Thread: Wiring How To

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There are a lot of commercially available wiring kits on the market.......some good and some not so good. I've heard good things about Ron Francis' kits and also American Autowire (which I bought for my Son........yet to be installed).

I've always done my own wiring from scratch, but we used a Summit kit that I think is made by Painless for my Son's T bucket. It was NOT painless. All three of us have done a fair amount of wiring (Dan did it professionally on cars and boats for some time) and at times we had to put our heads together to try to figure out what the instructions were saying. In the end we just did it our way, and it worked out.

As for the soldering vs crimp thing, you will get all kinds of opinions, but I crimp. I come out of the marine industry and soldering is a no no on boats as it can create hard spots and brittle wiring. If it is done right I guess it is fine on a car, but good quality crimp terminals are pretty idiot proof IMO.

Another consideration is if your 55 is a stock restoration or a hot rod. If stock you will want the original style harness, but if not stock the sky is the limit. I think as long as you don't go cheap you will be fine with one of the name brand units.

Don

It is certainly acceptable to crimp terminals....the auto factories have been successfully crimping for years. Solder does have its merits but it also has its drawbacks in a vibrating environment.

Regarding crimping, there are two common mistakes that the average person makes by using the "universal" AMP plier type crimper.....too loose a crimp and too heavy of a crimp. We all have seen too loose a crimp since the wire pulls out of the ferrule. If you crimp too tight, the strands of wire are damaged and can break; a few at first and then more.

IF you crimp, invest in a set of semi decent ratchet crimpers. It make the task much easier and you get a positive crimp each time.

Of course, if you are doing WeatherPak or MetriPak terminals, they each have their own crimp tools. You can buy them several places; Del City wiring has them. For just one car, they pay for themselves.

Part of a good crimp and terminal is the wire support to keep the load off of the wire connection. Use tie bases or some device to allow the use of either tie wraps or cable lacing to support the harness....do not let the weight and vibration of the harness (or wire) rest on the terminal junction.

The worst wiring connection is a butt splice that was done with a pair of amp pliers....a failure mode ready to happen.

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

There are a lot of commercially available wiring kits on the market.......some good and some not so good. I've heard good things about Ron Francis' kits and also American Autowire (which I bought for my Son........yet to be installed).

I've always done my own wiring from scratch, but we used a Summit kit that I think is made by Painless for my Son's T bucket. It was NOT painless. All three of us have done a fair amount of wiring (Dan did it professionally on cars and boats for some time) and at times we had to put our heads together to try to figure out what the instructions were saying. In the end we just did it our way, and it worked out.

As for the soldering vs crimp thing, you will get all kinds of opinions, but I crimp. I come out of the marine industry and soldering is a no no on boats as it can create hard spots and brittle wiring. If it is done right I guess it is fine on a car, but good quality crimp terminals are pretty idiot proof IMO.

Another consideration is if your 55 is a stock restoration or a hot rod. If stock you will want the original style harness, but if not stock the sky is the limit. I think as long as you don't go cheap you will be fine with one of the name brand units.

Don

Don....This is for a 36 dodge, not the 55.

The car had a new kit installed. It was just installed incorrectly. The wires are connected to the wrong things even though it states on the wire what to connect it to. I guess I was more or less speaking about how to join/connect the wires correctly.

Past owner, not the guy who actually wired it, said it needs to be rewired, but it comes with a complete 20 circuit wiring harness in the box and that the wiring in the car was new, just not connected to the right things! My first concern is that wires are connected to the proper components and that they are safe. Not necessarily that everything LOOKS beautiful.

You said above, "good quality crimp terminals are pretty idiot proof IMO." Guess I'm asking how to do a good quality crimp terminal.

Here is some of the fun I will have to deal with:

Yep, those are "amp" pliers....dangerous tools.

A good ratchet crimper is under $50.

mike in tucson

Originally Posted by robot

Yep, those are "amp" pliers....dangerous tools.

A good ratchet crimper is under $50.

mike in tucson

If I get a good ratchet crimper, do I still connect the wires the same way with the butt connectors? Or is that looked down upon and viewed as a poor connection?

Also, you might think this is stupid but can you find a random link to what you would consider a good ratchet crimper so I know what you are talking about?

Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

Everybody has their favorite tools. We've got a bunch of different crimping tools ranging from simple plier types to the racheting ones. Our personal favorite is the simple Channel Lock brand cutter/crimper. Runs about $ 20.00 and does a good job.

Don