Hot Rods Technical Wiring help

Had never heard of Rebel, but if support is good, and can understand what they are saying, that is a BIG plus.

 

After everyone's input here, I have decided, "what the hell", I think I'm give it a try.
Either going to go with the, GM, Rebel, or Ron Francis.
Thanks,
Jack

 

I will tell you what helps me do wiring . I purchased a small label printer at a garage sale for about $2. I label all wires on both ends to keep me straight . I also robbed a lights on buzzer from a car that was going to the crusher . I found out it is handy if I am upside down under the dash I can hear the buzzer easier than seeing the test light. God luck take your time and you will be fine.

 

Rebel is an Alliance vendor.

 

Most kits eliminate the need for any labeling.

The good ones have the intended purpose of the wire printed on the wire jacket, every foot, or so.

 

I cannot describe how the sheer joy of completely wiring a full-bodied car in under 6-hours, using a properly designed kit, absolutely beats any sense of accomplishment that one would get from doing it from scratch, in any amount of time.

 

Rebel, Excellent Customer Service and simplicity in design.

 

http://rebelwire.com/

 

Exactly.

 

It's hard to explain, but making my own harnesses from scratch is really satisfying work to me.

Also I do them way different, than the pre made ones. I make those Mil-Tec/Motorsport/Aviation braided (whatever you want to call it) harnesses, and often in a different configuration/routing/fusing and better wires specs than stock. Think of it as a highly customized, over-egineered premium harness.

And actually - once you made one of those, you never can go back. Every other harness and wiring feels like a clutter****ed (yes - I just made up that word) spaghetti monster after you made such an "higher order" harness.

And yeah, this is total overkill on 30s-60s car without electronics - it's just my personal preference - I'm German after all, I guess that kind of **** is in my DNA

On a typical HAMB car (charging/lights/ignition/radio), it usually takes me less than a weekend.

Frank

 

It is not hard for me to explain.

My time is not free, and my customers are fine with a cloth-wrapped harness.

I have yet to meet a customer that cares to have a harness that is anything but just tidy.

When I build, only a portion of what is in the engine compartment is even visible. Nothing else is.

 

If you have a business, it may be different, but I don't have customers, I'm doing this just for fun - for me, friends and family, so time isn't an issue here, since I don't make any money from it.

Frank

 

There are a couple of options. If you don't have the knack or knowledge a pre-made one from a company may be the better route to go. There is a lot of information out there to do your own but if you don't feel comfortable doing that your best bet may be buying one. I wired my truck completely many years ago and with a little bit of tweaking it all worked fine. I am going to rewire it tho as when I first did it there were things I didn't know and want to improve on. Plus I get some satisfaction knowing I figured it out and did it myself.

 

There's nothing wrong with those insulated plastic-sleeved connectors.... as long as you cut the plastic off. Or buy uninsulated ones. Using the right crimper is also critical.

I'm also not a fan of the open-style connectors. It's critical that you have a quality crimper designed for the ones you're using ($$$) and know how to use it. Fishfry knows what he's doing, but it's not as easy as it looks. Avoid any crimper that requires two operations per crimp. Just try to do one of these under the dash...

Some light reading.... LOL
Technical - Crimping Tutorial | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)
For harness design/requirements, look here...
Wiring 101 | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)
I have yet to see an aftermarket harness kit I'd personally buy for anything more than a bare-bones car and even that may be iffy.

It never ceases to amaze me that guys will spend the money for quality bits for the mechanical systems then try to cut corners on the electrical.

 

I second that.
Closed barrel connectors and a good indent type crimper is IMHO the gold standard, and that is all you need for most of your wiring.

Personally I think that the "strain relief" of those open connectors is way overrated anyway.
Crimp one down on the insulation (just the strain relief) and than give it some strain.

It will not doo too much, and strip the insulation at one point, or just slip off. And really - how much strain you actually see in your harness, that a good crimp could not easily hold?

On those tiny pins in multi-connectors a strain relief makes some sense, but for everything else - I don't think so.

Also only a few $$$ crimpers can do that double operation in one go and get a proper crimp. I tried (and trashed) 3 or 4 of them, before I found one that does the job halfway decent.
Though they all look the same, there is a ton of variations in connectors and crimpers - it's a mess. That's why I still prefer closed barrel connectors. So much less that can go wrong.

Frank

 

I do just fine with bare or insulated connectors with this:

https://www.amazon.com/KNIPEX-Tools...efix=knipex+ratcheting+crimper,aps,158&sr=8-3

Spendy, but it works on everything.

