Thread: Hummm What should I do

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Should I get a 21 circut EZ wire harness for 185.00 or should I get the American Auto wire highway 22 for 429.00? My gut always tells me you get what you pay for. But this is a big differance. It's a hot rod on a buget but I don't want to regret it in the end. I like to do it right. After all it is my baby. Any thought would be appreciated.

I bought the 21 circuit EZ Wire for my '33 and had no regrets. Conductors are well insulated and flexible, and circuit name embossing is clear. I had reason to call them to clarify how one circuit needed to be run, and their tech guy was patient and helpful. My only complaint is that I mounted my fuse box too high with the dash out, and now with the dash in place and AC/defrost duct tubes blocking the view getting to the box to change a fuse is a royal pain.

Hmmm both kits use GXL wire....that's a good thing since it is a superior insulation. Never use the cheap vinyl stuff or crap from HF. The AAW kit looks more complete and is not pre-terminated......make the wires easier to run if they arent crimped to the fuse block. More important than the quality of the wire is the quality of the crimp.....AVOID cheezy crimp splices if you can.....if you must use a crimp splice, crimp it properly with the correct AMP pliers...NEVER use regular pliers to crimp with. If you can, solder and heat shrink all splices....if you must splice. Every connection is a potential open circuit. NEVER use IDC splices (insulation displacement connection) that use the little "V" to make the connection. Use black, not white ties, use quality ones from an electrical supply, NOT the HF crap. NEVER let the weight of the harness be transferred to a connection, always tie the bundle to take the load off the connection. Tie the harness so vibration does not flex the wire. If in doubt, use larger gauge wire and never use smaller than 16ga. Make sure your grounds are to bare metal and use a star washer on grounding lugs. Use a heavy ground between the body and the frame and the engine....dont rely on the body bolts to make the ground path. Use relays on high current loads like headlights, cooling fans, a/c compressor, etc. Battery cables should be as large of wire as practical.....scrimping here will cost you later. Battery post clamps need to be a quality crimped and soldered assembly....dont use the kind that clamp on the cable. Your alternator wire needs to be sized to the alternator output.....OOPS, I sure got away from your original question...sorry.

Robot: A quick question. Why do you say to use Black Ties and not white ties. I get the point about HF but what has color got to do with a quality installation other than for looks.

White cable ties are UV sensitive, sunlight will degrade them and they will break after some time. Most cable ties are also attacked by sulphuric acid fumes.....black ties are not as UV sensitive and will last much longer.

Good answer.... I figured it was more than just looks.

We have a customer who strung all their network cables in their plant with white tie wraps......eventually, the cables started falling down.....a real pain. I used white ties to install bird netting in the garden and they are starting to break after 3 years.

My Son Dan used an American Autowire kit in his rpu, and while it is a little pricey, it is a nice kit. The fuse panel is well made and heavy duty, the wiring is of good quality and marked very few inches, and it comes with lots of extra parts that you sometimes have to buy elsewhere. The instructions were very clear EXCEPT when it came to the position of the 175 amp fuse they supply for the main circuit. Their diagram shows it in the main battery cable going from the battery to the + terminal on the starter. That is not where it is supposed to go, according to them.

We kept blowing that fuse so I called them and the guy that answered the phone treated me as if I were crazy. He said "No, that fuse is ONLY for the main fuse panel, not the battery cable." I told him I had the instructions and drawing right in front of me and it was CLEARLY in the main cable. He was kinda rude and blew me off, so I don't have much good to say about their phone customer service.

I used a Rebel 9 + 3 kit on my 27 and for the money it is really a nice kit. Fuse block is nice, wiring marked every few inches, and the instructions were equally good. I didn't need all of the circuits, like 3rd brake light, heater, wipers, etc, so I just eliminated them. For the new rpu I am going to build I will buy another Rebel kit with no hesitation.................and, they are friendly on the phone !

Don

I am using the Ameerican Autowire Hwy 22 kit. I got if for a bit less on Ebay. I like it because the wires aren't preattached to the fuse box, so you can easily add as you go, and like Don said it comes with a lot of extras that make piecing it together much easier. I also like the way they wire systems in individual bags of parts and instructions. I have to admit is is a bit over kill for me, and they smaller hwy kit would have been fine, but it is a nice setup!

Don,we have a friend down here who imports the Rebel kit,,and he has sold quite a lot of them..I have seen these myself,and although I am nearly useless with wiring,I think I could wire up a car with one of those,quite easily..

Originally Posted by lamin8r

Don,we have a friend down here who imports the Rebel kit,,and he has sold quite a lot of them..I have seen these myself,and although I am nearly useless with wiring,I think I could wire up a car with one of those,quite easily..

I used to make up my own wiring from marine supplies, when I was in that business. But for the price Rebel gets I couldn't buy the individual components and the wires would not be marked with where they go...........that in itself makes it so much easier to route and sort out. I was very happy with the Rebel kit and I had a lot of extra lengths of cut off wire to hook up other stuff I might have to do in the future.

Don

I know i'm biased as i'm the UK Rebel dealer but i use them for all my builds these days, I've been dealers for all the others at some point and can honestly say Rebel are the best i've found, also Bob who runs Rebel is a wealth of free info and a very nice chap too.

I've used most all kit, Rebel is very good; EZ is similiar and a few others come to mind - dick frances etc. American is for the professional while Rebel, EZ etc are for the enthieusiest. The American kit will provide you with the actual pins for a lamp socket and you create/assemble the socket in its entirety, make it waterproof and without splice - exactly as OEM. Rebel & EZ etc have a number of preterminated/spliced devices, ie the flasher, ignition sw come to mind so that if you want your fusebox behind or under the seat you'll have a problem to deal with; or, if you want some stuff on the dash (ign & Lights) but want the wiper switch overhead - you'll have a problem.
I prefer the American, i put stuff where i want it; harness/loom the wires and it is a clean installation. The Rebel & EZ will be nearly as good if you locate everything as they have intended - ie, put everything in 'normal' locations. Some wireing cannot be loomed, you bundle it & route it with tye wraps because of the preterminated connectors.

OK Itoldyouso I went with the Rebel wire kit 20 circuit with rear mounted fuse box. You talked me into it.
Thanks
Creep

I posted when this thread was new, but it got eaten by electronic gremlins. This is my AAW module in my car and mounted behind the pass. seat:





They also supplied the special plugs for the VDO gauges as well: