Wiring ideas for your car

Discussions about general body work and modifications
Post Reply
62Cometman
Posts: 80
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:47 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by 62Cometman »

Hey there i didnt see if you had decided anything on running wires into your doors, everyone was talking about how they dont like wire in loom designs and id generally say i agree but luckily someone thought of a intelligent alternative check out these door jam connections

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Clean-16135 ... B003TVL5N8

they use a brass contact with a steel plate that makes connection for your door when they are closed and opens the connection when their open without having to bend wires, the down side obviously being that you cant control anything on the door with it open but they work really well, painless used to sell a simlar design that has since been discontinued for some unknown reason
62 Comet 170, dagneham trans, 2.8 7.25 rear 260 T5 8 inch swap planned for the future.

Image

tomb22
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

62Cometman wrote:Hey there i didnt see if you had decided anything on running wires into your doors, everyone was talking about how they dont like wire in loom designs and id generally say i agree but luckily someone thought of a intelligent alternative check out these door jam connections
Thanks for bringing these up Cometman. I saw these and thought about it, but I want to use the courtesy lights in the doors. I'm thinking of going with this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-Life-W ... 1842561722 Lou gave me this link.

tom
Image
tomb's 65

Kingspeedy2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:36 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

As per most things there are pros and cons. MY American autowire update kit doesn't have firewall connector so I was wondering about alternative methods of passing the bulk of the wires from a new wiring harness from the fuse block through to the engine compartment.
you can have a Delphi gang connector or similar as what Tom22 shows earlier In this post which groups most of the wires into a neat package.Very similar to the OEM which would probably outlast me anyway
the cons with that style is you have a crimp connect on the wires on both sides of the connector and then you are relying on the contact between the connector itself.
It makes sense to avoid unnecessary connections if you can as that's were trouble lies. What other methods can be deployed for going through to the fire wall to keep the wire runs joint free yet neat with out having a bunch of individual grommets and or just a bunch of wires In a harness surrounded by silicone

EDIT ;I did find this site on line whch has a lot of clean looking grommet devices http://sealsit.com/product-category/grommet-seal/

Lou's Comet
Posts: 1539
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:56 pm
Location: Jeannette, Pa.

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Kingspeedy2 wrote:As per most things there are pros and cons. MY American autowire update kit doesn't have firewall connector so I was wondering about alternative methods of passing the bulk of the wires from a new wiring harness from the fuse block through to the engine compartment.
you can have a Delphi gang connector or similar as what Tom22 shows earlier In this post which groups most of the wires into a neat package.Very similar to the OEM which would probably outlast me anyway
the cons with that style is you have a crimp connect on the wires on both sides of the connector and then you are relying on the contact between the connector itself.
It makes sense to avoid unnecessary connections if you can as that's were trouble lies. What other methods can be deployed for going through to the fire wall to keep the wire runs joint free yet neat with out having a bunch of individual grommets and or just a bunch of wires In a harness surrounded by silicone
I am going to have individual grommets on mine. Ron Francis wiring kits also do not have a firewall connector, and they actually advise against it. Every crimp, connector, or contact can be a future problem. Plus I am using heavier gauge for some of the stuff. I don't want to run 12 gauge wire into a connector designed for 14-16 kwim?

On mine I will have 5 grommets, one for each side lights, parking lights and horn running inside of each fender. One for the wires going to engine, one for the positive going to starter and one for the negative going to block. Although I may combine the pos and neg into one grommet. If you put a covering over the wires and use a grommet to fit the covering I think it will still be a clean looking install.

Lou

rjones35
Posts: 651
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:15 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by rjones35 »

I'm a little late on this one, sorry..... wiring isn't my thing, so when I saw how jacked up the wiring on my 63 was when I got it, I knew it had to all be replaced. I wanted simple and good, and easy to I stall. I looked at a bunch and ended up with Centech. Really good to deal with. I sent him what I had, and he made one for my car. I reused some of the tailight and headlight harnesses, the rest was new.

