1976 Fiat spider complete rewire help

[Erudyn]

Im looking into starting a rewiring project on my 76 next month and was wanting to get any information I can from anyone who has already done this. Ive been looking at different wiring harnesses and have found the painless 10202 looks like a nice setup, im just not sure if that would be the best for my car. If anyone can offer any help into choosing a harness that would be great.

[SLOSpider]

Have you seen this:

http://www.dcfiats.org/tech/Installing% ... less-C.pdf

[Erudyn]

No i hadn't seen this before but it covers everything i need. Thank you so much.

[SLOSpider]

That's what we are here for Plus once you do yours Ill have you do mine for re payment

[majicwrench]

It's your car but I would not encourage anyone to undertake such a project. What is wrong with your current wiring?? Tis far easier to fix the old wiring than change the whole thing, and try to make it fit.
Keith

[SLOSpider]

Wiring does not last forever. It degrades, corrodes, insulation crumbles to which resistance and shortage can occur. If you don't believe me come look at the results of a wiring fire of a spider I have now. Can you get by with a 40+ year old wiring harness, sure. But if someone want to replace I see no reason talking them out of it if done correctly it will be a improvement over the 40 year old one in there now. I would like to do it but for now I give it band aids to replace corroded wires and one day upgrade the fuse box.

[majicwrench]

Nothing last forever, and like I said, it's his car, and maybe the wiring is a lump of melted plastic and copper. Then change it. I do this for a living, and see all sorts of butchered harnesses people trying to fix/replace wiring. If you had a wiring fire it is almost certainly because a circuit was not properly fused, and almost always because someone had been in there "fixing" it.
I would bet 98% of the SPiders on the road have the original wiring. My 72 does, so does my 64 Chev pu. I'm just offering my opinion, and trying to save the OP some $$$, time, and frustration.
Keith

[Erudyn]

To be honest this project idea is not going to be my favorite, however in its current condition I am not comfortable driving my car anywhere. To start, my wipers, hi beams, turn signals interior lights, and 4 of my gauges don't work properly,(my left turn signal wont work if the headlights are on and when the hi beams are on the right turn signal works but slowly). I have tried many times to rewire these component's but the wiring has dry rotted to the point that insulation will break off if i bend a wire to much. I have also found some wires that have burnt up, thankfully they have not burned up the entire harness. I have had 2 cars catch fire due to some idiot screwing up the electrical and I don't want that to happen to this car. Ive read a lot of articles on rewiring and am even taking a class on automotive electrical so that I know that i can get this done and have it done right. My main purpose in here is for extra help from people that know this car and may have experience. Also I will be taking photo's and posting progress so that anyone else that needs to do this project can have more reference materials.

[4uall]

That is awesome

[baltobernie]

Erudyn, if you are going the Painless route, PM me for addendums to the article referenced above.

[blurple124]

I fully intend to rewire my car this summer as well, so I will certainly be keeping an eye on your progress. (Consider this a subscription).

I won't be doing the Painless route, personally (Painless=gainless? ), but I am also hoping to do some rearranging of the circuits and convert most of the lighting to LED (sans headlights and alternator charge light, for the most part) in addition to adding some relays. I'd like to see where you take yours and hopefully glean some ideas!


Good luck with it!