Jegs Wiring harness versus Painless Wiring Harness

[justhorns]

I've rewired 10-20 cars and the only harness I will use is american auto wire. The quality of the wire and the fuse box is just better. They do expect you know how to wire a car and how 12V works.

 

[jimmy87]

I have used both a Painless 27 circuit in my 87 Jimmy and American Autowire 26 circuit pin my 69 Chevelle. I was more impressed with the American Autowire. It came with all the connectors where the Painless did not. The instructions were about the same. The American Autowire had a comprehensive diagram where Painless was just a book. The American autowire kit wires were one size larger than stock wires. I would go with the American Autowire for both if had to do it again.
That I'd just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[82sbshortbed]

Classic Update Kit - 1973-82 Chevy & GMC Truck

Classic Update Kit - 1973-82 Chevy Truck

americanautowire.com

 

[idahovette]

That American Auto Wire kit Doug just posted is about $320 more than the Painless I put in G-son Brody's 79 K10

 

[82sbshortbed]

That American Auto Wire kit Doug just posted is about $320 more than the Painless I put in G-son Brody's 79 K10

How did that go for you? Did you like the quality of it and was it "painless" to put in? Lol

 

[idahovette]

To be real honest with you, Doug, @82sbshortbed ,I didn't put it in. I abhor electrical, so my friend, Rick did it!! He has done quite a few and he seems to be an electrical wizard. From what he says all have there good points, but the price on the painless was the best at the time, so.....Quality was great and for me it WAS PAINLESS.........lol

 

[MikeB]

I doubt you'll find a wiring harness support specialist at Jeg's, whereas that's all they do at Painless. And check out the awesome Painless documentation. I actually referred to their 100+ page square body kit document when installing a generic kit in an 82 C10.

If you're going to re-wire a square body using a generic harness, you'll need all the docs you can get your hands on to understand the wiper/washer wiring, as well as the instrument panel feed (of which there are at least a half-dozen different configurations). So, unless you really know your auto electric stuff, I'd suggest a kit designed specifically for your truck.

 

[MikeB]

I really need to do this to my 82. A shop quoted me 3k to do it. That sounds a bit high to me.

Doesn't sound too bad to me for a shop with lots of overhead and employees to pay. If I were still doing projects out of my home garage, I'd probably charge 40 hours at $45/hr. I've done three Chevy trucks (66, 69, 82) and two cars (37 Chev hot rod & 55 Chev) and I'd say the square body was one of the hardest. However, as mentioned in my other post, I did use a generic AAW kit to do the job, not the specific kit for an 82.

 

[BlazerBill]

I’m in the process of restoring my ‘83 K5. I did lots of research on new wiring harnesses. I watched YT videos, I spoke to Painless, American Autowire and KwikWire. Autowire has good quality and everything you need but was far more money than I wanted to spend and wasn’t impressed by their attitude. I also spoke to Painless, read reviews, downloaded and read the 160ish page Painless instruction manual but was put off by the Painless representative’s attitude and knew I would need lots of technical support. Their manual is pretty good but still leaves lots of room for improvement and finally I spoke to Kwikwire and was impressed with their customer service, small family owned and operated atmosphere and price. I also downloaded and read their manual which was pretty good but also needed improvement. Because of Kwikwire’s support, reputation and price to fit my budget I purchased and received their full 27 connector harness and was impressed by the harness quality with heavier gauge wire and thicker insulation, although does not come with connectors (so the harness wires can be cut for the desired length). Ultimately, after a more detailed evaluation of my K5 wiring I decided to not use the Kwikwire harness as it would have significantly extended the amount of time to restore my K5 and I instead just fixed the bad wiring under the hood as the rest of the wiring under the dash looked great as if it had been previously replaced. So, I have a brand new Kwikwire harness and additional optional Kwikwire parts that I will have to sell and probably lose money on, Lol, that’s the way restorations go! I would definitely give Kwikwire a strong consideration! By the way, I used a combination of the Painless, Kwikwire manuals that I downloaded and ClassicCarWiring.com as invaluable references to understand, make repairs, and correct routing of my wiring. Good luck!