complete rewire
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farkamhall
- Posts: 95
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:20 pm
- State: NOT ENTERED
- Location: NSW
complete rewire
hi all. my FB has no wiring at all as we are doing the top chop etc, can anyone suggest the best way to start. I know you can buy the complete wiring kits with every lead marked. has anyone used this and is it a good way to do the rewire or should i stick it in a auto electricians.thanks
http://celebrity-cash.openstores.com.au/
, Trev 
If you have some electrical sense wiring isnt too hard at all mate. Cars use the most basic ccts there are when it comes to wiring.
The kits are good and allow for alot of modifications ... easy to splice extra brake light, add thermo fan and any other accessories, etc.
Its as complicated as you make it in all honesty.
Things to consider would be location of the fuse box and the amount of ccts you will be running. I would upgrade to an alternator and whilst your at it a 2 speed wiper motor. Guess it depends if your going back to stock also.
If you get stuck with anything let me know, I live in Sydney and cabling dont phase me in the slightest (unless its a computer driven engine mind you....)
The kits are good and allow for alot of modifications ... easy to splice extra brake light, add thermo fan and any other accessories, etc.
Its as complicated as you make it in all honesty.
Things to consider would be location of the fuse box and the amount of ccts you will be running. I would upgrade to an alternator and whilst your at it a 2 speed wiper motor. Guess it depends if your going back to stock also.
If you get stuck with anything let me know, I live in Sydney and cabling dont phase me in the slightest (unless its a computer driven engine mind you....)
[b] Member of FB-EK Holden Car Club Of NSW Inc. [/b]
wiring looms
Missed this one - sorry...................
I have just about completely re-wired my entire vehicle - as Trev mentions, if you can afford it - let the auto sparky have some fun with your car and money..................
Looms usually create fear in just about most people I have ever known who suffer electrical problems.............. they are just wires, grouped and secured - usually by non sticky black insulation tape.
It is definitely not hard, but you will need a lot of patience.
Probably the best advice I have to offer if you want to take this on, is to find a purveyor of good quality wire - I used the more expensive Marine grade - it is silver stranded. I spent quite a few coupons on many spools of different gauges and colours - in hindsight I'm glad I did.
Your first MUST is a notebook - write everything down - you may not be able to get wire in original colours........... I couldn't.
Don't rip the existing wire out willy-nilly - even if it's pretty much stuffed, dirty or even broken - it will serve as a very good guide to what you will need in length.
Don't try to run your leads in the vehicle - make up a large board using well secured nails. It doesn't have to be the size of the vehicle - but must afford enough space to run it all out without kinks - nails provide good anchor points if you need to double back on the board you are going to use.
Find the longest lead you are going to need - usually the one which runs from the lighting switch to the rear left indicator - once you have marked that out on your board work backwards - use masking tape to temporarily group the leads as they are added - ALWAYS allow more wire than you need - much easier to cut if off than to join, solder and shrink tube it.
You may wish to colour the board as you work - someone else is going to very much appreciate your efforts - it becomes a communal thing.......
and.... I know you are going to ask - mine............? sorry, got "lost" somewhere whilst moving house three times............ very much not happy Jan!
When you have all your wires ready to go - it is then time to trial fit it into the vehicle - you should end up with nicely packed sets of leads - this is all a loom is without it's covering - I fitted mine into plastic rippled tubing - most just wrap tape over itself and tie off the ends - I find with the tubing, it is quite easy to prise it open at any point and splice a new lead without having to destroy tape binding if the other method is used.
When you have all the loom done, bind it up - I don't know that the masking tape would ever heat enough to ignite - I replaced all mine with insulation tape.
Once the loom is in place, you will have cut ended wires everywhere - this is now the time to consider low long to cut each lead and what to terminate with - for critical stuff I use eyed terminals - for non-critical I use open ended - I feel the critical stuff will at least stay in contact if the screws come loose. Open ended are much easier to work with at a later time, just loosen and remove..............
I always crimp, solder and shrink tube my terminals - in that order........ I don't know a better alternative - yet.....
I purchased the expensive terminal tool - with interchangeable "jaws" - I am now very much a disciple of using these as opposed to the cheapies....
This should give your something to consider - just plan a bit.
