I am in the process of wiring a vehicle using a commercial available kit, and have run into questions how to conceal wiring so that it does not detract from the appearance but remain functional and reliable. Has anyone used metal conduit to run wires such as alternator to battery source/solenoid. Also wire is GXL high temp, and I am wanting to know how close I can run wires to engine and headers. I considered running wires through a cloth conduit purchased from NAPA that is supposed to be good to about 400 degrees. I want to keep holes through the firewall to a minimum (1) but requires long wires paths for oil, temp, coil, electric choke, fan temp switch, alternator and ac compressor. Thank you Jack
I have run the wires through steel tubing to make it look clean, I also run the alt. wire directly to the starter by routing it along the oil pan. As to the wire I burnt a wire off inside the coating by grounding a hot wire (oops) but it did not melt the coating. I bring the wires out by the cowl through the toe board to starter and up the back of engine. On the tube (3/8can hold 7 18ga. wires) you can weld tabs to bolt down to intake bolts.
X-2 run wire in steel tube , it can also be attached to floorboard or firewall and painted to match. you should be good against block, but header may cook your insulation
Thank you for your response. I have fabricated some pan rail brackets with rubber groments that hold the wire away from the full length headers that tuck really close to the engine block. I also found some asphalt fabric conduit at NAPA that is fairly high temperature rated. I actuall laid a piece on the exhaust manifold on my pickup, it did slightly melt the asphalt but didn't burn. I like the idea of the metal conduit, reminds me of Ford's spark plug wire conduit. I had tried various convoluted plastic conduit and some of it will actually flame. I am trying to hide the wiring as best as I can. Jack
I used that asphalt coated conduit from NAPA on a 50 Pontiac I had a couple of years ago and I liked it. I thought it looked good... and held up to heat pretty well. I had it run close to the headers in a spot with no issues. And it was cheap too, I think I paid around $.45 a foot at the time.
Depends on the style of build but I like this type for the older rigs, comes in many sizes and not spendy...............
I use some of the asphalt covering too, but generally don't do a lot to hide the wiring. Some day I know I will be going back tracing wires to find some problem, and I just leave it easily accessible so I am not pulling what little hair I have left out of my head. I had to troubleshoot my headlights one night along the interstate when they suddenly blew out at 70 mph, and it was nice to have them right where I could get to the wiring. Don
i too used the asphalt/tar coated stuff. really good vintage look in my opinion. i came out around the toe-board and back up backside of my motor, looked great with the tar-loom, i used two of those "one hole" straps bolted to the valve covers to secure the harness in place.
Napa sells the loom most of you speak of? Is it water resistent? Ok i see that napa sells it per foot and have a few different prices but they dont list the nominal ID ***ociated with those prices
I been getting the fabric loom at O'Reilly's. I usually get the part number off their web sight and look up which store has the size I want, as most of the time the counter people do not know what it is or that they have it on their store.
It's waterproof, protects against moisture, has a flame retardant bituminous coating and was supposed to withstand heat up to 275° and I think you can get it in sizes from 3/16 to 7/8. It's been several years, but it was a cheap loom that I found that also had a vintage look (I thought anyway.) I used it under the hood of my car and I also run my battery cables through it to the relocated battery in the trunk of the car. And yes it's available at NAPA. They may have to order it as they did for me. They ordered 3-4 different sizes and I picked what I needed and how much I wanted to buy.
1/4 - NW 737401 3/8 - NW 737103 1/2 - NW 737104 5/8 - NW 737105 Those are some sizes with part numbers and there are other sizes also. They let me look in a catalog while I was there and that's how I originally found what I used.
If not too close to headers, I use a product called "Synflex",...the tubing used on truck airbrake systems. 4TTRUK
I get it from Early Ford V8 in NC. google them. For restorations and doesn't look cheap or gobbed up. Only around .50 a foot.
I've done the opposite in my new kitchen, i ran the 1/4" ice maker lines thru 3/8" steel tubing to keep from smashing it behind the cabinets , so I would say wiring thru tubing is a great idea.
O'Reilly's has the BWD brand of fabric loom. 1/4" part# ALF25 @ $ .50 ft 5/16" part# ALF516 @ $ .50 ft 3/8" part# ALF38 @ $ .70 ft 1/2" part# ALF50 @ $ .81 ft 5/8" part# ALF58 @ $1.09 ft 3/4" part# ALF34 @ $1.49 ft
I used some white plastic tubing( maybe Nylon) from Lowes. Drilled a 1/2" hole in p*** side floor into top of boxed frame. Pushed the tubing through till it came out the front frame horn. I used that as conduit to feed all 5 headlight and turn signal wires to front of my 32. The stiff plastic makes a nice smooth p***age for wires and protects it from water and chaffing. Ago
Me too fellas. Ya know I have seen show cars that you could not see a single wire on them clean as the devil, of course they didn't run. Cars that run have wires.
They probably didn't have any wires. Neatly laid out wiring doesn't need to be hidden is my view on it.
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