Salvage existing fuse box and re-wire or go with a new harness

[NaturalSnapple]

Recently picked up a 1971 C10 and the wiring is a mess. Half of the gauges don't work, horn doesn't work, they didn't remove the regulator wiring when swapping in a new alternator, and it's generally a mess. There's also a lot of phantom wires that aren't connected to anything.

Does this look like it can be salvaged, or would it be worth while to just get a new harness?

[74baggedbug]

Be best to do a whole new harness, you'll be glad you did

[chiefcfd]

I used an AAW harness. Just like original and you can get upgrades for the alternator with built in regulator. If you want custom you could use the Painless or other system. You will have to terminate all the ends but the wire is labeled the full length for ease of identification,

[NaturalSnapple]

Thanks guys. I was feeling that a new harness was the right choice but was a bit hesitant.

[Overdriven]

Personally I hate trying to figure out what someone else did to a vehicle's wiring. Nothing worse for me than seeing splices all over and unknown wires that don't connect to anything.

But I love running new wires, routing them how I want, looming them. For me I'd rather make a harness than buy one that's already terminated. But that's a personal preference.

[graymond1967]

Was wondering the same thing. Removed a bunch of dead end wiring on the weekend and also fixed a bunch of the colour changing wires. You know, blue to red to orange to brown. And the taps.

Ray

[57larry]

new, I used American Auto wire 3 times, very happy

[Leftlane]

No question whatsoever.
45 year old harness, possibly butchered by an unknown
number of prior owners in unknown ways trying to solve
unknown past problems.
Or,
Brand new; labeled for every run.

Cheap fire insurance...

[NaturalSnapple]

What kits did you all use from AWW? I see they have a lot of different options. I have an HEI distributor, no A/C, an alternator with built-in regulator, and want to use electric sensors for the oil, water temp, etc.

[franken]

New harnesses are nice but run $500-1000 depending on how you go and how much work you want to do. Is pretty wiring more imprtant than brakes? There are only 5 gauges and 2 are mechanical. The horn is pretty easy to fix.

[HO455]

New harnesses are nice, but you have one of the nicest original fuse boxes I have ever seen. If funds are tight I would inspect (Look for overheating, corrosion, and physical damage) the firewall plug, ignition switch plug, light switch plug and dimmer switch plugs and if all is well reuse the dash harness and get a new engine and maybe a headlight harness if needed for now. The guage problems may be coming from the engine side of the firewall or just the circuit board on the back of them has failed. The dash harness is easy to inspect if you remove the guage set and you can get a good look at the circuit board at the same time. I replaced mine due rusted fuse holders, melted dimmer switch plug, a melted ignition switch plug with the amp meter wire burned in two, and some corrosion in the firewall plug. Amazingly everything worked except the amp meter.

[kwmech]

That's the cleanest mess I've ever seen

[NaturalSnapple]

Originally Posted by kwmech

That's the cleanest mess I've ever seen

I didn't post the worst ones, can't make my truck look TOO bad

Someone was turning the truck into a drag truck so a lot of wires change color, have dead ends. There's actually 2 water temp gauges, neither of which work, the tach doesnt work so they added in an aftermarket which.... also doesn't work

Right now I'm focusing on the brakes, steering, and functional stuff like the headlights. I'll tackle the wiring after all that and will see based on what I find which way to go. May try to rewire using the stock fuse box or just go with a new one. I have wiring experience but that's with industrial machinery, so I'm not used to doing heat shrinking, weather connectors etc.

[mattfranklin]

I'll read this one many times. I had an F-250 burn up once from bad wiring. Big issue for me.

[franken]

Originally Posted by mattfranklin

I'll read this one many times. I had an F-250 burn up once from bad wiring. Big issue for me.

Big disasters like that are usually caused by someone not using a fusible link when it was needed. I've done it before I learned...

To the OP, there's a wiring color diagram somewhere on this site that's nice. I actually had it printed and laminated a few thousand years ago...