thansk, i'll go over there and check it out. Heat shrink and solder sounds
great.

"Jerry McG" <gmcgeorge.remove@frontier.net> wrote in message
news:c7dhh30qg1@enews4.newsguy.com...
> I left you a detailed response over on the other forum. Last year I
> installed one of the Painless kits on my '76 CJ5 restoration project and
> consider it one of the best upgrades I made on the Jeep. Well worth the
> cost. FYI, it took me two days work to install, however bear in mind that
on
> al, the terminal, rather than just cruimp them on like Painless
recommended,
> I used heat shrink and solder. That may have doubked the amount of time it
> took to install.
>
> The instructions are very good, and each wire is labeed and numbered, plus
> color coded to the factory diagram. It was a fabulously high quality
> product, far better than the original it replaced.
>
> "dilla1986" <dilla1986@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
> news:Y1pmc.7815$DZ4.1192@newssvr23.news.prodigy.co m...
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> > wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map
> and
> > in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> > speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty
associated
> > with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming
> meticulous
> > process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
> >
> > Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash
and
> > the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also
included
> > in the kit?
> >
> > Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil
> fouled)
> > I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> > Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires
then
> > pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> > motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
> >
> > Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Dilla
> >
> >
>
>

 

thanks, I was on the fence on this but i think i'll give it a try!

"Del Rawlins" <del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org> wrote in message
news:20040506073538540-0800@enews.newsguy.com...
> In <Y1pmc.7815$DZ4.1192@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com> dilla1986 wrote:
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace
> > the wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow
> > a map and in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers,
> > amplifiers and speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of
> > difficulty associated with installing the kit. Is it just going to be
> > a time consuming meticulous process to follow each wire from the fuse
> > block, etc.
>
> I had to rewire my pickup truck and the painless kit saved me no end of
> headaches. Highly Recommended!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org
> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

 

thanks, I was on the fence on this but i think i'll give it a try!

"Del Rawlins" <del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org> wrote in message
news:20040506073538540-0800@enews.newsguy.com...
> In <Y1pmc.7815$DZ4.1192@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com> dilla1986 wrote:
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace
> > the wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow
> > a map and in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers,
> > amplifiers and speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of
> > difficulty associated with installing the kit. Is it just going to be
> > a time consuming meticulous process to follow each wire from the fuse
> > block, etc.
>
> I had to rewire my pickup truck and the painless kit saved me no end of
> headaches. Highly Recommended!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org
> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

 

thanks, I was on the fence on this but i think i'll give it a try!

"Del Rawlins" <del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org> wrote in message
news:20040506073538540-0800@enews.newsguy.com...
> In <Y1pmc.7815$DZ4.1192@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com> dilla1986 wrote:
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace
> > the wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow
> > a map and in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers,
> > amplifiers and speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of
> > difficulty associated with installing the kit. Is it just going to be
> > a time consuming meticulous process to follow each wire from the fuse
> > block, etc.
>
> I had to rewire my pickup truck and the painless kit saved me no end of
> headaches. Highly Recommended!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org
> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

 

thanks, I was on the fence on this but i think i'll give it a try!

"Del Rawlins" <del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org> wrote in message
news:20040506073538540-0800@enews.newsguy.com...
> In <Y1pmc.7815$DZ4.1192@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com> dilla1986 wrote:
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace
> > the wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow
> > a map and in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers,
> > amplifiers and speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of
> > difficulty associated with installing the kit. Is it just going to be
> > a time consuming meticulous process to follow each wire from the fuse
> > block, etc.
>
> I had to rewire my pickup truck and the painless kit saved me no end of
> headaches. Highly Recommended!
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org
> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

 

I put the factory-preterminated "12 circuit" Painless kit in my `79 CJ-5
restoration. The kit is very complete and from the firewall back it
really is quite painless. The under-dash part is clear and easy to
understand -- but it really pays to pull the dash off and work like a
gentleman instead of trying to save the effort of pulling the dash.

All of the harness ends, lamp sockets and single wires are labeled with
1x1 tags, so you know where everything goes. For the most part, ends are
terminated in OEM-identical plug connectors, except the volt and oil gauge
connectors which are ring terminals rather than push-on connectors.

