1966 Best wiring harness for "originality?'

[jnirenstein]

Hi all,
I'm looking at all the usual suspects for a new wiring harness for my 66. Painless, American... I also see that Dennis Carpenter also offers a harness that I don't see mentioned here often if ever. Id like the harness to be as close to original as possible with respect to the layout, the materials used for wrapping the wires, the connectors, etc. I have converted from the stock 170 to a 1966 289, added power steering, front discs and a C4 automatic. I have purchased a completely rebuilt 73 steering column from Toms to match the C4. Other than that the build will remain faithful to a 1966 "look" Thanks as always for your thoughts!!
Cheers,
John

 

[SevenT]

jnirenstein,

Centech is really close to original. I don't know about the wrap and authenticity. I ran a Centech because it was close to original in location and wire colors. To each his own. You do what you want and don't worry about what others may think.

v/r,

Mike

 

[DirtDonk]

I can't speak for the Dennis Carpenter as I've never seen it, or checked it out online. I think I looked for it once, but don't remember finding it.
But literally none of the others is going to be anything like you're 66 harness. They are all patterned after the 71 and later layout and all of them except for Painless use General Motors wire colors.
And as we've found out more and more over the years the 66 models had variations not included in any of the other models. Do you know if yours is an early 66, or a late 66? Have you noted any of those unique to 66 features in yours?

 

[jnirenstein]

I can't speak for the Dennis Carpenter as I've never seen it, or checked it out online. I think I looked for it once, but don't remember finding it.
But literally none of the others is going to be anything like you're 66 harness. They are all patterned after the 71 and later layout and all of them except for Painless use General Motors wire colors.
And as we've found out more and more over the years the 66 models had variations not included in any of the other models. Do you know if yours is an early 66, or a late 66? Have you noted any of those unique to 66 features in yours?

Thanks Paul (It's Paul right?) My truck is #777842 Which I believe is a NOV 1965 build date. It has some early features I think. Like the horizontal 1/2" "rain gutter" in the drivers foot well on the floor board. When I bought it it came with what appears to be a factory or dealer installed snow plow option. It has all the 'normal" dash switches with the addition of a throttle control, and a large handle by the steering column for raising and lowering the snow plow blade. Other 66 features? it's got clear plastic front turn signal lenses, correct 66 tailgate, original 66 hubs (now TBP due to the disc brakes) NO eyebrow grill even though it seems like a NOV build should have that? Passenger seat has no "locking" feature and looks as if it would simply fly forward in the event of an accident! Silver interior...I might try and restore the original harness but thought if something was close I'd at least consider it. The Dennis Carpenter harness actually looks in pictures like it's the closest match but always hard to really tell from photos..

 

[DirtDonk]

Paul, yes. Getting lazy when I'm using my phone.
Hopefully by now someone has used the harness and will give you some feedback. If it says that it's for the 66 through 70 models at least it will be very very close with most wire colors and locations matching.
I don't think they used anything unusual when it comes to the wrapping, but I don't know that for a fact. Just it it's going to be close to what is commonly available today so 99% of the people out there wouldn't know the difference if there was one.

Did you try using your original lockouts in the new bearing hub's? Most everything is the same internally but I don't know what unique pieces of those original styles is compatible. I know we can use the later Spicer type lockouts with the disc brake stuff.

 

[okie4570]

Thanks Paul (It's Paul right?) My truck is #777842 Which I believe is a NOV 1965 build date. It has some early features I think. Like the horizontal 1/2" "rain gutter" in the drivers foot well on the floor board. When I bought it it came with what appears to be a factory or dealer installed snow plow option. It has all the 'normal" dash switches with the addition of a throttle control, and a large handle by the steering column for raising and lowering the snow plow blade. Other 66 features? it's got clear plastic front turn signal lenses, correct 66 tailgate, original 66 hubs (now TBP due to the disc brakes) NO eyebrow grill even though it seems like a NOV build should have that? Passenger seat has no "locking" feature and looks as if it would simply fly forward in the event of an accident! Silver interior...I might try and restore the original harness but thought if something was close I'd at least consider it. The Dennis Carpenter harness actually looks in pictures like it's the closest match but always hard to really tell from photos..

I've seen some 11/65' builds with and without eyebrow grills so that's not unusual to not have one imo.