Kingspeedy2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:36 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

I see some mention of Wire loom tape.I am not clear about this product.
It seems that there are cloth based ones and some vinyl.And they range greatly in price.some suggest using cloth hockey tape..not being a hockey player i woukdnt know the consistancy of that
Is the idea of these tapes is that it is self stick so it sticks to itself and not to the wire itself
As a protectinf layer ,anti rattle ant chafe sort of thingy??
I know even the best 3m electrical tape can leave a sticky residue i would like to avoid.
I was planning on using a lot of the woven and or split plastic covering as i am not going with a stock look

User avatar
poboyjo65
Moderator
Posts: 7037
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:40 pm
Location: Camden, Tenn.

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by poboyjo65 »

There is wrapping tape,here is one example;
https://www.amazon.com/Parts-Place-Adhe ... B00H87VJCQ
Might find it cheaper ,this was first I saw.
Image
Johno

Kingspeedy2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:36 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

Thanks Poboy for the Amazon Link that's exactly what I was looking for and ordered some up ...now why couldn't I find it

User avatar
poboyjo65
Moderator
Posts: 7037
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:40 pm
Location: Camden, Tenn.

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by poboyjo65 »

Kingspeedy2 wrote:Thanks Poboy for the Amazon Link that's exactly what I was looking for and ordered some up ...now why couldn't I find it
Maybe you were calling it the wrong thing? I think I just googled auto wire wrapping tape, I saw something that said harness wrapping tape & clicked on it.

One trick I use to find some things is, for instance, google ''oil sending unit wire connector pics'' , then click on ''images of oil sending unit wire connectors'', then look at the pics until I see the one I'm looking for,click on it,then it will say ''visit'' or ''visit page'' click on that & it will carry you to where the pic came from,most of the time it is a vender selling them. lots of times this is the only way I can find something.
Image
Johno

tomb22
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

I assembled the major wiring harness for the engine bay and used Flexo Pet expandable sleeve. The sleeve is 5/8" and will go from 3/8" to 1" in size. Pretty easy to work with and has a 240 degree melting point. They say to cut it with a heating knife but I cut it with a scissors and then just heat it up with a match to melt the ends to keep it from unraveling.

Image

I will get some pictures of the install. This harness includes all the wiring for the lights, 2 electric fans, windshield washer pump, horns, fuse box feed, AC high pressure switch and security switch for the hood. The relay box is for the headlights and fans. Each filament has it's own 14 gauge wire.
Image
tomb's 65

Kingspeedy2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:36 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Kingspeedy2 »

great idea poboy for finding items,I also try other search engines besides google .google aslo has an image search function and it was amazingly quick.Thats how I found the relay enclosure I was looking for

tomb22
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

I used Lou's suggestion about making the dash gauges removable by making a connection. Here are a couple of pictures showing what I did. The connections on the right are for the tach which will be on the dash. The pot is to make the led lights in the gauges dimmable and the 2 wire connection is for the speed sensor from the transmission.

Image

This picture just shows the connectors in the dash.
Thanks for looking
Tom

Image
Image
tomb's 65

Lou's Comet
Posts: 1539
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:56 pm
Location: Jeannette, Pa.

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by Lou's Comet »

Looks great Tom! Nice and clean, plus will make any future removal a lot easier.

What did you do about the high beam indicator light? Does your speedo have it built into it?

Lou

tomb22
Posts: 683
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by tomb22 »

Lou's Comet wrote:Looks great Tom! Nice and clean, plus will make any future removal a lot easier.

What did you do about the high beam indicator light? Does your speedo have it built into it?

Lou
Thanks Lou. Yes my speedo actually has a high beam light and turn signal lights. I'm using the turn signal lights for notifying me when the cruise control is on and when I have the overdrive delete on. Here is a picture of the gauges.

Image

Tom
Image
tomb's 65

lavron
Site Admin
Posts: 4710
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2003 9:17 am
Location: Missouri, Ozarks
Contact:

Re: Wiring ideas for your car

Post by lavron »

I know that this thread has not had a post since March, but I was just re-reading through it, have decided to just make my own wiring harness and I ordered a couple of these from Amazon, will let you know if they are any good, I thought I would I would do like Lou had suggested and make one key on and the other one (or half of it) always on.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2 ... UTF8&psc=1

I have seen I can get the wire on eBay in 25' bundles.

Any advice or warnings give it to me now before I get too committed to this project :roll:

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
Image

Post Reply