MY 1968 GT RESTORATION

[Ford Blue blood]

While the RF kits are more expensive they are custom tailored to your specific application.  All the "end" connectors can be tailored to your car and its subsystems. The kit also has a serial number that ties their records to your kit.  That pays big if there is an issue, call their tech line and give he/she your serial number and they will know your kit and its idiosyncrasies.  I have installed both for other folks, both kits are good, wires are well marked, easy for the beginner to use.  My personal preference is the RF kit.

[CobraJoe]

Long couple of days, but managed to get the AC/Heat Evaporator installed and also got wires roughed out. Modified the universal defroster ducts and made brackets to mount them to the original holes.

Even made a bracket for, and installed the Dakota Digital Control Box.

[RICH MUISE]

Is that the Painless wiring already?! That didn't take long. Where are you mounting the fuse panel? Keep us informed on how the wiring kit goes, please. If I was aware of anybody I knew using one on a Ford, I have long forgotten. I don't want to be spreading wrong info about them primarily designed for GM if that's not the case.

[CobraJoe]

Rich, sometimes I'm a day or two behind on my posting, sorry, but I do move quick, lol.
Yes it is, I mounted the fuse panel below the original and routed the harness through the original fuse panel hole into the engine compartment.
When we built the Ford Cobras we had used the Painless harness as that was what came with the kits.
I remove the spade terminals and utilize the original ford plugs from the old harness anyways, so not too big of a deal.

[gasman826]

I had the same GM style issues with my RF harness.  I ordered the RF harness with the specific FOMOCO steering column connection so it was plug and play.  The headlight switch and courtesy light circuit was similar to GM wiring.  I removed the terminals from the GM style headlight connector to plug them into the FOMOCO headlight connector.  It was a waste of time because the GM style spade terminals would not latch into the FOMOCO connector.  So I had to replace the terminals with FOMOCO compatible terminals...not the first time I've ran into this.  It would have been much quicker and easier if I would have cut the harness in the first place.

[CobraJoe]

The old Heat/AC system had a fresh air intake on the passenger side that will no longer be used:



I traced out the old vent onto 1/4" aluminum plate, cut it out and counter sunk the holes and sealed it with some butyl:

[djfordmanjack]

It's impressive how much detail work goes into finishing a full resto/resto mod.

[CobraJoe]

Yeah DJ, I can't imagine trying to do something like a '59 caddy!

[CobraJoe]

Managed to get the front and rear brake, backup. turn and marker light wires run and soldered along with the trunk light:



Apparently missed a little area with the bedliner, I'll have to brush that in:



Also installed the front RetroBrights and got them all wired along with directionals and marker lights:

[CobraJoe]

For those not familiar with the Holley ReroBrights, they are basically a plug and play LED. They are available in both a 3000K Classic white or the 5700K Modern White.

Here are my 5700K plugged into a DeWalt battery:

[RICH MUISE]

very nice.....expensive? Good idea with the rechargeable battery, I had a friend suggest just that many years ago. I took it a step further and bought a 12v reversible drill and took out the drill motor. I ran my leads to the wires that were hooked up to the drill motor. Doing that, you can hook up all the wires with no power until you pull the switch. Easy to reverse current flow....just flip that reverse switch!

[CobraJoe]

Cool idea Rich!

Yeah, sigh, they aren't cheap; about $160 each, but hey, I don't see so well at night anymore. 

Plus, I'm spoiled with the lights on all our newer vehicles. 

[djfordmanjack]

Joe are these LED units direct replacements for sealed beams or do they have kind of a removable bulb/ LED panel ?

[CobraJoe]

DJ:

*Plug & Play - Plugs into factory headlight harness for easy installation
*Available in 7 in. Round, 5.75 in. Round, 5x7 in. Rectangle, and 4x6 in. Rectangle sizes
*Classic Styling - Retro styled headlight for period correct appearance
*Superior - Over 2x the light output of halogens to keep you and your classic safe
*Low Draw/Extended Life - Less current draw and 6x the life of halogen sealed beams
*Compliant - No-glare beam pattern meets or exceeds SAE and DOT Requirements
*Serviceable - Replaceable LED cartridges for easy serviceability
*Proper Fitment - Engineered to fit most shallow light buckets found on classic vehicles
*Stronger - UV Treated Polycarbonate Lens won't shatter and is 10x stronger than glass or standard plastic
 Compatible - Sealed Beam Trade Numbers: H5024, 6012, H6014, 6015, 6016, H6017, H6024, H602
*Color Choice - Available in "Classic White" (3000K bulb) for a warm classic hue, "Modern White" (5700K
 bulb) for a cleaner modern look, or a Yellow Lens (utilizes 5700K bulb inside)

HOLLEY RETROBRIGHT LED HEADLIGHTS

[CobraJoe]

Managed to get some more wiring done today:



Trying to keep things somewhat tidy:



I didn't want to run the backup light wiring under the car so I peeled up some of the sound deadener and drilled a hole above the tranny and put in a grommet:





Then just cut another piece and covered it back up again: