First, how much would you expect to pay to have it done?

I have a 71 Satellite that I want to have completely rewired, and have some of the upgrades done to help with the the common problems with the charging systems on these cars. I have already run a heavy guage wire from alternator to battery, and installed a relay for my elctric fans and a voltmeter, and would like to keep those. I would also like to have the headlights, A/C,etc.. put on a relay. Does anyone know of reputable shops in the Orlando/Gainesville FL area or in the Killeen/Austin and maybe even Dallas or SanAntonio TX areas?

that'd sure be a labor intensive deal. I'd see if you could find a local Mopar head that you trust & are comfortable with & work a deal with him to take care of it

If I was going to re-wire a car I would have to look at it and discuss it with you.

Some important things to look at are.

1. Do you want all new wiring or fix, repair, and upgrade existing wiring. Replacing wiring can go two ways. All new harnesses or build them from scratch. Building them from scratch is not what I suggest for a car with readily available harnesses. Too many connectors, sockets, wrapping etc needs to be included plus the myriad of colored wiring to make it professional. I would only suggest building a harness in specialty applications. Racecar, streetrod, kitcar, or cars with no available harnesses like a 60's rambler.

2. If you want a fix, repair, and upgrade to existing wiring what does the current wiring look like? The whole harness needs to be inspected and the dash/engine harnesses unwrapped to inspect it right. Rat's nest repairs, cut chaffed wires, etc need to be removed and repaired correctly. Solder only no crimps, bulkhead terminals replaced but how are the bulkhead connectors?

3. What kind of upgrades? Halogen lights on relay's? 100,000 giga-what ear bleed stereo? Alarm system? Electronic engine like a stock modern Hemi? Battery cutout? electronic ignition? LED lights (Dash, marker & Taillights)? Foot dimmer switch, Door switches, etc are they good/bad? Do you want to replace (Save trouble later) or just check (Save money now)?
I have had good outcomes with old Mopars by rebuilding the harnesses and adding upgrades to the main power circuits.
a. Fusible links at the Alternator & Starter relay connections,
b. straight wire or bulkhead bypass for the two main power wires from dash to engine compartment,
c. bumping the main power wires to 10 gage,
d. soldering the power wires to the ignition switch instead of using the under dash connector.
e. Replacing the terminals in the bulkhead connector, headlight, wiper, & heater switches.

Good fuse blocks are the sticking point on our old cars. Often a harness is needed to repair bad fuse blocks. They are integrated into the harness. it's more than the plastic block that often gets charred. You need to replace the terminals in the block which is a problem. They are sorta integral to the harness.

Also consider replacing the fan motor for the heat/AC. They often are old and pull so much current they overload the switches & fuses.

If you are replacing switches what kind of quality? Cheap china switches or expensive NOS/OEM switches?

Depending on how you want it done it could be hundreds or thousands.

If you have time and another daily driver it's not a bad time to learn wiring.

4-6K depending on choices. IE: stock or updated, how many aftermarket accessories etc.

I would strongly encourage you to stay away from painless kits.

It is a very labor intensive job to do CORRECTLY

The harnesses that we do will last as long as the originals did if not longer

i charge by the hour for it... Some good advantages to upgrading to a power center like the Ram trucks had (anything with a Magnum V-8). Then you have a lot of relays, power and ground buss, etc to work with and it's relatively easy to make look clean. It takes a long time to do a nice job and you need to know a bit about electrical systems to do it well. I think the last one I did was to upgrade and get the car set for high amperage alternator, fans, AC, ignition, HID headlights, etc. and it was close to 40 hours.

Can't you buy every harness you need? I know they make them for 68-70 b-bodys. I pretty much did this car. It came w/ all new harnesses (uninstalled) they only one that was in the car was the one from the fire wall back to the rear. Eveything wlse I hung myself. The bigest PITA was the steering column harness. The dash harness led me to get reading glasses and I had to adjust the engine harness to BB from SB, but other than that it just took time. Of course it helped that I had no interior or heat/ac box to mess with.

Get a service manual and have at it...

Get replacement harnesses;decades-old wiring needs to go...

If yer electrically-challenged, get some help...

We're talking 40 year-old OEM auto wiring, not a computer data-center...

4k???

LMMJAO...

I think a lot depends on what your ultimate goal is ... a stock-type upgrade or a full custom job.

If you plan to use the original bulkhead connector then it can be tackled yourself in sections i.e. firewall forward, etc.. If that's the case, get all your relays, etc. mounted where you want them then start with each individual circuit back to the bulkhead. Do up some drawings so you can work out the runs to be tidy and follow the same path. Test each circuit as you do it to ensure there are no shorts, etc.. Its time-consuming but not rocket science.

Take a look at some of the stuff these guys offer:
http://www.madelectrical.com/

I think he's stated what he's after...

And it ain't 4k worth of work...

I had my 70 rr done about 3 yrs. ago,a local mopar club member that does this on the side charged me 550.00 for rewiring mine front to back.He came to my house and it took 2 days.I bought the dash harness from year one and the engine bay and truck from evans. I think all the wiring ran about 750.00.total was about 1300.00.I thought that was a good deal.The wiring harness I bought were all color coded exactly like the original,no cutting of any.year one has 30% off sale right now.do not buy painless it's cheaper but there's a reason.

Whoa man. Some of you guys make this seem like its a walk in the park. If I didnt say it before, let me say that electrical stuff scares that crap outta me. I've been able to pick up small stuff like adding in the relay for the electric fans and doing the alternator to battery wire, and install voltmeter. I also pulled apart my bulkhead connector and cleaned everything and coated in di-electric grease. But I've tried looking at the circuit diagrams when I read other posts on the subject, and that crap confuses me. Im really hesitant about doing it myself and maybe screwing something up. Run the risk of burning down my car.

What I would be looking for is pretty much a full stock replacement with maybe a little larger wires than stock. (are the kits stock or larger than stock wire size?). Then I'd want a few upgrades like relays for: electric fans, A/C,. I have an alarm system and stereo system on it as well.


Is it really as easy as ordering a couple of different harnesses and slowly going through everything? I would feel a lot more comfortable about doing it myself if I had someone who knows electrical to help me through it.

Also, I dont have a manual but will look in the teck sections for the one someone said they printed off. For a 71 B body with A/C, how many harnessess am I looking at needing? What are they?

Thanks
roe