painless wiring kit (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

i'm considering buying the painless wiring replacement kit for my '71 FJ40. i've read a fair bit about these, and i know they are not entirely "painless", but it seems the best option to fix the electrical mess left by po's.

this is a pretty big $ item, so i'm searching for a low-cost supplier (preferably in Canada [Toronto], to avoid high currency conversion). Any suggestions? so far, cool cruisers is the lowest i've seen at US$350.

also, any tips on install?

 

[Gumby]

If it comes with all the plugs and such, then $350 isn't so bad. I did mine from scratch as the painless kit is not so. Isn't the cruiser kit the same one they use for the Bronco? That can't be good.

 

[78mustard40]

Painless P/N 10107 is the Landcruiser, Scout & Bronco basic harness. This is the one to use if your '71 is basically still stock (motor and no air conditioning). P/N 10101 is a 12-circuit harness like the 10107, but is set up to use with a GM-style steering column. Which in my case, for illustration, was the right choice due to a "Ididit" steering column (GM type) and V8. Either way you will get TXL type wire with a new ATO (blade style) fuse box pre-wired, but you will have to use your old connectors (if they look good), buy "new" old stock or customize. Take your time, as in go slow, lay it out through the vehicle, think twice and cut once, solder & heatshrink all connections. It gets frustrating and confusing sometimes and I found out that if I went on to something else for a while then came back things came together. The Painless products are top notch stuff and I figure my 78 is good for another 30 years at least as for the wiring. Good Luck.

 

[thorvald]

if you have some experience with electrical, you might be better off buying their fuse box and doing your own harness, think thats what id do if i was to do it again. there's a lot of wires you dont need on the painless. and theres some you need they dont provide- from blinker to hazard for example
One thing to make sure you do is to solder all your extensions before you put it in the rig. Be prepared for it to take a while if you dont know what your doing. I started in June, thought I had it good in September then blew the maxi fuse. Pretty sure the problem with that was regulator though.
Good luck

 

[Guest]

thanks for the help. my truck is generally stock -- F engine, no power steering, stock steering column etc., with few electrical additions (stereo). wth the part number, i can call around to local shops to see if they can source for a reasonable CDN$ price.

i'm fairly confident i can figure it all out (with patience), but don't have much experience in this area and so i like the idea of starting with a kit.

i also think i'll replace the regulator at the same time -- i've had some problems lately and think the reg may be contributing. any idea on price for these?

 

[Mavric1298]

Would it work to do each wire one at a time, for example, one night just do the tail lights, this way you can still drive it, and slowly just replace every wire...good idea or bad? just an idea

 

[thorvald]

tim
my regulator was $23 us.
cheaper than a bunch of blown maxi fuses (about $4 a piece)

dont know if it would work one wire at a time, you could do the tail section separate as it has a snap connector for that section on the stock harness.
I like the new blade style fuse box though, if you were to do it a piece at a time and wanted to put a new box in it might be a problem.

 

[Guest]

i thought about the one-at-a-time approach, but i'd like a new fuse box, and the current set-up is really a mess -- so thought it best to do the whole thing at once and ensure it's set for another 30 years...

i know it will be a lot of work, but i'm kinda looking forward to it. especially the end result - no more shorts, blown fuses and unreliable current.

thanks for the tip on the regulator, i'll make sure that gets replaced also.

 

[OlympiaFJ60]

Try http://www.ezwiring.com/. I have never used these guys, but some one on one of the boards had good luck with them. http://www.ezwiring.com/new_page_1.htm

Brandon
Olympia, WA

 

[zipp]

Hey Gumby-
I've been looking for stuff to re-wire from scratch- Know anywhere to buy lots of different colored wires? Or how did you approach wire identification. What did you do about connectors to individual components?

I was thinking of buying a new fuse box, and just start branching out from there- I'm also looking for some relays for some fog/driving lights.
Zipp.

