Does anybody know of someone who rebuilds wiring harnesses? The wires in my engine harness are fine, but the housing is torn and frayed. I'd like to have it re-wrapped to return it to it's original condition. Thanks.
It would be easy enough to do it yourself. Work in sections. Start from the starter and work your way back to the fire wall. As you peel back a section, clean the wire insulation with rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol drys fast enough that it won't get into the insulation. You also want to start at the starter and work you way back so you can wrap forward and over the previous section without a noticeable overlap. I recommend the sectional process. If you unwrap the whole harness you might miss a break out. Buy the best tape. High Temp for sure.
DON'T use electrical tape. Buy the harness wrapping tape from Eastwood. Not as messy & the repair will be almost a perfect match. Take your time & you will be rewarded with good to excellent results.
YO sells the correct tape also. They used to sell it in two widths. If you are talking an engine harness I would just buy a new one. They get stiff and brittle over time. Tape will not help that.
Jim, It is the engine harness I'm trying to repair. The wires seem fine and everything works, but the housing is ripped in a few places. I'll take a closer look at it. If it's brittle, I'll go ahead and replace it. Thanks.
Chris, the new harnesses are really nice and worth the expense. About $150 if I remember. I have purcheses from M and H and and Factory Fit and both are nice. There are two wiring harnesses in an engine three with AC. Main harness, headlight harness and AC harness. The only problem with the repros is where the harness bolts to the firewall they use that sticky molasses goo where GM sealed it with rubber. I used a can of black plastic coat and poured it on the back of the firewall fuse box connection and it looked factory when it hardened. The nice thing about a repro is you will have nice clean and flexible wiring at the starter connections with new fusible links. An aside to all this is all the factory harnesses I have measured had the 1 1/4" wide non stick tape on them. Few sell the wider stuff but Year One may as Jim said they had 2 sizes.
Hope the harness tape works for you. I just replaced all of mine. The 3 underhood harnesses (engine, forward lamp, a/c) cost $423 total.
I vote for M&H. They have GREAT follow up tech support. The tech support from Factory Fit was not so hot.
www.wire-works.com , section H in the parts category, you will find factory barrel terminals and everything you need to DIY. its easy and kindda fun. plus alot cheaper. get a factory manual for the diagrams and have at it. i rebuilt every harness in my car, took about 2 hours for the dash harness, then the others took about 1hr or so. let me know if i can help out, going to an advanced army course tomorrow and will be back on the 9th of feb.
Poston. They were a few pennies less than Lectric and a few more than wiringharness.com but I thought it was worth it to keep the business with a Buick community supplier. They probably get them from one or the other anyhow.
M&H does make the best replacement harnesses anywhere. If you need terminals and connectors, any GM dealer can get them, as they are all available, and viewable in the wiring and connector book that dealers should have sitting, all dusty under the parts counter. Regards, Milton
