Rewiring Work Time

How long did it take you guys to finish the job using the EZ, Centech or Painless harnesses? Be nice to compare notes.

Damm I'm slooooow! R)

 

I did mine from scratch in under 3 hours , but I forgot to put a ballist reistor in the hot line running to the coil. So after it shorted out I rewired the engine compartment in under 30 mins R)

 

Your kidding right?

I figured I needed to take a week off work just to wire my Jeep.

What ya do? Run 1 wire? R)

 

my flattie took about two weeks, mostly evenings after work.
took my time, check and re-check all circuits before applying
battery voltage to the system.
with family, it was hard to not get interrupted during the job.
just lay out and run all your wires, maybe zip tie them together in groups/bundles until you are ready to terminate them, one at a time.
like most things in life, the first time is the hardest

 

Four wire rolls for trailers can really help things along R) . Truly there is not a whole lot on a jeep to plug in lol . alt 3 wires,turn signals 4 wires, brakes 1 wire, Engine 3 wires, headlights 3 wires ect ect theres not alot there. Another thing the body was jacked up off the frame , I drew out the wiring plan at work the day before, I had every thing I needed,No seats in the jeep, all which made it really easy.

 

:twisted:

 

I bought a harness from Walck's, and found out there was a couple of errors in it, specifically a couple of wires that were the wrong color according to the instructions. It also doesn't have wires for a heater or windshield wipers, and it's not setup for a keyed ignition switch either. It's set up for an ignition switch, but it's for the kind that goes with the starter button on the floor, just an ignition on/off, not the kind where you turn the key to start.

I haven't installed it yet, and won't for quite some time, but I've taken the time to verify each wire vs. the instructions, and I've labeled the ends of each wire with where that end goes and where the other end goes, but I have access to a wire labeling machine. When I install the harness, I plan to use a LOT of heatshrink tubing to insulate the wires as much as possible.

You should also get a tube of anti-oxidant electrical contact grease, and lightly coat all your connections. Use a little brush to apply the stuff, and do all bullet connectors, ring lugs, grounds, light bulbs, etc., all electrical connections including the battery terminals. This protects the connections from water and prevents corrosion.

 

I installed my EZ-wire kit in about 12-14 hours with a buddy of mines help, that included removing the dash, taking the blinker apart and cleaning it and the switch to the heater along with the wiper switch and emergency flasher. I wired all the autometer dash gauges and such also. My fuse box is on the passenger side firewall just to the left of the glove box, cut the hole for the engine compartment grommet and mounted it there, ran the wires under the body lip down the right side of the body and drilled a hole in the rear fender to reach the rear lights, also ran new wires for the brake switch and intereior lights and there switches. The only orignal wires I used were the ones that connected the headlights together. Don't worry about Jason, he did his more like stock, not like a modern setup. The only things that don't work are the backup lights and the horn, the wires are run the back up lights are damaged, gonna replace, the horn is because the contact in the postal column was missing, these are both easy to fix. If you need pics just yell and send me and email address to send them!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I did mine stock Very stock , Theres nothing on my jeep that will burn under dash Torch tested ,driver approved . I might put a fuse box in this year which should add from 2 to 3 hours more work. I did put some extras in while I was wiring , like a cut off switch for the brake lights,KC lights and a rev light switch. I have alot of experance re wiring cars from scratch, and having 3 racers in the family helps alot to.

 

i didn't use a premade harness. just patterned it after the existing one and added some ciruits as needed. used existing fuse blocks. i left healthy wire in place. took about 2 weeks for all systems including new switch for backup lights and removing extra bling tail lights replacing backup lights and relocating brake lights to stock position.

scatched head a lot

 

It took about 10-12 hours over 2-3 wekends. I redid a few things as I went along and didn't want to screw up & be sorry later, which happened anyway. Mounted the fuse box next to the heater on driver's side (one of my screw ups).

 

Yup, same fer me. About 12 hours on my first time.

Laid it out, figgered out which ones I needed/didn't need (I bundled up some extras under the dash if I ever needed another wire...)

I mounted the fuse block (pick a spot and test run ALL the wires first before bolting it down and cutting ANY wires. I put mine in a spot that turned out wrong, and I had to move it after I had already cut some wires, so I had to splice in some length.)

Ran all the wires to their destination (Have I mentioned DO NOT cut ANY wires before you run ALL the wires to where they go? )

Covered the various bundles with that split loom covering (the corrogated plastic stuff) and zip tied, then I cut and terminated.

I used one of those portable "jumper" batteries to test my work bit by bit as I went, and a multimeter with a continuity "tone" works exceptionally well for seeing where each wire comes and goes from.

You can do it, just take your time, be prepared to think a little, and double check your work before cutting those wires!

 

I'm getting ready to do mine also and was considering putting the fusebox on the driver's side up by the heater. Can you give a little more detail on why this is a bad place for it?

Thanks,

Jim

 

Thanks for the replies guys...

I wonder how a few may affect my wiring job.

 

Just why I chose to put it on the passenger side between the center of the dash and the glove box, nothing around and it makes it easy to get to. Besides it just seems easier to bend over on the passenger side and reach under the dash than doing it on the drivers side with the heater and the clutter of wires from the dash.

 

On the EZ wire harness some of the wires came up short for the dash. I had to spice a few wires and wouldn't have if the fuse box had been mounted in the center of the dash.

 

Do you remember which ones? I was going to mount the fuse box on the pass side far right. May have to relocate depending on which wires...