luck! This should be easier than making a bunch of splices.

 

UPDATE: I got the wiring harness in and it looks pretty good (as you'd expect from used, some rusted tail light connectors, etc). But, no burnt wires.
I've gone through the engine compartment and am almost done with the cab, just going over the wiring and soldering old connections and replacing damaged wires. I replaced the engine harness.
The fuse box is about twice as big as the existing one, and there are some minor differences, so I decided to cut/splice what I need out of the new harness and repair the old rather than pulling out the whole thing.

Last job on the list is to replace the harness going back to the rear. I have lots of melted wires and splices to deal with back there.

 

Sounds like u got a good jump on it. Let us know how it works out.

 

A couple of suggestions for your repairs. Auto primary wire has different grades of insulation. The common or cheap grade is rated for around 160F. The better grade, refered to as "cross linked" is good for 250F or better. For wiring in the engine compartment, the better grade will hold up a lot longer.

I have used house grade stranded wiring for emergency repairs before... but its not ideal. The strands are larger than auto wire and not made to take vibration or movement. With time, they can harden and crack so auto wire is best.

I am currently modifying a harness with about 6 colors. Plan A was to buy colors to match. When I saw the cost I went to plan B: a spool of Summit house brand premium cross linked wire in white and one in black. I'll get some sharpies and color the white to match as needed. For what you are going, it sounds like 14 guage would be safe or slightly overkill and 16 guage would be OK... just make sure you aren't working on one of the main power or alternator feed wires. Those should be 10 guage at least.

For durable reliable repairs, I use solder and heat shrink tubing. No crimp connectors, wire nuts ect. as those are prone to corrosion and vibration.

 

All good advice, thank you! I didn't know about the temperature rating or the reasoning behind the smaller strands. I try to solder all connections, but I found the wire in the original harness oxidized and really tough to get solder wetting onto, even with gobs of flux.