The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Replacement Wiring Harness

We regularly get questions about universal harnesses and have a nice tech tip on general DIY wiring (Tech Tip).

That tech tip has a lot of very good information on connectors, crimping, sealing, etc but doesn't go into real detail on the actual harness installation and considerations.

I just got a new speedway harness for my 58 that I am planning to install over the winter. Would people be interested in a companion series about that installation? It might be helpful for some people to have more a visual guide to installing one.

Yes, I think people would be interested for any help, tips, guidance on wiring harness installation.

Yes 4 tips.
A, Number 1 rule. don't cut it until you are like done with your truck..
Leave the extra on runs coiled up and taped somewhere.
Because unless you are doing the whole truck in one go its a real pain to have to add more wire to something you had to move to put the "new part this year" in. AND its just one more connection point to have to check if something is not working.

B, Number 2, start with your rear runs first then to the front. It will give you a good indicator of you mounting options for fuse box. Without having to add wire. Especially important for long bed guys.

C, Number 3, Buy a kit with the wires labeled. Yes color coding works but it sure is nice grabbing a wire and is says right on it what it does.

D, Number 4, (should be number 1) Plan ahead. write up what you need to wire now. Then what you need to wire in the future, Then buy the kit that meets all these needs. Better to have the extra.

We can talk specifics once we know what your plan is for your ride.

HBC3200: Thanks for the tips. I would also put #4 as #1 on your list. I have rewired more vehicles than I care to count and that is all good advice.

I specifically got the 22 circuit harness vs the 12 so that I can have spare fused lines for future project. At the moment I only have 10 on my list, but I might add more things down the road and it is easier/cheaper to add the capability now.

If the weather holds, I will hopefully get this done over the next week.

the wiring in my '37 went to the copper wire and scrap pile. the cloth insulation turned to powder when you touched it so I have a universal kit for down the road and I will be using the "tech tips" here. thanks. My question is, has anyone used the heat gun "solder seal" connectors ILO crimp connectors? Opinions?

I don't think I've ever used those connectors but about 4 years ago I bought (on the giant internet auction site) several large rolls of heat shrink tubing (different sizes) and that has been very helpful.

I've just completed repairing my original wiring harness and soldered and heat shrinked the connections. The splices are barely larger than the original wire, as I push the strands together prior to soldering, making a lap-type joint. I would never use crimp connectors. I even solder the crimp-on terminals.
I have used the "solder seal" connectors for work on my boat wiring. They are quick and easy and seem to work well. If you have room for them and can stand to have the larger sleeve around the splice connector, they work OK.

We have a supply of solder seal but I've never used them. I do use the crimp terminals with heat shrink insulation. A lot of them since most of the wiring stuff we do is in a harsh environment.

I used them on a non-critical project to test them out.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Edit: Kevin, what was your application on the boat? My experience was that they did not consistently flow so I ended up with brittle, high-resistance joints. I also had a few unsolder themselves and come loose because of how low temp the solder melts at.

So far so good. They've lasted at least a fishing season. They were used to splice in new nav lights on a friends boat, and I used them on mine when running new wires to my washdown pump and bilge pump. The connections for the bilge pump were down in the bilge area, so I wanted the sealing feature so moisture wouldn't get into the wire.

I'm like you Kevin, and don't like crimp connectors. I've always used your method of lap joint, twist, solder and heat shrink for a nice tight joint. just saw the solder seal connectors advertised.

Interesting. My preference for sealing is the glue-filled heat shrink. It is a real bugger to get off if you need to redo it, but it keeps things real nice.

BTW, the heat shrink on the terminals I mentioned, are integral to the terminals.

I have some of the glue-filled heat shrink, but it's been a little hard to find. I think the set I got recently had a bunch of various sizes of glue-filled heat shrink, so I have a bunch of that now. Soldering splices the way I usually do isn't always easily done, so that's why I picked the solder-seal connectors for that particular job.

I have yet to find an aftermarket kit that is made for a stock truck. I don't have a Chevy column. power windows, AC, etc. I decided to make my own and frankly if you have the schematic it is quite easy. The schematic is in the shop manual and I had it enlarged at Staples and started running the wires from the fuse box forward. I even went against common sense because instead of using color wire I used all black. The longest wire from the fuse box is less than 4 feet. I also went fuse box to the rear using color mainly because I had run out of black. The schematic also shows the wire gauge which is for 6 volt but is more than perfect for 12 volts. I just used the gauge specified.
Now the biggest problem I have is under the dashboard. I cannot access it because of my age and height. When we did wiring at the hangar for Texans and Trojans we had a piece of board 4 feet wide and maybe 12 feet long. The whole harness was laid out on that. I decided to make a harness for under the dash the same way but for now it is stalled.
As to soldering or crimping I use crimping with heat shrink tubing. Works fine and has been for 20+ years. In the Ron Francis catalog there is a section answering all your questions. He does not recommend soldering because of vibration. I suppose its a matter of opinion. In the aforementioned aircraft the wiring used both methods. The Cannon plugs if you are familiar were always soldered.