Engine Harness rebuild

[BillD]

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

[Mr70]

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

[BillD]

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

[Unreal]

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!

[JoeC]

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.

[BillD]

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.

[olredalert]

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

[Unreal]

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.

[Zedder]

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.

[BillD]

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