So, after countless hours, I was finally able to fully remove the dash wiring harness from my '81 and I'm getting ready to rewire the entire harness by hand. Wish me luck!

Pics to follow.

Anyone have recommendations on good places to buy all the wire?

 

the Vette is a car, why dont you go to a auto parts store......

 

Wire will be easy to find,its the connectors that will be tough.

 

That would potentially be quite costly, and they don't stock all of the colors and striped wires.

yeah, I'm hoping most of my connectors are in good enough condition to reuse. I'll be cleaning, re-soldering and reconditioning as much of the original connectors/contacts as I can manage.

Again, anyone who can point me to a good source for such things is welcome to chime in.

 

Welcome to the Forum!

Much less expensive and better quality to just purchase the harnesses.

Many folks use:

http://www.lectriclimited.com/

First rate quality.

 

Thanks for the welcome and the link. I looked at lectric limited's catalog and they don't offer harnesses for my year and to top it off I've already priced all of the wire for my harness at under $50 which is a far cry from the $900+ tag I see on the 1980 harness which is the closest year to mine. The connectors might be the real killer on this project in terms of cost. I'm still trying to identify the parts and find a place that sells them.

 

mouser electronics has all kinds of connectors,,, don't know if they have what you need, tho....

 

Hi o79,
INTERESTING project!
I once saw a picture of a harness being made. It appeared to me that it was done on a large sheet of plywood with clips to hold the connectors in their relative position. The wiring was then run from connector to connector. After all the wires were run the harness was wrapped as the connectors were removed from clips so the right wire (and the right length) exited the harness at the right location.
The board and harness wiring sorta looked like a map for the D.C. Metro.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

For connectors, and perhaps wire, don't forget the service department of your local chevy dealer. Mine was able to help me out with a couple connectors on my power antenna relay...since they were such old stock, and I only needed a couple, they just let me have them.

 

Have you tried finding a used harness ?

 

In some 50 years of hotrodding, I have rewired several cars, and have found the weakest link of the GM line in wiring, is that bulkhead connector, I got lazy on the '72 vette here and just used the front lighting section of the harness, all the engine and FI computer stuff goes through another hole near the gas pedal cable...

I find I can typically have about 50 miles of left over wire for just the basic dash and engine harness, most of the connectors are ok for reuse....

I say that fuse block and the bulkhead connector are a trouble point because I have had 3 of them actually fail on me, rust and corrosion finally got past all the grease and one C2 vette the fuse block was so badly rusted it had to be jumped out totally with some fuse holders...it is composed of steel fuse clips, crimped over brass runner bars, and copper wire ends crimped on....add water/condensate/moisture over some decades and you have FUN developing...NOT!!!!

But you see, I typically go aftermarket gauges also at the same time,

and being a olde tyme ET from the spooky olde vacuum tube daze, I have a unfair advantage in that I actually solder ALL connections...

I don't use shrink wrap, I know most guys recommend it, but my projects are on a continuing basis, so I just wrap good with vinyl electrical tape and put a small tie wrap on it to secure the end....

so when rework time comes for another modification to the modifications it's easy....I"m lazy....

 

Waste of time and possiby dangerous. Order a dash harness.

 

I think he said they're not available,but good used ones are.

 

i agree you will be better off with a new harness.there is a new system involving modules and uses microprocessors i t really simplifies wiring and uses weatherpack connectors.

 

What happened to the harness ?

 

Hi o79,
I believe I'd use the non-sticky harness tape that's available rather than vinyl electrical tape. The vinyl tape seems to often 'shrink' a bit after a while, exposing the adhesive which then becomes kind of a scroung magnet.
Regards,
Alan

 

I am an electronics tech by profession so I'm fairly certain I can rewire this without damaging things. Probably a waste of time but I'm also stubborn once I've set my mind to things.

Yeah my fuse block and bulkhead connector are a bit rough looking.

No I have not. My harness is actually in 'decent' condition. I've just had some difficult to track down electrical problems which prompted me to do this. I want to prevent any further issues due to bubba's sweet wiring 'upgrades' if you know what I mean.

thanks for that bit of advice!

 

If you've had "electrical problems" but the harness appears to be in good shape, it's likely that you have/had grounding problems rather than wiring problems. Unless severe heat has damaged the original harness, it's unlikely that the wiring is defective. Connector corrosion and/or looseness....yes; bad wiring...not likely.

 

I have had some ground issues due to damaged wires/'custom' wire mods. Rather than patch a few wires I just thought it would benefit me more in the long run to restring the harness wire by wire more as a preventative measure rather than primarily for corrective purposes.

The connector housings are in good condition but some of the terminals are not. I've found replacement terminals for most of the connectors and the proper grade/color wire and the cost is very inexpensive. The biggest cost for me will be time. But time is something I've got right now. Once I have the wire on hand, I'm estimating the project will take roughly a week to complete.

I suppose this must make me come off as a crack-pot. Electrical issues are something I'm very OCD about. I want to have this done right, and remember I am an electronics technician by profession, I have a fairly good idea of what I'm doing.

 

i agree with what you're doing, both cost wise, and custom wise....
i got a 59 main harness with my 56, and preferred to use it,,, i liked teh design of teh fuse box much better than teh 56's, and the headlight switch as well...
i also want to use aftermarket gauges, and, with the 56 gauge locations being arranged differently than teh 59's, i made a "modified 59" main harness, which works great for my install...
plus, i can use heavier wire, and solder teh connectors, and shrink wrap as i go,,,i have a spare 56 dash that i use for a test mule, so it will fit good....
being an electrician for teh last 40 years, makes it a pretty easy job......