wire followup

[ash00]

Hey gang,

Anybody interested in wire from my previous post, I'm getting closer to place an order. This again is 14g, TXL grade in some of the colors BMWs have. There are micro-penny differences between grades, so I'm jsut going to go with the best grade.

I'll most likely be buying 1000ft rolls to keep costs down and I just picked up a wire counter from Craigslist so I can cut to any length you need. It'll most likely be around $0.11/ft. +shipping. I don't have extra spools but I'll see if I can purchase extras for any large lengths, so they can be just coiled up

Although I can't get all the colors (too much money upfront), I wanted to see if I can confirm the colors for people (The first is the primary, second is the spiral stripe)

Grey/White

Grey/Black

Green/Grey

Green/Blue

Green/White

Green/Yellow

Green/Red

Blue/red

Blue/White

Blue/Black

Brown/Blue

Brown/Yellow

Brown/green

Black/Green

I'll keep everyone updated, but I won't place the order until next week sometime.

Cheers,

Aashish

[jerry]

it's been my experience that the wires suffering the most degradation are the ones in the engine bay, specifically between the regulator and alternator as they are oil soaked and subject to grounding issues over time. additionally the wires along the firewall take a beating.

my guess is you'll use more of the red/black, green, green/blue than the others.

you may want to consider trying to locate a used harness for material before investing large amounts on rewiring from scratch.

spend more time replacing worn out/dirty connectors and solder/insulate/shrink-wrap your splices and you should be good for several more decades.

typically, i've seen that for the most part, aside from abrasion, oil, and PO splicing, and worn out terminal ends, these harnesses can be refurbished fairly easily.

i also like to use some silicone sleeves available from McMaster-Carr available in black or white to make neat OEM-looking wraps. i HATE finding that crappy plastic corregated wire sleave junk in these cars.

[ash00]

Sound advice for sure.

I actually started my rewire from scratch a few years back, and have thought about actual routing, wire grade, etc.

I had a few older harnesses and after dissecting them, I realized that I couldn't retain any of the plugs and the wires. The wires were completely dried and frayed. Since I was doing multiple cars, I went with spools rather than buying put-ups for much more money. I went with a general Deutsch automotive connector that can easily be dissassembled, sealed, and can handle the temp gradiants.

In this case, I don't want redundancy in the color scheme and I have a few other projects planned, so I wanted to go the spool route. Since I have to get the striped ones in bulk - I figure I'd extend this to anybody who needed wire rather than spending a ton on painless or crappy quality ones from the hardware stores.

[JackF]

I know you do not want to go the Painless Kit complete as I did on the 72, but I must say that their wire quality is excellent. Summit has a large selection of colors in much shorter rolls. By the time I finished, I was surprised at the total cost of material for this project. The connectors got pricey for sure.

[ash00]

yep-

checked all that out as well. I might be getting the wire now for around 7-8 cents a foot now which changes things. You are indeed correct though as everything does nickel and dime you in the end. I used the painless kit a while ago on one of my cars, and it turned out to be pretty painful. It had a lot of circuits that I didn't use and ones that I needed that it didn't have.

[ash00]

Crap..the quote I got was for 18 gauge...this changes things.

[Armond]

Ash,

I can get thw or any kind of wire at cost. Let me know the type and how much you need and I'll get you a price. I also have 750 ft of 5/8" black braided sleeves (like what painless sells) at a great almost givaway price. It's been sitting on a shelf collecting dust. E-mail me if you want.

[ash00]

Hey Armond

Can you get those colors in TXL grade (spiral colored), 14g? If so-- email me with the price. Thanks!!

[Armond]

Hey Armond

Can you get those colors in TXL grade (spiral colored), 14g? If so-- email me with the price. Thanks!!

all colors you previously listed at a thousand foot spools each?

[ash00]

If you can score smaller quantities, then let me know- but so far the minimum quantity Ive been finding is 1000ft for striped. But yes, the colors above in 14g TXL.

Thanks!

[Armond]

If you can score smaller quantities, then let me know- but so far the minimum quantity Ive been finding is 1000ft for striped. But yes, the colors above in 14g TXL.

Thanks!

I'll make calls on Monday and will get back to you. Send me your contact info.

[peteinjp]

.11 per foot is a much better price than these guys- but if there are colors that you will not stock you can probably source them here:

http://www.riwire.com/

In addition to straight and spiral trace plastic wire they also have tons off quality terminals, junction blocks,flat braid ground, chunks of solder for dipping soldered joints, high temp braided material for the harness parts on the engine etc, etc. I got almost all of the wire I used to restore/upgrade (lighting) there. Extremely knowledgeable folks. I live in R.I. when I restored my car and went to their shop. They are one of the last producers of quality braided wire. The machines that they use to make it are also use to make shoe laces..... they are ancient.

I told them I was using the wire for a 73 BMW and they said "oh, a new car."

Highly recommended...

pete

[peteinjp]

Oh and they produce harnesses for 327's 328's and 507''s. check out the list of under foreign cars. Quite impressive and I'm sure the quality is excellent.

pete