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Does anyone have a suggestion for a vendor who makes a complete wire harness for the 22nd?

I presume there are a couple of vendors who make these complete wire harnesses and I am sure there is a vendor that is highly recommended and one to avoid (please PM me if you want to share the one to avoid)

For those who have bought a complete wire harness can you please share the goods and bads of the various products, what part of the car is difficult to access (under the dash) and what "gotchas" you discovered (easy to overlook or dont do this...).

The car has an electromatic clutch and overdrive. Is there any other "options" that I am not aware of that I should ensure is in the wiring harness kit?

Any advice would be most helpful!!!

Bill

YnZ Yesterday’s Parts has made harnesses for me and the quality seems excellent. Not sure if they have your pattern but it wouldn’t hurt to check! They may want your old harness as a pattern but so far my experience has been that they had what I needed in stock.

On a 48 be sure to specify the R9 or R11 overdrive when you order your loom as the wiring is quite different.

Turn signals were optional on some models so if your car has them make sure to get the harness with that option. There were other options such as courtesy lights and cigar lighters. Front courtesy lights are separate and the reading light in the rear seat could be bare bone operated only by a pillar switch or a higher end upgrade would also have door switches.

Most often the auxiliary wires for options was individual but they could be in a loom of their own. Be aware of them so you inadvertently don't damage or throw part of the option wiring away because the wires will not be in the new loom.

I have used Rhode Island wiring had no issuesriwire.com

Have used both of the below in 1940 and '47 Packards. Both excellent companies, go the extra mile, tho' Potomac was in MD when i used them:


Home | Harnesses Unlimited Inc
harnessesunlimited.com
Our family-owned business has been making the finest authentic wiring harness systems for antique automobiles. We offer everything except spark plug wires. 610-688-3998 Wayne, PA

Potomac Packard - Tiger, GA, (706) 782-2345 - Local Auto ...
localautoparts.org › ... › Potomac Packard
Apr 6, 2011 — Potomac Packard, P.O. BOX 117 , Tiger, GA, (706) 782-2345. ... Potomac Packard. 53 Packard Clipper wiring harness.

Got sparkplug wire from John at Brillman in VA. Good man, reasonable.
Tinned solid copper core Packard 440 with Rajah ends. My existing ignition wires a translucent sort from perhaps the '70s, either tinned solid copper or steel core, but after many heat cycles, thought it prudent to replace them. Black wires with "Packard 440" on them look nicer, and i like Rajah terminals. Couldn't care less what's "correct" because Packard wire is what remains of the original Packard Electric Co., Warren, OH, bought by GM in 1931, so something poetic about that.

Do not get spark plug wire from the local parts house. It'll be carbonized thread suppressor wire. I leave the radio off, listen to those refined straight eights, relax.

But the above producers of complete wiring harnesses provide factory identical appearance with the added benefit of modern PVC beneath their historically correct sheathing.

Hello Bill. If you (a) want to save a heap of money (b) aren't going to a concourse, and (c) want something that actually suits your car, then do it yourself. I recently did a complete rewiring on my 1949. I am not an electrician, never done it before, but is is not difficult. 49 RHD harnesses aren't available anyway, that I know of.
If you want an off the shelf cloth covered harness, you will still have to mod it for indicators, OD, etc. It won't be plug and play. However if you can crimp 2 wires together, you can do it. There are only 25 wires in the whole car. (Wouldn't try it with a 2020 car)
Please email if you have any questions.
Gary49
gaztank61(at)gmail(dot)com

I like that idea also. Any good sources for wire other than the local auto parts stores?

You won't find the correct wire and selection at an auto parts store.

But do a google search and you can find various suppliers that sell the wire and repo cloth-covered wire as well.

You can look at the wire diagrams for your model, and find the colors and gauges you need, then order appropriately.

I found all the wire I needed at Blain's Farm and Fleet (not cloth covered of course). You might have luck at some tractor supply type store like that. I also made my own harness and it was pretty easy. I just used the old one as a template so I knew where to branch off. If I did it over again, I would leave the ends a little long so I could cut them to a more perfect fit. A few of my wires were a little short due to me rushing.

You might check out Painlesspainlessperformance.com and KwikWirekwikwire.com/

Several have used Painless harnesses in the V8 models but you might also want to check out the KwikWire option as they seem to have more choices appropriate to an older car that does not need many circuits. You might also want to speak to them and compare wire sizes between the companies. 6v systems typically need larger size wires to carry the extra current. Kwikwire used to have what they called a heavy duty harness with a heavier gauge wire. Not sure if they still do but for anyone doing a 6v car it would be advantageous to have larger wires if they are available.