You would also be well advised as mentioned above - to consider running a few "extra" wires - you will very much appreciate this when a new system is added - only needing to find which additional lead can be employed.......
We'll come to terminating and connections later - this is enough for now - as mentioned, it's not hard - but you must plan it out.
frats,
Rosco
I have just about completely re-wired my entire vehicle - as Trev mentions, if you can afford it - let the auto sparky have some fun with your car and money..................
Looms usually create fear in just about most people I have ever known who suffer electrical problems.............. they are just wires, grouped and secured - usually by non sticky black insulation tape.
It is definitely not hard, but you will need a lot of patience.
Probably the best advice I have to offer if you want to take this on, is to find a purveyor of good quality wire - I used the more expensive Marine grade - it is silver stranded. I spent quite a few coupons on many spools of different gauges and colours - in hindsight I'm glad I did.
Your first MUST is a notebook - write everything down - you may not be able to get wire in original colours........... I couldn't.
Don't rip the existing wire out willy-nilly - even if it's pretty much stuffed, dirty or even broken - it will serve as a very good guide to what you will need in length.
Don't try to run your leads in the vehicle - make up a large board using well secured nails. It doesn't have to be the size of the vehicle - but must afford enough space to run it all out without kinks - nails provide good anchor points if you need to double back on the board you are going to use.
Find the longest lead you are going to need - usually the one which runs from the lighting switch to the rear left indicator - once you have marked that out on your board work backwards - use masking tape to temporarily group the leads as they are added - ALWAYS allow more wire than you need - much easier to cut if off than to join, solder and shrink tube it.
You may wish to colour the board as you work - someone else is going to very much appreciate your efforts - it becomes a communal thing.......
and.... I know you are going to ask - mine............? sorry, got "lost" somewhere whilst moving house three times............ very much not happy Jan!
When you have all your wires ready to go - it is then time to trial fit it into the vehicle - you should end up with nicely packed sets of leads - this is all a loom is without it's covering - I fitted mine into plastic rippled tubing - most just wrap tape over itself and tie off the ends - I find with the tubing, it is quite easy to prise it open at any point and splice a new lead without having to destroy tape binding if the other method is used.
When you have all the loom done, bind it up - I don't know that the masking tape would ever heat enough to ignite - I replaced all mine with insulation tape.
Once the loom is in place, you will have cut ended wires everywhere - this is now the time to consider low long to cut each lead and what to terminate with - for critical stuff I use eyed terminals - for non-critical I use open ended - I feel the critical stuff will at least stay in contact if the screws come loose. Open ended are much easier to work with at a later time, just loosen and remove..............
I always crimp, solder and shrink tube my terminals - in that order........ I don't know a better alternative - yet.....
I purchased the expensive terminal tool - with interchangeable "jaws" - I am now very much a disciple of using these as opposed to the cheapies....
This should give your something to consider - just plan a bit.
You would also be well advised as mentioned above - to consider running a few "extra" wires - you will very much appreciate this when a new system is added - only needing to find which additional lead can be employed.......
We'll come to terminating and connections later - this is enough for now - as mentioned, it's not hard - but you must plan it out.
frats,
Rosco
Last edited by rosco on Sat May 17, 2008 9:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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farkamhall
- Posts: 95
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:20 pm
- State: NOT ENTERED
- Location: NSW
forgot
Woke me up early this morning - forgot to mention about wire..........
don't be fooled by looking at the size of the outside insulation - take a very close look at the actual wire - I have seen what appears to be heavy wire end up being mostly insulation and only a half a dozen strands of thin copper within.
You may find using wire with the most strands more suitable - I do not fully understand the physics of electricity, but am of the opinion the more strands - the easier the passage of electrons - for higher amperage use coarser strands to cope with load.............. this is how I understand relevance to choosing wire.........
frats,
Rosco
don't be fooled by looking at the size of the outside insulation - take a very close look at the actual wire - I have seen what appears to be heavy wire end up being mostly insulation and only a half a dozen strands of thin copper within.
You may find using wire with the most strands more suitable - I do not fully understand the physics of electricity, but am of the opinion the more strands - the easier the passage of electrons - for higher amperage use coarser strands to cope with load.............. this is how I understand relevance to choosing wire.........
frats,
Rosco
For automotive use stick to the multi stranded wiring- the highest amperage stuff is actually solid single core.
