Which wiring harness???

[flat_iv]

I ran a complete Painless wiring harness in my 74 Ghia. Wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. I used the 18 circuit universal.

[Bill K.]

I used the American Autowire kit sold by Watsons Streetworks. The materials are great -- new style fuse box, labelled wires, good connectors. The instructions are okay -- they look nice, but don't address stock bug light switches and other bug specifics so you have to do some integration between the OEM wiring and the Watsons plan. I like the tiered design of the Watsons wiring layout -- makes more sence than the OEM setup.

The Autowire and Painless stuff are KITs not harnesses. You make the harness from the kit. The flexibility of the kit was nice, but took extra time designing as I went. I went with it for the fuse box, pre-labelled wires, and modern electrical layout. I bought additional wire, looms, and connectors as needed. Also, you need to buy a crimper for the open barrel connectors that come with the kit (~$50).

The Autowire fuse box comes with a mechanical flasher relay. I changed it out for an electric flasher. The electric responds much faster so you get a blink as soon as you hit the turn signal -- good for quick lane changes. Also, the electric unit works regardless of load -- good for LED bulbs.

[hybrid_john]

Thats good to know because I have to replace the entire wire harness for my 69 standard, it had the same problem as your Brendan, and I may have fried the system as well. I was welding on the car and the battery wasn't disconected! Oh well things happen and then you deal with them.

But the info you provided, Bill, was really helpfull as I was wondering company to get a wiring harness from that could handle up to 2400 watts of power, this isn't my GL so I goin huge in the stereo system.



John

[djmatio]

Question for those using Painless 18-circuit universal:

Since I am pretty much electrically inept, if you use the Painless product, how do the old VW relays (for blinkers, etc) fit into the equation? I have a 1972 super and most of it (wiring wise) will be to the stock items.

Thanks

[Bill K.]

Both Painless and Watsons have fuse boxes with turn signal relays and flashers built in, so they replace the VW ones. Other switches and relays are kept. If you want custom install with modern fuse box, go with kit like these. If you want to replace old wires without redesigning the wiring scheme, go with a replacement harness.

[GL-Aussielooker]

I used the Watson street works setup.... very easy to install. great looking too. I did mine over 4 days working on it about 3 hours each day.

Had no problems and everything was there. I am a computer geek and did it, so it can be done by anyone.

I am very glad that I did the upgrade.

[Dasdubber]

I too used the watsons kit on my old ragtop - a few pics can be found here:

http://www.manxgallery.org/gallery/album228

Took a while but was worth it even for someone like me with no previous autoelec experience.
Alan