I ordered the American Auto Wire kit for my 67 build. It may be much more than I need but I won't have to worry about a possible fire.

 

Cancel or Return it quick! We are struggling with an AAW harness now. Others here on the site have nothing good to say about them. I would not be using one but the shop doing my installation ordered it and had it in hand before I knew. Now we are paying the price.

 

Send your factory harness to Randy - @Midlife - and have it refurbished.

Welcome to Midlife Harness Restorations

John

 

He did mine...highly recommend this route👍👍👍👍😃

 

I used an Alloy Metal Products harness on my 69 Mustang. It was a direct fit using all the factory style connectors and the same wire colors as the original.

 

Not only is it a drop-in replacement, but it will match the Ford wire diagrams. The other aftermarket harnesses do not, and their wire diagrams leave much to be desired, and only American Auto Wire or someone with their product can help you when you run into trouble.

 

If you absolutely have to rewire stick with the alloy metals as long as you are staying mostly stock. talk with Randy at midlife about redoing your harness as well.

 

I've used several AAW and USA1 kits and they've been pretty easy to use. The wires are labeled every 1' or so, so makes it simple to run, trace, troubleshoot, etc. They all had plenty of length, so routing wasn't an issue either. They're available with different fuse box sizes so upgrading electronics was simple.

 

Original restored by Midlife or Alloy Metal Products.

 

I have rebuilt convertible power harness from Midlife, and AAW kit for the whole car. Both are great choices. The AAW kit is modern, fresh and will cover all your needs and future plans…

 

I like the aaw kit idea. Seems like I could purchase the firewall forward and console kit separately so I could devide the project into multiple steps.

 

For my 71, AAW was an awesome kit, and support was above and beyond! It worked perfect first time.

 

The Alloy Metal Products harnesses are "plug and play". Same connectors, same colors.... they're a true reproduction of the originals. The other aftermarket harnesses are "one size fits all" in many respects.

 

I would say what you buy depends on your plans…a stock car, original parts, buy a midlife restoration or other repro. If you want electric fans, alarm, upgraded headlights, upgraded stereo, adding AC to a non AC car, or electronic ignition, get something like AAW.

 

I like the idea of a factory wire harness with correct wire colors. This helps with future diagnostics. I looked online quickly of course but couldn't find a kit for a 65 mustang with factory air that includes firewall to headlights. Does anyone have the part number from alloy metal products for this?

 

Just the headlight harness: WIRE LOOM, FIREWALL TO HEADLIGHT - #14290-1A - National Parts Depot

This one looks like it also includes the gauge harness: WIRE LOOM, FIREWALL TO HEADLIGHT - #14290-1B - National Parts Depot

 

For my 69, the aaw has been without headaches. Not do yet though.

 

I was at the Ferrari shop today checking on my car. They have the harness pretty much installed but problems just keep cropping up. Now the light switch is not functioning correctly. They tell me both the old one and the new one supplied with the harness are bad. They can change the headlights from low to high beam by rotating the switch. They are also telling me things about the lights are not right by the German standard, for example: The rear lights should have two bulbs and a yellow/orange insert. I think maybe they are trying to apply standards for modern cars to an "Oldtimer". I probably need to track down a German "Oldtimer Expert" they can confer with.

 

If they get the lights to switch from high to low beams by rotating the switch they have it wired wrong since the rotation of the switch has noting to do with the headlights

 

I found a complete Painless kit for my 67 brand new in box on Face Book market place for half the price. Was an easy install, all wire colors were the same as OEM and labeled every few inches, install was easy, just time consuming. No complaints.

 

My $.02 worth…. I have the aaw on my 69. My car is all modern alternator, a/c, fuel injection, etc. The kit works very well for this. The diagrams suck, but everything else is very good with lots of extra wire.
If you are staying mostly original, having the original refurbished is a better idea imho.

 

After much thought Ive decided to go with the alloy metal products harness. Id like to stick to stock as much as possible so that I can use it for diagnostics in the future. No plans in place to add the Bose 43 speaker setup and 14inch subs any time soon.

 

That will be a good choice... are you going to buy all 4 harnesses or just the under dash harness? Either way all the wiring should be able to be done in a few days with the alloy metal products... once the car is done get a wiring diagram to

 

That will be a good choice... are you going to buy all 4 harnesses...

@65fastbackman I'm glad you mentioned "all 4 harnesses." I've been wondering how many distinct ones there are. So under dash, taillight, engine, and alternator harnesses -- is that the main breakdown? I get confused when I see "fog light harness" or "heater motor harness" and I don't know if the 4 main harnesses encompass these smaller component pieces or not.
Thanks, John

 

There is also the headlight harness and minor ones like wiper motor. I do not believe the 2 speed heater wiring is reproduced

 

aaw. Surprisingly easy to installl

 

So, today the car is running again. Everything is working correctly after getting a new light switch. One odd thing has appeared. They told me the coil was getting very hot so they had to put in the white-porcelain looking thing mounted below the solenoid. The coil is new (6 months) but it was a replacement for the exact same coil. The labels on the previous coil were yellowed and falling off. Is it normal for these coils to get very hot?

 

No they should not be getting really hot. Check all electrical connections to make sure they are secure. Did the bolts next to your solenoid rotate at all on assembly?

 

Yes, the ignition coil will get hot during operation. It is filled with a light oil as a "cooling system" to help absorb and dissipate heat. With the factory resistance wire or a ceramic ballast resistor in place, such as shown in your photo, the power consumption of the coil is around 40 watts. If you've ever touched at 25 watt light bulb after its been lit for a short period you'll know about how hot that can get.

 

I'm kinda surprised they didn't put shrink tubing to cover the lug to cable connections at the solenoid, less chance of dropping a wrench and having it ground on a hot lug or exposed wires (the one on the left post, closest to the solenoid body). I put heat shrink covering right up to were it necks down to go flat.

 

This would be the one that concerns me...