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Rewiring a 1963 Ford F-100 Crown Vic Swap

True Blue Wiring Part 1

AS MOST OF YOU HAVE SEEN, WE’VE BEEN hard at work on our 1963 Ford F-100 known as project True Blue, currently under the knife for a full frame swap with a 2008 Ford Crown Vic P71. One of the most difficult aspects of this budget swap is dealing with the wiring headache.

The Crown Vic P71 isn’t a very sophisticated platform, but it’s still no simple task compared to the classic truck. They are designed for everything: security systems, door locks, window electronics, trunk latches, lighting and much more. But when swapping the body for a 1963 F-100, it can be simplified dramatically.

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We reached out to the experts at Mi-Ty Motorsports to see what we can do and how to do it properly without a bunch of trial and error. Mi-Ty Motorsports is a small business based out of Mulvane, Kansas. They are factory harness and ECM experts, specializing in building and converting existing harnesses to suit your custom needs. They work on all types of harnesses—doesn’t matter if it is a Crown Vic, Mustang or one of those Chevy things that some people like (Ha! We kid, we kid).

So, we removed the entire factory wiring harness, ECU and switches and mailed it off to Mi-Ty to do what they do best. Once they received the harness, Tyler, the owner of Mi-Ty Motorsports, put together a game plan by asking a series of pointed questions, finding out what systems will be kept and what systems will be removed. Then it was go time.

They wasted no time and got right down to business removing all of the factory looming and tape, exposing the messy wiring underneath. They got it all laid out and opened up the factory schematics to properly trace each and every wire and de-pin the ones not needed. Stay tuned for more updates in future issues. If you want to see the project between issues, go on Instagram and search the #TrueBlueF100 hashtag to follow along.

Mi-Ty owners on hand to make quick work of our wiring nightmares.
Once we pulled all of our wiring and sent it in, the boys could get down to business with True Blue’s harness.
Here’s a look at what they started with.

Tyler began by getting the mess sorted, unraveled and laid out in an orderly fashion.

They started with stripping off the looming and tape from the factory harness to expose all of the wires.

A ton of patience and concentration is required to trace down the wires and de-pin the unused wires and modules. (Those who really love wiring find it quite relaxing; those who don’t definitely do not!)

They rounded up and sorted the wiring still needed, working on keeping everything nice and tidy.

Cleaning everything up and adding new looming to the wires to give it a fresh and clean look like it just rolled out of the factory.
Every harness that Mi-Ty builds is tested multiple times with the ECM to ensure proper function and no surprises.
They sure make it look easy! Here’s our new shortened wiring harness. Stay tuned to see it hooked up and running in True Blue soon.

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