 

[73azbronco]

I had a dennis carpenter before i sold it for a painless. It was very well done however I think it was a more generic car harness than EB specific like painless or centec.

 

[Madgyver]

I know this is what you want but why original wiring?
Modern fuse boxes and connectors are a lot better.
you already did the disc brakes and power steering...

 

[76YETI]

Painless. Ford coloring, new fuse box, etc. Expensive but worth it IMO.

 

[DirtDonk]

You can get modern new wires with the colors you want, so if your '66 has any of the unique ones, you should be able to reproduce them as individual wire lengths along with the others, and build your own harness.
The problem (if you think of it like that) is coming up with the ancient design connectors both on the firewall and for individual connectors at various points. Some of them are still available, or reasonable facsimiles thereof, but not all.
The good news is that this would force you to upgrade to the much better modern replacements like the GM Weatherpack style or similar. Much better, but won't keep the original look.

With the popularity of Broncos rising so quickly it takes longer for the manufacturers to come up with direct replacements. But that has to be on the minds of them all by now, so you might see something come up if you can wait. They did it for Mustangs and others, so they might do it for Broncos. Though even at their peak they probably only sold a small fraction of Broncos that they did Mustangs. So it might not be a big payoff for the manufacturers to delve into.

American Autowire under the name of their OE replacement harness division, even makes replacement complete harnesses for Corvairs!
Here again it might be a numbers game though. At their peak Corvairs were GM's biggest selling vehicle (which is probably how they fell from grace so quickly too?) so even with slight variations over the years, it's probably a larger number of restorations going on behind the scenes than Broncos. That could change though, as the dollar value of Broncos continues to rise faster than pretty much any other vehicle out there.

After you did into yours though, you might find that being able to source a few wires of the right colors is all you need. Might end up doing your own.

Paul

 

[66BlueGoose]

I picked up a dennis carpenter for one of my 66's, seems very close to original.

 

[DirtDonk]

Great to hear! Got pics?

Paul

 

[66BlueGoose]

Great to hear! Got pics?

Paul

Got both the engine bay and the dash side harnesses, close up of the dash side. Only thing not included is the Alternator short pigtail and the rear section (brakes, signal, plate light and fuel). Will get the correct alternator one 65-1/2 from a mustang shop. Will need to make the rear one.

 

[DirtDonk]

That's great that they reproduced the actual firewall connectors. Strange that they used the same old oddball colors for the alternator regulator plug though. Or was that one of the variations on the '66? Does your original harness use the White, Yellow and whatever the third color wire is? Or does it have the more common Orange, Green w/red, Yellow and blank hole?

If the former, that would be a very interesting thing to note and maybe Steve83 or Seabicuit can update their diagrams.
I know Viperwolf1 was documenting some differences in wire colors, but don't know if he's got them listed here in a complete format.

Paul

 

[66BlueGoose]

It was one of the 66 variations. I think it was a carry over from the 65 mustang, so much on the early 66 is. The connector itself is black, white and white w/black. The main power black w/yellow is external to the plug. I think the design changed as they attempted to simplify the wiring configuration. Here is what appears to be the correct pigtail for the early 66.

https://www.cjponyparts.com/cj-clas...6-cylinder-with-warning-lights-1965/p/WALT2B/

 

[rguest3]

66BlueGoose - Just to clarify - In Post #13 is that a Mustang Harness or a Bronco Specific Harness?

I like the Alternator Harness too.

Thanks

 

[66BlueGoose]

66BlueGoose - Just to clarify - In Post #13 is that a Mustang Harness or a Bronco Specific Harness?

I like the Alternator Harness too.

Thanks

The two main harnesses are Bronco specific. You can find them here.

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/bronco/electrical/wiring/20/1/1/

 

[rguest3]

I just received the Dennis Carpenter 66 Bronco Dash Harness and Engine Bay Harness. These look amazing and look to be spot on for being original. I will compare tomorrow with my Original 66 Harness.

 

[DirtDonk]

That's fantastic to hear! Definitely post up as many pictures as you can. This information will be very welcome to the 66 owners.

 

[okie4570]

I just received the Dennis Carpenter 66 Bronco Dash Harness and Engine Bay Harness. These look amazing and look to be spot on for being original. I will compare tomorrow with my Original 66 Harness.

Awesome thank you!