My 48 f1 is coming back from the paint shop any day, and I need recommendations on a good, easy to install wiring harness. My kids bought me an E-Z Wiring 10 circuit Street Rod harness a couple of years ago anticipating this moment, but apparently they don't offer it any more and the instructions that came with it are for a harness with more fuses and color coded wires. This one has all black wires. I can't even figure out how to get power from the battery into it. Please share your wiring harness experiences with me. I am ready to put this one on eBay, and buy a good harness. Help!

 

I used an ez wiring kit in my 51 ford... The instructions were kind of vague... I have had no issues running the kit.... On yours the black wires should have white lettering about every 6 inches to identify the wires

 

The wires do have markings on them. It looks like several wires are intended to go to power sources rather than one large wire to battery or solenoid. Was your E-Z harness made this way?

 

I would look at American Autowire. I used there Power Plus 13 in my 48. More than enough circuits, easy to install and usually Summit has the best pricing.

 

Actually you have one of the best wiring harnesses available. All universal harnesses are basically alike. Ezwiring is very helpful, give them a call and ask them to send you one of their current instruction sets. Since you have the all black version, simply cross out the wire color designations on the instructions and write "black" for each one and go by the wire purpose name stamped on the wire and instructions instead. Honestly, if that's a problem for you to do, you might consider hiring someone else to install it, or find a friend with more electrical wiring experience (automotive, not household) to help you.
If the instructions are for a model with additional circuits, just ignore the extra ones on the diagram and run the ones you have. It just means you won't have provisions for as many different accessories. The harness you have has provisions for every circuit you need to run and drive the truck. Yes there are multiple power feeds to separate out and power the different functions, all modern fuse blocks are like that so you aren't running everything off one main fuse/wire for safety. If you overload or short one of the groups and blow one of the power fuses, you may still be able to limp the truck home or to safety, or warn others, rather than being completely dead or worse, starting an electrical fire.
The only "easier" harness would be a stock reproduction one, but that means you would need to retain the 6V positive ground. The universal harnesses are all meant for vehicles with 12V neg ground or one converted to 12V -grd. If you are retaining the 6V system then DON'T use a universal harness, 6V requires heavier wires than 12V, use a harness with wire sizes designed for 6V.

 

 

E-Z kit in my 49......I think it was pretty straight forward

 

 

To start, stretch the harness out completely on the driveway, in the yard, down a long hallway. Separate the wires into groups by where they go i.e. engine compartment/front lighting, cab interior/instruments, rear lighting, etc Temporarily tie/tape/ ziptie/grocery wire tie each group several places along the length, then roll up each group into a 6" roll, temp tie and label the roll. Now decide how and where you will mount the fuse panel. Common locations: under dash, inside kick panel, under seat, behind seat, etc. Plan how you will run the wire groups from the fuse block to their respective areas. Mount the fuse block and route one bundle of wires, ignore the other rolls for the time being. split the group as needed and retie into smaller groups like branches on a tree, by their routing. Bring each wire to it's connection point, but do not connect or cut just yet. Congrats you have made significant progress! Do the same for each roll of wires, being sure to route them neatly where they can be secured away from any hot parts or sharp edges (use a rubber grommet or split windshield washer hose to pad the edges of any hole the wires pass through) and leave enough slack to allow for engine/ body movement. Avoid pulling a wire tight, especially over an edge of something. Take pride in routing neatly and sensibly. Once you have the wires all routed, you can roll up any unused wires into a small roll and tuck away or remove the wire and it's connector from the fuse block. DON'T cut the unused wires, you might want to use some/all sometime later. Cover the wire bundles in tubular plastic wire loom or wrap with tape. to protect and clean up the appearance. Check the thread about self sealing tape for more info and examples of well routed/loomed wiring. Finally clip the excess wire and add any and all connectors. Make and test one circuit at a time. Be sure to install good ground strap or wire connections between battery/chassis, cab/chassis, engine/chassis and bed/chassis.

 

My personal favorite is the "Black Box" fuse panel from RacersRods.com It is not a "pre-wired" board and can be wired very cleanly. They also have some of the BEST wiring instructions that I have seen, walking you through each circuit. I have one of these in my '40 coupe.

I used an EZ Wire, in my dad's '34 sedan. Didn't care for it.

Another nice thing about the "Black Box", to terminate to the panel, you strip the wire, and the terminal block clamps the wire into place. No need to crimp an end on it.

 

I can handle anything but wiring. I'm going to farm it out and watch/help, and pay for it to.

 

I used a 21 circuit EZ Wire harness. It worked out great with no issues.

I have some cicuits left over for future expansion.

Take your time with it. Like AX said, lay it out and separate it into groups. If you have the space you can lay it next to the truck.

 

I've used the EZWiring in two projects. The EZ 12 in a kit car, and the Mini 21 (now called Mini 20) in a Hot Rod. I was impressed with both.

I rewired a boat once without a kit. Never again.

 

I don't know about the AA harness, but I used a Speedway universal 20 circuit kit. Worked well and was easy to install. I would have gone with the 12 circuit (would have been plenty), but I didn't want the mini fuses.

 

9+3 Rebel wire kit for me. marked every six inches, good instructions. Jeez, even I didn't goof it up. Says a lot. Plus, when I had question, the folks at Rebel were right there (virtually) beside me.