When I was 16 years old I set out to build the ultimate stereo for my ride, within my budget that is, which was inauspiciously diminutive. (This is my way of dancing around "unfortunately small!") The only thing I knew about wiring was hot wires and ground wires, and ya need a switch to turn things on. With more gall than brains I gathered all the components: receiver, subwoofer, amps, wires, and the like. Eventually I got it hooked up. From there I decided the inside of my ride needed to light up like a late-night Amsterdam discotheque. By tapping into circuits such as the dome light, power seats, and cigarette lighter I wired in strobe and black lights. It was my crowning achievement in wiring-when it worked that is. Most of the time I overloaded circuits, blew fuses, and melted wires together, but nonetheless I did it! Long story short, wiring is something anyone can accomplish so long as you set out to do it.
The prelude before was the leeway into the next bit in the Project Get Shorty series: wiring. The time has come to provide fire to all those components wasting away in hibernation. Unfortunately, the mere thought of wiring one's truck evokes images of Clark Griswold's Christmas lights to many. Now granted, things are intimidating when you're staring down 100 loose wires! But the truth is, if ya take things on a wire-to-wire basis it's a pretty simple procedure. After all, each item needs battery feed, ground, and a switch to interrupt the circuit. It's that cut-and-dry.
When it comes to wiring, Painless Performance is no stranger in the hot rod world. Painless is in the business of providing all the wiring essentials needed to get your truck on the road. In the world of classic trucks they manufacture stock replacement harnesses-with all the correct plugs predetermined-for just about every application out there. For those with custom needs they also manufacture universal truck kits that can satisfy the most basic wiring needs, or 18-circuit systems that will wire everything including the kitchen fridge! For Get Shorty we went with an 18-circuit '67-72 GM Truck Chassis Wiring Harness. This factory replacement harness will run every component thrown into Get Shorty, and more to be truthful, but what really sold us is the wire lengths are pre-cut and everything has a correct plug-and-play fitting to make the install a breeze. However, not all of Get Shorty's equipment is OEM. Therefore we had to dissect the wiring harness at times, but this too is a cinch when using a Painless kit, as you'll see. The harness covers every need of a fully loaded C10, plus it's outfitted to accommodate new technologies such as power antennas, electric fuel pumps, cruise control, and the like. Basically, this harness is the perfect way to solve all your needs. On top of that, making things even simpler is that every wire is labeled and is bundled into separate sub-harnesses within the harness to make routing and configuring a no-brainer.
Coiled up like a rattlesnake it doesn't look like there is much there, but everything needed to wire Get Shorty is accounted for, including the chassis harness, starter, terminal fittings, remote kill switch, battery cables, and electric fan harness.
Beyond just offering harnesses, Painless offers all sorts of wiring accessories, including wire terminal kits, starters, electric fan relays, kill switches, battery cables, alternators, and more. As you'll see throughout the story we ordered a few of the accessories to complete the job, key words being "a few," because Painless offers a lot. We also ordered a radiator/fan combo from US Radiator. Being that the Concept One serpentine system on the Smeding 383 calls for an electric fan we figured this would be the perfect time to introduce one into the mix. US Radiator not only offers an assortment of fans, but they also make the fan shroud to bolt right up to the radiator for a clean, simple, and professional looking installation.
Unfortunately, we can't cover everything needed to know about wiring in the next few pages. However, this should give you a pretty good heads-up. Just remember, every wire in the Painless harness has an origin and destination, and all you have to do is follow the instructions-and the labels on the wire-to hook up the wire to the destination. It really is that simple, and yes ... painless. If ya find yourself in a jam the Painless tech line is an excellent resource. (They actually helped me out in a few instances.) Beyond that, it's just a matter of TCB, (taking care of business).
