I found this site on craigslist and very glad I did, I am the father of a 15 year old son who loves old muscle cars, We have spent the last 7 years racing , 5 years in the go karts and the last 2 racing a ford mustang in the 4 cylinder class at geneese speedway in batavia ny, At the end of last year I gave my son the choice to race this year or build an old muscle car for the street when he gets his licence in a year, He wanted a old mustang so we started looking . We found a 1973 that the body is pretty good with some rust repair to do but not to bad. It dosent have a motor or tranny but we will find that when the time is right, My biggest concern is that the wire harnness is a mess, the guy we got it from was going to make a drag car out of it so he just cut wires , Half the wires are there and half are missing, My son has been looking for a wire harness but we cant find one for a 73, Not sure what to do about this but we still move forward with getting the body done, The best part is working side by side with my son to build a very cool car and teach him how to repair panels and weld, So hopefully we will find some of the answers we have on this site, THANKS
Hi from a new member
- Thread starter kempracing
- Start date
wow what a great father!!!!
Hello and welcome to the site,
As far as wiring ,personally I would try to find a good used wiring harness out of a car.I'm not a fan of painless because I'm cheap and I like the original harnesses because they are color coded for easy reference against your factory wiring diagram manual. Do you happen to have any boneyards near you? They are great places to get harnesses,usually you can pull it out yourself and they charge very little for a pile of wires. That's one option,another option is good old Ebay(can I mention that site on here?) I did a quick search for you and I found 4 complete underdash harnesses for 1973's they ranged in price from $60 to $150 plus shipping. If you don't already have one it would be a good idea to get a factory wiring diagram manual for your car they range from $7 - $13 and they are well worth it.They are invaluable especially if you are going to rewire the whole car,I've worn several out messing with these old stangs. Good luck
As far as wiring ,personally I would try to find a good used wiring harness out of a car.I'm not a fan of painless because I'm cheap and I like the original harnesses because they are color coded for easy reference against your factory wiring diagram manual. Do you happen to have any boneyards near you? They are great places to get harnesses,usually you can pull it out yourself and they charge very little for a pile of wires. That's one option,another option is good old Ebay(can I mention that site on here?) I did a quick search for you and I found 4 complete underdash harnesses for 1973's they ranged in price from $60 to $150 plus shipping. If you don't already have one it would be a good idea to get a factory wiring diagram manual for your car they range from $7 - $13 and they are well worth it.They are invaluable especially if you are going to rewire the whole car,I've worn several out messing with these old stangs. Good luck
Ponyboy, thanks for the advice we are starting to look at bone yards for the wiring but they all tell us that all of those cars went to the crusher . and its not just the under dash stuff we need its under the hood , under the dash , But can you tell me if a 1972 harness will work in a 73 ? We can find 72 in catalogs and I dont mind paying the money if it will make the car right. They just dont offer the 73 harness
Hi,
I'm really not sure about the interchange ability between the 72 and the 73's ?From what I'm seeing I think there may be enough variables to make them different. I see a couple of different underhood harnesses for 73's depending on big block small block,etc. As far as the under hood stuff I usually go with new because the original stuff gets pretty brittle from the heat,etc. As far as the under dash and tailight stuff that's up to you? I'd still look into boneyards,look at your local craigslist,ebay,etc. I'm primarily a 65-66 guy and I have found a bunch of perfect condition harnesses in parts cars and junkyards over the years for little or no money so I go that route as the new repos retail for between $400-$500 for those cars.
I'm really not sure about the interchange ability between the 72 and the 73's ?From what I'm seeing I think there may be enough variables to make them different. I see a couple of different underhood harnesses for 73's depending on big block small block,etc. As far as the under hood stuff I usually go with new because the original stuff gets pretty brittle from the heat,etc. As far as the under dash and tailight stuff that's up to you? I'd still look into boneyards,look at your local craigslist,ebay,etc. I'm primarily a 65-66 guy and I have found a bunch of perfect condition harnesses in parts cars and junkyards over the years for little or no money so I go that route as the new repos retail for between $400-$500 for those cars.
welcome to the site, I try to keep my dad interested lol i bought half his 85 GT for him, and one of his 1st cars was a 64.5 red convertible, 6cyl 3 spd. and also had a 83.. that and we both 2nd guess each other all the time so it makes it interesting when we work on our cars together, I love it, I'm glad we share the passion together.
harness wise... i would definitely go painless.
harness wise... i would definitely go painless.