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53 B3 wiring


bergy

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I bought the wire and connectors from RI Wire and copied my old wiring to make my B4B's  harnesses.  I added directional signals.  The total cost of doing that roughly $250, if I remember correctly.   I think it took 2-3 weeks working several evenings and weekends.  It was not as hard as I thought it would be.  If I had to do it all over again, I would put all wires connected to the instrument cluster and the wipers on a connector to make it easier to pull the instruments when needed.

Do a search here and you will find several postings I made outlining the process. 

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Bergy, in my opinion it depends on you goal.

i wired two trucks (both b3's) with vinyl wire from "the wire barn" for $140.99 and still have close to enough for a third, but I didn't care about it being vinyl coated.

my b4d I am currently working on I want cloth covered. I just placed an order two days ago (Wednesday) with "Tom's wire.... " that Keven shows above for $144.02

the difference for me was Tom sells by the foot and I didn't see that option with "R.I"

If I was in a hurry and didn't want to mess around with the DYI, I would have gone to Rhode Island....

FYI, I ordered my cloth wire without tracers.... I figure the only person that will ever see it and know better is ggdad1951. :D

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B1BKeven,

I understand that there is a special wire for the horn button. Some of the kits come with a wire.  I was tole that is was a stainless steel  cored wire that was resistant to breakage. Have you found a source for it. I didn't see it on Tom's engine barn.

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I made the wire for my horn from the size and color wire shown in wiring diagram.  to make the button on the end, I soldered the wire, then I put flux inside a barrel nut (with a flat end, matched the size of the horn wire's terminal) and soldered the line inside of it.  I replaced my old line with that and it has worked great.

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Thanks Guys,

I heard about the wire being different a while back and looked all over online for something that might work. I was interested in others experience with it. When I browsed this thread it reminded me of that and saw Keven had one of the best wire sources I have seen for vintage wire. I might have done mine different had I known of it sooner but I hand wired mine weeks ago. Not all that different from the motorcycles I have built and wired.

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8 hours ago, ggdad1951 said:

last I knew VPW had the horn wire

I missed it, all I saw was the horn kits. But you're right they do have the wire. The kit would have been ok in a pinch but I have my eyes on a Grant steering wheel and horn kit. 

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Ok thanks for telling me a 1/2 ton 53 is a b4. I am glad to be corrected. If anyone has used rusty hopes disc conversion- and it's so far an ok project.i was concerned about the rotor  spacer on the spindle spinning- due to the tight fit of the hub seal - but I used GM brand panel bond and it won't spin no more. Trying to drill - it seems like hardened steel is kinda tough. I had mine done here in town for less than a hundred. That's drilling and all the tapping .thanks for your help.

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Some of us have a B3B that is registered as a 53. It's not unheard of that a 52-made model was sold in 53. Just check your V.I.N. tag for the correct model.

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If your harness is crusty, etc but intact, you could get a patient friend and pull in each new wire by pulling out the old. Possibly a one saturdays task. Do turn signals separately, they are an independent harness. Estimated cost less than $100. 

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As I said earlier, I pulled the harnesses, mounted them on plywood, ordered the correct size and color code (and terminals) from RI Wire.  Built each harness, and added directional signals.  Took me about 2 weeks of working a couple of hours at night, plus a couple of full week ends.  Cost was about $250 total.

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