The finer stranded wire is better suited to automotive use because it is more resistant to breakage from movement and vibration - especially if it is being run to a door ,etc where there is bending of the cable involved.
The finer stranded wire is better suited to automotive use because it is more resistant to breakage from movement and vibration - especially if it is being run to a door ,etc where there is bending of the cable involved.
I started with nothing and still have most of it left.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
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farkamhall
- Posts: 95
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:20 pm
- State: NOT ENTERED
- Location: NSW
i used a kit from airride technologies to completely rewire my FC sedan. im no sparky but have a very ( read very) basic comprehension of electricity, i found this kit very easy to install and when orderd i was asked what i would be running, this helped them determine what to include.
i bought the micro panel which is a very small fuse panel and has evrything i would ever need including spare wires and circuts for air con and power windows etc. everything is colour coded and marked with its purpose.
to install i just laid everything out beside the car and worked out what went where, and taped it into sections there was ample wire to run everything for the front of car up under the guards. the instructions were very simple to understand and when i did have a question they were only too happy to help out over the phone.
only took a couple of days to install the whole thing, but it depends on how fussy you want to get with hiding it all. i was pretty fussy
but as mentioned write every modifaction you do to the wiring as this will help you in the future or someone else to trace any problems..
when it came time to test circuts instead of hooking a battery up and risking fire i used a battery charger, but remeber some of these use a pulse to charge. just take that into consideration.
remember the mysterious blue smoke is a bad thing in wiring. 
hope this helps
dean
i bought the micro panel which is a very small fuse panel and has evrything i would ever need including spare wires and circuts for air con and power windows etc. everything is colour coded and marked with its purpose.
to install i just laid everything out beside the car and worked out what went where, and taped it into sections there was ample wire to run everything for the front of car up under the guards. the instructions were very simple to understand and when i did have a question they were only too happy to help out over the phone.
only took a couple of days to install the whole thing, but it depends on how fussy you want to get with hiding it all. i was pretty fussy
but as mentioned write every modifaction you do to the wiring as this will help you in the future or someone else to trace any problems..
when it came time to test circuts instead of hooking a battery up and risking fire i used a battery charger, but remeber some of these use a pulse to charge. just take that into consideration.
remember the mysterious blue smoke is a bad thing in wiring. hope this helps
dean
growing old is manditory
growing up is optional !
growing up is optional !
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Sammy
- Posts: 664
- Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:06 pm
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- Location: Tenambit, NSW.
- Contact:
another option which is possibly worth looking at is getting a wiring loom from another car.
for example i am putting a commodore v6 in my car and i am actually using the entire loom from this car and just splicing it into my headlights and swtiches etc ... having said that the VR loom i am using is probably overkill if your going for a standard re-wire ...
in that case something like a Torana loom is a good option, as they are simple with not too many accessories that you wouldn't use.
might be a cheaper/easiest way than re-inventing the wheel ...
for example i am putting a commodore v6 in my car and i am actually using the entire loom from this car and just splicing it into my headlights and swtiches etc ... having said that the VR loom i am using is probably overkill if your going for a standard re-wire ...
in that case something like a Torana loom is a good option, as they are simple with not too many accessories that you wouldn't use.
might be a cheaper/easiest way than re-inventing the wheel ...
Regards,
Sammy.
http://www.oldholdens.com
Sammy.
http://www.oldholdens.com
smamy's option is another one but you have to be careful that the loom you are getting from the donor vehicle is in good condition otherwise you may just be importing some more troubles. also take into consideration the age of some of these cars now. a 30 year old wire may not be as efficient as new wire due to many factors and not just the material it is constructed from. corrosion and deteriation have to be considered, and any sort of modification the previous donor vehicle may have had or just backyard bodgy joins. i know when i pulled my wiring out from the FC when i bought it there were some really scary joins and exposed wires on live circuts which would have caused all sorts of problems down the track
but it would be an easier swap to do.
its up to you and your level of confidence, also budget.
dean
but it would be an easier swap to do.
its up to you and your level of confidence, also budget.
dean
growing old is manditory
growing up is optional !
growing up is optional !