The thru-firewall bulkhead connector fits the OEM hole, but will not mate
to the OEM connector so you cannot replace only half the harness, you must
replace the whole system. It also lacks a gasket. I moulded butyl rubber
(the black tacky stuff used by window installers) around it to caulk it.

Under the hood, it is less painless and grows more painful from left to
right. The harness is made to fit a very wide range of years (1975 -`86)
and engines in a perfect example of "one size fits nobody". The lighting
portion of the harness is easy enough, it follows the standard path along
the left fender and into the grill. Curiously, it assumes that you'll
have a fiberglass nose and runs the headlight ground back to the firewall
(Jeep ran separate headlight grounds to screws on the back of the grill
on each side) but makes no provision for signal light grounding (on steel
bodies they ground through their mounting screws). I was not entirely
comfortable with the wire gauge used for the headlights and felt that it
could have been heavier.

Because the harness is a universal fit, it is left up to you to route the
wires to various engine and under-hood accessories. In some cases you'll
want to break open the loom (split plastic tubing over a harness made up
with zip-ties and black tape) and insert those wires to keep it neat. I
did this for my oil and temp senders, for example, which needed to go to
the right side of the engine. Painless includes extra zip-ties for this
purpose.

The instructions for the charging system are, quite frankly, a mess. If
you follow the written instruction as first given you'll end up installing
a system fuse in a place where it is jumpered by a parallel cable. It is
only when you read the erratum pages at the /back/ of the manual that you
find that you should have done it differently, and even there it is a mess
-- to make it worse, some heavy wires have different numbers on each end.
The instructions call for splices and doubled-up wiring where it makes no
sense. My advice here is to break open the Painless harness, study the
existing alternator harness and if salvageable blend it in to the Painless
harness, being sure to place the system fuse between the alternator and
the load.

The Painless harness _does_not_include_ the ignition harness, so don't
pull it off and throw it away. My `79 used the electronic breakerless
system with a module bolted to the left fender (your system may vary).
It does include the feed from the ignition switch to the coil (you must
install the resistor -- find a place on the firewall where it will not get
splashed with cold water), a tach feed, and the wire from the starter
relay to the coil. The wires that should go from the ignition switch to
the ignition module on my `79 needed to be pulled out of the loom because
they ran to the right side instead of the left side where they were
needed. The plastic loom was too small to accept the ignition sub-harness
and I salvaged the larger OEM loom here to keep things neat and protected.

Back to the ignition resistor: at least for the 1976-82 model span Jeep
used a resistive wire blended into the harness, not a mounted GM-style
ceramic resistor. The wire can be found by looking for a piece about 2'
long spliced into the harness along the firewall, is is stiffer than the
usual wire and the insulation feels softer and loose on the wire. Don't
be fooled into thinking that you don't need the resistor just because you
can't find the ceramic one on your firewall.

On the whole, I found it to be a good product with imperfect documentation
at a rather steep price (Painless makes harnesses for high-end hotrods
which seems to be a market with very deep pockets). Engineering support
was spotty, you can spend quite a lot of time in a hold queue wanting for
tech support, and at least one tech got rather too defensive when I
mentioned the lack of clear documentation on the charging system. I know
that there are two other manufacturers (4WD.com seems to be one) and that
some here have experience with them. You should comparison shop before
you decide, but the Painless system is certainly a quality product.


On Thu, 6 May 2004, dilla1986 wrote:

> From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map and
> in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty associated
> with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming meticulous
> process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
>
> Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash and
> the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also included
> in the kit?
>
> Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil fouled)
> I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires then
> pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
>
> Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dilla
>
>
>

 

I put the factory-preterminated "12 circuit" Painless kit in my `79 CJ-5
restoration. The kit is very complete and from the firewall back it
really is quite painless. The under-dash part is clear and easy to
understand -- but it really pays to pull the dash off and work like a
gentleman instead of trying to save the effort of pulling the dash.

All of the harness ends, lamp sockets and single wires are labeled with
1x1 tags, so you know where everything goes. For the most part, ends are
terminated in OEM-identical plug connectors, except the volt and oil gauge
connectors which are ring terminals rather than push-on connectors.

The thru-firewall bulkhead connector fits the OEM hole, but will not mate
to the OEM connector so you cannot replace only half the harness, you must
replace the whole system. It also lacks a gasket. I moulded butyl rubber
(the black tacky stuff used by window installers) around it to caulk it.

