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Hello, looking to see if anyone has recently had their Corvette rewired and could tell me what the cost was. Mine’s a ‘79 auto, with the added complexity that most likely the car will have to be taken apart to rewire it. I recently did a minor interior refreshening and installed electric headlights. As I was doing this found many concerns with the wiring as in a segment on the 5’oclock news saying a man’s car created a 4 alarm fire….
Will you be doing the work? That will most liely double or more the cost of the project. If you are doing it, just check out a company like Lectric Limited, or AMerican Autowire. I believe they have complete harness systems for the whole car. I did a custom job in my 78 with a product called 24/7 from Ron Francis. It was a lot of work and lay out but for me it was what I needed. It was about $500 or a little more. But you are smart. When I saw how brittle my wires that were hidden under things, I had no choice but to replace them all.
When i rewired my vette i did it in sections. engine compartment , interior and rear section. it was pricey but i had to because alot of the old wiring was unusable. i tagged all the wires first and i put blue led lights in the dash.
I'd just go and buy 20 colors of wire. 20-40 meters of each. And rewire away. Then wrap it all with proper cloth wrap.
A very time consuming job. But relaxing. And it's a hobby after all.
If you decide to do it, I would also recommend one of these. Which was recommended to me by another forum member. They have label cartridges that are actually shrink wrap. You label the circuit, print it out and slide it on the wire. A big help for those of us who can't remember things anymore.
I recently paid a guy/shop about $6K to re-wire my 72. I am pretty sure I got a friends discount, but if everything goes well, (HAH!) 20-30 hours at shop rates is what he estimated. I think my fiasco of a car made it closer to 40 hours total work. Original quote was $5K, but had to add in one extra harness. I felt it was fair, but much more cost and I would have just done it myself. I figure it takes me twice as long as him.
The question I would have is "Why?" Why the need to re-wire the entire car? Was it in a fire? a flood? Just curious as to the rationale for an entire re-wire?
The question I would have is "Why?" Why the need to re-wire the entire car? Was it in a fire? a flood? Just curious as to the rationale for an entire re-wire?
My question would be why not? Why partially rewire? If various portions are frayed, bubba was there, or generally just old and worn, it would not be a smart move (just my opinion) not to go ahead and replace the wire or wires right there where you are working. Would suck to get everything put together after a partial job, then find out something else isn’t working (then or down the road) and have to tear into everything again. Plus it gives the chance to add electrical performance upgrades such as redundant grounds, clean up some of the feeds with dedicated grounds/hot feeds and add such things as relays.
I second the suggestion by @kanvasman on getting and using the Dymo! He and I must have read the same thread. It’s an awesome little tool.
The question I would have is "Why?" Why the need to re-wire the entire car? Was it in a fire? a flood? Just curious as to the rationale for an entire re-wire?
Wires are no different than engines and transmissions. They get old and need to be replaced. Mine are brittle and break easily. When I installed electric headlights I noticed the connector to the headlight switch had partially melted which appears to be common issue with these cars. Whomever owned it before me put in an aftermarket stereo and completely bubba’d the wires up. The car is transforming into an autocross car so the AC, radio, cruise control, rear window defroster, power antenna, cigarette lighter, etc… have been removed. It has an electric fuel pump, electric fans, electric headlights so it would be nice to integrate these in a cleaner manner.
My opinion, if a C3 hasn’t been rewired it’s a fire waiting to happen.
I recently paid a guy/shop about $6K to re-wire my 72. I am pretty sure I got a friends discount, but if everything goes well, (HAH!) 20-30 hours at shop rates is what he estimated. I think my fiasco of a car made it closer to 40 hours total work. Original quote was $5K, but had to add in one extra harness. I felt it was fair, but much more cost and I would have just done it myself. I figure it takes me twice as long as him.
JC, you may want to check out a vid by a guy on youtube “The Driveway”. He does some pretty cool stuff with his wiring job on his ‘71 that may lend well to what you are doing. I’ll post this comment, then go see if I can find it. If so I’ll add it in here.
Also, “Problem Solver Garage” has a great series. He has I think 2 or 3 vids on going through his wiring. Unlike The Driveway guy, he uses what he has, cleaning up and repairing the existing stuff. Between the two, good stuff to know! At $6k for someone else to do it… you really can do it yourself. You’ll have enough dough (thousands) left in your pocket to buy some other cool parts. BUT, if you do not have the time (busy makin that $) then I would not blame you for paying someone. I just trust myself more than someone I would pay (to do it right, not be rough and break other stuff, add in stuff like conductive grease to prevent future corrosion and increase conductivity, etc) AND, I’ll know every inch. If something does not work I’ll most likelyknow right where the issue is.
Yah, I’m thinking I might start buying the harnesses, but try to get ones without the factory options such as AC for example. I’d love to put in a Holley 12.3 dash and get rid of the gauges similar to this picture, but that’s more customized wiring.
If it's old, it must be bad.... Quite a philosophy,...
Maybe you can enlighten me as to "when" components on a vintage car MUST be changed, because of age. I think a lot of folks would like to know such 'information'.
As for your dash dreams, look into the Dakota Digital set ups. They really clean up a lot that is back there.
Maybe not all things that are old are bad ( me for example) but wiring that is over 40 years, in my mind at least, is a disaster waiting to happen. When I started on my project I had no intention of replacing it all. But when I saw how brittle the insulation was, that was my first clue. When I saw all of the dark brown burnt insulation at connections, that was the second clue. When I saw the melted plugs and connectors, especially the ones hidden from view, that was the third strike. I didn't want to do all the work I was about to start on and risk loosing it all because I was cheap. Just my experience, but when you see how many of these cars burn up, a lot from electric fires, I didn't want to take the chance. I saw a sign in a window once "Somedays you get paid for the decisions you make, somedays you pay for the decisions you make. The decision is yours".
If it's old, it must be bad.... Quite a philosophy,...
Maybe you can enlighten me as to "when" components on a vintage car MUST be changed, because of age. I think a lot of folks would like to know such 'information'.
I don’t think you need to be enlightened as much as you may need to come to the realization that years of heat, repairs, splices, corrosion, etc, etc in a wiring system (along with old wiring sheathing technology) do not equal dependability or safety that fresh, new wiring would bring.
If it's old, it must be bad.... Quite a philosophy,...
Maybe you can enlighten me as to "when" components on a vintage car MUST be changed, because of age. I think a lot of folks would like to know such 'information'.
I would say when they start to look like they are about to break off from whatever’s they are supposed to be connected to or in the last example have already broken off and you have no idea where it came from…
The real horror story is in the center console, but didn’t feel like taking it apart for show and tell.
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Total Rewire Cost Question
