I'm lost???

[E$rnie Pintor III]

So I'm at the point in my build where my truck is just about done. I have it rigged up to turn a key and it starts but I know it's not right and I'd like to have it done right so it done. Do I need a whirring harness? I'd it just as much or more expensive to buy it piece by piece? I don't need many cirkets ... What's my best/ cheapest way to do it? Please help!

 

[soltz]

I find that if your talking basic wiring it's cheaper to just put it together, assuming you know something about wiring [S I just spent a week or better with my neglected and abused harness, I'm always for the DIY stuff.
JMHO

 

[Old Iron]

These are the best way to go on hot rods
12 circuit wire harness and all wires are labeled every 5 to 6"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-1...5506?pt=US_Wire_Harnesses&hash=item4862210152

 

[billy]

These are the best way to go on hot rods
12 circuit wire harness and all wires are labeled every 5 to 6"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-1...5506?pt=US_Wire_Harnesses&hash=item4862210152

to me that was some of the best spent money ever.
it made things sooo easy![cl

 

[E$rnie Pintor III]

Got it

I just got a haywire harness. Cost 200 . It's a 7 cirket . Everything's labeled. Should be kinda easy...... For who ever I get to do it. I don't want any part of that. I'm already frustrated just looking at the box.

 

[Torch]

I'd never heard of a wirring harnes. I've had a few smokers but they made more of a crackling sound

 

[hankthebigdog]

I have used Northwest auto wiring that I found on ebay. USA made and easy to install. I 2 of them in current rides that are working flawless. build in flashers and relay for fan/fuel pump.

 

[donsrods]

I've been wiring cars and boats from scratch for more than 50 years and even I don't do it that way any more. By the time you buy all the components it is just as cost effective to buy a kit, plus the wires in the kits are all labelled as to where they go, making it so much easier.

I have installed American Autowire, Rebel, Painless, and Ron Francis kits. IMO there is no better kit than American Autowire, but they are NOT CHEAP. I honestly feel that for the money a Rebel Kit is a good value. I installed one in my 27 and will install one in my latest rpu project when the time comes. The AA kit has the advantage of each wire individually being removable from the fuse block, which does make it simpler to install, but what I did with the Rebel kit was I cut all the unnecessary wires off the fuse block before I installed it and only used the ones I did need. (my car doesn't have AC, stereo, 3rd brake light, etc, so those wires were just in the way)

With any kit you will still have to buy quite a few extras, like switches, wire ties, terminal ends, shrink tubing, etc., but aside from that they are pretty complete.

Also, some people like to solder and some like to crimp........I crimp because I work in the marine industry and there are a lot of reasons why boats are only allowed to have crimped terminals, and in my experience, crimped holds up just as well if properly done.

Don

 

[Ricks Garage]

The key is "when properly done".
I have investigated many vehicle and boat fires that were caused by improperly crimped wires. Use quality terminals (copper) and a crimp tool that will indent, not crush the sleeve. Personally, I would not crimp a wire, solder only. That's from building race cars for 15 years.

weld on......[ (solder is a form of welding....)

 

[smallfoot]

I spent 30+ years in electronics and even though they have all kinds of neat crimp on splices and fittings and they make it easy, I still solder all my connections. Loose connections are frequently the cause of all kinds of ghost problems and infrequent problems that are hard to troubleshoot. And Like Ricks Garage said, a source of fires.

 

[donsrods]

The American Boat and Yacht Council, who sets the rules for how boats are built, disagrees........soldered connections on a boat are forbidden. The reasons are that soldered joints create areas that will not flex so the wires are stiff and can break from vibration. Also, the soldering process itself introduces heat to the wiring that damages them. Cold solder joints are another possibility.

But this crimp vs soldering debate goes on virtually on every car forum that exists, so if you feel better soldering go ahead and do it, but as long as a person uses high quality marine grade wiring and terminal ends and a quality crimper, crimped connections work great. The wiring on my 27 is over 25 years old and I have never had a wiring issue yet.

We all have our preferences though.

Don

 

[skull]

EZ Wiring

the EZ Wiring 12 Circuit is what's in the 1948 dodge truck and it worked great.

Later

 

[BillM]

I've used an EZ kit in the Model A, and a Rebel in the Reo.....I wouldn't even give a second thought to using one of them again, and I'd never consider trying to wire the next one from scratch....

 

[Torch]

I solder my battery cable lugs and anything exposed to road slush to keep moisture out of the crimp.
I use silver solder. with battery cables it makes a difference as the flash oxidation that will eventually cover each strand in a crimp prevents current.
Over time the connection becomes more and more resistant and will begin to get hot faster than the cable.
Electricity travels along the surface of a conductor just as waves travel the surface of water and mechanical stresses follow the surface of parts (research stress risers)
All stresses are conducted at the surface or juntion rather than through the body.

it would be nice to find copper crimps as there would be no galvannic action but the aluminum crimps with the shrink tubing built in seal up pretty damn good.

building a wiring harness from scratch involved understanding how your guages and everything work
You can intuit this from schematics. if you can figgure out plumbing, you can figgure out electronics

 

[billy]

i just used a universal harness
the 1st one i bought online was $65 and 12 circuit
i next one was the same but it was $90.
all wires are marked, color coded etc.
they both work great and were hundreds cheaper than the identical ones that have a cool name like painless etc.

 

[8literbeater]

it would be nice to find copper crimps as there would be no galvannic action but the aluminum crimps with the shrink tubing built in seal up pretty damn good.

These guys have copper core, heat shrink connectors, made in USA.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300-PC-HEAT...H_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c43f102d0&vxp=mtr

For future reference after the above link no longer works, the ebay seller is: momboautowholesale2013

 

[smallfoot]

What ever you decide to do, it is important and noted by Don that vibration can be the cause of lots of problems. Use proper fasteners along the way, isolate the wiring harness from moving parts as best you can, tie the bundles in fairly evenly spaced spots, and keep it neat. There are ways to give yourself accessible terminations with slack built in so that nothing has to get pulled on too hard while working on it. A simple loop near the end of the wire at a terminal point to multiple wraps around a screw driver blade will leave a coil that will let you extend the wire some without stressing things and are easy to do and really dress up wiring...

 

[Hollow65]

I didn't give myself slack to my volt gauge. From the ignition to the volts was twisting the switch, sacrificed the volt gauge and made a new wire about a month later. Wrapping the wire clusters is a good idea also. I always wrap the tape around a small socket sticky side out, then wrap the wire using the socket. It's smaller than a roll of anything and can get in tighter spaces. I use the felt/tape. Got it at a napa