Just thinking about the '32 ch***is I'll have under the Roadster some day, and running wires to the lights. One inch EMT from the firewall front and back on both sides should handle things right? Would it matter if it was on top or the bottom of the rail? Would you put all the wire in a loom first or run them one by one. EMT should house the fire safely I would think.
Conduit is galvanized and produces a toxic gas when you weld to it. Might want to get a piece of mild steel tubing instead. Personally I'd pull all the wires through the frame together rather than trying to do it one by one. It's much easier.
While galvanized does put off some nasty fumes, for as little welding you'd be doing on it, I would personally go with the galvanized for corrosion resistance. Just don't hold your head over it while your welding, and step out to get some fresh air as soon as you're done. If you do happen to get yourself sick, drink milk - lots of it. To run wires, personally, I'd push one 14ish gauge wire through backwards, tape it to the harness, then pull it all through. Probably not necessary if you use 1" tubing though, you should have plenty of room to shove them through.
I disagree with this as far as a hot rod is concerned. Running them along the frame makes life much easier if you ever need to pull the body off.
trailer supply stores sell what looks like a fat black extension cord with 7 colored wires inside. comes off a roll. neat, clean, and insulated.
Yes, and make sure you use a bulkhead connector so if you do remove the body, you can unplug the harness from the body.
check out trailer wires 4 wires formed together and lay flat like tape without crossing over each other .. this works good inside and enought for roadster needs,,,tail , left -right and sending unit....safe and dry and out of sight inside....
No ****ing Way! I see this every day and it scares me to death thinking about the fire that will start in the carpet. Is that trailer supply wire that was mentioned good enouth for lights, and how much will fit inside the EMT? Will the insulation rub off inside the EMT?
Yes its used in over the road trailers, very heavy outer coating, sells by the foot or you can buy it by the roll. Levine's has it, comes in 4 wire or seven wire, it will fit in 1" tubing
If it runs on the bottom of the rail you can have a fairly large radius bend at the firewall end, so the conduit terminates perpendicular to the top face of the frame rail. That way you can run straight down from the firewall into the rail and still not have to draw through too tight a radius.
I use aluminum tubing, run from rear to ****** crossmember and another from crossmember to front. I also weld large nuts inside the flat of the 'c' channel and run the fuel line thru it with bushings between the fuel line and the nuts - i think the nuts are 3/4". I found a pic i of the fuel line but the pics of conduits are in my other computor. The electrical is 3/4 aluminum tube, held in place with pc11 and i grind them down flush with the boxing plates.
Yep it can be done.Did it myself................................I ran 3 one for lights and one for starter wire,.Or Battery rire .And one for motor harness I used 1/2 inch conduit........
Good point, I guess drilling a few drain holes in the bottom of the boxed sections wouldn't be a bad idea.
x2 on the frame for me. However, comma, I'm not in favor of running the wiring in anything, hollow / boxed frame or not. They are just too hard to trouble shoot or add upon later. I'd screw on a series of hangars or nylon loops and run the wires within some sort of removable dust cover. My car buddy insisted that some of my 27 wiring be in the frame, as if it was some kind of show car or something, saying he'd not wire it any other way. I gave in. Now I worry if I will hit a hidden wire if I have to drill / tap the frame later for another bracket or gizmo. Gary
Just like underground powerlines, make a drawing of were the conduit is. I NEVER EVER want to see a wire on my finished car, and a sure don't want to smell them burning.
The wires going along the frame to the rear lights cannot burn by themselves if they are fused like all cars had when new. There is no way a wire can burn with a proper sized fuse. If they were on breakers, and if a breaker point got welded stuck, then yes, it could burn.
x2 make sure everything is fused. Bob on the '31 4dr chevy i built i ran 1" conduit inside the boxed frame, i bent it to fit inside the frame then welded it to the box plates on the inside, then welded the box plates in. all that showed was an oval hole in the front under the cowl and an oval hole out near the tailight. i wired the car and planned to, cut and put a connector in the future, in the unlikely chance the body would have to be pulled [probably never so i would worry about it then.]
Maybe not true of a simplish rod, but in most later vehicles and anything with power windows, etc. there's going to be far more wiring in the body than on the frame anyway. On a car that sees any mileage I'd be more concerned about wiring pulled individually through a conduit bouncing around and abrading away the insulation somewhere. Pulling it through a tube isn't necessarily a bad idea but I'd bundle and wrap it first. You'd also want to make sure that road muck can't get in there. I'd think 1/2in would be plenty, you're talking half a dozen 18AWG wires (if you're adding a tank-mounted fuel pump, trailer brakes, etc. then things get bulkier.) You're not wiring a building to NEC conduit-fill requirements with a fish tape and solid THHN. Make sure you use some kind of connector that's decently weathersealed and made to be serviceable e.g. Deutsch DT since getting access to the wiring is going to mean unpinning the connector(s) at the end and pulling the wiring out.
I just think if the conduit is there it will make it easy to run the wire after the car is finished, no need to take the body off, and no chance of the wire ever getting cut by accident. This is WAY down the road, and my grand kids ( if I ever get some) will be doing the wires. I just want to make things easy for them.
Hey, 37Kid; While you're at it, you may as well run a few extra wires through at the same time, that terminate in/at nothing. For spares - in the future. Wires break, get corroded, etc. Maybe not while you have the car, but for the next guy... or if you want to add something later, it's a lot easier. Just note & label them as such on your harness drawing. On, btw, use glue-coated shrink-wrap on each end to stop any corrosion getting into the ends of the wire(s). After melting it, squeeze the end flat. Works fabulous. For good connectors, use WeatherPac or Deutch. If used correctly, they are weather-proof. & repairable if needed. Not traditional, but beats corrosion issues. From experience working on city buses. (At least it'll only be your fingers in the wiring, but still...). FWIW. Marcus...
I'd run 1/2-inch conduit (aluminum if possible for it's corrosion resistance), and use clamps to hold it to the frame. No welding required. I'd mount it to the side of the frame if possible -- definitely not on the bottom. Run all wires through at the same time (tape them together at the ends)...
Yep, this is cool stuff. I use it on all kinds of vehicle and trailer wiring projects. The cover is very tuff stuff also.
not sure how you build a car with no wires in the body or how running wires in a body would somehow be prone to catching on fire, wiring has been run through the body of cars since cars have been being built... as far as trailer supply wire you can get it in sizes large enough to run a house with it, much like how manuafactured homes are hooked up so some low voltage automotive lights would be no problem at all. Buying an encased wire and then encasing it again is just overkill
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