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Painless vs American Autowire Harness or Other?

B

Bohemian

Guest
I've read good things about Painless & American Autowire complete wiring harnesses, and a little about Ron Francis although I'm not sure if they make a complete harness for C/K 5 Blazers...

Mine is a 82 K5 Blazer, and I've repaired my existing harness ok, but I really want to clean it up and expand upon it with a good upgrade.

The stock gm wiring and gauges on these trucks are really crappy imho.

I've used the painless alternator wiring upgrade kit and I'm happy with that.

I'm curious who here has done full harness replacements using painless, american autowire, ron francis or other harnesses and what did you like & not like about it? What were your challenges with the install?

Painless:
https://www.painlessperformance.com/wc/symm.php?Year=1982&Make=Chevrolet&Model=Blazer&sb1=Go!

American Autowire:
https://www.americanautowire.com/shop/complete-wiring-kit-1973-1981-chevy-truck

thanks in advance.
 
Did an American harness on my dads 77 bronco. No complaints with any of it. Labeled well, instructions were clear.
 
I once used a painless 21 circuit when I did my 67 camaro
Then when I picked up my 56 apache while shopping for a wire harness both Painless and American wire as well as Ron Francis they have either doubled or came close to tripling
I've since used EZ wiring for 2 other projects with no regrets
well labeled an similar instructions to the other ones.
 
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I had Harnessworx (also “Jabin Wood” on FB) build me a custom dash harness for my 91, it was very well built and fit perfectly. This harness was completely plug & play with all of the connectors installed. He was totally willing to add / delete circuits per request.

Painless was not willing to customize a harness (despite labeling their product “customizable”) and I wasn’t interested in paying such a high price for a kit I had to cut to fit and install the connectors.
 
American Autowire is far superior yo painless. Guys bring a painless into my shop I advise them to sell it at a loss, buy AAW and never look back. We use them for most wiring jobs and 100% of GM wiring jobs. They have all the original Packard prints from the factory, for perfect reproductions, as well as the Classic Update which is our go to. You won't find a better kit
 
I’m about to finally pull the trigger on this. It’s been asked before (I may have asked at some point), but I curious if there has been any changes post covid.

For reference this is going into my 69 C/10- 350 A/C cab, electric fuel pump, aftermarket radio, 2 extra light circuits, HEI, late model alt, and will be swapping the ammeter for a voltmeter.

I’m leaning towards the AAW classic update kit. Wondering about options on this kit, and if any of our vendors sell it.
 
@folkenheath can hook you up . He got me my american autowire .

The AAW kit i got for my 2wheel burn project ( pics in thread next to last page near bottom ) is nice . Each section in its own labled bag . 98% all plugs / sockets already on . HUGE FULL COLOR directions . Not sure if all but my kit does stock dash cluster or optional comes with it universal gauge plug and wire kit so no mods to stock plug required .

I have yet to install it but happy so far .
 
Next question- 100 amp alt or 140 amp alt? I’m thinking 100 amp. With my configuration I doubt I need the 140, price difference is about $50.
 
My plow truck i did tbi / all lights on / fan on high / wipers on . Never a problem with my cs-130 105 amp . . . Added light bar and it needed more so i did a cs-144 aftermarket 210 amp and never looked back 20 years now . . Both with 1000ca batterys .
 
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