Wiring what you did Right/Wrong?

[IronRat]

I just received my Rebel Wire 9 + 3 Wiring Harness. I went with them to support an American Co. and it's nice they support members of the forum too.

I would be interested in your wiring success stores & lessons learned from your mistakes. This is my 1st attempt in wiring a complete car. I'm still not sure were to mount the fuse box. At 56 I don't want to have to be crawling around more than I have to.

Thanks in advance your tips & help.

 

[Country Misfit]

One mistake that Ive seen is not having things grounded good. Make sure you have plenty of ground wires { or straps } ect.

 

[smallfoot]

I'm not quite there yet on the wiring but have gathered most of what I need to do all from scratch. I will have a moveable panel with the majority of the circuit connections on it. I, like you, am thinking about having to get to it later. I think mine will be readily available right at the dash. I found nice fuse panels at a boat place to use for the main panel and have rolls and rolls of wire and connectors out the wazoo...I wired stuff for a living for 30 years and circuitry doesn't bug me.

 

[Tripper]

Iron,
It's not all that hard, don't be intimidated by it! Just don't get in a hurry! Follow the instructions & Bob at Rebel is nearly always available, very knowledgeable & helpful. Get a good pair of clipper/crimpers & a good stripper. This is my fav stripper! I usually mount my fuse box under the dash but Don usually mounts his under the seats!

BoB

 

[IAM-LDS-2]

I just received my Rebel Wire 9 + 3 Wiring Harness. I went with them to support an American Co. and it's nice they support members of the forum too.

I would be interested in your wiring success stores & lessons learned from your mistakes. This is my 1st attempt in wiring a complete car. I'm still not sure were to mount the fuse box. At 56 I don't want to have to be crawling around more than I have to.

Thanks in advance your tips & help.

As stated , good grounds , good connections and as always location location location I placed my fuse panel in my glove box for easy access , I can pull fuses while sitting in the passenger seat .

 

[junker39]

I wired mine one circuit at a time. All new wire and mostly used switches. One problem I have now, since I was doing this over a long period of time, is I didn't label each fuse and set of wires. If something doesn't work now, I've got to get the test light and trace it out, just to find the right fuse. My memory just won't store all the locations and directions these wires go to. I would suggest a sketch on a tablet or take pictures as you go. Good luck.

 

[IronRat]

….Get a good pair of clipper/crimpers & a good stripper. This is my fav stripper!….

BoB

Thanks Bob, funny one of the more important aspects I didn't consider. I'm going to splurge and get a good quality stripping tool.

 

[soltz]

If you can color each circuit , wire is cheap 5 yrs down the road when you can't find that picture you took. Also I like to twist and soldier before crimping the terminal on and as been said good grounds. Good luck and have lovely time?

 

[Dirtyrat]

My thoughts are, grounds grounds grounds. No crimps, solder everything you can, and shrink tubing.

I have done a TON of wiring, and seen a lot of bad after crimps... I still have a couple, don't get me wrong, but usually I solder the crimp connector and use some shrink tube on it instead of the plastic piece...

I'm planning on eventually having sealed connectors at areas where I would need to removing wiring when removing the rear body as well...

I found that Home Depot has cheaply priced, but super duty split loom in their wiring area, and a cheap hanger for wiring is a zip tie with an eyelet on it, and a bit-tip screw...

 

[donsrods]

Everyone has pretty well covered it, but I might add that you will want to buy lots and lots of terminal ends and wire ties, you will be amazed how many you go through.

Rebel makes a very nice kit, I found no faults with it at all and will use one in my rpu when the time comes.

Don

 

[IronRat]

My thoughts are, grounds grounds grounds. No crimps, solder everything you can, and shrink tubing.

I found that Home Depot has cheaply priced, but super duty split loom in their wiring area, and a cheap hanger for wiring is a zip tie with an eyelet on it, and a bit-tip screw...

…. you will want to buy lots and lots of terminal ends and wire ties, you will be amazed how many you go through….
Don

Thanks Guys! I do like thinks I build to last I can see how solder will make a difference.

I like the zip tie & extra terminal end advise, I can see that making the job easier.

I'm not shy about using the wire wheel to get to some bare steel for a good ground contact.

 

[smallfoot]

Maybe one more tip...while there is alot of stuff to attach to in a project when wiring your circuits, if you want it fairly neat looking in the end, spend a little time in providing a path for a neatly done harness. Don touched on plenty of ty wraps for attaching wires. Place some simple rings along the way to direct your wiring too. Even if you don't do anything but bend a welding rod into an open-ended loop and weld one end to the chassis along your path. It's easy to do. It will help you immensely when trying to pull wires from one end of the vehicle to the other by yourself. Also gives you another place to put one of the ties to snug everything up.

 

[bruno]

One other thing, use grommets when the wires pass through a panel, also make sure the wires don't touch any edges of metal that could eventually cut the wire due to vibration. Ask me how I know!

 

[Neto]

Save the wire out of cars you're stripping to have distinctive wire colors with tracers so that you don't have to use the same wires for different things.

 

[IronRat]

Smallfoot & Bruno - Good thoughts on keeping things neat & smart. I learned he value of rubber grommets years ago. But, always a good comment for threads like these. Hopefully the next guy that's were I'm at today will get a little help from this too.

 

[kenny c]

also when wiring dashes and fuse panels don't be afraid to use a little extra wire and loop it when finished, it makes it easier to work on later if the need should come up. same for inside tail light and head light housings.

 

[IronRat]

also when wiring dashes and fuse panels don't be afraid to use a little extra wire and loop it when finished, it makes it easier to work on later if the need should come up….

You should see how I wired the light switches & outlet boxes in my house. Generous is an understatement.

 

[smallfoot]

This tip depends on your size surely, but it is a true "rule of thumb". A normal thumbs up fist when gripping a wire bundle will provide approximately 6" of length for a quick reference to leaving some slack. If you grip a wire bundle and flop your hand 180 degrees, you'll have enough slack to make it possible to easily have a moving panel.

 

[donsrods]

also when wiring dashes and fuse panels don't be afraid to use a little extra wire and loop it when finished, it makes it easier to work on later if the need should come up. same for inside tail light and head light housings.

Good tip. I used to just wire things neatly with no excess wire at all but my Son put me onto leaving a little extra in the event you ever have to go back in and do something in the future. He wired boats for a living at one time and learned that trick.

Don

 

[2.3Turbo_T]

No offense meant to Junker39, as I'm sure this works for him but it's not how I'd do it. The brightly colored plastic connectors just make any wiring job look plain cheesy, IMHO.



I like to crimp, solder, tape then shrinkwrap. It just makes things more easy to organize and looks much more professional.



My method is to take your butt/spade/whatever connectors and clamp each lightly in a small vice. Pick up a razor saw at your local hobby shop for $2 and cut the plastic lengthwise on the connector. It only takes a couple of strokes of the saw and the plastic will peel right off.







After the plastic is off you can see the seam where it needs to be crimped. Strip your wire, shove it up in there and fold half the connector body over onto the wire with your crimping tool. Next, fold the other half over on top of the connector body and crimp tightly.