Can somebody help? I have a 69 Camaro I am putting back together.I removed all the old wiring. It was pieced together and somebody cut the console hook up out. My dilemma is which wiring harness to buy? Do I buy the aftermarket GM reproductions, Painless, American Autowire? I have a car with Auto, Console Gauges (Reproduction) AC and a Tach (Reproduction) Is it worth buying the reproduction of the original? Do any of them come labeled? I am very new to this whole thing.
Thanks Mark

Hi Mark, I would go with the American Autowire harnesses. They are pretty much exact reproductions of the original. I used their conversion harness to add factory console gauges to my 69 and it worked very well. The instructions are not too bad but if you run into issues there are a lot people on this site who will help you...just add pictures it helps.

Good luck

http://www.americanautowire.com/FactoryFit_Harnesses.html

Mark have you tried searching for "painless" here? American Autowire and one other that escapes me at the moment is more of a plug and play option. Also, the supplier provides some nifty upgrades if you want a modern alternator or HEI etc. Painless is more of a one-size-fits all and requires you to reuse connectors and cope with some customization issues yourself.

Whatever you decide on, get a schematic and become familiar with the layout before you start. When it comes to wiring it's important to have a good understanding of how everything is suppose to be connected - it'll save you a lot of grief in the long run. Check the stickies in the electrical forum for a link to color wiring diragrams which are much better than the OEM diagrams found in the assembly manual. And if you don't already have one, invest 15 or 20 bucks in a digital volt-ohm meter. It'll be a valuable tool for testing your circuits and troubleshooting.

You can send your Dash Harness to American Autowire and they will wire it exactly the way that you want it. Tell them you want to restore your Dash Harness. They are restoring my 64 Malibu SS Dash Harness. I have used them over the past 20 years on several projects. Their work is second to none.

http://www.americanautowire.com/FactoryFit.html

1-800-482-WIRE

hi mark, i would go with the american autowire harnesses. Good luck

http://www.americanautowire.com/factoryfit_harnesses.html

x2

American wire and as for the up grade for the alternator thicker wire.

After doing the pricing of multiple wiring suppliers, I decided to go the Painless route. If I was doing a full resto I prolly would have gone AAW, they were super helpful on the phone and can make anything you want and anyway you want to run it on your car. I like to do things myself and save a few bucks, plus I like the all the headaches that come with that only because it feels good afterwards! :p Anyway the painless kit was $479 and Jegs at the time had the $200 wire braid kit for free. Summit also had great prices. I had bought and now returned the front and rear light harnesses that cost about $300 from NPD.

The painless is still in the box, because my 67 is almost painted then coming home. I will take photos and start a new thread I think, because I don't see any here so far. The painless kit looks great and every single wire is color correct (they say) and also is labeled the full length of the wire of what it is for! I was very surprised by that as I know that will come in handy doing the whole damn car. I would say that only 20% of the wires are cut to length with terminals, but it has a wire for every option you could ever add to your car. It also has multiple extra ends, zip ties and new head lamp plugs plus the new style fuse box(not the old glass rods). I figure I'll be money ahead and have the whole car wired safely and up to date. Just my 2 cents though!

good luck on yours, and btw I have an original tack cluster and console gauge cluster that I am installing new, since mine didn't originally come with that. So that was the main reason I shopped so much to get the set up right and the cost decent.

Search "classic update" , "M&H" , and "painless" here and start reading, there are lots of threads with good discussion.

If your worried about things being labled and/or easy to install, Painless is not a good choice.

The AAW Classic Update is a more modern setup, and is half the price of good resto harnesses, but it is some assembly required; good directions and great tech support though.

If you want to just plug harnesses to each other and go, and are willing to spend approx. $800 to $1000 for all the harnesses, then either the AAW Factory-Fit line or the M&H ( www.wiringharness.com ) harnesses are the way to go. If you want OE style harnesses modified for things like internally regulated alternator and HEI (no resistance wire), both AAW and M&H will complete the mods for you for a small fee.

Just wanted to add that the other you guys keep listing were at least $1000 bucks and up, for the AAW and that still wasn't plug and play. The AAW rep said I would still have to cut to fit most of the wires from them. I haven't installed it yet, but can't see how it would be any more difficult. The exact repros are even more, so the Painless was by far more affordable. Anyway just letting you know what I just went through.

Dont buy the Painful harness.

I bought mine from these guys and it went right in just like the factory. No guesswork.

http://www.wiringharness.com/

They also have a tech line. They were great! I also bought one of theirs for my 71 Elcamino which I got in boxes and all the wiring was out of the car. I didnt have a problem putting that one in as they are exactly like the original harness.

Just wanted to add that the other you guys keep listing were at least $1000 bucks and up, for the AAW and that still wasn't plug and play. The AAW rep said I would still have to cut to fit most of the wires from them..

.......sounds like the AAW Classic Update kit that you are describing as my AAW Factory Fit harnesses were indeed "plug & play" , no reusing old connectors. To me the quality and craftsmanship of the AAW harnesses makes it worth the cost:yes:.

David F.

And the AAW Classic Update lists for just over $500, and can mostly be had for closer to $450 shipped.

Painless "GM" harness was very close in price, and the two kits do not compare. Almost no reuse of terminals on the Update (I had to reuse my clutch safety switch connector because I did not want to wait a few days for AAW to send me a new one free, and I also reused my connector at the rear body/rear light harness because I wanted it to look more OE), and better instructions and tech support.

Only the AAW Factory Fit and M&H harnesses will set you back closer to $1K. The Update is half, and it is at least twice the kit that the Painless kit is IMO.