I am planning on swapping the 390 in my truck for a diesel but there are a few things that I would like to take care of before I swap the motor out and I was wondering if any body had any opinions about which wiring harness to use

 

You are being pretty General so I am assuming you are asking about brands? 1st I would suggest figuring how many systems you will need. what are you going to add to your rig? Stereo, electric cooling fan(s), cruise, P/W, etc.
Maybe this will help. Taken from Hio's compilation sticky at the top of our home page.



Electrical + Ignition
Centech Wiring Harnesses- Early Broncos & Ford 60-80 Ford Trucks
Topline Wire & Cable Wiring Harnesses
FTE Build Thread: Custom Gauge Cluster by kwe45919

 

I am doing a diesel swap. I purchased a Painless harness. The nice thing about it is the ignition switch, light switch, wiper switch and some other things come new with it. The bad part is since I am using a one wire alternator and aftermarket gauges; I am only using about 70% of the harness. I've already removed a bunch of wires that I will never use like the alternator and regulate wiring. American auto wire sells a nice kit for the F100 for a little less than the painless. It actually looks a little nicer by the description and pics.

1967 72 Ford Pickup American Autowire Wiring Harness | eBay

 

Hey I'm looking to replace my wiring harness also. I have done the headlight relays and also have the 1 wire alternator. I want to clean up the main harness in the cab.

I was looking at the
EZ2WIRE GM Hot Rod Wiring Harness Painless Install | eBay

It says it's Amerivan made and with labeled wiring and all. Anyone have experience with this harness? I'm hoping I could do this in a weekend.

Kenny

 

You can use one of these kits made for a GM and it will work fine. It's been done before. If you have aftermarket gauges and a GM column it would be a lot easier though. I thought about doing this but did not feel comfortable trying to figure out if the wires were going to be correct for the headlight switch, ignition switch, and wiper switch. If you do go with one of these cheaper GM kits; please document and post how you did it; that could help a lot of Ford brethren out.

 

I haven't had to do a kit on either my 71 or 72 yet but I did put in a rebel wire kit in a 79 bronco it was a pain because I have kids so I'd get a few min here and there. The kit was great and labeled every foot. The customer service was amazing and will use them for a wiring kit any time. Any questions they were able to answer even sat with me on the phone while a wired the ignition switch and told me what wires I did need any more

 

Good info. I like these
www.Topwireandcable.com and
Rebel Wire .:. Wire kits .:. Wiring Harness .:. Connectors and Accessories for Real Rods
I like the
www.centech.com kits but I think I would hack it up and defeat spending the extra money.
Great thread started. I've been looking for any write ups also to make my install easier.

 

Do any of you know how many circuits the original harnesses were?

 

12 should be enough but get 18 if you can. Gives more flexibility in the future.

 

These are just some general thoughts on rewiring.

In my little storage unit I have about $500 in pieces of wire, terminals, tubing, rolls of wire, bits of harness, plugs and other stuff having to do with wiring cars. In retrospect, I might recommend purchasing a basic/general-purpose wiring harness of the kind that that is intended for your vehicle. The under-dash wiring is especially a good deal. You get the basics, and hopefully some good instructions.

Then add on. A few extra temperature sensor wires, low-amp relay trigger wires for headlight/foglight/drivinglights/auxiliary fans/radiator fans/machine guns, are really handy. You might even duplicate some of the trailer/cab-light/side-light additions. Consider additional support for replacement or additional dash gauges, warning lights or whatever your application cooks up.

Wire is cheap, but adding a new one to a bundle is a hassle. Use connectors with extra conductors or at least open positions. Run a new heavy switched battery conductor of 8 or 10 gauge into the cab. At least to the headlight switch or a block. Distribute from there.

Add fuses of the quick-blow type after a resettable marine fuse. Add a distribution block under the dash with a cover. Use more, but just big enough fuses. Replace the little fuse holder things. Use blade fuses. The kind with a little failure-LED are nifty. Fuses near the battery are better. Fusable links (notice the 's') are good and reliable, but are in the slow-blow category.

Circuit-breakers are of several types... learn about the differences. A bit of appreciation for insulation types is good. Get a chart for Length/Guage/voltage. Know that sensor wires in newer systems may be shielded.

Many good wiring and fusing tips can be garnered from aviation home-built website wiring discussions.

I will buy one of these Weather-pac kits for my next project:
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/7...kit-p-380.html

One-wire alternator setups are lacking in a sensor wire to that inside-cab distribution point. Why would you want to do that on a non-showcar? Just saying...

Lots of good information is available on FTE and other sites. It might be worth a bit of research... Hopefully you won't have boxes of material left after your half-dozen rewire jobs!

Luck, Kevin