There are knockoffs:

https://www.amazon.com/Astro-9477-P...=ratcheting+crimper+inter,aps,180&sr=8-5&th=1

Might be worth a shot for those playing the home game.

 

For battery cables, I bought this on a whim, 5-years ago.


I have been using the hell out of it, and I cannot kill it:

https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Hydra...6-b43f-4741-a772-17cad7536576&tag=rgonsite-20

A perfect mashed hex, every time.

 

For battery cables I have a couple of this style, but old from the swap meets.

 

I've got both sizes of those (the larger one does 4/0), and for the money simply can't be beat. Anderson makes one that's dieless so does give you more la***ude, but for $1K (or used to be; it's probably double that now) it should!

 

Any experience with the knock offs?

Edit: sorry, didn’t scroll down far enough before, to see the ratings.

 

Agree. Contacted Rebel, they responded immediately, and I understood it completely. 2 thumbs up for Rebel customer service.
Jack

 

I mean, it should not be difficult to reproduce a function, but it does not always happen.

Some knockoffs are actually just fine, as they are a result of intellectual property issues in the country-of-origin.

 

I figured, worst case, I was wasting $56.

I was pleasantly surprised. I have had zero issues but damaging the case corner, because I like to drop it for some reason.

The best part is that it makes the same crimp every time, and they all look highly professional.

 

The only flaw IMO is the lack of an automatic pressure release like the pro units have. But the instructions clearly caution you to quit pumping once the dies touch and it gets hard to prevent blowing the seals, so as long as you don't get ham-handing and ignore that the crimper works great.

For years the aftermarket harness suppliers limited maximum wire size to #10 (and most still do) as that was the largest size wire that could be easily and correctly crimped by the home hobbyist with available hand-held crimpers. The compromises this required in their harness designs, especially if adding high-draw items like AC, power windows, cooling fans and/or air bag compressors is why I'll probably never buy one. The OEMs are just as guilty of this, which is one reason modern harnesses have become so complex.

Larger wire sizes required a larger crimper sourced from the electrical industry with most needing die sets for each size and they weren't cheap or common. You could expect to pay $100 and up for a decent used mechanical unit when you could find one, new it could easily be $300 or more. Hydraulic units could run you $1K or more. These crimpers are a Godsend for the hobby market.

Do be aware however that I haven't seen any of these with a UL label so use caution if using one for non-automotive crimping.

 

I just completed my '56 Ford Victoria using the Rebel kit. I was pleased with the kit and the way the wire was labelled and sorted.

 

I will be doing a full re-wire on a 56 Dodge PU, GM column, hybrid GM/Mopar ignition on a flat six, non-stock gauges. IOW, nothing stock. I've been looking at options. Obvious ready to install winner seems to be Rebel or maybe a Speedway kit.

Roll my own is one approach, but I keep getting drawn to the sub-100buck options online. what are your thoughts on those? As long as they have copper wires what other issues do they have?

 

Tech support for one.

 

Speedway Motors sells good wiring kits with good instructions and each wire is marked what it does about every foot. About $170.

 

This is the best advice if you don't want to spend the bucks for a new harness. Try to find a schematic of the system, take your time and trace one wire from source to termination. Yeah, it'll take hours, hours, days, and a whole lot more--but you'll eventually see the end and guess what? you will have learned a lot about wiring and systems. Or, just pony up pesos.

 

I hate wiring. I love wiring. Hate when I see an unnecessary mess by someone who should never be near it. Love it when everything has a place and is easy to sort thru if need be. Kinda how I like to leave em. I got 1 word to the approach, go "modular" as in 1 related system at a time. Not 1 wire, figure the systems and how they're gonna live together. In my case, with a Rebel, the dash/gauges was a system, under the hood was a system, headlights and the sorting thru using the gennie 39 headlight switch with the new harness. In each approach I wanted wires in each system to play nice. To be able to share space in the lacquered conduit for good old style looks vs new wire. Did I have the option of all my own and gathering cloth wire? Yup, but no. Why. Fused, labeled, new wire, enough hidden to suit, and as mentioned tech support 2nd to none. Now I don't have to have a schematic if I need to service something, don't have to remember, "Hey did I...?" No AC, power windows, not even electric wipers. Simple. I will add a sound system but it gets it's own dedicated and protected ****. Modular. Systems. Works for me. And yes I get a new harness for the high zoot restorations too. Cloth wire from spe******t suppliers. That challenge is run it how "they" did.