American AutoWire 1966 installation

[66FSTBCK]

Originally Posted by rmoseby@gmail.com

'66' I see you from the great state of Oklahoma! Me too! I’m located in the Tulsa area Owasso specifically. How far apart are we geographically speaking?

Not sure what you meant about customizing my routing? I’ve pretty much followed the instructions thus far. I did have to slightly altered the position of the main wire harness hanger that was supplied. I shifted back toward the steering column about 4" which enable the harness coming off the fuse block to hang in a relaxed position without any forcing. Also, as shown in my pictures I slightly changed the relay location for the same reason. I did have to cut a few wire ties loose to route according to the directions which took time to figure out. All in all it hasn't been too bad thus far ..got a long way to go. I've glean a lot from all your online project documentation so a big thanks for that. Keep up the good work!

I am from Edmond! Not too far away!

AAW supplies long enough wires to route the engine and light harnesses outside of the engine bay to give everything a clean look. Some people take it under the fenders etc.

[rmoseby@gmail.com]

I see. I really haven't thought about going to that extent in hiding underhood wiring. I wanting to ask you something regarding wire sleeving. I saw where you posted cost of various sizes of TechFlex braided sleeving a few pages back. I was wondering if you could give us an rough estimate as what was required on your job. I was going to purchase some but would like to purchase enough up front to cover the job. I know they'll be some variations from job to job but was hoping to get a rough idea of sizes and lengths required.

3/8 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

3/4 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

1/2 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

1.0" SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

[66FSTBCK]

Originally Posted by rmoseby@gmail.com

I see. I really haven't thought about going to that extent in hiding underhood wiring. I wanting to ask you something regarding wire sleeving. I saw where you posted cost of various sizes of TechFlex braided sleeving a few pages back. I was wondering if you could give us an rough estimate as what was required on your job. I was going to purchase some but would like to purchase enough up front to cover the job. I know they'll be some variations from job to job but was hoping to get a rough idea of sizes and lengths required.

3/8 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

3/4 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

1/2 SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

1.0" SPLIT BRAIDED SLEEVING F6 TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay

I can tell you what I bought and have not used all of....still not finished with the job though. I could use up a lot of the balance of what I have left with the engine and speaker wire that I am going to run.

I bought:
- 50 ft. 3/4"
- 60 ft. 3/8"
- 100 ft. 1/4" (a lot of single wire routing was used with this and extra for my speaker wires)
- 20 ft. 1" (Have only used about 1 ft.)

I know I mentioned the 1/2", but I do not know if I actually bought any or not....I can't find a receipt for the 1/2". When I am finished I will total up what I have left and post it.

[66FSTBCK]

I finally finished up with the lights. Here are some pics.










A couple of things to mention: Remember the headlight high and low beam wires and parking light wire from the driver's side piggy back from that side to the passenger side. There is a separate loose ground wire in the kit (one for each headlight). Once the headlight connections were made I branched the parking light wires off and routed them in the stock location down towards the parking lights. I think the factory parking lights connected behind the headlight bucket, but mine do not.

NOW FOR THE REAL QUESTION..........the new parking lights have a black, tan and blue wire. The tan is separate from the black and blue wires. This tells me it is the ground. The factory park light wire was Black-Yellow and the turn signal wires were White-Blue and Green-White. I studied the wiring schematic for this for a bit before making my final decision on these connections. I feel confident that the black wire coming off of the new park lights is the light wire and the blue wire is the signal wire. I hope I got this right!! If not, I will have to switch them. I think they are right though. Please let me know if you all agree with this connection!

I am getting down to the end. I have the engine harness to complete tomorrow and then the instrument cluster. Before I fire it back up I have to put the heater box back in along with anti-freeze. Removing the heater box made this a lot easier. I was rebuilding it anyway.

[66FSTBCK]

I almost finished up on the engine harness. Everything but the alternator wire....my alternator has to be removed for this. I bought a Power Master one wire alternator and the connector sits right up against the block which makes it impossible to connect with the alternator in the car. It also forced me to use heat shield tape and a rubber boot around the connector. I will get back to that when I reinstall it.

Here is the progress I made today.






Here are the routing pics....I will show the connections next.









