Have a '67 Roadster that has been cosmetically refurbished but we decided to leave the wiring alone when we sent it off to get fixed up. I believe the wiring is original, but definitely old regardless. Does anyone that has done wiring cleanup or replacement believe that a deep clean will fix starting issues or will the entire wiring harness need to be replaced? It seems that the best option would be to replace it, so can someone also recommend a good wiring harness to purchase.
I put in a new engine bay harness a couple years ago because mine was trash. Exposed to heat and chemicals, the covering had gotten brittle, cracked, and moisture laden with chemicals had gotten into the conductor which then corroded. I couldn’t keep fixing pieces so just replaced the whole thing. The old stuff came out in pieces it was so bad.
That said, the new one has less robust (thinner) wire and the ends where only crimped on. I soldered them all and encased the whole thing in clear heat shrink tube.
All connectors where cleaned with tiny brass brushes (gun cleaning kit for .177 pellet guns) and connections coated with Dow Corning dielectric grease to combat corrosion. I seem to remember getting it from SNG(?).
Oh ya, I also made tiny name tags to identify circuits and stuck these inside the clear heat shrink. I can never remember wire colour codes.
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Rhode Island Wiring. Quality, backed by good schematics.
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Auto Sparks are what I got from SNG Barrat’s and they worked great. I agree about the thinner wires comment, but in researching this I learned that the outer plastic jacket on the older wires was thicker then inner copper strand was nearly the same on the new and old harnesses.
So I have a question .
My motor is coming out for a five speed conversion and I’ve noticed a couple of the wires coming out of the alternator has Hard and cracked wire casing
I see that there’s a loom for the Engine bay
Is this a complicated procedure?
IIRC the alternator harness is separate. The problem is feeding it all into the dash and disturbing all the other harnesses.
It’s working? I would leave it alone.
Erik,
As Bill said, if you only want to replace the alternator wiring it is a seperate loom from the main Engine Bay loom, consisting of only half a dozen or so wires. It does, however, enter the cabin and feed into the fold-down central gauge panel to connect to the ammeter and ignition switch. So, anticipate some “fun” working in the confined space behind the dash and in the footwell. If this sounds like too much work and the insulation damage is confined to the alternator end of the cables where the engine heat has hardened and cracked the insulation you could probably splice in replacement sections of the correct gauge wire in the affected area. I’d recommend using the correct color-coded wire (available from folks such as British Wiring Welcome to British Wiring - classic British car wiring harnesses and components) to make it easier for the next person who works in this area.
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