Bare Bonz review

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70net440

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Finished up installing a Ron Francis Wiring Bare Bonz harness in my son's 70 Swinger. This is not a bashing of their product, simply what I had to do to make it work for a Mopar. This doesn't have the wires pre-wired into the fuse box. You make the connection to the accessary, then run the wire back to the fuse panel and install a terminal and connect it to the panel. This is a bit more work, but it is nice not having the entire harness in your lap while working. The plug and harness you get for the ignition is perfect for plugging into the ECU and hooking up to the ballast resister and distributor. You get a new 8 pin connector for the turn signal wiring. You are on your own for the ignition switch. They give you the "harness side" connector for an idit column, gm column, or their dash mount ignition switch. I used a weather pack connector. The instructions are pretty good and their tech help is very good. I ended up using AbodyJoe's write up as a resource for wiring up the steering column. His diagrams simply made more sense to me. I did have some trouble getting the new headlight switch installed into the rallye dash, the bezel was too big. I ended up rethreading the new switch to accept the original bezel. The quality of this product is very good. It is very universal which can be good and bad. They give you enough wire to mount the fuse panel anywhere in the car. I made a bracket to mount it in the factory location. If I could do it again, I would move it to a different spot. It takes up a lot of real estate under there. I reused the factory connectors for the lights and wiper switch by picking up new spade connectors and installing them into the factory connectors. This was my first experience using a Ron Francis harness. I've installed an American Autowire in a 67 C-10, and used a Painless switch panel to wire up my race car. I'd say the RFW kit is on par with the others. Their catalog is a good source of information as well. I hope this helps anyone looking to upgrade their Mopar.
 
Forget to mention I also installed a Tuff Stuff one wire, internal regulated alternator. It works great. 14.6 volts at idle. When I ordered it, Summit had the wrong part number listed. Got a hold of Tuff Stuff directly and got the right number. 8509RGDP is a black double pulley model. I also used a Tool Aid ratcheting crimping tool. It worked great on insulated terminals, but I couldn't get a good crimp on weather pack terminals. I used the tool we have in our shop. Not sure of the brand. The Tool Aid crimper is adjustable, so some experimenting might provide a better crimp.
 
Here are a couple of pics.
 

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This is really good info. I'm planning on ordering a Bare Bonz kit for my Demon in the next few weeks.
Did you install any type of relays for your headlights?

Thanks......................Ted
 
I like the idea of the terminal setup, but geez, I'd want "a few more" fuses
 
It does have a relay for the lights. It is a little short on circuits. No back-up light circuit. I pulled power from the radio circuit. I think that is how the factory did it. They make a harness called Express. It installs the same way, but has more circuits.
 
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