Pinto Car Club of America

About to pull the engine from a 1973 Squire for rebuild or a swap (depending on how successful the rebuild is or if the engine's even viable).  Are replacement wiring kits (with instructions) available, or should I try to salvage the rather sad-looking harness from the car?  It's a mess in there right now and I'd rather start fresh, but don't want to toss a bunch of stuff I can't replace.

I drive a 73 wagon and personally, I would try and keep the stock wiring if possible. I don't know if you have looked under the dash yet, but the way the harness connects to the back of the instrument cluster is a real POS and the way that the fuse box is Mickey Moused in there will make for a fun time. If you replace the whole harness with one that has all the proper connectors, the project might not be that difficult, but don't know of anyone that makes one. The instrument cluster is made of very cheap plastic and after all these years will want to crumble and break when removed...be very careful there. A good glue gun and lots of patience and time if you decide to replace all the wiring. Good luck on your project.

"Pinto's are Cool!"

if its not hacked up and missing parts start with the old one and break out your soldering iron and shrink tube.  pull off the brittle old loom and then carefully remove the wrap with a razor blade.  the harness in the car is essentially 3 pieces   the under hood wiring runs back inside the firewall at the steering column and connects with a grey and green connection.   you can seperate it from the rest of the car, run it through an old dishwasher or take it to the car wash and blast away then patch it up properly. a good hot iron and some non acid core flux are your friend.  fix any breaks or splices. keep an eye out for brittle wires. (the green and yellow ones near the voltage regulator are commonly crap.   rewrap with a couple rolls of good 3m black tape and pick up some new split loom. it will look as good as new.  inside the car is the dash, heater and ignition guage wiring.   this chunk holds the fuse box and is a major major job to r and r.  typically the worst you will have to deal with is a stereo "upgrade" and possibly some splices for extra gauges that may have been added.   the rear chunk of harness is also separate for the fuel sender rear lights plate light etc. mine had a light hitch on it at one point and required some major repair in this section thanks to the quality job done with the trailer wiring.

if you need new sockets or connectors a lot of stuff can be found in the help section at the auto parts store. also many of the plugs will be common to fords in newer years.   things like marker light plugs or the 1157 tail light sockets can be swiped from the boneyard for next to nothing with plenty of wire attached.   when you reassemble take a jewelers screwdriver and pinch all the female barrel sockets a little and apply a liberal dose of dielectric  that way you won't suffer the gremlins some experience.

or if your pockets and patience run deep order a painless and redo the whole car.

the above is based on a 78 model ymmv but the essentials remain the same

OhSix'

Loom and wrap have already been removed, by a PO.  What I've got under the hood seems to be a mess of wires running every which way.  Sounds like carefully removing and labelling everything is the way to go, though--a Painless harness would cost more than the car did!

But you wouldn't have to worry about the whole harness for years! That why I am going painless myself.