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some of the wiring is dangling under my 49 3600
how were splices made in the days before plastics.
solder and friction tape?
i want to keep it 'stock'

in the days B4 solder and friction tape they didn't have wire, winchester.

the best splice is a well twisted, soldered, taped connection, and it'll be "period correct" if ya use friction tape rather than modern electrical tape - if anybody's gonna be rootin around checkin under the dash. for a splice that'll never need redoing: for the tape substitute heat shrink tubing.

Bill

I'm no expert, but the old style (big) spade connectors with male/female connections are how most of the ones I see are.

Here's a great resource for vintage wiring and supplies.

Rhode Island Wiring Service

Squeeze, normally I'd agree with you on the twist, solder and heat shrink. Recently I had a heart to heart with someone on the very subject. My method is as you discribed, wind them together, solder and heat shrink. It was suggested to me that by introducing solder you in fact have created a problem in as much as you now have a "rigid" piece of wire not unlike a chunk of housewire that isn't designed to flex like the multistrand wire. I'm still on the twist, solder and heat shrink team, but he does have me thinking that he may have a valid point.

Man I hope this doesn't turn into an OLY marathon.

Chevy Duty used to have male/female spade connector sets using old-style bakelite-appearance hard-plastic connector "covers".

The original in-line wire connectors in my trucks were bullet-end (male) and barrel-end (female) connectors with the barrel being made of bakelite (I think). Has anyone seen these being sold anywhere?

Tim

Tim,
RI Wire has these bakelite female connectors:
[img]http://www.riwire.com/Catalogs/sup/pics/160mbc11.JPG[/img]

And these are the male ends:

[img]http://www.riwire.com/Catalogs/sup/pics/160MB.JPG[/img]

This is the type (bakelite) that I was referring to but they have a spade instead of a bullet. Is this what you're looking for?

Check out all the gazillion connectors and parts these guys have:
Rhode Island Wiring Service

They built a harness for me and I have referred others there and all have had the same good results with this company. They've been around a L O N G time too.

OldCarKook,

That's very close to what I tried to describe. I will check out their site.

Thanks,
Tim

ok - more specific from this govt trained electronics tech: if ya got wires to shorten, or a mess from a p.o. to neaten up, then electrically speaking and safety-wise, twist, solder and heat shrink any home made joints. if ya want easy, not necessarily permanent or safe, then use any kinda crimp connector available and please use the proper tool for the type connector.

if ya want "factory" looking work, get the proper harness, as from the factory there were rarely any actual "splices". those bakelite/ bullet connectors may be "period correct", but GM didn't use them that I've seen. look around the RI wiring site and you'll find a variety of connectors labeled "GM type", and they're probably all solder-on. also true 'friction tape' is not electrically insulating, tho' used back then to bundle wires into 'cables'.

fatfenders - so what if there's a 'rigid spot' - jealous? the solder joint needn't be long, and properly done won't be affected by normal truck operation any more than any bullet or spade connector, crimped or soldered. twisted wires that are taped and not soldered is trouble waitin to happen.

Bill

After checking out the RI Electrical supply site, I can tell you that my local Interstate battery distributor has GM spade connectors that are universal at least from the 50's to the 80's for $6-$7/100, about 1/5th the price of RI. With a $50 Ideal crimper, you can match factory quality.

tpsierra, have you checked out YnZs yesterdays parts? If they're what you need, they can be had for a lot cheaper. Go to www.ynzyesterdaysparts.com and go into their terminals and connectors catalog.

If you really want to be period correct, you will have to do a shadetree mechanic or farm repair job. It's cheap and easy. Twist the wires together and tape with friction tape.

Squeeze - OUCH!