Need Help on Wiring Harness and Dash Interface

[PearlRiver77]

Good morning, new member here...

I have a 1977 that I have been working on and off for many years....now that I am retired, I am back to working on the Bronco. I have a local gentlemen who specializes in Broncos that is going to basically finish it for me.

I am working on the dash now, I have a Centech wiring harness that I bought many years ago, it is still like new, but I am having issues with connecting the ignition switch, wiper switch, light switch to the dash and using the original Bronco bezels.

Getting any help from Centech is minimal, after two or three discussions with them, I realized I am on my own. The guys I talked to there have no interest in helping me. I called Painless Wiring, no help there at all in terms of them having any switches to interface or to sell me to swap out.....

Does anyone have any experience with Centech and can offer any advice? The objective is to use the Centech harness and connect to the dash and still use the bezels to make it look OEM

Thanks in advance

PearlRiver77
1977 Uncut Bronco

 

[gr8scott]

Welcome to the board PearlRiver77!

First of all, I recommend NOT using the switches that came with the harness. Why? Because, well, they suck. Stick with your original switches.

Here's a video that talks about the ignition switch, courtesy of Wild Horses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRgIpS63IKA

You'll need this connector to adapt the original ignition switch to the Centech harness, if your kit didn't come with one.
https://centechwire.com/Bronco-Ignition-Switch-Adaptor-BRS-1.htm

 

[DrDanWWW]

You wrote you are having issues CONNECTING the switches? Not "Installing" the switches? By connecting do you mean the various wires? The ignition switch can be confusing.

 

[DirtDonk]

Usually we hear the opposite about Centech customer service, but I guess everyone can go south sometimes. Sorry you experienced that.
If you don't have that adapter then either it got lost over the years, or more likely you did not get the "B" harness that included that and all the replacement switches that you need. If you have a little industrial looking ignition switch in your kit, then yours is the basic kit "without switches" that was available.
I don't see that adapter harness on our site anymore (https://www.wildhorses4x4.com/category/Bronco_Wiring_Harness), but that maybe that's because the new updated harness automatically includes the ability to attach directly to a stock ignition switch and we sold out of the adapter harness. But at least it's still available from Centech if you don't feel like making your own.
If you don't have an original ignition switch connector anymore (did you toss out your original Ford harness, or even have it to begin with?) those are available and you can easily adapt your Centech to a Ford switch.
Lots of people starting out with projects that someone else started, and a lot of that stuff goes missing over time and in transfers, so not uncommon for lots of the original stuff to me missing.

The reason Centech and Painless and others include a different light switch and a connector that is not compatible with the original Bronco switches, is because those are no longer readily available for them to include in their kits. Or at least were not at the time they designed the kits. So instead they used a newer style Ford truck light switch that they could still find the connector for.

I forget what their reasoning was for the wiper switch, but we've been able to make them work together somehow. I can't remember whether I've always just adapted their harness to the back of the original wiper switches, or made their replacement wiper switch work with the factory Bronco dash bezel.

Other than the current stumbling blocks, hopefully yours will work out great for you.

Good luck!

Paul