FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi all, the wiring on my ute is in a bit a mess at the moment, and electrics in general is just one thing I can't get my head around anyway. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a good sparkie in Adelaide somewhere who could point me in the right direction. I was thinking of buying a whole new loom but a mate thinks that might be a bit of overkill.
 Thanks, Matt.

If you are not fussed about originality, buy a full kit (around $400, anything cheaper will not be a full kit) and do it yourself, not only will you learn a lot but you might actually save money over an Auto Sparkie.
The kits are quite comprehensive and the good ones have wires that are labelled every few inches.

If you want an original type harness, this link will take you to a bloke that does it, these are also labelled but only at each end, then they can be removed if you so desire.

He does FE FC Panel van which should be the same as the ute anyway
not cheap, and he needs lead time to make it, Rusty T on here has one on one of his cars

Ute is looking good Matt

Cheers fellas, I can't see a link Zulu, but I'm assuming that you're talking about these guys? http://www.vinwire.com.au/gh_list.htm
If so, yes I have been checking them out but I'm not too fussed about originality.
Stinky, I know this is under $400, but would this be OK? Been looking for a while, and they all seem to be the same, just the number of circuits change.
http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=universal+wiring+harness&_frs=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m359
I'm more than willing to give it a shot, I'm just worried about making a complete balls-up of it!

This one - Ebay Item #320685656553 is similar to the one I got from Airide many years ago for my black FE, I guess with a strong dollar prices are down a bit. This is the full harness which will save you time, money and heartache if you have enough nouse to solder and crimp the end connections by yourself. Take your time and test with a battery charger (won't blow things up) as the aftermarket wire smoke is hard to come by  :P
I bought a really cheap ($140) kit for my Panelvan and regretted it the minute I opened the parcel as there was only the fuse panel and a the loom for inside the cabin, all the other wires had to be added by myself.
There are plenty of others on the forum who have done their own wiring and should be able to help out if you run into problems.

I got mine from  vinwire.  Highly recommended since it's a perfect fit for fc's.  Everything is labeled and has the right connectors.  I reckon you could wire it up in 2 hrs.  I had to order the headlamp loom and rear loom separate.

Dunno about DIY universal kit, might be cheaper but could take a couple days to sort out what's what.

cheers
Peter

Thanks heaps for the info! I think I'm gonna lean toward the universal one purely for the cost factor. If i stuff it up, I can always get a pro out to fix it! Anyway, I've always thought that the best way to learn about something is to have a go.

Gotta love the high Aussie dollar! Scored the exact same harness as the airide one direct from the US for $157.00. Even with the $85.00 postage it's still a bargain.

So, I got me loom, stared at it, laid it all out, stared at it a bit more, read the instructions about 16 times, stared at it again and then, about a week later, decided it was time to jump in. Had a baal removing every bit of the old wiring, was pulling wires out of places I never would of thought!
 Then, I started. Methodically running every wire to it's correct place, wrapping the wires together as I went, generally feeling pretty damned pleased with myself. Now things aren't quite so rosey, I'd just finished running the rear section all the way to the back, trimmed all the wires to length, started to wire up the tail-lights and then it occured to me, there's no wiring for the brake lights!
 Got the book out again, all it's got is,-Tail lights, Turn signals and Back-up lights. Then it occured to me, bloody American tail lights are different! They don't have a separate amber indicator. Bugger.
 So now I need a bit of advice. My thoughts are to run the wiring for the third brake light and split it for the brakes and then for the indicators, I'm gonna have to tap into the front indicators. Does this sound like the best option? I knew it was all going too smoothly!
  Thanks, Matt. ::)

Technically neither did the FE/FCs, I'd go for the third brake light to "Australianise" it and use the rest as is, you don't need to tap into the front indicators as the rear indicators are already there.

If you get really stuck send me a PM and I'll double check how I did mine.