Wirin'

[Don Coatney]

A good soldering iron is key to any re-wire job. And a good one comes in many flavors.

 

 

A good set of strippers and crimpers is also required. 

 

 

Buy your connectors in bulk as you will use a lot of them.

 

 

And you should have a heat shrink gun in your toolbox.

 

 

Nothing looks and conducts better than a soldered connection wrapped in heat shrink tubing.

 

[mopar_earl]

sticking with the 6 volt system, given poor grounds and such of the body/frame/battery as pertaining to grounds over the course of the years and oxidation.....yes...upping the gauge will do no harm...

I also ran ground straps from engine to body and engine to frame. I despise voltage drops. Lol I also installed overkill gauge battery cables. She spins over like 12v. Also the dry cell battery has more capacity than the wet cell helps.

Earl

[Plymouthy Adams]

ok folks..time for a bit of humor...just off facebook....wife shared this with me..seems the guy on there was telling someone that if he take the electric wire and fold it back it will cut off the flow of electricity just like a water hose will stop the flow of water....am sure this guy is in for the SHOCK of his life as he gets a SHORT course in electricity..soon to be the brightest person in the room...just a tad worse than folks that think letting the smoke out is what kills a wired circuit

[Frank Elder]

That is some sad humor there has been on fb a long time.....no one takes it serious....lol.

[Don Coatney]

Everyone knows that your house power supply will not work until it connects to a ground so the current flows back to the electric company so they can recycle it and sell it back to you.

[Frank Elder]

Everyone knows that your house power supply will not work until it connects to a ground so the current flows back to the electric company so they can recycle it and sell it back to you.

I saw the biggest moccasins today...........

[Oldguy48]

Thomas & Betts and AMP are a couple of manufacturers that make high quality terminals. Check with your local electrical distributors for the better quality terminals. Marine supply vendors generally have good quality wire (high strand count for flexibility, oil & gas resistant insulation, tinned conductors for corrosion resistance). If you choose to crimp your connectors, subject them to a "tug test" prior to making the connections. The crimp should withstand a good strong "tug" on the wire. Even a good quality properly calibrated crimper won't produce a good crimp with inferior or incorrect crimp terminals. (First hand experience on this).

If you have concerns about high temperatures, you can get Teflon insulated wire that will withstand the heat. And ifyou aren't sure of the proper gauge, go bigger.

Of course, none of this info applies if you want to retain the original style, and color of the wire.

Wayne

Edited February 11, 2016 by Oldguy48

[deathbound]

Mopar wiring code information

Very small wire that is Solid in color is 18ga.

Small wire that is Solid base color and 1 stitch of tracer color (either Black or White) is 16ga.

Medium wire that is Solid base color and 2 stitchs of tracer color (either Black or White) is 14ga.

Large wire that is Solid base color and 3 stitchs of tracer color (either Black or White) is 12ga.

Large wire that is Solid in color is 10ga.

Very Large wire that is Solid base color and 1 stitch of tracer color (either Black or White) is 8ga.

(these Very Large wires would run from Ammeter to Starter, and Ammeter to Ignition Switch)

Also - you may find some wires that are what we call a snakeskin pattern where the base color is two different colors with any number of tracers. The number of tracers on snakeskin wire designates the same gauges as above.(1 tracer=16ga. 2 tracer=14ga...etc...)

This information was supplied by Rhode Island Wiring Service Inc. www.riwire.com

[Plymouthy Adams]

very good information with the above post...this may be useful if your old harness is still intact enough to see these tracers...one may have to carefully cut back into a harness to find solid enough cloth overlay.   Dodge schematic has color and wire gauge printed, not so most Plymouth schematics...however one can copy the gauges and color from the Dodge book over to the Plymouth easily by component application. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

Frank Elder, on 10 Feb 2016 - 8:20 PM, said:

I saw the biggest moccasins today...........

yeah...maybe 2 or 2 1/2 cowhides...

