yo,
Others with an Early Bronco can give you more/better info than I have found; here is some info:
Overview of the various rewire kits
by 67bondobronc 07/19/06
"...There is no doubt that one of the most important components that you must check out on your EB is the wiring system. All of our EB’s are over thirty years old and the wiring is frayed, brittle, and usually spliced in several places. You may be able to use the original wiring in your EB and the various vendors offer different parts of the original wiring harness if you only need to replace one section. One thing you will realize fast when dealing with your old harness is that the Ford engineers had a cruel sense of humor because the color codes of the wires vary from year to year. So, what is an easier alternative to all of this? There are several companies that offer complete kits to rewire our EB’s, which I have listed alphabetically (not in preferential order).
Centech offers a complete rewire kit and this is considered one of the two easiest options to rewiring your EB. The kit comes with GM-styled sealed plugs and the connectors are Ford OEM so your lights will plug in with no problems. A new dimmer, wiper, and light switch are included in the kit and the wires are labeled. The wires in this kit are long enough so you can modify them if needed. The newer Centech harnesses include an adapter so your original ignition switch can be used and the fuse box has eleven fuses. You can find this harness for around $430.
http://www.centechwire.com/catalog/broncos/br10.shtml
EZ Wiring offers four different rewire kits but these are not EB specific and they will require more automotive electrical knowledge base than other kits. I have heard that these kits are used by many of the street rod guys with great success but there has not been a lot of feedback on our Board about these. These kits come with labeled wires and they can be modified to include any aftermarket equipment or gauges that you have added to your EB. The best thing about the kits are the prices, which range from $120-$165.
http://www.ezwiring.com/
Painless Wiring offers a complete rewire kit for EB’s. This is the second of the two easiest ways to rewire your EB. This kit includes wires that are labeled, 12 fuse block which is covered and for resistance to weather. The ignition, wiper, headlight, and dimmer switches also come with this kit. The connectors on the Painless kit are Ford OEM so your lights will plug directly into them. Long wires enable you to mount the fuse block where you would like under the dash. This harness is currently being offered for around $579 at different sites on the web.
http://www.painlesswiring.com/webcatalog.php
Ron Francis offers a kit that can be used on EB’s. This is a popular choice for those who have aftermarket accessories on their rides and want a custom wiring kit. This kit does rewire an automotive electrical background. Ron Francis kits offer 18 circuits on 16 fuses and the wires are long enough to be custom-fit to any application. Randy at Adventurous 4x4 offered a Mass Buy recently on a Ron Francis kit that he modified specifically for the EB but this kit is not listed on the Ron Francis website. This wiring kit will run you around $399.
http://www.ronfrancis.com/wiringharness.php
Which wiring kit is the best? Well, that question will bring you more opinions than you ever wanted. I believe it is safe to say that all kits are adequate and the Centech and Painless are probably the easiest for novices. If you have an EB that has a lot of “goodies” then you probably want a kit like Ron Francis or EZ Wiring. Many people on the Board have been able to use all these kits with EFI. How long does a rewire job take? Usually about 20 hours………..of course this depends on your ability and how many “beverages” you consume.
Whatever you do, make sure you check the wires in your EB and if you think you need new wires then you probably do, so replace them! I know there are other companies that offer wiring kits but these are the four that have received a vast amount of attention..."
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Centech Wiring Harness Install by Formerjughead Jun 09, 2007
"...Much like all Bronco Upgrades it started innocently enough, with the idea of painting the needles on my gauge cluster, an inexpensive and snazzy upgrade. Little did I know that more than a week later I would have spent nearly $1,000.00 (US) on a new wiring harness. Of course if I would have just bitten the bullet and went right for the harness I would have saved more. Hey; it’s only money, right?
I researched what harnesses were out there, Painless, 4 Wheeling ******* Ron Francis and Centech. All had their good points and not so good points. I chose the Centech because it had the wires labeled every foot or so. The others used either a color code or a number code. Keeping it simple always seems to pay off.
Things you’ll need:
1. A couple of days………
2. A Multi Meter
3. Cordless soldering Iron……..gas; not batteries, solder…..electrical with lead.
4. Shrink Tubing……white, red & black…….more white than black.
5. 18-20 gauge spade connectors……the red ones, male and female.
6. Electrical tape…….both the wide stuff and the thin multi colored set.
7. New wire cutters and strippers
8. New Needle nose pliers
9. A sharp knife
10. New Oil Pressure sending Unit
11. New engine Temperature Sending Unit
12. ¼” x ¾” self tapping Sheet metal screws
13. 5/16” by ¾” Self tapping Sheet Metal screws
14. Zip ties
15. A “Handy Pack” of blade type mini fuses
16. “weather tight connector pin removal tool set”
17. This number on your speed dial: 610-754-0720 (Centech tech line)
18. Tail Lamp, Turn signal, backups lamps, 1157’s
You can rip out everything except for the wiring from the fan switch to the motor
All of the lights you can just unplug the harness, the other end you’ll need to cut off as close to the plug as possible. Do Not Cut The Plugs or ground wires off of the Rear Side Marker Lamps. Same goes for the Windshield Wiper Motor, the washer pump and the connector for the fuel tank.
If you take out the seats and undo the door straps life will be much easier. Take out your stereo and glove box liner while you’re at it.