Under the hood, it is less painless and grows more painful from left to
right. The harness is made to fit a very wide range of years (1975 -`86)
and engines in a perfect example of "one size fits nobody". The lighting
portion of the harness is easy enough, it follows the standard path along
the left fender and into the grill. Curiously, it assumes that you'll
have a fiberglass nose and runs the headlight ground back to the firewall
(Jeep ran separate headlight grounds to screws on the back of the grill
on each side) but makes no provision for signal light grounding (on steel
bodies they ground through their mounting screws). I was not entirely
comfortable with the wire gauge used for the headlights and felt that it
could have been heavier.

Because the harness is a universal fit, it is left up to you to route the
wires to various engine and under-hood accessories. In some cases you'll
want to break open the loom (split plastic tubing over a harness made up
with zip-ties and black tape) and insert those wires to keep it neat. I
did this for my oil and temp senders, for example, which needed to go to
the right side of the engine. Painless includes extra zip-ties for this
purpose.

The instructions for the charging system are, quite frankly, a mess. If
you follow the written instruction as first given you'll end up installing
a system fuse in a place where it is jumpered by a parallel cable. It is
only when you read the erratum pages at the /back/ of the manual that you
find that you should have done it differently, and even there it is a mess
-- to make it worse, some heavy wires have different numbers on each end.
The instructions call for splices and doubled-up wiring where it makes no
sense. My advice here is to break open the Painless harness, study the
existing alternator harness and if salvageable blend it in to the Painless
harness, being sure to place the system fuse between the alternator and
the load.

The Painless harness _does_not_include_ the ignition harness, so don't
pull it off and throw it away. My `79 used the electronic breakerless
system with a module bolted to the left fender (your system may vary).
It does include the feed from the ignition switch to the coil (you must
install the resistor -- find a place on the firewall where it will not get
splashed with cold water), a tach feed, and the wire from the starter
relay to the coil. The wires that should go from the ignition switch to
the ignition module on my `79 needed to be pulled out of the loom because
they ran to the right side instead of the left side where they were
needed. The plastic loom was too small to accept the ignition sub-harness
and I salvaged the larger OEM loom here to keep things neat and protected.

Back to the ignition resistor: at least for the 1976-82 model span Jeep
used a resistive wire blended into the harness, not a mounted GM-style
ceramic resistor. The wire can be found by looking for a piece about 2'
long spliced into the harness along the firewall, is is stiffer than the
usual wire and the insulation feels softer and loose on the wire. Don't
be fooled into thinking that you don't need the resistor just because you
can't find the ceramic one on your firewall.

On the whole, I found it to be a good product with imperfect documentation
at a rather steep price (Painless makes harnesses for high-end hotrods
which seems to be a market with very deep pockets). Engineering support
was spotty, you can spend quite a lot of time in a hold queue wanting for
tech support, and at least one tech got rather too defensive when I
mentioned the lack of clear documentation on the charging system. I know
that there are two other manufacturers (4WD.com seems to be one) and that
some here have experience with them. You should comparison shop before
you decide, but the Painless system is certainly a quality product.


On Thu, 6 May 2004, dilla1986 wrote:

> From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map and
> in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty associated
> with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming meticulous
> process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
>
> Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash and
> the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also included
> in the kit?
>
> Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil fouled)
> I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires then
> pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
>
> Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dilla
>
>
>

 

I put the factory-preterminated "12 circuit" Painless kit in my `79 CJ-5
restoration. The kit is very complete and from the firewall back it
really is quite painless. The under-dash part is clear and easy to
understand -- but it really pays to pull the dash off and work like a
gentleman instead of trying to save the effort of pulling the dash.

All of the harness ends, lamp sockets and single wires are labeled with
1x1 tags, so you know where everything goes. For the most part, ends are
terminated in OEM-identical plug connectors, except the volt and oil gauge
connectors which are ring terminals rather than push-on connectors.

The thru-firewall bulkhead connector fits the OEM hole, but will not mate
to the OEM connector so you cannot replace only half the harness, you must
replace the whole system. It also lacks a gasket. I moulded butyl rubber
(the black tacky stuff used by window installers) around it to caulk it.

