universal wiring harness?

[Tripper]

I've worked with Rebel, American Autowire, Ron Francis and YnZ kits. YnZ was awesome for a high-end restoration of my 58 Buick.
Rebel 9+3 worked great in a simple '32 Ford truck hot rod.
AA & Ron Francis were on a couple of other cars I did for a friend of mine.
I prefer the AA & Ron Francis kits for the documentation and how many options they offer, but i thought Rebel was the best bang for your buck if you already have a lot of the switches and other components.

I prefer & use Rebel Wire... the writing on the wire is larger & their tech Jeremy is the best & nearly always available!

BoB

 

[Flipper_1938]

Buying a universal streetrod harness is also cheaper than buying rolls of wire at the parts house and making your own.

 

[zzrodder]

I've settled on American Autowire, the quality is there, good instructions and they come with lots of little things that save you hunting for stuff to complete it. Also, having leftovers from a few kits is handy when needing another wire or part as they match up perfectly. I used to dread doing wiring, but as others have said, I've actually learned a lot, now wiring a car is just a matter of time spent without all the brain strain

 

[bob w]

My cars are so simple that wiring is very basic. On the old stuff I have been using cloth covered wire, just like original. It is new, plastic covered and then wrapped with the cloth.

 

[smallfoot]

I've not ever used a kit so I can't really speak on their behalf, but my builds are pretty simple...just like the builder[ddd. I'm not sure that kits would be any cheaper really. That would depend on how complicated your build is. I buy bulk wire when possible but really good wire and usually stouter gauges than most people use now a days. I think that most of the relays that are used today would be unnecessary if you go heavy with the wiring. I have nothing fancy on the 31 I've been driving it for 7 years. But I've been into repairing wiring issues on friends' vehicles several times where I find issues with defective relays and not any actual "wire" issues and some where the use of some of the later wire available has failed. Warning, there is quite a bit of wire still for sale that was manufactured with vegetable-based insulation. Now, for all you guys that live in urban areas with garages and shops where you store your vehicles inside, maybe you don't have many problems with wire breaking down. But let me tell you, this vegetable based wire insulation is like putting out a bowl of popcorn in front of the TV on fight night. Rats, mice and squirrels love it. Missing areas of insulation may not be a car stopping event first thing but give it a few days when the moisture has worked it's deadly deeds...
I'm sure most of the good kits are made with decent wire but the the idea over the years to use relays so that wire size can be reduced to save money didn't really save money at all. Just my thoughts...from an old fool!

 

[bob w]

I'm with smallfoot on this. I use proper to heavier gauge wire and high amp capacity switches and no relays. Less components to fail.

 

[soltz]

I do my own also. When ever get a parts car or know a friend with one I strip all the wiring. Good price and all that is not exposed to the outside world is in like new[cl