Centech question

I am considering installing a Centech harness in my 69 but have a couple of questions.....I need a blinker assembly, new brake switch, and a new horn. Will the harness include all of the connections for that or am I going to have to wire it in seperately?

I also don't know the best approach to this. Do I pull out every wire that I see, and start with the new harness. Or do I need to keep some of what is there, and if so what do I keep?

My brother is comming to town next month, and I would like to get it done in a weekend but figured I could take everything out and he can help me put new back in. Average install time with 2 people?

I believe the 69' has the 2 plugs right above the drivers side valve cover? The Centech harness is designed for the round hole in the upper corner on the drivers side firewall. Not a biggie, but just a heads up! As far as the wiring goes it's pretty straight forward, the wiring is there (obviously) but you'll need to make the connections to the column, the plug is included. the brake switch and horn are also pretty straight forward.

Best and easiest way is to strip everything out, and reinstall the new harness, it's also IMO easier to pull the dash completely out in order to install the main portion of the harness. It would likely take the same amount of time or more to lay on your back under the dash to install.

Install time for 2 would be a good long day or one weekend to work out the bugs. FYI grounds are key.

Wow, thanks for a quick reply. Are the locations of the grounds given in the instructions, or just wherever the closest metal is?

They are in the harness and are fairly self explanatory, but grounds will be most if not all of your troubleshooting issues when your finished. If you do a good job while you install, you should be fine.

I just finished mine a few weeks ago. Some real good advice above.

I kept and labeled my old harness as much as possible while removing. Kept all of it in a plastic tub. Ended up using several pieces of it so I'm glad I did.

I also did my dash out of the truck and it is the way to go.

I think it would be a good weekends work for 2 somewhat handy people.

Grounds are key, they were the cause of almost all my deamons.

Good luck!!

Aaron

What they said.
The typical main grounds are part of the harness in a few key places, but what they also mean is that you'll have to be sure that everything is interconnected by adding a few of your own basic grounds too.
Key ones would be making sure that your battery to engine block wire is good, large, clean and tight. A lead directly from the battery to the body is also a key. At least 10 gauge. A couple tying the engine to the body and frame are excellent additions that the manufacturers all use on pretty much all vehicles, but Ford decided to leave out on the Broncos. They would be a strap/wire from the intake manifold to the firewall, and something to the frame. Whether from the engine block, or the battery directly.
As said, you not only can't have too many grounds, but you also can't have grounds to too many places!!! A good example of that is the front core support. Sure, it's literally welded to the inner fenders, but often as not, an extra strap/wire from one to the other makes an amazing difference in avoiding headlight/running light and turn signal issues.

So run all of Centech's grounds, but make sure you add a few of your own for them to tie into.

And agree that the only way to do it is to pull the whole old one out. But as said, do NOT throw it away until your job is done. It's nice to use as reference, tub nicer still to yank an unique plug or two to use on your new setup.

Enjoy.

Paul

And like needabronco mentioned, your early-early will need a new hole drilled into the firewall, and you might just consider re-locating the new fuse panel to the glove box like Ford did in the '70/'71 and later models.
If you want to keep it on the floor by the pedal (not the greatest spot in my opinion), you might consider some kind of a cover, as well as figuring out the best way to isolate the exposed back of the panel from the steel floor.

Could be a good time to "upgrade" to a plastic glove box liner, but if your old cardboard one is in good shape still, a few quick cuts and you should be golden. I think Centech has a template to do the cuts, but can't remember.

Paul