Rhode Island wiring

[Bhigdog]

Anyone buy a harness from RIW? Any comments, good, bad. or indifferent?...........Bob

[Guest Skyking]

Bob, when I was restoring my second Metropolitan I called RIW for a quote. They had a listing on the web of all the wiring I needed. I called a Metropolitan restoration shop that also sells parts also for a quote. The restoration shop was almost $200.00 less. Obvious, they had theirs made elsewhere. RIW's pricing is high.

[jscheib]

From what I recall, RIW quotes wiring in sections, while Harness Unlimited gives one price for the whole thing and their prices were a bit lower. I think also it depends which car you are looking for as some do not have all done in a kit and would need your hold harness to work with.

John

[locoman]

I've used RIWiring for years and have never had a problem. They are the BEST as far as I am concerned. Very helpful over the phone and will make anything you need. Tim Ohlendorf, Ohlendorf Restorations.

[Steve Braverman]

I got a harness from RI for my Franklin last year. It was perfect. Nuff said.

[Guest buicks39]

there is also narragansett reproductions also in rhode island.i purchased wire for my 39 buick engine bay area and was very pleased.ythey can be reached at 1-401-364-3839.

[poci1957]

I had them reproduce the harness for my 1957 Pontiac, which was not a catalog item then, they had to custom make it. I am very pleased, could not have asked for better workmanship or details. Price was higher than buying one out of catalog, but I certainly expected that. Two thumbs up from me, Todd

[Guest Teamsterdug]

4 or 5 years ago I replaced my '38 Buick's front harness with a Rhode Island Wiring kit. Absolutely correct in every aspect. Various guaged wiring, varied correct connectors, numerous correctly colored tracers and the length of individual wires exiting from the harness to points of connection were right on the money. I also asked them to provide the wiring <span style="text-decoration: underline">within</span> the harness needed to hook up Trippe lights and turn signals to dash switches. This called for armored cabling for the wires to connect to the Trippes. They took the time to clearly label and identify the extra wiring I wanted included for ease of installation. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. An excellent example of getting what you pay for. Here's a photo where you can see the wiring I used for the Trippes.

Trippe light wiring

[Mika Jaakkola]

I ordered harness for my '38 Dodge truck from RI Wiring. It's great! Haven't installed it yet, but all the installation instructions are included!

And if you want some "extra" on harness, they will add it, no problem!!!

[Guest Trunk Rack]

you get what you pay for. RI not only does excellent work, when there IS a foul-up, (the "factory" blue-print they relied on was WRONG - needed longer wire for one device ) they stood behind their EXCELLENT reputation and solved the problem FAST. That is the sign of a responsible business !

[rb6673]

i own a restoration shop and will not install anyone elses harness but r.i.don't like doing things twice.they crimp and solder all the connections.you pay a bit more for the best!i have been installing their harnesses for over twenty years.still haven't had a problem with the first one.

[Restorer32]

I echo the above post. Very nice people to work with. Clear instructions and willing to make changes where necessary. We restored a '27 Kissel with mid year electrical changes. They spent a good deal of time researching to provide us with exactly what we needed.

[Curti]

Not only does RI wire fit right it is fire resistant. Get a section of their wire then dead short it across the battery terminals. It will smoke and get hot as hell but no flame. Try the same thing with the original wire or the plastic wire some use. Typically RI wire harness are reproduced from original wire harness patterns. I have supplied them a couple for Auburns.

[Bhigdog]

Thanks everyone. No one had a bad thing to say so I guess I can order with confidence. Any last comments?.......Bob

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Anyone buy a harness from RIW? Any comments, good, bad. or indifferent?...........</div></div> Yup, we swear by 'em. They might cost a little more, but well worth it. If your vehicle is something that they don't have on file, they'll build the wiring harness for the cost of materials only and add the data from your vehicle into their database.

So far they've done three wiring harnesses for us, and we have no desire to look any further. On the last wiring harness we got from them, we were having trouble getting things hooked up. What happened was a few of the tags came off as we were feeding the wires through the hole in the firewall and once we were under the dash, we had a few wires under the dash that were close in color that we weren't sure about. Rhode Island has a toll free tech line that will help you if you run into a problem with installation. In our case, they had a technician who spent over an hour on the phone with us trying to solve our problems. They stayed on the phone with us until the problem was fixed.

I'm not taking anything away from their competition, but this is a case where we've had good luck with Rhode Island and we've stuck by them.

The price of a phone call for a technical problem very well might cost you more than by calling someone else.