 

[theo]

Wrangler North West Power Products sells quality auto electric supplies retail. Some prices are inflated but others are good. Have to be a little cautious. Welding cable for example is way high. But relays are "normal". Just depends.

I've used them twice with no problems.

http://www.wranglernw.com/

 

[Gumby]

I bought a pallet of wire at an auction. A few dozen rolls of 12-16g multistrand. An electrical warehouse would be a good place to go for rolls. I used all sorts of different connectors depending on who made the part where the wire terminated. Lots of GM weatherpack type, some stock cruiser. The TBI harness I took whole out of a truck. I unwrapped it and took out the wires I didn't need and rewrapped it in split loom. My Maxi fuse box is from a mid 90s Buick and holds 12 maxis and 10 relays. It was located under the hood of many mid-size POB cars. I also have a regular size spade box in the stock location from a VW, I think. That runs all my accesory powered stuff.
You should be able to find as many relays as you can carry at the pick and pull. Most modern cars have a half dozen Bosch relays within easy reach under the hood.
THe school where I work takes in about a dozen donations a year. The majority aren't fixable and the kids work on them until they don't even roll any more. Then we pull the drivetrains for dissection. Before the car goes to the crusher I typically pull off parts I might need at the time as well as any unique show-and-tell items. That's why my junk has so many weird parts all over it.

 

[Guest]

I am in the middle of rewiring my '71-40 with an Ez-wire kit. All the wires are marked, etc. Nice kit, but its not a small job. i think it could be smaller than I have made it if you dont go nuts. I got my kit for under $200.00 and it has everything and more for a stock FJ-40. If it were an FJ55, or even FJ-45 you might have to lengthen some of the wires to reh rear of the rig. Also, the wires are meant to run down the drivers side and not the passengers side, so I had to switch the turn signal wires. No big deal though. All in all, its a full two days or more (in my case) of straight work.
In my case, I have a GM column and am adding a bunch of accessories, relays, all new plugs, soldering and heat shrinking the wires, etc. So it is taking a really long time. I dont plan on doing this again for a long, long time (but I say that about all my projects... )
Let me know if I can answer any questions (unless its about wiring up GM column wipers to the FJ wipers ??? I dont have a clue how to do this yet.) -- Dustin

 

[Halo3]

Try hitting up some of the tools stores for spools of wire. I know that both Harbor Freight & Northern Tool offer display cabinets with ~400ft of wire on spools. The wires come in several different colors & diameters. Kind of an assortment pack type of deal, and, if memory serves me correctly, the entire kit is in the ~$40 range.

 

[Guest]

Dustin,

do you have any details on that Ez-wire kit? part number? description? was it just a generic kit or specialized to Toyota?

thanks

 

[Halo3]

From my research the EZ Wiring kit is another generic "one size fits all" kit. You can read some about their kit @ http://www.ezwiring.com.

For comparison's sake, you can hit up Painless Wiring @ http://www.painlesswiring.com/.

 

[Guest]

Does anyone have the papers from their kits? if so maybe they could sketch out a diagram of the circuits and post it here.

 

[PHAT MAX]

i am going to custom wire mine, starting with the waytek 13.00 20 fuse block and some rolls of wiring, their corrugated tubing kit, and then im gonna pray!

 

[cajunqueen]

I am also buying a painless kit to rewire a '63. Check out www.jtoutfitters.com. They have them listed under mechanical, then electrical parts for $250.00. That's the cheapest I have seen them.

 

[73lndcrsr]

You may want to check www.delcity.net they have everything you will need for the rewiring. I am not affiliated, but did buy all of my stuff from them. Their prices are great.

BTW it took me about 2 weeks to complete my wiring from scratch. The one circuit at a time is a good approach IMO.

I ran the circuit, tested it and then moved on. I left the entire stock set-up in place. I moved my fuse block under the hood and put in a water tight box.

Hope this helps.
Good Luck.