Wiring kits. Alternatives to Painless?

[Paul Y]

Morning all!

After taking a good look at Woody’s harness I have decided to replace with a new one, the obvious choice being a Painless one.

Have looked at the website and must admit I am being tempted by the Pro Series but $500 ish is pushing my budget BUT it does look like VFM.

Question is, are there alternatives? Am I being blinded by the lure of Painless ad Dollars?

Woody has an LS awaiting instal, will be with a GM computer and a stand alone harness to get him back on the road.

Longer term I would like to go with a Holley Terminator but main aim is just to get back on the road.

So… what am I missing?

Any and all advice welcome.

P.

[The Rocknrod]

American Autowire seems to be the favorite around here for this series trucks. Is it cheaper? No. But I think it's far more complete for our series trucks - https://www.americanautowire.com/sho...66-chevy-truck

[urmyboyblue]

I used a generic wiring kit from SpeedwayMotors. Used with the existing firewall plugs and grommets, it was a good install. Time consuming, but good. And the kit is just over $200..
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[vin63]

I usually don't scrimp on complete re-wire projects. I kind of take the approach of do-it-once-do-it-right-since-it's-such-a-PITA-to-track-down-issues-later. LOL. I've used American Auto Wire and Ron Francis for past projects. For my C10, I used Ron Francis since I had several non-typical components to consider - Pontiac engine with crank trigger, air suspension, MSD Digital 6, Vintage Air system, high-pressure electric fuel pump with futures for fuel injection at a later date, etc. Ron Francis' harnesses are flexible enough to accommodate custom applications while handling all of the regular stuff, and they have awesome technical support.

[Tempest67]

FWIW, I used the Kwikwire 14 circuit kit for my 51 (Carbed) rebuild, it worked great. Good quality, and good instructions.

I paid $340 about 2 years ago.

[MikeB]

Having installed two American Autowire kits over the years, I recently ordered their #510089 Classic Update kit for my 69.

https://www.americanautowire.com/sho...-1969-72-truck

Very nice components, A+ documentation, and top notch tech support!

I got mine at Summit Racing because they had it for $575 minus a $25 dollar discount on anything over $500.

[lil hoodlum]

I used the painless wiring kit for my 1968 C10. It was complete and took me about two days to do the install. It wasn't the cheapest by any means but it was very easy to install and the directions really helped.

While I'm partial to the Painless kit, but the overall favorite I've noticed does seem to be the American Autowire kits.

I know there are some differences between the '68 and the 1960-1966 but they are similar enough.

[kens65fb]

Originally Posted by urmyboyblue

I used a generic wiring kit from SpeedwayMotors. Used with the existing firewall plugs and grommets, it was a good install. Time consuming, but good. And the kit is just over $200..
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I used the Speedway wiring kit as well, the kit includes a headlight switch, and a high beam dimmer switch, as well.
The wires are GM color coded to make things easier
I found the kit to be of good quality, and easy to use.

[MT65]

Originally Posted by kens65fb

I used the Speedway wiring kit as well, the kit includes a headlight switch, and a high beam dimmer switch, as well.
The wires are GM color coded to make things easier
I found the kit to be of good quality, and easy to use.

AAW is all I will use, been wiring cars and trucks many years, all necessary components are included, the major thing to look for is the QUALITY of the wire…if it’s not txl or gxl just pass on it…none of the cheap gp coated crap.
Tech support is fantastic at AAW….
This is a photo of a Hwy 22 mounted on the back of the cab…no holes drilled in cab

[Paul Y]

Thank you for the replies Gentlemen, very useful feedback.

I have previously used the Painless kit and the Ron Francis one plus a generic £100/$150 unit, all of which had their positives and negatives.

As Vin pointed out, I only really want to do this once - sort of a fit and forget - with enough additional circuits for futures.

Will give the tech lines a call for Painless/American/Francis and see who fills me with the most confidence if I am considering spending North of $500.

Appreciate the feedback.

P.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Paul Y

Thank you for the replies Gentlemen, very useful feedback.

I have previously used the Painless kit and the Ron Francis one plus a generic £100/$150 unit, all of which had their positives and negatives.

The main difference between Ron Francis and the other two is the way the wires enter the passenger compartment. On their kits designed specifically for 67-72 trucks, AAW and Painless use fuse panels (similar to OE) with connectors on the firewall side for engine and rear lighting harnesses to plug into. Also, I know AAW kit includes special GM connectors like the one that plugs into the instrument panel printed circuit. I'm not sure about Painless and RF. I do know that some kits require you to use the old connector and its terminals.

On the RF kit, the engine compartment wire bundles run through a hole in the firewall and are individually connected to the fuse panel on terminal strips. A negative there is if you ever want to remove the front fenders and radiator support as a unit, you can't just unplug the harnesses at a firewall connector. Not only that, but the RF kit uses cheesy insulated crimp connectors like you'd find in a hardware store to connect wires to the terminal strips. The RF kit I had was purchased around the year 2000, so things may have changed since then.

However, I will say that RF support is very good. The kit I mentioned above was installed by a previous owner in a 55 Chevy car, and it had several issues. I called their support line and and spoke with Ron himself, who sent me an installation guide and other docs based on my fuse panel's serial number.

One more thing about the latest AAW kits: They come with their #510476 alternator charging kit that uses 6 gauge wire, a bit of overkill unless you have a 140 amp alternator and lots of extra load, like a killer sound system. Sure beats the heck out of fusible links!

[gmcdeadhead]

i went with american autowire, very good quality , good diagrams, good company

[Paul Y]

Got back from London early so made a few calls to the support desks of AAW and Painless.

Only managed to speak to Bob at AAW but was really impressed with his knowledge and his ability to answer my questions around using the loom with an LS, best bit was the he told me I could order it through Summit, save 10% and still use AAW directly for support.

Soooooo.... Looks like. am going to be saving my pennies over the coming months to invest in the AAW wiring kit. Still a big investment at just under $600 but Woody is not going anywhere so feel as if it is a worth the expenditure.

Still plenty to do before I get to the wiring stage but glad I asked the question and did a little research.

Well done Gentlemen, well done.

Onwards!

P.

[The Rocknrod]

I wish I had gone that way kind of. In past builds I have used Painless and Ron Francis (in different vehicles of course). Which is why I went the way I did.
I think you will be happier.

[UK62LW]

Paul - might be worth asking DTE, as he's in the UK and seems to know his onions:

https://www.facebook.com/Down-to-Ear...73996116246881

[Justin71105]

Used a speedway motors kit, no issues with install.

Everything labeled like it should be, it is a 22 circuit universal kit, wish I had gotten a 12 circuit kit instead is my only regret.

So far everything I have hooked to it works like it should.

[Clyde65]

Great tutorial for the AAW harness for our trucks.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=762688

[MikeB]

A few things about universal/generic harnesses:

I installed an AAW "Power Plus" 20 universal harness in an 82 C10 back when it cost around $250. It was a nice kit and the installation turned out well, but I probably spent at least 10 hours just coming up with plans for fuse panel mounting, and instrument panel and washer/wiper connections. Thank goodness Ron Francis sells an instrument panel connector and terminals, because mine were in bad shape. Also, the rear lighting wires were not long enough even on a short bed truck.

On the plus side, the kit wires used GM color codes and it came with GM turn signal and headlight connectors. But I would never use a universal kit again, at least not on a truck with a factory instrument panel and factory washer/wiper as complex as the ones on 73-87 trucks. Probably would be easier to install on a 67-72, but I'd spend the extra $270 or so for the Classic Update kit.