Under the hood, it is less painless and grows more painful from left to
right. The harness is made to fit a very wide range of years (1975 -`86)
and engines in a perfect example of "one size fits nobody". The lighting
portion of the harness is easy enough, it follows the standard path along
the left fender and into the grill. Curiously, it assumes that you'll
have a fiberglass nose and runs the headlight ground back to the firewall
(Jeep ran separate headlight grounds to screws on the back of the grill
on each side) but makes no provision for signal light grounding (on steel
bodies they ground through their mounting screws). I was not entirely
comfortable with the wire gauge used for the headlights and felt that it
could have been heavier.

Because the harness is a universal fit, it is left up to you to route the
wires to various engine and under-hood accessories. In some cases you'll
want to break open the loom (split plastic tubing over a harness made up
with zip-ties and black tape) and insert those wires to keep it neat. I
did this for my oil and temp senders, for example, which needed to go to
the right side of the engine. Painless includes extra zip-ties for this
purpose.

The instructions for the charging system are, quite frankly, a mess. If
you follow the written instruction as first given you'll end up installing
a system fuse in a place where it is jumpered by a parallel cable. It is
only when you read the erratum pages at the /back/ of the manual that you
find that you should have done it differently, and even there it is a mess
-- to make it worse, some heavy wires have different numbers on each end.
The instructions call for splices and doubled-up wiring where it makes no
sense. My advice here is to break open the Painless harness, study the
existing alternator harness and if salvageable blend it in to the Painless
harness, being sure to place the system fuse between the alternator and
the load.

The Painless harness _does_not_include_ the ignition harness, so don't
pull it off and throw it away. My `79 used the electronic breakerless
system with a module bolted to the left fender (your system may vary).
It does include the feed from the ignition switch to the coil (you must
install the resistor -- find a place on the firewall where it will not get
splashed with cold water), a tach feed, and the wire from the starter
relay to the coil. The wires that should go from the ignition switch to
the ignition module on my `79 needed to be pulled out of the loom because
they ran to the right side instead of the left side where they were
needed. The plastic loom was too small to accept the ignition sub-harness
and I salvaged the larger OEM loom here to keep things neat and protected.

Back to the ignition resistor: at least for the 1976-82 model span Jeep
used a resistive wire blended into the harness, not a mounted GM-style
ceramic resistor. The wire can be found by looking for a piece about 2'
long spliced into the harness along the firewall, is is stiffer than the
usual wire and the insulation feels softer and loose on the wire. Don't
be fooled into thinking that you don't need the resistor just because you
can't find the ceramic one on your firewall.

On the whole, I found it to be a good product with imperfect documentation
at a rather steep price (Painless makes harnesses for high-end hotrods
which seems to be a market with very deep pockets). Engineering support
was spotty, you can spend quite a lot of time in a hold queue wanting for
tech support, and at least one tech got rather too defensive when I
mentioned the lack of clear documentation on the charging system. I know
that there are two other manufacturers (4WD.com seems to be one) and that
some here have experience with them. You should comparison shop before
you decide, but the Painless system is certainly a quality product.


On Thu, 6 May 2004, dilla1986 wrote:

> From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map and
> in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty associated
> with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming meticulous
> process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
>
> Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash and
> the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also included
> in the kit?
>
> Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil fouled)
> I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires then
> pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
>
> Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dilla
>
>
>

 

I put the factory-preterminated "12 circuit" Painless kit in my `79 CJ-5
restoration. The kit is very complete and from the firewall back it
really is quite painless. The under-dash part is clear and easy to
understand -- but it really pays to pull the dash off and work like a
gentleman instead of trying to save the effort of pulling the dash.

All of the harness ends, lamp sockets and single wires are labeled with
1x1 tags, so you know where everything goes. For the most part, ends are
terminated in OEM-identical plug connectors, except the volt and oil gauge
connectors which are ring terminals rather than push-on connectors.

The thru-firewall bulkhead connector fits the OEM hole, but will not mate
to the OEM connector so you cannot replace only half the harness, you must
replace the whole system. It also lacks a gasket. I moulded butyl rubber
(the black tacky stuff used by window installers) around it to caulk it.

Under the hood, it is less painless and grows more painful from left to
right. The harness is made to fit a very wide range of years (1975 -`86)
and engines in a perfect example of "one size fits nobody". The lighting
portion of the harness is easy enough, it follows the standard path along
the left fender and into the grill. Curiously, it assumes that you'll
have a fiberglass nose and runs the headlight ground back to the firewall
(Jeep ran separate headlight grounds to screws on the back of the grill
on each side) but makes no provision for signal light grounding (on steel
bodies they ground through their mounting screws). I was not entirely
comfortable with the wire gauge used for the headlights and felt that it
could have been heavier.

