180hpShark

Hi all, new to the forum, I have a 76 with the interior torn apart from a futile attempt to restore it last summer. I just want to drive now and have lost the motivation to try to get it done myself. I guy I know does good work at reasonalbe prices and I want some ideas so I don't insult him or throw a bunch of money away... what I need done is new carpet, autometer gauges installed, stereo installed, and everything put back together nicely, I'm not going for originality since it's a 76. I dyed the panels last year and they came out alright but the wiring is a mess and It doesn't look like an easy job. I was guessing $500-1000 for his labor alone? any ideas or experiences?

thanks

mrvette

Gauges and stereo and interior are abut a 2.5 day project....but problem is the wiring, that can eat up time.....I know, I rewired my car about 3 years ago over the winter....took about 3 weeks to do it, and i'ts purposely NON stock, totally custom, so things actually WORK, and the harness makes some sense....

problem is, in doing that, I eliminated all vestiges of naderism....so there is no key beep, interlocks, etc.....move the lever and the car is in gear, start the engine and the car jumps forward...FAST, learn to drive.....

I did all that for my own convenience, but to add all that crap back in to pass some safety maven's ideas would take a couple of days effort, assuming knowledge.....

wiring can be a tough issue, depending....

GENE

Paul L

In the long run it might be more cost-effective to replace the butchered wiring harness than pay someone to trace out the flaws and make reairs. Electrical problems can be very vexing and time-consuming.
http://www.lectriclimited.com/


[Modified by paul67, 10:53 AM 4/13/2004]

stingry

The wiring may look a mess but get the AIM and a Haynes (or Chilton) manual out and it all makes sense. All the bulbs are color coded and are labeled on the back of the dash. It is not difficult but would take at least 2-3 days of work. Figure at least 16 hours labour at $40 an hour. You can buy your self a pretty NICE stereo for that kind of money if you do the work yourself.

One exceotion is if there is any electrical tape or unusual joins in the harness then Bubba has been inside and it is time for a new harness or at least for an auto electrician to look at it.

NHvette

Welcome to the forum !!!

I understand where Gene is coming from - getting rid of the nuisances.

However, it sounds like you just want to replace the guages and keep it wired
the same. It this case ... given it's just a few day's work ... your price range
sounds reasonable.

Good luck ... I know the feeling of "I just want to drive" !!!

:seeya

180hpShark

thanks for the ideas, now your making me start thinking I should do it myself :crazy: well I guess I could start collecting info from the archives and see what I can do. I don't have much experience in automotive wiring. sorry for the dumb question but what does AIM mean in reference to the earlier post? Also theoretically if I had lost the wire colors and gauges I had written down when I moved and no longer had the stock gauge assembly, what would I do? theoretically, if I had done something that stupid...

Paul L

AIM is Assembly Instruction Manual. You can get them on EBay for $20.00. They are very informative!

Stoge

Worth their weight in gold.

robertmc48

Based on my limited experience....you are looking at 75-100 $ an hour for the electrical work. It takes a lot of time to trace and fix those wires.

ddecart

With the dash out, all those wires look like a complete and total mess! In reality, they're not all that complex. Everything is color coded and the colors are even written on the back of the gage panels. Somewhat time consuming to get everything in the right spot. It'll go something like "oh crap, I need a longer gray wire for the bulb spot up there...which one of these is the longest?" But it's really no more difficult than painting by the numbers.

Some of it has to be done in a rather uncomfortable position, but that's to be expected.

One of these days, I'm going to replace a lot of the junk back there with some modern connectors, so I can pop the tach out, for example, and only have to unhook one connection.