Help rebuilding a harness
Posted by West_Dentist3548@reddit | projectcar | View on Reddit | 4 comments
Got a car on trade that i thought was cool, not running of course. I have a pretty good knowledge of electrical repairs but i want to make sure what i have in plan is sufficient
Car has multiple splices, spots where wire used to be tied in and the insulation is stripped, additional mods wired in. Just overall not healthy ans i knew the more i dug the worse itd get so i wanted to get it out of the way
I stripped the sheating EVERYWHERE got it down to bare insulated wire.and located a master terminal/pin/plug kit for this particular engine. The wire in place is all mostly oem woth the exception of one strand which ill figure out what exactly is shortly
Found alot more than i anticipated so i ordered
Heatshrink label maker
Terminal and plug kit
10 rolls of 50' of tefzel wire in different colors
Tesa Cloth tape
Saftey wire
Tesa fleece tape
Expandable wire sheating 1/4 1/2 3/4 and 1"
My questions are where wires tie together for grounds or powers or for whatever reason. Can i move them within reason, lengthen/shorten wires where i need to make a neater harness
My goal is to get the harness build with a quick release at the fire wall so i dont have to pull the interior side when i want to pull the motor, this is a later project though
I would like to replace all worn out connectors and broken wires with new counterparts. Then after that task is completed ill do one wrap of tesa tape(cloth) around the harness and wrap it with saftey wire so that i can shape the harness when i install to tuck it better and use clamps and such to make it clean. After the aafter wire itll get another layer of tesa tape(fleece) then have the sleeve installed with heat shrink to hold it in place.
All said and done its a simple project as im not overly modifying it id just like to make sure i can do what i need to neaten it because the factory runs them long wraps them up puts the connectors in strange spots.
Car is a 1995 eagle talon for reference not crazy old but nothing super new
Holiday-Witness-4180@reddit
Start with some gloves.
West_Dentist3548@reddit (OP)
You scared of dirt?
rsoandrew@reddit
I would also consider buying or making a wire trace striping tool so you can put stripes on some of the wires and try to match OEM color combinations. Worst case, it just gives you more “different” wire to use.
If you have any broken connectors (or just want to replace them with new ones—which might be better), post a picture of the connector using AliExpress image search and you can find the connectors pretty cheap. This is how I’ve been replacing all my dried‑out, disintegrating connectors. Removing pins from connectors is doable, but it can be time‑consuming. They can also break pretty easily since they’re old.
I’ve never done a full swap, but will need to eventually (so I’ve been buying extra connectors as I replace them). What I’ve seen online is using a big plywood sheet where they lay out the harness and then recreate it. Seems like a pretty good method.
As far as the ground connections, the ground path is still the same length. They do that to save money on wire, and so you don’t need gigantic connectors where half the pins are ground wires.
Pyropete125@reddit
Go to hp academy and wiring basics course. Sign up and every few weeks they offer it for free.