electrical and ignition Rewire Tii one wire at a time

[JackF]

I enjoy these wiring threads. I will say that when in one of my more compulsive acts, I became frustrated with the condition of the wiring on the '72. If it wasn't cracked when I grabbed it, it was when I let it go. I cut 100% of the factory wiring out. It was done in under 10 minutes as the interior was out. This was of course an invitation to my own personal twilight zone. I went with the 12 or 14 circuit micro system from Painless Performance (it wasn't) which I sourced from Summit. I also bought the headlight relay upgrade system. That was excellent. I bought Prospero's diagram and also BMW diagrams and took them to Kinkco to blow them up to 4x3,' pinned them up and went at it. It was a nightmare, largely because I'm a freakin' idiot and also, because I didn't get on it and stay on it. This is one of those projects that you really have to be organized and detail/document where you are. I knew that going in, but ya see, I was ADD before it was fashionable and this...job...took... forever! It came out great.

 

A couple observations. I was shocked at how much I spent for connectors and such. I bought a lot of wire colors from Summit and the quality of the wire was excellent. Obviously I didn't go with factory colors. Would I do it again? Not only no, but hell no! The final product was excellent and I was happy with it. Was it cost effective? Hell no, but that isn't why we do this.

Tom, I bought a bunch of connectors and such from Rhode Island Wiring. I think they are in Lincoln. Nearby? When I was there they were rebuilding an old Hupmobile harness. They said they could duplicate any harness if they had an original to start with. My suggestion to the OP and the community is that it would certainly be worth getting them an old correct harness, if such an animal exists, and buying said harness from them. You will save time, money and it will be right with proper factory wire colors. Tom, you would enjoy a visit there. Nice folks and instructive.

[Grover]

I went through a similar mental exercise as you while working on my current project car, an old Alfa Giulia Sprint GT. I had a lot of wires that were damaged at the connectors, some hacked wiring from where previous owners added/subtracted elements, paint overspray, etc... Add to this, I eventually made the decision that the car would get media blasted, I decided just to pull the entire harness. Finally, since I made the choice to move the location of the fuse box, and I came to the conclusion that I would just rebuild the whole thing from scratch. First step was to label everything during the disassembly, then lay it all out and make sure I had every single wire cataloged for length, gauge, color, routing, etc... Next step was to order new wiring from Rhode Island Wiring. Then, the next step was to get completely overwhelmed and just ignore what the hell I got myself into. I'm still in that step.... Will be a wet winter project in the coming few months hopefully to get the new loom assembled... I'm optimistic that the finished product will be worth the work, but this is evidently not for the feint of heart. I seem to have a habit of getting into these predicaments, but invariably they are great learning experiences and you have something to be really proud of at the end. Good luck, whichever path you choose.