Because the harness is a universal fit, it is left up to you to route the
wires to various engine and under-hood accessories. In some cases you'll
want to break open the loom (split plastic tubing over a harness made up
with zip-ties and black tape) and insert those wires to keep it neat. I
did this for my oil and temp senders, for example, which needed to go to
the right side of the engine. Painless includes extra zip-ties for this
purpose.

The instructions for the charging system are, quite frankly, a mess. If
you follow the written instruction as first given you'll end up installing
a system fuse in a place where it is jumpered by a parallel cable. It is
only when you read the erratum pages at the /back/ of the manual that you
find that you should have done it differently, and even there it is a mess
-- to make it worse, some heavy wires have different numbers on each end.
The instructions call for splices and doubled-up wiring where it makes no
sense. My advice here is to break open the Painless harness, study the
existing alternator harness and if salvageable blend it in to the Painless
harness, being sure to place the system fuse between the alternator and
the load.

The Painless harness _does_not_include_ the ignition harness, so don't
pull it off and throw it away. My `79 used the electronic breakerless
system with a module bolted to the left fender (your system may vary).
It does include the feed from the ignition switch to the coil (you must
install the resistor -- find a place on the firewall where it will not get
splashed with cold water), a tach feed, and the wire from the starter
relay to the coil. The wires that should go from the ignition switch to
the ignition module on my `79 needed to be pulled out of the loom because
they ran to the right side instead of the left side where they were
needed. The plastic loom was too small to accept the ignition sub-harness
and I salvaged the larger OEM loom here to keep things neat and protected.

Back to the ignition resistor: at least for the 1976-82 model span Jeep
used a resistive wire blended into the harness, not a mounted GM-style
ceramic resistor. The wire can be found by looking for a piece about 2'
long spliced into the harness along the firewall, is is stiffer than the
usual wire and the insulation feels softer and loose on the wire. Don't
be fooled into thinking that you don't need the resistor just because you
can't find the ceramic one on your firewall.

On the whole, I found it to be a good product with imperfect documentation
at a rather steep price (Painless makes harnesses for high-end hotrods
which seems to be a market with very deep pockets). Engineering support
was spotty, you can spend quite a lot of time in a hold queue wanting for
tech support, and at least one tech got rather too defensive when I
mentioned the lack of clear documentation on the charging system. I know
that there are two other manufacturers (4WD.com seems to be one) and that
some here have experience with them. You should comparison shop before
you decide, but the Painless system is certainly a quality product.


On Thu, 6 May 2004, dilla1986 wrote:

> From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map and
> in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty associated
> with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming meticulous
> process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
>
> Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash and
> the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also included
> in the kit?
>
> Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil fouled)
> I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires then
> pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
>
> Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dilla
>
>
>

 

thank you for the detailed response. it is comforting to see a littel
"negative" feedback along with the positive.

Now a question for all. If i want to change out the ignition wiring, i
trust that kit is also available from the typical Jeep OEM suppliers,
Quadratec, J.C. Whitney and 4Wheel parts, etc.

thanks to all for the replies.


