Time for wiring tips and tricks, got any?

Hey kids, getting ready to wire the Touring. I have a nice little panel. A sipmle HL switch, an ignotion switch, 2 head lights, tailights and tag light. No blinkers or any other goodies.

Talking to an old aircraft mechanic today, he said he has his headlights on separate circuit breakers so if one goes, you still have at least one headlight? Seems pretty smart, as I have been in Sodbusters sedan when the world went dark, couldnt even find my beer!

Any other tips and tricks from those that know more than me?

 

Here is the panel I am using $60 bucks retail, cant buy the parts separate for less.

 

Grounds! Don't rely on sockets and such to self ground. Run ground wires. My two cents!

 

Don't mount your headlight relays in a spot that they'll get wet if you're stuck in the rain!

Don't ask how I know!

 

wow that thing looks fancy i used a $13 fuse panel and a ballast resistor grounded everything and soldered and shrink wrapd every connector took jeff about 4 hours to do the whole car

 

Use GM weather pak connectors under the car.They are waterproof and you'll enjoy life much more better when it rains.

Chuck Fish

 

and another dude four minutes to undo the whole car!

 

WeatherPac stuff is cool. I read and re-read my parts house electrical picture book!

 

I am think of changing the wiring on the headlight circuit on my truck. I may wire in a relay on each headlight circuit to fire the lights instead of the power going through the switch. I have seen the difference it makes. I

 

I put a small dab of dielectric silicone grease on pretty much any terminals or connections. Keeps out corrosion and makes it easy to pull back apart when you need to!

If you have one of those aftermarket kits where all the wires are labeled, but you need to add some circuits or something, you can use leftover wires from elsewhere in the kit and wipe 'em down with lacquer thinner to remove the labels to avouid confusion.

Garbage bag twist-ties are a great way to temporarily hold wires in place till you get everything run. Then you can go back and tighten it up with tape or zip ties, whatever you prefer.

 

I like to lace my wiring with a waxed nylon lacing twine. That way, if a wire burns, it will melt the loom and not melt into the rest of the harness. Also taped harnesses are a ***** and look like hell.

 

Maybe a remote disconnect switch to disable the ignition.

 

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I am think of changing the wiring on the headlight circuit on my truck. I may wire in a relay on each headlight circuit to fire the lights instead of the power going through the switch. I have seen the difference it makes. I

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Explain your self young man......

 

I always crimp, solder, & heat shrink, also use heat proof sleeve where its needed & grommets where the wiring p***es through a panel.
Nothing worse than chasing bad wiring at the side of the road, take your time it will pay off.

 

Route your wires before cutting and hooking up headlites and what not, the six inch extensions on every circuit look ugly. I used an old honda fuse panel, works killer, just hooked the headlites up with a breaker and haven't had a problem yet.

 

While we're talking wiring . . . I've seen modern plastic-insulated wiring that's wrapped in the old-style braided-cloth covering for restoration work.

Anybody got a source for that kind of wiring in bulk? Lots of places sell harnesses made with it, but haven't seen it in bulk.

I want the '32's harness to look "right."

Steve.

 

Steve, I forget the company, look in FARM COLLECTOR Magazine, there is usually an advertiser that sells to the tractor restorers.

 

Try "YNZ Yesterday's Part's For this type of wire
Phone (909) 798-1498

 

KILL SWITCH!!!!!!!!! Electrical work scares me, it can turn your car into toast and the garage and house with it.

 

Anybody got a source for that kind of wiring in bulk? Lots of places sell harnesses made with it, but haven't seen it in

Brillman's, Sacramento.
Sacramento has I think all the basics you need to do Ford color code.

 

Also, on grounds, build a ground wire for each head/tail light, gen, reg, instrument cluster right into the harness as you make it so all is neat. Get everything important grounde so body/frame/bat ground are all tied together by wire and cable and all major units are tied in. Normal everything-bolted-together ground is no good in a rebuilt car because your painting of mechanical parts will be much thicker than factory dip. Use lotsa star washers and dielectric grease. I like oversize wire on major circuits, too.

 

Run a couple of extra wires in your loom when you're running everything through. They make for quick repairs if you burn one wire up and also make it handy if you decide to run some sort of accessory later.

 

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Self fusing silicone wrap that is heat resistant to 500ºF works good.

Use REAL crimpers not the $3.00 set your dad bought at JC Whitney

 

Ditto on the Kill switch, it saved my coupe from becoming a fireball!!! Geoff aka Whodaky

 

Kill switch, hidden aux outlet, and fuel pump toggle if using and electric pump.

 

IDK if they still do, but you could buy that cloth wrapped modern type wire from AC/Delco distributors, at least as recently as 5 yrs ago... it comes in 50/100 ft lengths.

Jay

 

Keep those tips coming, I posted this more for others than myself really.

As for the cloth wrapped wire, CARQUEST list different sized cloth loom in their Electrical Catalog. You just slide your modern wire in it.

 

Drop the car off with me and pick up my 39, we'll do some trade work

 

Speed, that actually would be kinda fun, up to the point where I like to do as much as I can myself!

 

Relaying the headlights is a brilliant idea (literally!!), you can go further and relay each beam on each lamp, might be overkill, but it'll work killer and you'll only ever lose one beam of one lamp if there's a problem.
Mercedes (and others) fuse each beam of each headlamp (no relays).
Loud horns. Get Fiamm brand, or grab 'em out of a Tempo/Topaz (right front inner fender, behind headlamp). These are the loudest stock horns I have heard.
Solder. And learn to solder correctly. I use liquid flux on every joint, along with heatshrink and a GOOD set of crimpers. A good solder joint is shiny.
Grease all connections everywhere. And dielectric grease is not strictly necessary, wheel bearing grease will work fine, too. But don't use lithium...it conducts.
Use the colour codes from a factory, any factory (I use mid-sixties GM codes for older cars). It'll make your life a little easier choosing colours and such. Write down what you do in any case.
Don't use the plastic-sleeved connectors, or at least take the sleeves off. Heat-shrink is much better/neater.
Have EVERYTHING mounted where it will be when you start wiring. Makes a neater job by far.
Run wires over the doors, never under carpet. Under the sill plates if it's a convertible.
Feed the third brake light from the brake light switch, BEFORE the turn signal switch. Flashing third brake lights make me think - *****.
More interior lights rather than fewer. My last rod had 9 interior lights. I could find things I dropped in the night. And it looked comfy when getting in at night.
You must run either a fusible link or a main-type fuse (60-80 amp) from the starter (maybe more than one). This will blow if things get ugly close to the power source (starter solenoid).
Never run starter power through a kill switch. It can't hold up to the power; wasn't designed to either. Safer to run all the vehicle power through a kill switch, after the fusible link (s).
Look at and follow loosely a factory wiring diagram to determine circuits needed. Frequently the factory run two or three fusible links, effectively dividing the power so you don't loose the whole car (power) at once.
Keep it simple. Every connection is an invite for corrosion/trouble. Fewer connections equal more potential reliability. And less voltage drop.
Cosmo