Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Greeney in France]

So far in the last 2 day I have managed to get 5 sections of the loom on the traction done, today comes the most complicated section as although not very long it goes under the dash, it is more complicated because I am adding a fuse board, I haven't added any terminals yet I will do that on connection but any tips would be appreciated, I have done the odd few here and there fitting radios and suchlike but I want to get it right for the loom I did buy a non insulated ratchet crimper
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[Greeney in France]

No one can give me any tips on crimping correctly then?
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[Nic Jarman]

Hi Greeney, first make sure the crimp is the correct size for the cable gauge. There should be 2 areas for crimping as I assume you are using non-insulated crimps. Hold the crimp in you left hand as if the cable runs off to the right. From the left the first set of tabs are for crimpimg onto the core of the cable and the second set are for the insulation. Buy a quality crimp tool push the crimp into the tool and lay the cable in and with a smooth action crimp the term ( thats an expression for a crimp from "termination"). depending on the type of tool you have you may need to crimp the larger tabs with another part of the tool that will fold them around the insulation. Use insulated crimps where you can and put a hellerman sleeve over the body of the non-insulated crimps. I will be available at the end of November so if you wish my partener and I could stay with you and get the electrics sorted out, Umm winter in France has to be better than the cold air from the North Sea.

[Rick]

out of curiosity more than anything, is there any reason why you're not going with the soldered connectors option? like I say, just wondering??

cheers, R
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[Nic Jarman]

Hi Rick, crimped terminations are far more reliable than soldered. Also in a very uncontrolled environment like ones garage dry joints are always a problem and the equipment that most amatures have is simple not upto the job. Stick to crimps where ever possible.

[ukdave2002]

BT or GPO as it was pioneered crimping and IDC (Insulation displaced connectors) many years ago, where they proved to be more reliable than soldered connectors in similar environments to a car.
In answerer to Greeneys original question, you cant really go wrong with non insulated if using the correct size crimp and wire, the crimp will have the traditional fold from both sided so if you cut a cross section it would look like a “B”, just remember to slip the insulator on the wire before you crimp !
If I has a penny …………for every time I have crimped a connection and then have to cut it off because I forgot to slide the insulator on first

[Greeney in France]

Thats better, thank you, I tried a couple of practise crimps using my new non insulated ratchet crimper and they weren't consistent, I will keep practising though before I attempt anything.
I have said before and will again if anyone would like a stay here in sunny France in the heart of the Limousin you are very welcome just PM me for details you can always earn your keep helping me out on the cars while the girls go shopping
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[Phil - Nottingham]

I do agree that properly crimped terminals suing the correct tools are better than soldered joints with modern PVC cables - heat from soldering iron damages PVC insulation and also creates a hard stress point at where solder ceases on the wire strands.

I am not keen in the pre-insulated terminals though as these do not make a secure fitting like the bare double crimped type where its quite apparent they have made a good joint. This type of joints has been used on cars since the early 1960's and oulasts the cable normally

Some do add solder to these at the wire crimp as well as the crimp. PVC sleeves or heatshrink keeps moisture and dirt out as well as insulating the terminal from short circuits
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
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[Greeney in France]

That's good then, I bought all my stuff from" Vehicle wiring products" which included non pre-insulated crimps with heatshrink/adhesive insulators
The originals were thus with all black wire so I purchased the new quality thin wall cable, it has made about a 3rd of the size difference when bound, I am pleased I did it myself now.
I was advised not to solder too for all the above reasons, which is one of the reasons I wanted to be able to do a quality crimp
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[dalbuie]

Hi Greeney,

Being Scottish - and not being keen on spending money - I unsoldered and uncrimped all the original eyelets from the Chevy and re-used about 80% of them. The rest I got new and crimped and soldered as that's what was originally done. I'm a BT guy and have made 1000s crimps and agree there is no need to solder unless you want to for the sake of making it look 'right'.

I also got thin wall cable - grey stuff - but was never happy with the final job so got a few rolls of this stuff - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CLOTH-FABRIC-TAPE-25M-19MM-WIDE_W0QQitemZ220306149747QQcmdZViewItem - and wrapped all the cables. Makes a very nice cloth finish and looks far more in keeping than the plastic finish of the cables. The tape is very strong, you need scissors or a knife to cut and can't just rip it.

I also used the same tape to cover some aluminium channelling to make new window runners, well worth the £1.99

[Greeney in France]

Unaccustomed as you are to spending money you did well
I have the same cloth tape as it looks the same as the original onmine too, my Traction doesn't have soldered joints just crimps with heat sealed insulators in 10 different colours
Even though I have Scottish roots, grandmother (a stuart) before she met my grandfather (a Thompson) I decided to renew all mine as most were corroded and so were the screw thread terminals.
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[dalbuie]

Amazing how many people have Scottish roots when they check. Must be something to do with trying to find something to do that kept us warm and didn't cost anything

The Chevy probably had a far easier life in the warm and salt free climate in the USA as there was almost no corrosion anywhere.

Good luck with the Traction

[Nic Jarman]

NEVER RE-USE A CRIMP. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

[Phil - Nottingham]

As to insulated crimps I visited a highly reputed manufacturer of vehicle passenger/people lifts today and they used these 100% all neatly done and shipshape but using a high quality crimper that looked somewhat more high precision than those Chinese versions that can be bought from £ shops.

They never have any service problem in use with these which are subject to much misuse and vibration during use
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Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[Greeney in France]

I got to do the some of the crimping today and thought I would photograph one to show you how good these heat shrink adhesive terminals are I was very impressed how strong they are. You can actually see where the adhesive melts internally and seals the cable

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