Remove the Brown Wire from your heater switch; Remove your Emergency flasher switch, save the plug. Remove your Ignition switch and your Brake warning light (leave some wire on the brake warning light). Pull the wiper switch. You can reuse the switch. Pull your instrument cluster. Cut the wires for your neutral safety switch and your back up lamp switch, so that you have enough to work with; of course if you have small hands pull the connector off and leave enough wire to reconnect to. When I removed the plug from my Emergency flasher switch, the switch came apart and I ordered a new one from Wild Horses. While the UPS guy was less than 100 yards away I broke the switch. Loc Tite adhesive and a zip tie, on the old switch, works better than trying to weld the threaded collar back on to the new switch. Remove your alternator.
Under the truck, along the frame, where the wire runs you’ll want to be as careful as you can to leave the support clips.
Once you have all the wire out read the instructions again. They’ll make more sense and you’ll have more questions for Centech, or Lars Pedersen, or Quinn Dusenberry, or Chris Hockett, or Tom Dummer.
The Centech instructions are pretty straight forward; they do gloss over a few things though and some things just don’t seem right. So follow the instructions and you’ll be golden.
Figuring out the ignition wiring was the hardest part, for me. Thanks to Lars Pedersen I was able to muddle my way through it.
Some of the wire loom had to be undone , to re route wires, so things would lay flat:
Driver’s side firewall: I finagled the junction where the dimmer switch and wiper motor wires are so the it would work better.
Voltage Regulator:
There is a green wire that has to be plugged into the “S” terminal. This is at the end of the loom next to where the red “Battery” wire comes out. It’s a plastic loom so there are only a couple of places where you have to cut the tape.
Wiper Motor: These push up from behind the dash and go though a couple of holes and end up in the windshield frame. This is pretty easy. These wires are not protected so I used some plastic tubing to protect the wires where they went through the holes. Before I pulled the old wiring out of the windshield frame I tied the new wire to the end of it and was able to pull it through the frame.
Connect the new wires to the old “female” plug. Insulate your connectors and wrap the exposed wires with tape. Be sure and wrap a couple of layers any where you pass through the windshield frame or dash.
Wiper Switch: Even though the kit came with a new wiper switch I wanted to use my old one.
The wire colors in the new harness match up to the old wire colors. You can replace them in the switch connector or just plug them onto the male spades of your old switch.
Gauge Cluster & Dash: There are wires for the dash lights in the new harness. I spliced into the old connectors,
and they work
Tail Lights: I re did my tail lights a half a dozen times before I could make them work. The problem was that I didn’t have the connection made at the steering column. Everything related to the lights in the back goes through the steering column..."
more info & pics
http://www.broncofix.com/viewtopic.php?t=272729
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markperry on 08/26/10 "I did the Centech.....very straight forward!"
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West Coast Bronco T3-HR wiring harness
Some reviews for the T3 kit;
"Its a nice kit for a trail truck assuming you have access to schematics and understand basic wiring. Not at all in the same class as the oem replacement units from Painless or Centech. Prepare to reuse alot of your factory connectors.
My 2cents. by Dennis
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"Painless is alot easier to use for those that are doing this sort of thing the first time. But if you have done it before and want to save some cash this is the way top go." by broncoman
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EZ-2 Wire & Ron Francis Harness Review in an 84 Source: by justshootme84, Seabronc & Broncobill78
http://broncozone.com/topic/12864-installing-new-wiring-harness/
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Centech Harness Review in a 79
Source: by FordTruckBroncoMan
If the icon on the title could be two or three thumbs up I would have put that. I just finished installing a wiring harness from Centech that I've had for about a year. So the time had come and gone to return it if there were any problems. Well... I couldn't believe just how well this harness was made, the quality of parts, the ease of installation, the instructions were perfect, and I could not be more happy.
I don't know anything about painless but if you have to choose a wiring harness for anything I would suggest Centech no matter what!!!
If you are looking to rewire your entire bronco or maybe even your hotrod. Or need some parts for wiring, or if you need a aftermarket part to look stock and function as a stock part should they they are your choice! I wish I had pictures of the kits all laid out in bags with instructions and the wires labeled every 6 inches with "Pass stop/tail" or "LF blinker" but take my word that everything was so easy to wire it was amazing.
The ONLY problem in the entire kit (and it could have been the blinker switch i bought) but when i plugged it in and wired the blinkers the left made the right blinker blink and the right made the left blink. hahaha But I just switched the wires in the plug and the job was done!
If you think that this kit is not for you because of price then you are WRONG! For a whole wiring harness (with an aux wiring harness for my aux lights, and even extra wires for the stock voltage reg and heater/ac fan that I didn't use, full detailed instructions that were APPLICATION SPECIFIC, they even had my name on them saying what it was for) I paid $395 with shipping!!!!
Centech Installation pics in a 79 Source: by FordTruckBroncoManI know painless was atleast 450 for a kit that I would have to make work for me, NOT made for me like this kit was!
A real quick plug for 12voltgut.com as well... I used his panel and it works amazingly well and I love the way it looks! After getting this panel I sent pictures of it, my dash, my bronco, all aux stuff on my bronco to Centech and he built the harness for me, we ran over the details through email, on the phone, everything, this guy was extremely nice and very helpful. (He was a Yankee though sooooo, well you know
O and it also came with all the plugs that did not need to pass through the firewall were prewired, like the blinker switch (which he asks what style your vehicle has and matches it) and the highbeam switch. Even had wires installed for blinkers and highbeam indicators. Hazards, flashers, and horn relays all installed in the fuse panel.
Anywya, that's it, ask me if you have any questions and if you couldn't tell already I think CENTECH IS AWESOME!!!"
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GL! and let us know what you do and snap pics if you have time.