[Bobacuda]

50 Coupe -

I had never rewired a vehicle before I did my B4B.  I took photos of the wiring harnesses before I pulled them.  I labeled each end and I labeled each harness.  I went the extra mile and drew diagrams and notes to myself to remind me how they were installed.  Once you get the harnesses out, mount them on a flat board.  The dash on the truck does not come out (only the instruments do), so all of my work was done on a bench. I would strip a portion of the original taping back to expose the old wires to make certain I had the right color and gage, and I would measure each wire, so everything was cut to length.  When I assembled the new harnesses, I knew what they looked like, had the same lengths, each end was labeled, and the installation was quick.

 

It was no where near as bad as I had anticipated.

[50 coupe]

Thomas & Betts and AMP are a couple of manufacturers that make high quality terminals. Check with your local electrical distributors for the better quality terminals. Marine supply vendors generally have good quality wire (high strand count for flexibility, oil & gas resistant insulation, tinned conductors for corrosion resistance). If you choose to crimp your connectors, subject them to a "tug test" prior to making the connections. The crimp should withstand a good strong "tug" on the wire. Even a good quality properly calibrated crimper won't produce a good crimp with inferior or incorrect crimp terminals. (First hand experience on this).

If you have concerns about high temperatures, you can get Teflon insulated wire that will withstand the heat. And ifyou aren't sure of the proper gauge, go bigger.

Of course, none of this info applies if you want to retain the original style, and color of the wire.

Wayne

Yes, this was some the of info I am looking for. Thanks for all the other tips also!!

[desoto1939]

Ok here we go to take all of the guess work out of the proper cable and proper ends to use.  I have a copy of the MOPAR Cables - Terminals Fittings and Fuses. This has been scanned as a PDF document is  available on CD. this covers the Ply, dodge, Chrysler, Desoto and Dofde trucks from 1928 to 1940 Also in the middle of the catalog is a picture of 40 Plymouth that shows the typical wire and the guage and from what spoo lthe waire would have come from off the shelf.

 

If interested then contact me.  I can not officially offer to sell the catalog on this part of the forum but contact me and we can talk.

 

Rich HArtung

Desoto1939@aol.com

cell 484-431-8157  home 610-630-9188

Edited February 11, 2016 by desoto1939

[DonaldSmith]

Here's photos of the new wiring in my DeSoto.  I removed the headliner.  (I probably should have found another way; I didn't get the headliner tight enough.  Oh, well.  While the headliner was out, I primed the exposed steel roof and stuck on an insulating duct wrap.) 

 

I had problems feeding the bundle of wires through the windshield post.  I think I wound up using a pull cord to pull each wire through.

 

[JD luxury liner]

You might look at Dell city wire products. Lots of colors & accessories , all wire sizes & free shipping over $100 bucks. 

[Mike Petersen]

I do a lot of rewire jobs on RV's I use solder connectors with heat shrink like these it makes the job a bit easier and you can get a similar connector from your NAPA store. 

 

• 
• 

Edited February 12, 2016 by Mike Petersen

[Eneto-55]

Yeah, I know, two year old thread.  Back to life (maybe).

As a comment on previous posts, in my business I use a hair dryer to do the shrink tube.

 

Back in 1980 when I started this project, I repaired the wiring harness (mostly under-hood damage from exposure, since the hood had been off for who knows how long) with cloth covered wire my brother & I had stripped out of other old cars.  But now I'm looking at this differently, because when I started it, I was only thinking of building a nice daily driver, now I'm thinking collector car.  (Of course it is now twice as old, too.)  So in evaluating the condition of the wiring now, I think that now is the time to do the whole job. (Interior & headliner is all out, etc.)  I don't know how much the condition of the wire has changed since I stopped working on it in 1982 or 83, but it is stiff, and if you bend it, you can feel the rubber cracking up inside the cloth wrap.  

 

I had found what looked like a really good deal on some modern (plastic coated) wire that I figured I would use everywhere it won't show, but then as I read the reviews, I saw people saying that it was actually some metric wire, and not really the gauge as advertised (I was looking for 12 gauge), but something less than that.  Another reviewer stated that some months later the plastic insulation had began to turn into some sort of sticky goo.  So, buyer beware is the word, I guess.  Then of course there is also the fact that the original wire was tinned copper, so much less susceptible to corrosion.  And I haven't seen any evidence of corrosion on this wiring any place on the car.  So that leads to marine grade wire, or, a question about the original looking wire available now from various sites - Is it tinned, or is it common copper wire?

