83' Rats Nest.

[Dan Dukes]

Hey all. Wanted to know what the best way to rewire my truck would be. One of the previous owners did quite a job on it. There are a bunch of wing nuts (for house wiring, yes) and about 15k rolls of electrical tape holding this contraption together. Any advice on a rewire would be great. Im new to it and open to suggestions. Everything works btw. (Not sure how.) Its a solid running truck nontheless.

 

[WilliamS]

Depending on how bad I would do a full gut on it. Sometimes on a classic its not worth some five cent wire nut to come loose and burn my truck to the ground. Its a nightmare of a job, but the finished product when done proper is invisible but to you its amazing.

Trying to find a donor harness isnt always possible, so the question is how are you soldering skills?

 

[crazzywolfie]

your best to likely just follow wire and pull any unnecessary wires and rewire what is there with maybe a few upgrades. the old trucks could have definitely benefited from the use of relays.

 

[Dan Dukes]

What sort of upgrades are we talking about here? Also, i do want to go a ground up rewire but i want it to be specific to what i need. Problem is im not sure to go about it. I want everything as it is but more modern if that makes sense. L.E.D. head and tail lights, new interior lights, trailering electrical, etc. Nothing crazy. Can i build a sort of main service panel so to speak? Obviously that isnt literal. But i want something that i can terminate all new circuits to that has one live wire to positive side of battery and seperate terminals and "breakers" so to speak. It probavly sounds stupid but any feedback is appreciated.

 

[crazzywolfie]

i would would be putting the ignition/charging system on a relay mainly so the voltage regulator can see what the alternator is putting out. also if you were to keep standard headlight bulbs i would also put those on relays also. i have also been considering drilling a hole though the firewall or heater box near the blower motor resister to run the wire through to the blower motor. the stock heater setup pulls about 20amp and would save the power running though about 10ft of wiring. i was also thinking about putting the blower motor on a solid state relay to take all stress of the stock wiring. it is common for trucks with a/c to start overloading the heater control switch with age and start melting it or the fuse panel.

it really sounds like you are wanting a power distribution center. i use one in my 81. it is pretty convenient for the most part except when you start forgeting what you got on each circuit after a while lol.

 

[Dan Dukes]

That seems to be a good term for it. Would i have to use old connectors to do a rewire like this? Or do you guys know anywhere i could get them?

 

[crazzywolfie]

they use power distribution centers on pretty much all 94 and newer truck. i was using old connectors but if you have enough patience you could likely take the old ones apart and replace the terminals. there are a few connectors under the hood that are definitely special but most are usually spade terminal and can be replaced pretty easily with a bit of patience.

 

[Dan Dukes]

So a power distribution center is basically a fuse box, right? Could i pull one from under the hood of a donor vehicle and then run all new from there or does it have to be specific? Im up for doing some soldering. I want everything tidy and manageable. The truck now is killing my O.C.D. Its all a mess.

 

[Dan Dukes]

How do i know what size relay or fuse or anything to use per fixture? Aka, horn, headlights, etc. I have a fuse panel under the dash but under the hood, all hots are taped together and led out to positive side of the battery. Not sure what to do with that part really.

 

[crazzywolfie]

ya it is a fuse box. finding 1 that will work for your specific needs can sometimes be tricky. i would say you might need to be looking at mid-early 90's vehicles for 1 to work in a truck. i think the one i am using is out of a 96-00 caravan and i have had to get a bit creative with some circuits since a lot more circuits on newer vehicles are activated by a ground signal and some of the circuits are built right into the PDC.

generally relays are good for 30-40 amps but i would try to keep the circuits at 30 amps or less. it can be a bit tricky to choose what size fuse to use unless you know how much power something is using. you can sometime use an amp gauge to try getting an idea what size fuse to use. the main reason i ended up installing a power distribution center in my truck was because of a bad connection that i couldn't really see till i pulled the main power wire out and hook the cab power wires to the PDC.