Hi everyone. My husband and I are getting ready to start getting parts together for our F1. We are going to rewire the truck and we dont know which harness to get. The gentleman we purchased our truck off of suggested Rebel Wiring. I was wondering which harness we should buy? Rebel wire automotive wiring kits for street rods, hot rods,custom cars
How many circuits do we need?

Thanks,
Jamie

 

First you need to decide if your truck will have options like air conditioning, power windows, electric wipers, turn signals, etc, etc. or just the basic items an F1 came with. The more options, the more circuits needed. Let us know your plans and we can give better help. By the way, I have never heard anything negative about Rebel and a friend of mine wired his chebby with one and was very satisfied.

 

Hi Jamie,

first, welcome to FTE... the BEST place to find all your answers... AFA the wiring harness, all the major suppliers will have kits that have the basic circuits you need...and usually broken out into areas...Engine ( ignition,charging headlights) REAR harness (lighting ,brakes, back up lights, etc) CAB ( heater... A/C wiring , wipers and radio.)

You need to decide what other circuits you might add... hi power stereo with amp... hydraulic pump for tilt hood...power windows/locks...cruise control. etc

Check some of the vendors sites and they will detail what is included in each of their kits... some things you never even thought of and some things you dont need (seat heaters ???) also look for the features... color coded wiring is sweet as well as having each wire labeled every foot or so... check out their optional products... relays, switches, gauges etc... just google street rod wiring kits and you'll get covered up in options...

wiring is daunting to some and easy for others... one thing I'd suggest.. invest in good tools. A quality wire stripper and a ratchet style crimper... they will cost yo a few bucks but they are definitely worth the cost.... the auto parts store crimper will leave your frustrated/in the dark looking for a loose connection... take your time and follow the instructions... and let there be light !

there will be others along with personal recommendations... I just haven't gotten that far yet... and you make me jealous !

later
John

 

It depends are you restoring or something else? I wanted some originality (I like the cloth covered wires) for looks but was converting to 12 volt. I found a outfit called YnZ yesterdays parts. If your going more custom, most here like including me is EZ wire harness. I'd go for the 21 circuit.

 

We are updating it to 12v with a 302. We will have a CD player, maybe A/C, maybe cruise

 

This is one of the biased prejudiced unsupported options that John was talking about;

EZ wire is best for value, Ron Francis is the best overall and there are many in-between. (Julie does her own.)

 

i bought a 9+3 kit from rebel for my '54 panel, still putting it in but it looks very good.

 

Everyone seems to think if you are rewiring, you must have a wiring harness that is preplanned and premade - fooey!

Why do you want to buy a prefabbed harness? Why don't you just wire it yourself and then bundle the wires you need into a harness. It's cleaner and easier.

I do my own rewiring (as mentioned) and I find predone harnesses to be difficult to handle and restricting as far as adding things or puitting things where you want them.

The wiring on these trucks is SO SIMPLE and fundamental that running you own wires, one by one, works well.

Take a look at my #4 gallery for wiring diagrams.

 

I'm with Julie on this one, I too build my own wiring harnesses. I asked the Painless Wiring rep at a show if he had a harness for a 53 F100 with a Mercedes Turbo Diesel, you can imagine the look that I received for that question I like to be different and "off the shelf" items just don't fit into my plans.

 

I got a nice outfit from Ron Francis for mine. Haven't got it in yet , but it is labled for every wire and has enough circuits in it for any mods I will ever need. Instuctions are included with each bundle of wires . Start with 'A' and end with the last lettered packet. Has you up and running with the first few wires. Got mine thru Mid Fifty,but I think your better off going thru Ron himself. Only thing I didn't like is that I didn't get a headlight switch or ignition switch with MF, I think you get them thru Ron. Welcome to the club! You can get just about any info for your truck here that you can imagine. Kepp coming back.

 

IMHO EZ Wire has the best harness for the money. Ron Francis, Painless et al seem to think their wire is plated with gold or something. EZ Wire uses all the top quality wire and OEM quality parts (primarily GM).