Splicing into an Engine Wiring Harness

Dream on, Howard. If your son is an average young man, that poor machine is going to be doing some pretty hard work. At this point i would look on it as disposable, not spend money on long-term solutions or paint, and then you won't get too pissed when it gets damaged.

Sounds like a good father-son project.

I would prefer a solder job myself. Be sure to use wire of at least the same gauge if not larger and use the proper wattage tool and appropriate solder.

Shrink wrap all the connections you make, protect them in split tubing if possible and zip-tie them out of harms way.

The infamous Carter BBD carburetor can be made to run well with just a little work and a couple bucks for a drill bit. Contact Mike Romaine or Bill Hughes for links to the appropriate information

Howard, I am so glad you brought up the subject of using 'electrical wire' used in the earlier posts. Did you use that shiny stuff, probably the black shiny stuff? In my world that's not electrical wire. To most electrical wire serves so that conductors do not make contact with other wires or ground. The problem with the 'plastic' electrical wire is that it allows moisture to collect (if even as a vapor. This in itself can lead to shorts and grounds. It is also not the best wire for wraping wires imho. Look at cars from the early 90's or earlier, you know, before plastic tubing was used to protect groups of wire. Back than a 'cloth tape was used to wrap wires. It's even used today at the ends of wire runs on autos where the connectors plug in. The greatest quality of the cloth electrical tape is it allows moiture to get it (ya can't stop it) but it also allows it to escape. The worst problems with cloth wire is the end of the overlapping wraps will not stick at the bitter end. So Howard, if you do leave the electrical wire on - get the cloth wire and secure each end with the plastic wire. As for solder or crimping? It's your call because your going to have to re-fix it if it isn't done right. Each will work, it's how it's done that's important. Myself I'd choose solder because I have soldered thousands of wires in the past. I sure wish I had a nice clean work bench like that one link with instructions on how to solder. It was a pretty informative link but I'd add a few more things (20/20 blindsight). I don't believe the gentleman mentioned why you needed to have a sponge as part of your tools. A damp sponge (I would reccomend using damp newspaper unless you have a sponge handy to burn up) is used to clean off the 'tinned' side of the welding wand. Go with the wand. If you choose to solder find a comfortable spot, like your work bench and practice making a couple of solders. He mentioned a 'cold' solder. He didn't mention that a cold solder will still hold the wires together as well as a good 'hot' solder. The differance is the cold solder is going crack somerwere down the road. The crack will cause intermittent operation or a complete open. When practicing (get the larger diamiter solder) press the tinned side of the wand on one side of the pair of wires. Do not use the tip of the iron as shown in that link but the flat, tinned side of the iron. Than press the opposite side of the wire with the solder. Only a small amount of pressure is needed - actually gentle would be a good word here. Only a dab of solder will be needed to do the job - not a glob. An expert, clean solder would show the viens of the wire strands under the solder. Someone mentioned using larger wire - I would stay away from this because it will change current carrying capacity of the circut (ohms). Be careful not to match up wire by the thickness of the outer wire but by the size of the inner-conductors. You'd think they'd be standard but that's not the case. After each wire is soldered I would wipe the iron (damp newspaper) than re-tin the iron. Shake or flick the end of the iron to remove the excess solder and go to the next wire. As for using your son or another person, it can be very dangerous using this very hot tool that is very unfogivving. Have a plan and make sure each of you know what you are going to do and not do. Arranging a suitable place to lye the iron is very necessary for both safety and so that further damage is not done to your Jeep. I agree with the earlier poster about thinking that the existing wires are ok. Take the worst witre, strip back a nip of insulation with your pocket knife and you'll be a very lucky man if you see shiny copper - it is highly unlucky. Good Luck, Steve

snipped-for-privacy@west-point.org wrote:

Heat the work, not the solder. The flux cleans the oxidation off the copper and allows the solder to alloy to the copper, becoming part of the connection. I always use shrink wrap to insulate my auto solder connections. The stuff at RS is crap. Use the rubber type of shrink tubing. Put the tubing on before you solder.

Billy Ray proclaimed:

The bigger the iron you can get, the better. You want to get in, heat the joint quickly with minimal heat travel up the wire in order to avoid damage, then get out.

The wire needs to be absolutely clean. The best stuff is acid pickle but then you have to make absolutely certain you remove all of the acid which is not at all easy on stranded wire.

Rubbing to a shiny copper with fine sandpaper, then retwist the wires works. First make a good mechanical connection, never use the solder for that.

The iron should be hot with a bit of fresh clean high flux solder [ersin multicore is my favorite] dabbed just before you put it on the wire. Add the solder to that dab of fresh solder which should be put right against the soldering point. Add new solder right there and let it flow into the wire, coating it silver. Remove the heat and be darned careful not to move the wires one bit as you do this, or for about half a minute after. If the shiny silver turns sorta sandy looking, too bad, you moved it. Add a bit of new flux and reheat. As you apply heat, you want the shiny solder on the iron to be in good contact with the wire and any new solder should be applied close to the iron's shiny spot, but actually on the wire, not to the iron where it just builds up and drops on your bare toe.

IF you can find good rosin flux, particularly the liquid variety, dipping the wire in that really really helps make a good joint.

I use heavy duty shrink wrap, but you need to be careful to move it well away from the joint or it may shrink slightly. I then use the overlapping shrink style tape, but I dunno where you can get that retail. It forms a continuous covering when hit slightly with a heat gun, acts nothing like typical electrical tape.

Mid to late 1970s Jeep CJs harnesses were loomed up and staked with duct tape then wrapped in a thin heat-shrinking tape. The loose ends were staked down with electrical tape.

p> Howard,