I'm planning on building my own wiring harness for my 1956 F-250 restoration. I've looked around quite a bit and there don't seem to be any places that sell anything but GPL (85 or 105 C) wire by the foot. If you want a higher temperature wire (GXL - 125 C) to resist engine compartment heat, etc. (plus just be safer) you're locked into purchases of 1000' per color/stripe combination. :-X23 That's a bit more than I was planning on using for my truck and a bit more than I'd like to spend.

Does anyone know of a place that sells GXL, SXL, or TXL grades in smaller lengths including striped insulation?

I'm also considering buying the GXL grade wire in the 1000' lengths with the original colors/stripes and seeing if any of you guys want to buy shorter lengths from me for your own projects (at my cost plus shipping, of course). Here are the colors/stripes and gages I plan to use based on the original wiring diagram for 1956:

14 Gage GXL Wire - White With Red Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Red With Yellow Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Red With White Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Red With Green Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Red With Black Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Orange
14 Gage GXL Wire - Green With Black Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Green
14 Gage GXL Wire - Blue With Red Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black With Yellow Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black With White Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black With Red Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black With Green Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black With Blue Stripe
14 Gage GXL Wire - Black
10 Gage GXL Wire - Yellow With Black Stripe
10 Gage GXL Wire - Yellow

To reduce the number of gage/color/stripe combinations I've substituted 14 gage wire in places where the original wiring diagram called for either 16 or 18 gage wire.

In the end, your cost per foot for the 14 gage is about $0.06 and for the 10 gage is about $0.13. Anyone interested?

George

 

Sacramento Vintage Ford sells 14 gauge wire by the foot but I don't know what the temp rating is -- did you try them?

 

Yeah, SVF has standard GPT grade which might be OK. They advertise that it's the same stuff they use in their wiring harnesses.

As I said, I was hoping to use a premium grade wire like GXL since I'm spending so much time, effort, and money on this restoration project. SVFs price is higher per foot but, as you mentioned, they'll cut it to as short as 10' per color/stripe so the total cost for my restoration is about 1/8th the cost of buying the SXL grade in bulk from another vendor. Guess I'll use the GPT grade from SVF. :-)

I really appreciate the response. You got me thinking a bit (sometimes a dangerous thing) and maybe the GPT is a better solution than getting a divorce over the cost of the 1000' spools of the GXL grade in all those colors/stripes/gages. Besides, I won't have to find a place to store all that extra wire.

George

 

George~

With what did you decide to go?

 

Haven't made a decision yet since I won't get there for a few months on my truck. I was trying to plan ahead - I know, I know, that's against the rules.

George

 

Hey guy,

check this place out for wiring... www.ezwiring.com They are based out of florida and maybe can help you out...the harness is really cheap but gives a good look like a Ron Francis system...using that on my 54 and it works great...with all the extra gadgets i have installed....


James
54 Ford F100 302/AOD
01 Ford Supercrew XLT 5.4L
01 Ford Explorer XLT V6