Does anyone have any recommendations on new wiring harness dealers/manufacturers for the 1970 cougar xr7 convert? American auto wire suggested a highway 22 system.
Search for Midlife on here.
From his post “His website is http://midlife66.com/harnesses , where you can find prices, contact information, and examples of my work. If you are looking for concours-correct and perfect harnesses, please look elsewhere. If you want functionality to be exactly as Ford/Lincoln/Mercury intended, with professional repairs, then look no further.”
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If your harness is melted, dried out/cracked, mouse eaten, burned, or salt water corroded is the only reason to go to a aftermarket harness. Otherwise, send it to midlife harnesses for refurbishing.
I would avoid the Highway 22 system (and most others) as it does not use the Ford wire color scheme - it uses GM colors. This makes it much harder to wire up and troubleshoot using the factory wiring diagram. Their instructions also only show a pictorial view, not a schematic diagram - hard to trace faults. As with all aftermarket harnesses, there are modifications required to add sequential turn signals.
The current Highway 22 Plus uses a single Dodge-style flasher, which is not standard for your Cougar.
However, if necessary, I can provide a sequential flasher for this harness along with modification notes for adding sequential turn signals.
If you must change the harness, I recommend using the Painless 20122 Mustang wiring kit because it (mostly) uses the Ford wire color scheme. Be prepared to cut and splice all the old connectors from your Cougar onto the new harness. I have seen too many butt-splice connectors pull apart, so I recommend soldering and using heatshrink to insulate all splices. They do not provide any harness covering, so each section should be wrapped and/or installed inside a harness loom. Insulated wires against metal edges tend to wear through and short over time! Make sure there are connectors at each end so that a repair can be made in the future.
You will have to modify the harness to add the convertible power top, electric windows, rear defog and any other circuit that a Mustang does not have. I have modification notes and sequential turn signal controller pigtails available.
Good luck!
Vic Yarberry
Cougars Unlimited LLC
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There were so many variation in the harnesses (standard/XR7/A/C/Non-A/C and so on) that there are no new direct fit harnesses. It would be a fair amount of work to get a generic harness to work correctly in a Cougar I think. West Coast Classic Cougar may have a good used harness if yours in not repairable. www.cougarpartscatalog.com
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