SharkByte

Has anyone ever rebuilt thier own wiring harness? I've checked with a few different places about getting the wiring harness's rebuilt for my 81 and no one ever seems to have one in stock. I figure if I have to pull the whole harness out of the car and send it in to get rebuilt I might as well go ahead and do it myself to save some money. How difficult could it be :lol: :crazy: . Maybe I'll start with something small... lol

bmar

the guy that i bought my '77 from had the point of view that if the Vette ran with out it then cut it off and throw it away. there had also been an electrical fire which melted most of the interior wire. I scabbed a wiring harness out of a '77 malibu and rebuilt my wiring harness in my basement. I ended up with the window motors, steering column, starter motor, the dash, headlight etc. in my basement all strung out to the proper length. i would measure what i couldn't haul downstairs and over the winter rebuilt and replaced everything. i haven't had any problems and this was over six years ago.


[Modified by bmar, 1:58 AM 5/2/2004]

SharkByte

Think I'm going to try it when I get home from the desert:) The worst that could happen is that my electric door locks and cruise still won't work when I'm done :lol:

Fleetwood

I did it to my car,& it's not really that difficult,if you can use your old harness as a template.I removed the harness & layed it flat on the work bench,bought the different colour wire from a local auto shop,together with connectors & a decent crimping tool,work with one wire ar a time & create a mirror image of the original harness.If you do it right should be as good as a bought one.

Neil.

BBShark

Were you able to get the connector pins at a local auto shop? If you could get a pin extractor and new pins, you should be able to do this.

Fleetwood

Theres an electronic shop near me that sells the connector blocks in 2,4,6,9 & 12 configuration with new pins,but some of the original connectors I was able to remove the old pins & reuse them,they are held in place with a small metal tang sticking out the side of the pins,which prevents them coming out of the connector.

LemansBlue68

I rebuilt the harnesses for my '68. It wasn't at all difficult. Most of the connectors are available at better auto parts stores. I used a jewler's screw driver to bend the pin on the terminals just enough to back them out of the connectors. If your '81 has the weathertight type terminals you can use a small diameter piece of brass tubing (many sizes are available at a hobby shop) to bend the pins so that they can be backed out of the connectors. There is also a tool available for these connectors but the tubing works the same for less money. Many restoration supplies (like Eastwood) carry the adhesiveless harness tape. Eastwood also carries a lot of the connectors although GM used some pretty funky looking connectors for some of the ignition and gauges that may be hard to find if yours are broken.

SharkByte

I can create work-arounds for most of the bad, broken or missing connectors. My main problem is that the bottom right corner of my Fuse block is melted and pretty much unrepairable. I haven't been able to find a new one so I was figuring I'd find one out of another car thats about the same size and modify it to work. I've been searching for a while and haven't been able to find a replacement original fuse block...

bmar

if you can find a fuse block out of a junker chevy, the wires can be removed fairly easy. the wire ends have a section you push in and the connection will slide out. my original fuse block/firewall plug had burned also, so they drilled holes thought it and ran new wire. Bill