 

I have received some samples of fire proof woven fiberglass wire sheathing that could be slipped over the existing wire, either with or without the original rubber & cloth coating.  Wouldn't be water proof anymore, however.  I experimented a bit with a permanent marker, and the fiberglass will take the color.  (I could also make modern wire look somewhat more like the original wiring in this way as well.)

 

So I guess I need some help making up my mind on this.  

[50 coupe]

My only real experience was rewiring my coupe, here is what I learned while researching here on this site. Get a wiring diagram for your car. Typically a service manual will include it. Don't use any gauge less than 14ga, even if the original used 16 ga. There are companies that produce repop. harnesses including ones that replicate the original looking cloth covered. If you are going to do your own rewire  piece by piece, do one wire at a time so you can see where it begins and ends. Also, quality wire isn't that expensive and will be well worth it. You don't want to have to replace faulting wires in a few years. Make good connectors with solder and shrink tube and clean all connection points so there is no corrosion or rust, especially grounding points on the car body or frame. 

[Eneto-55]

Speaking of the wiring diagram, I've seen comments that there were both early & late P15 diagrams.  I'm thinking that the one I have (PDF downloaded from this site) must be the late one, because the colors do not match with what I see on my 46 model. 

Also, I'm a bit confused on this - the diagram shows two wires going to the headlight, but there is actually only one wire on each headlight harness.  That's why I'm wondering how careful they really were to follow the color charts, or are there variations between the different manufacturing plants?  

 

Edit (07-28-2018):  I don't know what I was thinking about when I said that there is only one wire on the headlight leads.  I have two sets, one from my 46, and another set from my 49 1st series parts car, and both have two leads.  Since both the headlights and the "fender lights" (as they are called on the wiring diagram) have a rubber coated lead from the light to the terminal block, I suspect I was looking at my notes for the fender lights, not the headlights.  

Edited July 28, 2018 by Eneto-55
correcting a mis-statement

[Plymouthy Adams]

if you have high and low beams....you have three wires at the bulb, ground which is usually connected to the housing, lead for low beam, lead for high beam...

[Young Ed]

1 hour ago, Eneto-55 said:

Speaking of the wiring diagram, I've seen comments that there were both early & late P15 diagrams.  I'm thinking that the one I have (PDF downloaded from this site) must be the late one, because the colors do not match with what I see on my 46 model. 

Also, I'm a bit confused on this - the diagram shows two wires going to the headlight, but there is actually only one wire on each headlight harness.  That's why I'm wondering how careful they really were to follow the color charts, or are there variations between the different manufacturing plants?  

 

I know the one big difference was they changed the location of the horn relay from out front at the horns to under the hood. I don't think that would change how anything was connected but it would change any lengths if those were mentioned. 

[Mike Petersen]

Suppose I got lucky. A few years back on Craigslist I ran across I guy that had  a Rhode Island harness. For some reason he had bought a D24 harness for a late 30's Desoto. Didn't ask to many questions. Gave him his $200.00 and left. Also picked up a Tourqeflight X L6 adapter from him.

[Eneto-55]

11 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

if you have high and low beams....you have three wires at the bulb, ground which is usually connected to the housing, lead for low beam, lead for high beam...

 

I was mistaken about only having a single wire on the headlight leads - and I have edited in a correction on that post.  But if the 49 1st series did not have high & low beam, then when did they start that?  (Or was it an option?)  I have a hard time imagining a car that recent w/o both high & low beam headlights.

[Plymouthy Adams]

a picture or incorrect schematic does not a car make.....some times a schematic will show a common path as a bundle then breakout at the actual component...

[Eneto-55]

It might be on this site someplace, but I don't tend to have much success in doing searches on forums - all of them on which I participate, not just this one.  I do alright on the internet search engines, but can't seem to find what I'm looking for on here, even things I know are here, having read them before.  So please excuse me for asking this again, if someone has posted about this.

 

Question: Has someone worked out how much wire is needed for each color to do a standard P15 wiring harness?   (How much to order of each.)