is a "painless" harness all its cracked up to be? (1 Viewer)

[mancinator]

the only one i have seen thus far is the specter offroad one...and i mean it looks good and is neat to have all wires labeled as to exactly what they are so problems are easy to find...and i figure that doign a job as big as rewiring everything is more like an investment...but is it really as easy and painless as they make it seem? for that kind of money i would imagine that it had better include absolutly everything necassary (minus the actual switches) and have some pretty good instructions so that a person with average wrenching skills coudl do the job themselves.
does anyone have experiance with this harness or any others as well as pointers they could give me when tackling a project liek this?
i plan on tkaing my tim and doign it right...unhookign one thing at a time and makign sure everything is done as right as possible...but hey...i dont want to get in over my head.

 

[1973Guppie]

I have no personal experience but have heard from more than one person they are a pain in the ass and not worth the money. I have had great relations with howell harness and run one of their harnesses on my vortec, great tech service too. might check to see if they have one for you.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

i got one about a month ago. not the one made for the fj40 but one made for a chevy. i got it off e-bay for about $200 has a bunch of stuff i didnt need like door locks, power windows ect but i have to say so far its pretty cool. im in the middle of install and with everything listed i can find everything easy enough. i am re wiring the cruiser completly and its my first time wiring a car. so far so good minus a few confusing wires but then again it may just be my lack of knowlege.

mike

 

[thorvald]

its a decent kit, do a search, seems that theres a cheaper harness some people were recommending. Even though the wires are labeled and such, you still have to do a lot of your own wiring- i.e blinker switch to turn signal switch, windshield washers etc.
As far as the labeling goes it wears off a little each time you handle it.

Whatever you use, if you have to reattach connectors- solder the wire.

 

[Jukelemon]

Just my two cents...I have rewired several large motorcycles (actually a bit more challenging) and have used a kit only once. Get the wiring schematic and BLOW IT UP. Find the colors you need and approximate length and then go to it. There really is not point (in my opinion) in marking the wires because the colors do that themselves. Physically use the schematic to organize which wires should come through the firewall and then group those togther. Same for the interior. I know on my 76 40, the electrical wiring is very crude i.e. very simple and a homemade design would not be hard. Now, this is not to say the attachment to the components are not time consuming BUT the actual layout of the wires is not.

 

[Markh]

Another two cents about the "Painless Harness". I did a frame up rebuild on my '76 40 a little over a year ago and I went with a Painless Harness. My situation was a little different because I was starting with a new fiberglass body so I could mount things where I wanted and install the switches I wanted. I'm still using the stock steering column and the stock headlight switch. I thought the harness went in with very little trouble.
The wires are labeled and I broke them out into groups depending on where they were going to go. The main thing I found was to work slowly and use a battery charger to test circuits. The charger has enought power to run all but a couple circuits and not enough to melt anything, plus most have circuit breakers incase something is a dead short. The other tool I used was a volt-ohm meter. I could check circuits with the ohm meter to see if they worked before I ever applied any power. I think it took about 25 hours to complete the job.
Long story short; I'd use the "Painless Harness" again in a minute.

 

[toycrusher]

try cen-tech I have rewired 3 40's with their kits. Great quality and fairly easy to install last one took two 8hr days to complete (sbc and auto w/ac) The kit is almost $100 cheaper then painless.

Toycrusher

 

[kc_chevota]

my vote goes to cen-tech also

 

[notagp_afj55]

talk to fjcruiser. He is installing a cen-tech harness on
his 70 fj-40 now. You can post on the cascade cruiser
web site and he should be able to help you out. Its a
total harness replacement. He is also contemplating putting
a new das bezel and gauges in it as well.
JimK