I've been experiencing some electrical gremlins in my 66 that has the original wiring harness and fuse box. I plan to have it all replaced and was wondering what the labor for a job like that is? Will it require removal of the dash? Thanks!

 

First, does the shop you are considering have experience with C-2 Vettes or muscle cars? To do this right everything in the dash should be removed. As a side thought, have you tried to clean all the contacts of the fuse box and the connection in the engine compartment? Cost, my unprofessional guess is $1000 +/-.Not counting the harness cost of about $700. Dennis

 

To do the job correctly, the dash does need to come out. Find a competent shop that has done this type of work for several years and knows what they're doing. I'm going to guess it would take 15-18 hours to do a complete re-wire of the car...maybe a bit more if you have power windows and A/C. Shop rates vary but you can expect to pay $125 - $150 per hour, anywhere from $1500 up just for labor. The harnesses are as follows:
https://www.lectriclimited.com/shop/...and-lead-wires
dash harness - $741.00
engine and forward lamp harness - $534.00
rear body harness - $327.00
additional harnesses would be extra.
So, at a minimum, a complete re-wire with labor is going to cost you somewhere north of $3000 to have a professional do the work for you. You're, currently, dealing with 59 year old wiring that was designed to last (maybe) 10 years. It's a pricey but necessary proposition.

 

Try that first, " As a side thought, have you tried to clean all the contacts of the fuse box and the connection in the engine compartment?" The replacement stuff is not as good as original.

 

Thanks for the replies! The shop I use for my 66 is great. They specialize in muscle cars and have built a number of mid-year Corvette restomods so their workmanship is not in question. My only issue is that I believe they charge far more hours to complete work than it should take. The car is much too valuable to go cheap and I understand you get what you pay for I just hate thinking I'm being charged for more hours than the job actually takes.

 

If you have a reliable shop with excellent street creds, don't be afraid to "pay up". The dash area is the most difficult and time-consuming. Two of us did all the wiring north of the firewall (engine compartment) in about three hours on a '67 I owned. That was a piece of cake. I would think $1,500 in labor would be the outside price.

As someone mentioned, this wiring was not meant to last 50+ years, and God knows who has been in there splicing and taping over that time frame. No matter what, get the job done. I do it to every C1/C2 I buy and I always find something scary when pulling the existing wiring out of the car.

 

It's all the unknowns that they have to account for. Working on a car is not cut and dry. Also it's the while I'm looking at it syndrome. To replace the dash harness the I/c needs to be removed. When's the last time it was restored and calibrated correctly? I'm doing this job right now for a friend. All i need to do is put the cluster back in. Which I'm not looking forward too

 

We are in the process now of doing exactly this to a 66 BB. Bubba had badly butchered both the engine compartment wiring harness and the dash harness so both had to go. It took us about two or three hours just for the removal of the dash harness. There were two of us working simultaneously on the removal. We removed the steering column (a telescopic which needed to be rebuilt along with a new rag joint) and the glove box, radio side panels and heater Y duct (which also was butchered and needed to be replaced). We drove the gauge cluster up to a restorer in Westminster, Maryland and he restored the cluster and calibrated the tachometer (it had been reading half of the actual rpms). The face of the gauge cluster looks new but the wiper switch and the headlight switches were bad so we replaced those which took a bit more time and effort.

After the installation of the new switches we will connect everything we can to the back of the cluster and test all that we can by hooking it up to a 12v DC source. We plan to install the dash harness in the same way as the Factory did by hooking everything we can to the back of the gauge cluster and then feeding the entire wire bundle and fuse box into the dash and then distribute it accordingly. It is tedious work and the routing is important and care given so as not to damage the wiring or pull anything apart. We are guessing about another 4 to 8 hours to completely finish the install. The 66 Laguna Blue BB does not have A/C but does have Power Windows so we have two breakers on the sidewall next to the driver's left knee and air vent. Fun times. C.J.

 

Following up C2Scho, if you’re replacing the rear harness, too, you have to remove the drivers seat, sill plate, some carpeting, headliner if a coupe, and probably the spare tire carrier to get to the tail and license plate lights and the all important grounding points at the rear.

 

Fortunately we dodged that bullet and are not going to replace the rear harness at this time. There are no real issues with the rear harness except for the fact that a PO had changed the original wiring setup from two reverse lights and two brake lights to four brake lights. We plan on saving that adventure for another time so the current owner can live with it for now. C.J.



Ready to Install the restored Gauge Cluster

Gauge Cluster fully restored. Waiting on a new headlight and wiper switch and then testing

New dash wiring harness ready for install

Connector to the rear harness cleaned and waiting

 

Looking good, CJ. Guessing it was Chuck who did the IP restoration for you?

Live well,

SJW

 

Care to back that statement up with some documentation? Letric Limited makes an excellent replacement harness. His original wiring is 59 years old and who knows how many modifications have been made to the wiring.

 

First I have a Letric Limited replacement harness, inside and main one outside. And found them to be an excellent product. Not knocking them.
But my opinion is clean the original first, then . . Of course I have a unique situation having owned the car since Aug67, so no wiring mods.

Now for some things I noticed about these - relative to NCRS only!
Some of the wire colors are a different flavor, correct color just not the same tone. The connectors are of lesser thickness/stiffness, a few connectors are slightly different forms, and the bulkhead connectors some times do not make the best of contact (perhaps due to springness of pin).
Most of these things can be adjusted, but again only if you are concerned with NCRS points and perhaps under their new point judging I'm way overboard.

 

My 66 is in the shop now having the old wiring harness replaced with an American Autowire Classic harness. Because the car is being torn apart for the new wiring I decided to upgrade my Dakota Gauges to the RTX version with matching clock so I can have a gear indicator light. Having the ability to change all the colors using a phone app is kinda cool too. I'll post my old gauges and clock for sale once the work is complete if anyone is interested let me know.

 

Hi Steve,

We drove the gauge cluster up to Karl Burl in Westminster for the restoration and recalibration. He did it in just a few days. Not Chuck B. out in Gainesville. Chuck mostly works on C3's but occasionally dabbles in C2's.

Cheers,

C.J.

 

Ah, I was guessing you might have had Chuck Crew in Westminster do the job for you. I wasn't aware of Karl Burl, and it's good to know a local guy who does this work. Thanks for the reply, CJ.

Live well,

SJW

 

he does great work too.

 

Thanks Steve.

I had not heard of Chuck Crew before and thought you were referring to Chuck Berge in Gainesville VA. I'm sure that Chuck Crew does excellent restoration work as well.

Good to know another alternate in the world of gauge cluster restoration. Cheers. C.J.

 

I saw a trick online about reinstalling the I/C. use about four inches of all thread in place of the screws holding the I/C in place. use a nut on the outer end of the all thread to keep the I/C from slipping off the all thread. this allows more room to get behind the I/C and is easier than balancing the I/C while working behind it. I have Lectric Limited wiring nose to tail in my '66 and it worked out great!

 

Yes, you are exactly right. That is the same technique that we used and will use again.

It is more critical if you were working alone doing this job but the rods certainly help a great deal even when you have two people removing and installing the cluster. The threaded rods that we use are quarter by twenty (1/4 - 20) about 8 inches long with a hex head and a two inch lag.