Things continue here in the garage but at long last a milestone has been reached. The trunk is complete, interior and alarm done and engine compartment complete. Last thing to do it on my wiring bucket list is headlights. I have went sideways on this project and have decided to go with the RS conversion package with electric headlight assembly. Thanks to Steve Camaro's for all the great advice on what to get. My big dilemma was as we went along to discover this was originally an RS and someone had wrecked it in the front and cheeped out and bought the non RS parts to fix it. So I have one side RS and one side standard fenders and mounts. So to make my dream of completion take just that much longer I have bought the RS package to put it back on. Since the front wiring is intact and new it should make things easier. At least AAW gives you both options in the package they sent. So far I like the AAW kit and would recommend it. Also Steve's Camaro's are a couple great guys. One guy can have on off day and I would not recommend wives or children being present if he goes in to a rampage... 7 Dirty words, about 15 times... LOL... But fun to visit..

 

I have slowly begun the RS conversion, Steves Camaros provided the kit and so here we go. Since I used the AAW kit I have all the wiring I need at the front of the car. The Detroit speed electric headlamp controls says to tap in to the wires at the headlight switch. I am attempting the install with the wires under the hood. Part of the reasoning maybe to keep the control module under the dash. This however does not work for me as my alarm and the Dakota digital dash don't leave much room. So I am contemplating installing the Detroit speed module in the engine compartment. The first order of business was to get the new valance painted to match the car while at it I have address minor rust issues between the fender and fender support pieces. The RS kit itself is a complete kit and has the usual stuff to make the front conversion. One thing is the directions are not very good and as the lights come assembled it took a bit to figure out what you have to take apart to get them on. I drilled the holes in the inner fender using the template provided. I saved a copy of the template just in case I need it. The AAW kit provides a 12 volt output for electric fans I am going to see about using that where it says to plug in to the headlight switch. Everything else is pretty straight forward and I am adding an alarm output to parking lights so those flash if the alarm goes off.. Today I am tackling the March pulley system and I am not thrilled with summit so far as I have purchased and had to return 7 power steering brackets so far. Going to the March pulley system out of frustration with being unable to find a power steering bracket that will work. I purchased two months ago the Summit brand SME2001 alternator bracket and can not find any power steering bracket that will work on a 1968 Camaro 350 engine. So in my desperation I am removing the other pulleys provided by summit and trying this March serpentine kit... Hope it works...

 

So today marked the final parts of the wiring and the RS conversion kit. I like the AAW ( American auto wire ) kit and its fairly easy to use. I have used the painless kit and between the two I like the AAW kit just a little better. Things to know are if you are going to do the conversion kit and the wiring kit install the conversion kit first. I did layout the entire kit on the floor before I started and this helped tremendously as I installed the kit. Knowing what I had and where it was going to go did make it easier. I would tell you if your going to install an alarm add some wires to the kit for that both trunk and engine compartment. I added a trunk release so added wires for that, speakers, trunk pin, hood pin, siren, keyless entry, light flash on alarm, etc... What ever you think you need throw an extra couple you will usually wind up using it. I tied everything in with a Dakota digital VHX dash system. Although I have the center console I wanted everything in the dash so I would not have to look away while driving. The tie in was simple and Dakota digital supplied three more wires to have to run with the kit.
I did use some LED lighting and set that up in the foot wells. I followed along the directions on the AAW kit and did not have any issues. I also had no issues with the Dakota digital or DEI alarm equipment either.. I did stumble on the Hurst shifter replacement, the CPP tubular control arms and Classic industries slow to ship program. The RS conversion kit is fairly straight forward and works well. Again thanks to Steve's Camaros for the kit and the heads-up on things to look forward to.. The American auto wire kit was straightforward, easy to follow, and included most but not all the switches. Be advised if you don't want to get a new key for your car you will need to keep the old ignition switch and re-wire the kit to fit it. The key tumblers on the AAW kit do not interchange with the factory switch. Problems I avoided I solder everything and did not get the $90.00 crimpers and had no issues using needle nose pliers... All in all if I had to wire a Camaro I would use this kit again...


PS A note of things to be aware of when you replace bulbs.. First I like many thought LED bulbs are better and brighter. Its simply not true, and coupled with the cost difference I can replace a lot of bulbs for one LED. Also since I am finally getting to the driving part I found out that when I turned on the turn signal all four flashed at the same time. I called AAW and they said it was a ground issue and I believed them so turned my car in to a spider web and ran wires to every light housing to test what was the problem. In the end I found all four flash because there is not enough resistance to trigger the flasher unit. After switching everything back to regular bulbs everything works as it should.. So if your having a turn signal issue check the bulbs with incandescent first...

 

Looks great! I am having tail light wiring issues myself at the moment...