Painless wiring

cjperry81 · Feb 11, 2010

Im about to redo my 66. I wanted to stat fresh with all new wiring. I have looked into the painless kits. I was wonder if anyone would recommend going with the stright 65-66 kit or going with the unviversal muscle kits that have 12,14,or 18 channels?

2+2GT · Feb 11, 2010

I think you'd be much better off with an OE style wiring from Alloy Metal. Dead-on perfect, plugs right in with no crimping or adapting required. You could re-wire the whole car on a Saturday, and be done early enough for a cruise.

If you want to use a bangin' sound system, this could be added with no hacking, cutting or splicing to the OE style wiring, Ford planned on dealer installed upgrades, so no big deal. Really.

NMEMJCM · Feb 11, 2010

I have done both the OE style and the Painless style. I used the regular early Mustang harness from painless. 2+2 is right about ease of installation with the OE style. I however would recommend the painless style. Yes, it takes longer, yes you have to crimp some terminal ends, yes you have to use a few of the stock connection plugs in conjunction with the painless harness...... (its all detailed out in the instructions) but the end result is sweet. You have an updated fuse box with chip fuses and relays. I wired in a GM style polished steering column in mine, acc fog lights, a mini starter and a 3g battery. Painless walked me through the install process and emailed me diagrams with the custom stuff. I had no real issues and am glad I went this route and would do it again. You have to think and use your brain a little, and it takes a long time (took me well over 40 hrs) but man, it came out bitchin.

hurt · Feb 11, 2010

I used the Painless system in my 66, it gave me a few headaches (emergency flasher) but I'm glad I did it.

tx65coupe · Feb 11, 2010

I would go with OEM style reproduction wiring. It will make things easier. Thats not to say there is anything bad about Painless.

rbohm · Feb 11, 2010

i would say it depends on what you are wanting from what ever harness you buy. if you want a plug and play system that is a minimum of hassle to install, then follow 2+2's advice. it is sound. if on the other hand you want to use the newer style blade style fuses, and put the fuse box where you want it rather than where the factory put it, then get a universal painless harness. the nice thing about the painless harness, or similar after market ones, is that the wires are marked about every 5-6 inches as to where they go and what they do.

personally i would go with the painless universal harness, probably the 12 circuit one as that is about all you need, and go with that.

NasaGT · Feb 12, 2010

What's the difference between the Painless Universal Harness and the Painless Mustang specific Harnesses? Connectors?

rbohm · Feb 12, 2010

part of the difference is the connectors, or lack of them in the case of the universal harness, how the wires are bundled, the mustang specific harness as i recall goes right in place of the stock harness where as the universal harness is a you fit it deal. the universal harness is going to have extra long wires so you can run everything like you want it.

1992MustangGT · Feb 14, 2010

Another Ford wiring source is Ron Francis Wire Works. I have a catalog from him and I'm very impressed with what they offer and have heard nothing but positive feedback from anyone who has used it. When I redo my 67 and 68 Cougars, I'm going to use his wiring and see how it goes. They even have conversion wiring kits if you want to switch to fuel injection. They can custom make everything you want. Check them out online. Just google him and you should find his website no problem...

rbohm · Feb 14, 2010

ron francis is certainly another good supplier of wiring kits, as is american autowire and centech.

NasaGT · Feb 16, 2010

rbohm said:
part of the difference is the connectors, or lack of them in the case of the universal harness, how the wires are bundled, the mustang specific harness as i recall goes right in place of the stock harness where as the universal harness is a you fit it deal. the universal harness is going to have extra long wires so you can run everything like you want it.

Thanks!

afreejack · Feb 16, 2010

I rewired my 66 convertible with the 64-66 mustang kit from American Autowire. It's an 18 circuit kit with the blade fuses and included a new ignition and headlight switch. The bulk of the work took a weekend and spend the next few days (around work and family stuff) finishing up. It was a lot easier than I figured it would be. The kit was about $150 less than the Painless kit and I didn't need to drill out anything on the firewall. The only down is that the wiring colors are more like GM than the ford, but the labeling of the wires every foot or so made it easy to install. Just make sure you save your old wiring because you would need the windshield harness, instrument cluster plugs and few other leads off if it.

adam_rich · Feb 18, 2010

what about things like converting from externally regulated alternators to an internal single wire set up, or halogen lights, or aftermarket guages, or an msd system. I know these things can be added later, but what system would be better for these things.

rbohm · Feb 18, 2010

adam, any of them will work nicely, just follow the wiring diagram for what ever alternator system you decide to use. same with adding halogen headlights, driving lights, etc. you can buy for instance a complete harness with relays to run halogen headlights from LMC truck, and many driving light kits also have a prewired harness with relays to run those lights as well. aftermarket gauges, and msd ignition system, etc. can all be added as you wire the car following the manufacturers instructions.

tx65coupe · Feb 19, 2010

I agree about running relays for the 6024 halogen headlights. It will take the load off of the headlight switch and give more power to the lights. The Sylvania Xtravision XV6024 work well with it. Thats what I'm running. They are the same wattage as most of the modern capsule bulbs. I have this, but the kit from LMC Truck is basically the same thing and costs less. I actually have the LMC setup on my truck. I added a fuse to it though, since it didn't come with one.

RJM Injection Tech Headlight Harness

spirockp · Feb 19, 2010

I have used and installed both. Ron Francis in my 32 Ford and Painless in my 66 Mustang. I just purchased another Painless kit for a 65 Mustang that I am about to install. The thing that I didn't like about Ron Francis's kit is that the wires are NOT connected to the fuse block. Each wire needs to be connected to it and that just makes more room for errors...

Go with the Painless kit designed to fit your car.

adam_rich · Feb 21, 2010

I am sorry to butt in on someone elses thread but i'm thinking painless is the way to go for me. Now i'm sure there is an obvious answer to this, but what about wiring for all of the guages? I'm most concerned about the severely hacked up wiring under my dash. Will a painless kit account for this, I mean is there wiring in a mustang specific kit for the guages? Thanks again for letting me butt in.

rbohm · Feb 21, 2010

the painless universal harness supports aftermarket gauges. i believe that painless has a harness that works with the stock mustang gauges and the universal harness. or you can use the universal harness and still wire the gauges as the factory did.

Bitter · Feb 25, 2010

The Painless year specific set has an instrument cluster harness that's an exact replacement. Mine (67-68) fit perfectly.

Painless wiring

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