Although I have been making wiring harness since my college days or just about 27 + years, I have only had managed to personally install around 10 during that period. Installing a new wiring harness on a Giulietta is simple and fast. I have been able to install a complete new wiring harness in a Giulietta in one day. That said, it should not take the average mortal more than a couple days at worst to properly re-route and connect a new wiring harness on a car.
There are some simple and basic steps to follow when preparing to embark into the Spaghetti sorting process and the best way to prepare for the task is simple:
First, I always tell my clients to familiarize themselves with the provided wiring diagram. The diagram will provide a general guidance while you work throughout the electrical system.
Second, once you have laid the new wiring harness in the car everything should fall into place and you can see where everything goes from that point.
What appears to be the most daunting part of the installation is the wiring of the gauges, and more specifically – the tri-gauge. You must study, and prepare your ground work beforehand and by doing so you will have the general path to be followed.
In order to assist my customers I normally re-attach the original fuse panel to the new wiring harness. This is something I usually don’t do but I usually find that it will helps the installer successfully complete the new installation since all the wires are already connected to the panel. Additionally, I do offer a fuse panel restoration services where I replace the bad board with a new one, sandblast and paint the bracket, clean and repair the original fuse block when the studs become ceazed due to corrosion as well as replace damaged studs and screws. This is a time consuming process and the $100 I charge is well worth the price.
I strongly recommend restoration of the original fuse panel. I have discovered that purchasing a new reproduction fuse panel should only be done as a last resort. The reproduction panels are most definitely poorly made and cheap looking. Just review the photos and you should be able to make up your mind.
This is enough for today. Next time I will be talking about the correct fuses to use on a new wiring harness and other topics of interest within the same subject.
this is a great article and want to read the next installment. The G.Super and early 105 cars had the thin contacts to hold the fuse. They get loose, poor connections and corrode. Is there any thing you can do to improve on these? Any type of a tensioner that can be snapped over the top of the fuse to increase the contact?
I certainly will be covering these and Ferrari’s as well. Thanks