This is my review on Rebel wire http://www.rebelwire.com/ . Following the advice of a few ECC members and my bank account I decided on the 21 Circuit American Muscle Car Harness. As luck would have it, there was a distributor(Jim Whittenburg) just a few miles away from me who had one on the shelf. He brought to my work and dropped it off. He told me to call or stop by anytime I needed help.
I contacted Bob at Rebel when I began my project and over the course of 2 months I emailed him 18 times. I’ve saved them all. He replied on weekends and evenings. I can’t thank him enough for all his help other than brag on him and his product and support. Support after the sale is what we crave and he provides it. Many times I answered my own questions just as I typed out the e-mail and hit send.
On a side note, I doubt it would take two months to do this job but I have a lot going on family wise and only got to work on it for a few hours after work and on weekends. Plus it’s winter time so the cold and dark got in my way.
One of the biggest insights Bob gave me was that I was trying to duplicate the factory wiring, which was really confusing me. With the new kit, everyone gets their own wire now. Perfect example was the power for the heater had a pink wire attached to it from the factory and that pink wire doubled back and was the power for the dash. With the kit, the heater has it’s own circuit and the dash power has it’s own circuit. Often times I looked at my factory fuse box just to see what was run with what, who shared a fuse.
The 21 circuit kit took all the guess work out. Every wire is clearly labeled every 6 inches. As luck would have it, many of the wires were the same color as my factory wires. Especially under the hood Oil, temp, horn, coil all matched up.
Under the dash and at the steering column, one wire went to a turn signal on the dash and one went to the turn signal switch. Factory had two wires for that on the steering column harness. I got confused there too. The rebel wire kit is so easy to use even though I like to make things as difficult as possible.
Another helpful feature is that all the wires are bundled in groups like front lights, engine compartment, dash, ignition, tail, and accessories. Eliminating even more guess work.
My 77 does not have power windows, locks, seats, cruise or fans, but the harness has wires for those features should I decided to install them.
Bob also sells connectors and plugs and terminals if any of your old ones need replacing. I bought a new headlight switch connection. Not the switch, just the connection. I didn’t know any better and less scrupulous vendor would have let me spend more for the whole switch, but Bob let me know all I needed was the connector.
I have learned so much about my El Camino and have had a lot of fun taking on this job, thanks to Bob and his product and service for keeping it simple. One unusally warm night in January I was bare foot. I had just completed the engine wire harness and started the engine. I’m sure my neighbors thought I had lost my mind when they engine fired up and I took off down the block on foot hooting and hollering. All Bob could say was “neat”. LOL Perspectives are funny.
Many thanks to Bob and Rebel Wire.
And many thanks to the many members at ECC who helped via e-mail or PM. Gilby took the brunt of it.
If I had the $700 i might have gone with a different kit with the 2 piece bulk head and all the connections, but I enjoyed learning so solder and make things come to life.
This is one of those things I can look back on and say "I did that." I come away with a healthy sense of pride and a great deal of knowledge and leave behind a lot of fear.
Thank God it's over. LOL:nanawrench:
Scott
I contacted Bob at Rebel when I began my project and over the course of 2 months I emailed him 18 times. I’ve saved them all. He replied on weekends and evenings. I can’t thank him enough for all his help other than brag on him and his product and support. Support after the sale is what we crave and he provides it. Many times I answered my own questions just as I typed out the e-mail and hit send.
On a side note, I doubt it would take two months to do this job but I have a lot going on family wise and only got to work on it for a few hours after work and on weekends. Plus it’s winter time so the cold and dark got in my way.
One of the biggest insights Bob gave me was that I was trying to duplicate the factory wiring, which was really confusing me. With the new kit, everyone gets their own wire now. Perfect example was the power for the heater had a pink wire attached to it from the factory and that pink wire doubled back and was the power for the dash. With the kit, the heater has it’s own circuit and the dash power has it’s own circuit. Often times I looked at my factory fuse box just to see what was run with what, who shared a fuse.
The 21 circuit kit took all the guess work out. Every wire is clearly labeled every 6 inches. As luck would have it, many of the wires were the same color as my factory wires. Especially under the hood Oil, temp, horn, coil all matched up.
Under the dash and at the steering column, one wire went to a turn signal on the dash and one went to the turn signal switch. Factory had two wires for that on the steering column harness. I got confused there too. The rebel wire kit is so easy to use even though I like to make things as difficult as possible.
Another helpful feature is that all the wires are bundled in groups like front lights, engine compartment, dash, ignition, tail, and accessories. Eliminating even more guess work.
My 77 does not have power windows, locks, seats, cruise or fans, but the harness has wires for those features should I decided to install them.
Bob also sells connectors and plugs and terminals if any of your old ones need replacing. I bought a new headlight switch connection. Not the switch, just the connection. I didn’t know any better and less scrupulous vendor would have let me spend more for the whole switch, but Bob let me know all I needed was the connector.
I have learned so much about my El Camino and have had a lot of fun taking on this job, thanks to Bob and his product and service for keeping it simple. One unusally warm night in January I was bare foot. I had just completed the engine wire harness and started the engine. I’m sure my neighbors thought I had lost my mind when they engine fired up and I took off down the block on foot hooting and hollering. All Bob could say was “neat”. LOL Perspectives are funny.
Many thanks to Bob and Rebel Wire.
And many thanks to the many members at ECC who helped via e-mail or PM. Gilby took the brunt of it.
If I had the $700 i might have gone with a different kit with the 2 piece bulk head and all the connections, but I enjoyed learning so solder and make things come to life.
This is one of those things I can look back on and say "I did that." I come away with a healthy sense of pride and a great deal of knowledge and leave behind a lot of fear.
Thank God it's over. LOL:nanawrench:
Scott