Allcoupedup

The ends of my wiring harness look terrible. Years of exposure to heat, gas, and oil have made the insulation extremely brittle. I'd like to splice on new wneds where necessary but haven't been able to find wires of various color.

Example:
Need green (18 ga I think) for temp sender
Need Black w/red stripe for solenoid
Need Purple for solenoid

Autozone has solid colors like red, yellow, and black in various gauges. Anyone have any good ideas?

Thanks,
Brian

propwash

A new harness would not be that much $ and you would have a more secure feeling after the new harness was in versus splicing .
the time it takes is not long at all and everything is plug and play.
GL
Steve

JL66REDCPE

:iagree:

Get a new engine compartment harness

Plasticman

While I agree that a new harness is probably the best answer, if you need just a couple of wires, it might be easier to just "retreive" them from a doner at the junk yard. Go for a relatively newer car, and see what you can find (and they sure won't charge you much!). Couple of good "walk through" yards out on south Rt. 83 (around 9500 south) and a couple more south of Lockport on Archer (Rt. 171). Just don't go when it has rained previously (or wear "mudders").

That reminds me that I need a few parts also.
Plasticman

Nowhere Man

I would go for a new harness, for safty reseans

tuxedo

New harness is the safe way to go. More bucks, more time, but in the end down the road if the old one toasts you will wish you would have changed it.

GaryC

Seems like all you were asking for is where to buy individual wires and everyone said not to change individual wires but to change the whole harness. Well, to answer your question, you can either look in the phone book under "wire" or on the WEB. Either way, you should be able to find what you want. The only problem is that some of the places will require that you purchase a minimum roll rather than by the foot. This can be costly and time consuming.

Now, to jump on to the bandwagon about not doing this, I do agree with the others that you should replace the engine harness. When I started working on my '63, I had the same thing where the insulation was extremely brittle at the ends. I had no intension of splicing in new wire because I knew that I was going to replace all of the wiring harnesses. But, my point is that when I removed the old harness, I separated some of the engine wires in the harness and I found out that not only were they brittle at the ends, they were brittle throughout the length of the wire for som eof the wires. So, you really need to be careful. Also, I really don't think that it will take that much longer to replace the engine harness than it would take to splice the many wires that you need to splice. It will probably cost more.

Like I said before, I replaced every harness on the car. It was one of the best investments in time and money that I did on this car. Also, the engine harness was the most brittle.

Good Luck,

GaryC

Allcoupedup

I appreciate all the advice and concern. My winter project mushroomed from a cam,intake, and carb change to a complete rebuild, new trans, new radiator, and good cleaning. I have to draw the line somewhere!

I've unwrapped and rewrapped most of the engine harness and it is in good shape - except for the exposed ends. The difference in exposed insulation and covered is very noticible. For splices I used the heat shrink that has the solder ring inside - hit it with a heat gun and you have a nice watertight and connective splice.

Again, thank you for the concern and advice.
Brian

62fuelie

Look at NAPA. If they don't stock it, they can order and get overnight. No need to replace most harnesses, but if a wire is truely bad, you can repalce it from one end to the other if necessary. NAPA will carry almost any connector you need also, but it may well be a catalog item. :auto:

tuxedo

Tell me about the heat shrink with the solder ring inside. Soldering is a pain in the a for me. Just did some the other dday on a Harley. In any case where do you get this stuff. :confused:

Allcoupedup

Tuxedo,
I found them at Autozone in packs of 2 for $1.99. Each one is about 1" in length and has a very small ring of low temp solder right in the center of the heat shrink. You simply slide both wires in, pinch the ring with your fingers to hold the wires and hit it with a heat gun for about 10 seconds. The tube shrinks down and the solder melts. Since there are often other wires around and fiber glass, I used a tiny piece of wood as a heat shield.



I bet you could find them at Radio Shack or online for WAY cheaper than $1/piece.
Here's a place that sells them for in lots of 25 for about $15.
http://www.drummerelectric.com/catal...3_products.htm

This is the way to go if splices are necessary.
Brian



[Modified by Allcoupedup, 6:16 PM 4/7/2004]

6tee6

May be a little late but I'll jump in anyway..

I rebuilt ALL of my wiring harnesses from front to back. I made the decision to do so after looking at some of the ridiculus costs for wring harnesses. I pulled each harness seperately, unwrapped the loom, (if it had any) tacked it to a sheet of plywood so the entire harness was spread out and then just started comparing it to the wiring diagram in the AIM.

I'm not the least bit sorry I went this route. I know more about how my car's electrical system works and feel confident if I ever have to trouble shoot a problem. I soldered and shrink wrapped every new connection I made, replaced clips in the harnesses themselves, then bought new wrap for the entire harnesses. It took me about a week for each harness, Lights, Front, Dash and Rear, with the Dash being the most complicated.

Other than about a months worth of work I spent about $50 in shrinkwrap, solder and wire.

To find wire I simply did a search for Wire on the web. Sometimes I actually typed in the gauge and color. I eventually found everything I needed but as was previously posted I had to buy 25 feet one time to get about 18" of 18 gauge Tan wire, still only cost $7 and I have enough Tan to wire EVERYONE's cars....

If you're not afraid to take on the project and don't let yourself get pressed for time, this is not a project to cut corners on., Then I'd say go for it.

Good lucK

tuxedo

Thx Brian on the heat shrink solder connectors. I am going to try them next time. Sure must save some time. Good luck on your resto.

Casper