Hello all. I figured I would share some good news with all of you truck enusiasts. The first major phase of my truck rebuild is mostly complete (waiting on some backup lights to be shipped). My 54 chevy has a new wiring harness (from EZ Wiring) and finally has all the headlights, turnsignals, cab light, etc. via a very convenient fuse box all hooked up. The truck started very easily on the second attempt after adding some gas to the carb ! Thanks to all the great info from Alan Horvath's site and Mad Electrical that gave some good advice on improving the wiring setup. I had initially purchased the CD original-style wiring harness, but after much thought and research I decided to go with a fuse box style harness instead. Originality isn't a concern to me as much as having a reliable and convenient hauler. My truck had a 283 V8 installed with a very poor wiring job hooked up to it. About 3 months ago, the truck stopped cranking and I nailed it down to an electrical problem between the starter and ignition switch (trust me, the wiring job was very bad). I ended up biting the bullet and doing the entire wiring rather than patching the cruddy wiring that was already there. The install began on Monday 12/26 morning and we completed it today 12/28. My dad's friend who's a whiz at the electrical stuff did most of the work, but I was there learning and being the gopher as needed. Phase 2 is now imminent: we plan to do 1) the tranny swap to a 700r4 and 2) the disc brake/power brake conversion. :7
Very good ! Auto electrics are scary for most folks , hence your old patched up harness . FWIW , my 1949 3100 has 56 years of continuous commercial service and still runs a stock harness , it has a radio and alternator but all on a stock , cheap Chevy Duty harness . Take lotsa notes during your disc brake upgrade as it's one of the most popular topics here . -Nate
