Tips on removing a wiring harness? Options

[Tdskip]

I want to remove the wiring harness from the 1971 donor car that I have, and was hoping to get some advice on do’s and don’ta when going after that.

Thanks!

[PlantMan]

I did this recently.
I spent more time thinking about how I was going to do it than I actually spent pulling out the harness. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I got myself a roll of white electrical tape of good quality. I picked-up a couple permanent black pens that are suitable for plastic. Sharpie will not work.

Good Pens for Plastic

I started the process in the rear of the car and took one job at a time (ie. right rear light, license plate light, left rear light, trunk light)making sure I labeled all wires as i disconnected them. Then when I thought I had every thing disconnected I mythodically unstrapped the wire from all connectors/straps and slowely worked around the trunk. I eventually pulled the wires through and into the engine bay.
I then went on to the next task and took my time, each time with the same process. Eventually I had everything disconnected from the rear portion of the car and then slowly pulled the bundle through the firewall. The firewall was a PITA.

In all, I probably spent 5-6 hours labeling everything, removing and pulling wires, documenting with pics, etc.

Probably not the most rewarding job until you put the thing back in.

Enjoy!

[bbrock]

I did this recently.
I spent more time thinking about how I was going to do it than I actually spent pulling out the harness. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I pulled mine a few months ago and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I bought a package of these zip tie labels and like them much better than tape. Also, after downloading a copy of your wiring diagram from Jeff Bowlsby's site, you'll find you don't need to label a lot of the wires. I didn't trust that everything was wired correctly as I pulled it off the car anyway.