How long do the leads need to be for the lights?

[shark92651]

I would like to go ahead and trim the leads for the front and rear harness for connecting the lights and put weather packs on them, but I won't have the body in place for quite a while. I want to trim the leads on the wires coming off the front and rear wiring harnesses and also the leads on the lights themselves. How many inches of wire total should I need extended from the front and rear of the frame in order to have enough to easily plug in the lights without having too much excess wire? I really don't want to had to add wire later but would like to test all my electrical as soon as possible before I put the dash into final position.

[Straversi]

You can mount your front turn lights on the brackets and then look at the body as a reference for how far the headlights sit above those. Easy to take up some extra wire with zip ties if you have a little extra. PITA if you try to make them too tight. You can make a good approximation if you look at the spacing from the rear mounting bolts to the tail light on the body and give yourself that distance plus a few. If you ever have a connection short out or need to replace a light housing, you’ll appreciate a little extra wire.

[broku518]

Agreed on PITA if they aren't long enough. Every extra inch counts. I ended up re routing my wire harness around the radiator (top vs. under), so I can gain couple more inches on PS side.
You can always use a zip ties to stop any excessive wire movements.

[JohnK]

One idea is to leave the leads for the lights full-length for now, and go ahead and put weatherpak connectors on the ends for testing purposes. When it's time to put the body on, you can always cut them down to the proper length and re-install the weatherpaks. All you're out is a few crimp-on weatherpak pins, and you don't run the risk of cutting the leads too short.

[shark92651]

Thanks for the replies, some good suggestions here. Yeah I guess it wouldn't be too bad to cut down the leads on the lights if I need to later and just get more pins and re-do them if I want when the body is on. I think I will go this route.