"Lee Ayrton" <layrton@panix.com> wrote in message
news:Pine.NEB.4.58.0405070923250.15636@panix3.pani x.com...
>
> I put the factory-preterminated "12 circuit" Painless kit in my `79 CJ-5
> restoration. The kit is very complete and from the firewall back it
> really is quite painless. The under-dash part is clear and easy to
> understand -- but it really pays to pull the dash off and work like a
> gentleman instead of trying to save the effort of pulling the dash.
>
> All of the harness ends, lamp sockets and single wires are labeled with
> 1x1 tags, so you know where everything goes. For the most part, ends are
> terminated in OEM-identical plug connectors, except the volt and oil gauge
> connectors which are ring terminals rather than push-on connectors.
>
> The thru-firewall bulkhead connector fits the OEM hole, but will not mate
> to the OEM connector so you cannot replace only half the harness, you must
> replace the whole system. It also lacks a gasket. I moulded butyl rubber
> (the black tacky stuff used by window installers) around it to caulk it.
>
> Under the hood, it is less painless and grows more painful from left to
> right. The harness is made to fit a very wide range of years (1975 -`86)
> and engines in a perfect example of "one size fits nobody". The lighting
> portion of the harness is easy enough, it follows the standard path along
> the left fender and into the grill. Curiously, it assumes that you'll
> have a fiberglass nose and runs the headlight ground back to the firewall
> (Jeep ran separate headlight grounds to screws on the back of the grill
> on each side) but makes no provision for signal light grounding (on steel
> bodies they ground through their mounting screws). I was not entirely
> comfortable with the wire gauge used for the headlights and felt that it
> could have been heavier.
>
> Because the harness is a universal fit, it is left up to you to route the
> wires to various engine and under-hood accessories. In some cases you'll
> want to break open the loom (split plastic tubing over a harness made up
> with zip-ties and black tape) and insert those wires to keep it neat. I
> did this for my oil and temp senders, for example, which needed to go to
> the right side of the engine. Painless includes extra zip-ties for this
> purpose.
>
> The instructions for the charging system are, quite frankly, a mess. If
> you follow the written instruction as first given you'll end up installing
> a system fuse in a place where it is jumpered by a parallel cable. It is
> only when you read the erratum pages at the /back/ of the manual that you
> find that you should have done it differently, and even there it is a mess
> -- to make it worse, some heavy wires have different numbers on each end.
> The instructions call for splices and doubled-up wiring where it makes no
> sense. My advice here is to break open the Painless harness, study the
> existing alternator harness and if salvageable blend it in to the Painless
> harness, being sure to place the system fuse between the alternator and
> the load.
>
> The Painless harness _does_not_include_ the ignition harness, so don't
> pull it off and throw it away. My `79 used the electronic breakerless
> system with a module bolted to the left fender (your system may vary).
> It does include the feed from the ignition switch to the coil (you must
> install the resistor -- find a place on the firewall where it will not get
> splashed with cold water), a tach feed, and the wire from the starter
> relay to the coil. The wires that should go from the ignition switch to
> the ignition module on my `79 needed to be pulled out of the loom because
> they ran to the right side instead of the left side where they were
> needed. The plastic loom was too small to accept the ignition sub-harness
> and I salvaged the larger OEM loom here to keep things neat and protected.
>
> Back to the ignition resistor: at least for the 1976-82 model span Jeep
> used a resistive wire blended into the harness, not a mounted GM-style
> ceramic resistor. The wire can be found by looking for a piece about 2'
> long spliced into the harness along the firewall, is is stiffer than the
> usual wire and the insulation feels softer and loose on the wire. Don't
> be fooled into thinking that you don't need the resistor just because you
> can't find the ceramic one on your firewall.
>
> On the whole, I found it to be a good product with imperfect documentation
> at a rather steep price (Painless makes harnesses for high-end hotrods
> which seems to be a market with very deep pockets). Engineering support
> was spotty, you can spend quite a lot of time in a hold queue wanting for
> tech support, and at least one tech got rather too defensive when I
> mentioned the lack of clear documentation on the charging system. I know
> that there are two other manufacturers (4WD.com seems to be one) and that
> some here have experience with them. You should comparison shop before
> you decide, but the Painless system is certainly a quality product.
>
>
> On Thu, 6 May 2004, dilla1986 wrote:
>
> > From the multiple cracked wires under my hood, it is time to replace the
> > wires for my '83 CJ-7, 258. I am no electrician but I can follow a map
and
> > in my younger days loved to install stereos, equalizers, amplifiers and
> > speakers. I could use some feedback on the level of difficulty
associated
> > with installing the kit. Is it just going to be a time consuming
meticulous
> > process to follow each wire from the fuse block, etc.
> >
> > Also, I believe the Ignition Control Module is mounted under the dash
and
> > the wires come through the firewall. Is the bundle of wires also
included
> > in the kit?
> >
> > Lastly, due to an oil leak and some nasty looking spark plugs ( oil
fouled)
> > I was considering having the engine rebuilt or even upgrading to a 304.
> > Question is which situation is best: 1.) do I install painless wires
then
> > pull motor, 2.) pull motor, put back in then install wires, or 3.) pull
> > motor, install wires with motor out, then put motor back in?
> >
> > Any and all feedback is needed and appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Dilla
> >
> >
> >