Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Mark,
I like that hydraulic crimper a lot better than the Hammer Crimper that the auto parts store uses!! Your eBay price is not much more than the hammer style!!
Hammer Crimper.jpg

Even though I am working 10 hrs this week I got out and did some wiring stuff tonight...
I clamped the Hydraulic Crimper right to the rad support and got busy. This little mod is turning out to be pretty handy...
http://images18.fotki.com/v61/photos...MVC017F-vi.jpg
I hung the relay box and routed the wires in some semblance of how they will be when installed.
http://images38.fotki.com/v266/photo...MVC021F-vi.jpg
I got the power lead for the relay box, the charge/power lead for the battery (from the back), the power lead for the fuse box and the power lead from the alternator all crimped tonight. Once I got going it took about a half hour to do all of the crimps. Having the crimper right there, where I was working, was nice!
http://images45.fotki.com/v1450/phot...MVC020F-vi.jpg
These are some very tight crimps...
http://images116.fotki.com/v700/phot...MVC029F-vi.jpg
I did learn a bit tonight. The terminals I am using are rolled, with the seam at the top, as you can see here.
http://images62.fotki.com/v1492/phot...MVC025F-vi.jpg
After I did the first one (which I got lucky on) I decided to pinch the terminals closed a bit so one edge is "tucked" under the other. When doing this the edge getting tucked will actually "snap" under the top edge.
http://images115.fotki.com/v607/phot...MVC026F-vi.jpg
This guides the crimp into a very tight roll. I think it compresses the wire about half it's diameter, just looking at it...
http://images18.fotki.com/v60/photos...MVC028F-vi.jpg
This ready for some heat shrink. I need to get some larger diameter red shrink (this is just the plastic boot that came with the terminal)... I could use black I guess but I am trying to make this stuff look like I thought about it before I did it.
http://images107.fotki.com/v780/phot...MVC030F-vi.jpg
Here is the power block I mounted last week with the cables loosely routed.
http://images53.fotki.com/v1500/phot...MVC022F-vi.jpg
Here is a pic of the relay center with the cover in place... This will get painted body color so it will all but disappear after install.
http://images19.fotki.com/v286/photo...MVC024F-vi.jpg
That's what I did.
Mark