Scooter70

I want to rewire my engine bay, as much as I can, while the motor is out of my car. What gauge and type of wire do I want to use? Has anyone re-run wires all the way back to the back of the fuse panel? How difficult?
Thanks.

mrvette

About 2 years ago or so, maybe 3 now....I rewired my '72 under similar circumstances....but the interior was completely gutted, and steering column also out....so things were easy to get to...I found GM used about 1/2 a bucket full of surplus wire in their harnesses....I stripped out the wiring, let it hang, I knew the color codes really well, and so it was no problem for me to do what I did....of course my comment about surplus wiring comes from all that Nader crap on newer cars....interlock this, interconnect that, beep this, alarm that, put the flasher under the driver's dash, not on the pass side....
between the pass compartment and the engine compartment what I saved in original useless Nader crap, I made up for by adding DPFI...and the computer...so in total it was a trade off.....my car is SO illegal by some standards it will never be legal again...take an act of Congress to do it....

when you tear apart the engine wiring, you will find a ton of old greasy, burnt out wiring....I used just small hanks of wire from the parts house to splice/solder the connections as necessary IF I needed extra lengtyh, I found by doing my own thing most wires were too long allready....so trimming back to sound/clean copper was not an issue....

GENE

GATOR454

If you get one of the laminated wiring diagrams from just about any vette parts catalog it will tell you what color and gauge wire was used for each run. I've been using mine quite a bit these days and find it very helpful when tracing electrical problems.

Why not start with an engine compartment harness? It may be worth the $200 in aggravation.


[Modified by GATOR454, 11:01 AM 10/17/2003]

KenSny

[QUOTE]Why not start with an engine compartment harness? It may be worth the $200 in aggravation.

I Agree - all the correct sizes, lengths, covered, and ready to drop in..... Would look like the day the GENERAL made it!

79VetteMike

Not to hijack your thread, but I am doing the same thing to my '71 GMC. The president of Bubbaville owned this truck before I got it. Anyway, auto-parts stores sell different gages of wire, but in limited colors. You can try to go to a hardware store which is my next plan. Most underhood wiring is in the 12-18 gage range. Anyone know how to rewire an alternator when switching from an external regulator to an internal? Can I connect the "BAT" terminal on the alternator to the red wire on the plug?

ROD NOCK

Rewiring things yourself is a slow task taking patience. Replace wires with matching gauge and colors. Use only solder for joints and shrink wrap all splices. If you care, and can afford it, there is a better grade of wire available for the harsh conditions found in engine compartments than you will typically find in parts stores.
Be sure to 'encase' all wires in a conduit for further protection and clean appearance.
The wiring diagrams will assist you with gauge/color/location.
Unless you have just a few wires to replace, I'd consider a 'pre-made' harness replacement from one of the reputable suppliers! :yesnod:
:chevy

Enad

In the engine compartment use cross link polyethylene(SXL) wire. It is designed for higher temperature and generally has thicker insulation. Most general purpose thermoplastic (GPT) wire is rated near or below 200F. Cross link is 260-300F. Same goes for slit/split loom on or near the engine. High temperature loom is rated at 300F or better. Standard is about 200F.

Dane

BB wowbagger

One way to get your hands on some "odd" wireing is to go to the wreckingyard and cut off some wire from newer cars,usually theyll sell it to you for about the price of a Bud.... :cheers:

LemansBlue68

I just went through this myself. I rebuilt my existing harness. Eastwood and many of the resto places sell the correct vinyl harness wrapping tape. A good auto parts store sells the correct color and gauges of wire as well as the terminal ends and some of the more common connectors. You need teminal crimping pliers to do a good job and heat shrink tubing comes in handy. If you originally had fusible links in the harness even these can be replaced with the appropriate fusible link wire (don't scrimp here because you don't want your baby going up in flames). The only difficult part was finding the correct resistor wire leads to the coil but you can get around this if you install a ballast resistor or a 12V coil designed to work without a ballast resistor. A wiring diagram is a necessity as well.