Engine Harness rebuild
 

I have a damaged engine harness for my 68 Camaro. I know there are replacement wiring harness's that are pretty nice, however they are not perfect. I was told once that one of the harness places will rebuild or repair your harness and this way you have all the right connectors, ends, colors, etc. All the other wiring on the car is original and it sort of bugs me having the repro piece. Anybody know anything? Thanks

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

BillD
Have you tried M&H Electirc Fabriicators?
M&H Web Page

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Thanks, they seem to be closed for the holiday weekend. I will try again Monday

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

I got my harnesses from M&H (through Rick's First Generation) I compared them to what was left of my original harnesses, and did not notice any differences. I think they are great, albiet expensive!

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

I got mine from the junk yard [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
My car's wires were all original except one so I found the one missing at the junk yard that was exactly like original and spliced it in back under where the factory tape is.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Unreal, I do have a repro harness, and while it is very nice, all the other stuff on the car is original and I would like to save the original harness if I can. The car is very close to a survivor (1 repaint, most everything else came with the car when new, including carpet, weatherstrips, etc)

JoeC, Good tip on splicing another piece in from an other original harness. I was certain I had another harness and spent most of the afternoon looking for it. Didn't find it, but I straightened up a lot of stuff and even threw several boxes of stuff away. And, I found some good stuff that I forgot I had.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

BillD,

-----All attempts to keep everything original are not the same.I have seen an electrical fire and its not a pretty thing.Internal problems in wire harnesses are extremely hard to discover.I equate original electrical harnesses similarly to original fuel lines.Personally I wouldnt take the chance.But,thats just me!........Bill S

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Bill,
I, too, was planning to replace my underhood harnesses, and reuse the rest. I especially had trouble spending the $350 for the dash harness.
Then I stopped to look at a GTO for sale along side the road, and saw what a short in the dash harness can do to to an interior!!
That was enough to make me purchase all new harnesses, including the dome light harness, which was in great shape.
I have spent the last two years dedicated to the elimination of repop parts on my car using NOS or excellent original parts. I did not even consider reusing the electrical, brake or fuel system parts. I did not think the reward was worth the risk.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Bill, If you plan on driving the car then I would replace the harnesses, if it's going in a museum and won't be powered, I'd repair the original. Case in point, about 10 years ago my wife and I were watching a fellow load his NCRS topflight '67 BB onto his tailer. All of a suden, smoke started pouring out from under the hood. Man, you should have seen this guy run for the fire extinguisher! Luckily, he got the fire out with minimal damage. He later told us that he completely restored the car but insisted on maintaining the original harnesses because of the wire "colors". He was going to put repro harnesses on just as soon as he got the car home. Also, don't get too hung up on the whole "survivor" thing. Most people using the term don't have any idea what constitutes a "survivor". The car must be at least 50% unrestored in at least 3 of the following areas - exterior, interior, chassis and underhood. Most guys call thier original paint cars survivors despite them being completely detailed underneath and underhood - they wouldn't qualify like that.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Actually, very good advice from you guys on the electrical fire warnings. The repro harness stays on the car. And Mark, I covered myself on the survivor thing, I qualified it with an "almost". I wish it was a true survivor, but, this is as close as I am going to get to that. Thanks for the help

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Bill, I know you said "almost" and took note of that. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img] The "surivor" thing is a pet peeve of mine because I think it diminishes the rarity of the truly unrestored cars. I was involved in judging in the "Bow Tie" class in the NCRS and it is really amazing to see an unrestored car that has been maintained as close to its original state as possible. These guys go to great lengths to preserve what is left of original finishes and components so we can learn what these cars were originally like when new. My comments are not meant to detract from cars like yours that have one or more areas unrestored, I love those cars too. I found an original paint/original interior 7,000 mile '67 Z-28 last year and never referred to it as a "survivor" because it had been detailed underhood. I just think the term "survivor" should be reserved for those which have been spared the "fluffing". Since you used the term "almost" I assume you argee with me [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Hi Mark:

No argument here. Like I said, I am happy with what I have, and realize that it is as good as it is going to get for me. Not a survivor, but too good to take apart and do the whole car, I guess sums it up from my point of view.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Hi Bill,

I know exactly what you mean. I'm negotiating on a '67 Z-28 currently with 39,000 original miles and all matching numbers with docs. The car was repainted and "fluffed" underhood, but is otherwise pretty much original. The interior while absolutely mint for 36 years old, does show its age somewhat compared to the paint. Underneath wasn't detailed either, so it looks kinda sorry compared to that nice slick Gold paint. The car needed paint, but the owner wanted to maintain as many of the original components and finsihes as possibe. So it has become a "tweener". I'm really torn as to whether I should make a move on the car or not because of this - and the fact that the price is closer to a fully restored car. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Always use a battery disconnect or unhook the battery when the car is unattended. A friend came back from a drive and in the time it took to go get a battery wrench the wiring was already starting to melt down. You just never know when it is going to happen.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

It's that !@#$% resistance wire in the ignition wiring. When I first bought my Nova it had an aftermarket chromed ignition coil. If you left the car sitting with the ingnition on and the points happened to be closed, then the wiring would start smoking after a few minutes. I'm sure Chevy saved a lot of money on each car by not using an expensive ballast resistor. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] !@#$ bean counters. I think that that was the dumbest thing Chevy ever did, next to the fall apart rubber engine mounts.

Re: Engine Harness rebuild
 

Amen!! on that pesky resistance wire feeding 12 volts to the coil.

In the past, I've went to great lenghts to preserve/repair/restore that darn wire. The problem is the white/ivory woven outer covering. Its almost impossible to repair and make it look factory. Eventually, I searched the boneyards until I found a donor car with a unmolested engine harness. Using nearly surgical precision, I was able to splice in the donor wire and slip the soldered connection back under the factory black wrap along with the white covering.

I've performed this repair on several vintage cars with no problems to date. The key is to use electronic solder on the connection so you don't knock the resistance of the wire outta wack.