Connections













I have not hooked the heater up yet. I had to run a new single wire from the heater motor location in the engine bay to a length long enough to reach the heater box inside. This wire was not supplied. It attaches to the open spade on the front of the heater box. This preferably would have been routed with the engine harness, but I forgot and had already finalized that so I took it through the open hole above the light harness.

On another note, the connectors are a big pain in the A** because they are labeled as "B" "C" etc in the instructions but there is no reference. I may have used some connectors in the improper place, but they all should work. Some connectors allow for heavier gauge wire and are bigger than others, etc. The kit supplies you with extra connectors just in case.

[LynnBob 65 Mustang]

How many zip ties have you used or expect to use??
Lynn

[66FSTBCK]

Originally Posted by LynnBob 65 Mustang

How many zip ties have you used or expect to use??
Lynn

I bought 200-300.....I am on my last pack. A lot just get used to organize then get cut off so there is a lot of waste. You will use a lot to tie up loose ends though.

[Ponyboychris]

This has been a great thread so far. I'm also needing to tackle re-wiring my car in the near future and the AAW kit looks like a solid kit. Luckily my car is a shell and I kept all the old harnesses also. Thanks for the documentation.

[66FSTBCK]

Originally Posted by Ponyboychris

This has been a great thread so far. I'm also needing to tackle re-wiring my car in the near future and the AAW kit looks like a solid kit. Luckily my car is a shell and I kept all the old harnesses also. Thanks for the documentation.

You bet! It has not been too terribly difficult...just time consuming. I can see how the electric shops would charge $2k for it. If my car was a shell I would have tried some different routing, but stock routing is ok for me.

[66FSTBCK]

A few more images. I put the finishing touches on the engine harness. I did add a Custom Autosound No noise filter in line with the alternator and I am not happy at all with the place I put it so I will be moving that at some point. Obviously not part of the kit but I figured I might give it a shot. I have not put techflex over a couple of the wires in the pics, but will be doing that soon.










I still have to complete the gauge cluster, connect the radio and the heater. I also bought new firewall insulation and clips

MUSTANG FIREWALL INSULATION MOLDED 1964-1966

This might be a challenge. Once that is in, I will put the heater box and glove box back in. I still need to install speaker wire too. I ordered a new wiper wire harness from CJ too. The kit does not supply you with this....just the power wire.

http://www.cjponyparts.com/WINDSHIEL...ED-66/p/WWMF3/

[66FSTBCK]

I am not finished by any means, but I did test a lot of different things and for the grand finale.....I started the car!! Click on the image twice to play...it will take you to photobucket.

[66FSTBCK]

I do not have a high beam indicator light on my instrument bezel so I plan on using this:

Dorman Conduct-Tite! 84910 - Indicator Light | O'Reilly Auto Parts

One wire is the ground and the other connects to the high beam light wire. The package says drill a 5/16" hole and then it pushes right in.

[66FSTBCK]

I switched sides, but here it is installed. I think it looks like it belongs there.

[LynnBob 65 Mustang]

I got my AAW kit yesterday. It is a bit over whelming to say the least.
Did you ponder the idea of putting the factory harness side by side to the new one and just match it up for wire lengths? I was thinking of doing that with the rear harness and front light harness as I will more then likely be going with stock routing. Ideas thoughts since you have gotten this far into it?
Lynn

[66FSTBCK]

Originally Posted by LynnBob 65 Mustang

I got my AAW kit yesterday. It is a bit over whelming to say the least.
Did you ponder the idea of putting the factory harness side by side to the new one and just match it up for wire lengths? I was thinking of doing that with the rear harness and front light harness as I will more then likely be going with stock routing. Ideas thoughts since you have gotten this far into it?
Lynn

Yes, it is a bit overwhelming! I did not think about matching the old up with the new and cutting to length. I'm not saying it would not work, but after going through this thing......I would not recommend doing that. From the experience I had, the only wires that were of any extra length were the engine and light harnesses. The engine more than the light harness. NO extra length for the horn wire...FYI. The rear harness was very close to length. The passenger interior quarter courtesy light wires are routed a different way than the factory ones were.....plus these have connectors from AAW.

It helped me a lot to cover and label the wires and get them where I wanted before I put the fuse panel in and actually routed everything. It is not as overwhelming then.

I am working on my instrument cluster now and they don't offer too much extra wire once everything is piggy backed across the gauges (12v, lights and ground). I will try to finish this tonight and post pics.