So I just got my 1966 Wildcat running, and three days later, a short in one of the wires brought the whole thing to a halt. After doing some inspecting I noticed that there seems to be a lot of wires that go to no where, many of which don't work, or look like a fire hazard. In fact one wire lit some gauges on fire that the previous owner installed under the dash board! Looking at all the wiring, it appears that one of the previous owners did a lot of bad wiring jobs. Now I just want to start over with all new wiring. I don't want anything fancy, my goal is to have it wired just as it would have been in 1966. I have never done this before, so does anyone know where a good place to start would be? is there any electrical harnesses that would be preferable for something like this? Also, does anyone know how difficult this could be, where I only want to restore the wiring back to its original state? Any comments or suggestions are appreciated thanks!
The 50+ years takes a toll on copper, insulation and grounding. Since you are going to go through the effort, do things properly. The chassis, frame and any/all accessories are/were the ground path. You want to make sure all of those are well connected/grounded, to avoid ground loops, or isolated circuits. Then you need to address the wiring. The copper often is oxidised far into the the sheathing/insulation of each wire, and results in excessive resistance and poor conduction, as well as the potential failure of the insulator and resulting short to ground. Then, you need to consider all grounding of accessories, printed circuit boards, light sockets, switches and so forth being cleaned so that all connections and ground/bonding are adequate. If you can purchase ready made, OEM standard/quality wiring harnesses for your particular make and model, then it is money very well spent. If you cannot find them ready made, then having someone who is professional and qualified to do the work and custom build your harness, again, money well spent. If you are able to do the work yourself, the materials are available, but my experience has been the "cost of doing it once" far exceeds paying someone who does this as a professional. (and the route I took with a heavily modded 1964 Skylark, to 1965 GS wiring and various additions to appear and function as close to "factory" as could be done). I also did some of the mods. It was a total makeover, so it required some back and forth co-ordination, but the results are without a doubt, professional and very well accomplished for all the desired requirements. "Wire fires" have destroyed many a classic vehicle, or given more heartburn than people may realize. Wiring is "out of sight/out of mind", for the most part, but is a very important part of the vehicle's makeup. In my situation, I was doing a resto/mod and removed everything except body from frame, in less than a year, and outsourced the wiring rather than purchase all the wire and labor required to do it all myself. And it was well worth the cost to do it that way. I also understand that not everyone can or wants to spend what is required to do this. Hope that helps, and I will be happy to answer any questions or offer help as I can.
If you want a cheaper route, I just removed the complete uncut harness from a 66 parts car. Engine compartment, dash and rear harness complete.
