Painless harness engine bay routing

[CopperBronco]

Sometime this fall I plan to rewire my Bronco, I have the 28 circuit Painless wiring harness… curious if y’all can show me how you’ve routed the engine bay to make it look clean. Most curious about ignition coil, distributor, electric choke, and temp sending unit which feel like they just go all over engine bay.

Any other words of wisdom as well LMK. Last year I repaired a bunch of broken wiring and it’s held up. Used all waterproof connectors and auto ratcheting crimps, and heat shrink sleeves… so hopefully my skills are up to the task.

How much time should I leave to get this done? And any other projects you’d recommend at the same time?

 

[DirtDonk]

Is the electric choke on a Ford carburetor, or aftermarket?
With the stock type of choke you would want to use the included white with black striped wire from the alternator. But aftermarket can use just about any switched 12v source, which you can basically route any way you want.
Should be plenty of extra wires for that.

Because the painless harness is unwrapped, you could snip some of the wire ties and un-bundle some wires and pull the ones you need through the firewall right behind the engine.
That way none of them are strung around the compartment.

What year is your bronco?

 

[fluffybunny]

Here's how I ran mine. I bought a larger grommet from Summit Racing so I could get everything through the hole. Then put it all in Harbor Freight wire loom.

 

[fluffybunny]

More pics

 

[CopperBronco]

Is the electric choke on a Ford carburetor, or aftermarket?
With the stock type of choke you would want to use the included white with black striped wire from the alternator. But aftermarket can use just about any switched 12v source, which you can basically route any way you want.
Should be plenty of extra wires for that.

Because the painless harness is unwrapped, you could snip some of the wire ties and un-bundle some wires and pull the ones you need through the firewall right behind the engine.
That way none of them are strung around the compartment.

What year is your bronco?

It’s a 66, but with a 302 and C4 automatic, I have an electric ignition and choke on a 2barrel carb…

 

[CopperBronco]

Here’s photos of my mess now that PO had…

 

[bronkenn]

I used an AAW harness and ran the wires for the coil and temp sensor along the valve cover and intake. I used grommets on both sides to bring harness through the firewall and ran those wires up under the fender lip. I did my breakouts behind the engine to hide them.

 

[CopperBronco]

I used an AAW harness and ran the wires for the coil and temp sensor along the valve cover and intake. I used grommets on both sides to bring harness through the firewall and ran those wires up under the fender lip. I did my breakouts behind the engine to hide them.

Thank you, this is great to see! Really nice setup! Off topic, where do you get your stainless braided fuel and other lines with AN fittings? Seems like you have to cut and create your own from what I can tell, people don’t sell them as kits for Broncos, probably due to getting length right for different setups, correct?

 

[DirtDonk]

Pretty much yes. Since once customizing takes place, no two Broncos seem alike. But even before that, no two owners want the same thing in the same place.
Making a "kit" kind of a useless gesture except with certain things. Especially when mimicking stock, a kit might make sense. But braided stainless lines? Again, maybe for fully stock replacement routing. But not once custom modifications start.
Things like:
Gas tank? Which one? Or which two?
Fuel switching? Which type?
Fuel pump brand and type? What location?
Carburetor? Which one?
Throttle body injection? Which one?
Port fuel injection? Which one?
Just those few questions probably result in at least 20 possible answers. So which combination and where do you like the hose to run would pretty much make a kit useless.
I should not lay a blanket answer like that though, because if someone came up with a reasonable pre-cut setup that was laid out really well and somehow managed to work with multiple components, it could probably be done.
But it's still going not going to please everyone.

VERY CLEAN setup you've got there bronkenn! I know we've seen it before, but it never gets old.

Being a '66 puts you at an already lonely disadvantage Copper. Holes will be in different locations and none of them made for a tidy engine compartment. The Painless harness (and all the others except a stock replacement) will be patterned after the '71 and later style. So you're going to be customizing from the get-go. Which might actually be an advantage!
Probably going to fill up or cover some existing holes and make some new ones.

I see the PO already upgraded and moved a few things. Can you get a better pic of your alternator? Looks like a 3G unit, but I see what appears to be a voltage regulator on the passenger wheel well. If a 3G they probably just never got around to removing the old one. Or maybe you installed the later alternator yourself?
With the new harness you can move all sorts of things to your satisfaction. You can put the starter relay wherever you want it to keep things clean (but leave it accessible or you'll probably live to regret it!), remove the old regulator, and even move the fuse holder for the charge circuit to a more out of the way place.
Lots of cool stuff you can do when starting from scratch.

have fun!

Paul

 

[CopperBronco]

I used an AAW harness and ran the wires for the coil and temp sensor along the valve cover and intake. I used grommets on both sides to bring harness through the firewall and ran those wires up under the fender lip. I did my breakouts behind the engine to hide them.

I’m curious, how is your ignition coil attached up front in engine bay there? That would clean mine up some I think.

 

[bronkenn]

I used the braided line that has the inside ptfd{?} liner and Jegs brand fittings and made my fuel lines. The coil was moved to the front of the head using the stock bracket and an accessory hole in the head. It fit up front well and was out of the way. I may have modified the bracket a bit but don't recall it being much.

 

[CopperBronco]

Curious if anyone has wired their Bronco in a way that makes it easy to disconnect at firewall in case you want to pull the dash easily? Or other break points, etc… I imagine the more connections the more chances of failure, but would also be nice to have wiring setup in a way it’s easier to tear into Bronco projects. Still plotting my plan for rewriting this thing in the next few months.

 

[DirtDonk]

Weather pack makes a firewall connector that’s pretty slick.
Unfortunately it’s also big and bulky and expensive. Not for everybody.
I bought one thinking I would play with it, but it’s just too big so far. And since I don’t plan to tear things apart very many more times, I decided to keep the wires intact.

I do think that several members have made the instrument cluster a separate circuit with its own connectors, and maybe even the entire dash. But I don’t think anybody has mentioned breaking theirs up at the firewall on an existing harness.
There are harnesses like the AAW Extreme that are modular to begin with, but not sure if anyone’s gone to the trouble to take 20 wires from an existing harness and make cut them to make separate sections for the different bundles

After all, that’s what many of the bronco owners are getting away from by rewiring in the first place.
The finicky and trouble prone firewall connectors that Ford used from 66 to 70.

 

[CopperBronco]

Got it, I’ll take a look, I eventually will need to replace an area of the cowl, and some other small areas due to rust, but my time doesn’t allow for a bunch of potential can of worms body work and electrical at same time.

 

[DirtDonk]

Ahh. I see the need for that modular set up then.
I can only say either do the work when it’s required, or do the extra work now and take your chances of failing connections.
The potential good news is that the wires through the firewall do not in any way go through the cowl. So you only have to protect the wires rather than remove them.
Unless you’re also replacing sections of the firewall?