I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but like pretty much everything else I do in life, it comes down to money or lack thereof.

I'm doing a partial restoration of my '68 442--pretty much gutting the interior, patching the floor, and then putting in new accoustishied, carpet, headliner, seat covers. I'll be repainting the dash and getting my clock fixed.

Question is this: I want to replace the wiring harnesses. It just seems like a good idea after 40 years to replace all of it. Am I off on this or should I try to keep the original wiring? I guess the only issue I'm having is that I could use the $450 for the dash harness and 140 for the rear light harness (I'll get the engine and forward light harnesses when I get to that stage) on other things. However, I just have a feeling I'm going to regret it if I don't replace them and get everything working as new.

Thoughts?

 

Unless yours is hacked up or damaged I would leave it alone. Look it over good for damage make any small repairs if nessasary and use it. Its its been cut and spliced 10 times like a lot of old cars I would replace it.

 

I have to admit that I'm continually puzzled by folks who are ready to spend hundreds of dollars for new wire harnesses. Unless the wiring is damaged, I fail to see the need for a wholesale replacement. You can purchase individual terminals for the Packard 56 series connectors, as well as the plastic connectors themselves. You can buy automotive grade wire in a wide variety of colors. You simply need to replace individual wires that are damaged. Terminals are a few cents apiece.

 

The wiring harness generally does not go bad unless there has been a short circuit somewhere and the wires are actually melted, or if someone has previously messed with it by cutting and splicing wires.
However the connectors, switches and contacts do go bad due to oxidization of the copper terminals. The connectors can usually be cleaned up without a lot of effort.
What I would do (and have done with my car already) is inspect the wiring harness for any signs of melted insulation or bad splices in the harness. I even removed the tape from my harness and inspected the wires and retaped it. It took a bit of time but didn't cost me more than $5.00 in tape (I used black hockey tape for that original look).
I only had to replace one red #10 guage wire because it had been melted.

That's my opinion anyway....

 

Ditto for what has been said already.
If only one bad splice or two, they can be properly repaired by soldering and quality heat shrink tubing. Wirenuts and crimp connectors are accidents waiting to happen.

BTW, what is "accoustishied"? Typo??


Now I am very curious where I can buy the Packard 56 terminals and connector bodies, without having to buy bulk-loads of them. I only need a few singles ends...

OPG sells the non-sticky wire wrap tape for about 11 bucks a roll and it will easily do one whole car. I found it works and looks good...

 

Wow. Well, I'm glad I asked. Some good advice here. I'll simply go over the harness and see what needs to be replaced. Hopefully it hasn't been hacked up.

It's this. http://www.quietride.com/acoustishield.html

 

My 4 years in the USAF did teach me a lot about wiring and it has been valuable over the years (a lot of them since the USAF) in dealing with old cars. Rob gave really good advice about soldering and heat shrink tubing. Do not use crimp connectors and NEVER use wire nuts. When you are connecting wires, peel back a little insulation on each end, tin the wires with a little solder and then solder then together. Then shrink the tubing over the connection and you will never have to fool with it again. Shrink tubing comes in several sizes and colors. Use some electrical cleaner from Radio Shack to clean the connectors.

 

This is very good advice. Many of us (including me) have taken the lazy route by just twisting and taping. Even a good twisted connection topped off with a good electrical tape covering will come apart with ease, especially under heat (like the interior of a car in the summer). Just remember to disconnect the battery ground unless you're using some fancy soldering tool.

 

My local NAPA has the male and female type 56 connectors in small quantity packages hanging on the display rack that spins around with lots of other little oddball wiring connectors and pieces-parts, not in the catalog. I think they may have some bodies too but not sure. The bodies you can cut off any old GM wiring and pull the terminals out after you release the retainer and re-use them, 2blu442 probably has a few of them laying around.

Allan

 

That is good advice but I do not totally agree about NOT using crimp connectors.
If you use non insulated butt splice connectors with the proper crimp tool and then heat shrink it. I think that is just as good as a proper solder joint any day. Without the hassle of getting out your soldering iron and trying to solder the wires while laying on your back under the dash with dripping solder on your face......(ouch)
I have seen a lot of bad solder joints made even by people that call themselves professionals. If not done properly they are prone to breaking at the joint due to vibration.

 

Actually, all the factory connector terminals are crimp-style. In the aerospace business, we typically use MIL-STD-38999 connectors with crimp-style terminals. Do not confuse any of these with the hardware store style crimp terminals, however.

http://www.keefeperformance.com/packard56.html

On the following, search for "packard 56":

http://order.waytekwire.com/cgi-bin/...EBID(S0020):01

 

http://www.keefeperformance.com/packard56.html

On the following, search for "packard 56":

these look like a good deal. I got some while back 10 of each male and female for $9 and I thoght that was good.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cutla...Q5fAccessories

 

Thanks for the suggestions...

It looks like I will try Napa; I never even thought about them having this, but they have had other hard-to-find stuff in the past.

Waytekwire has a minimum order of 25 for either of the bodies, 4000 male terminals, and 1500 female terminals. If i go into actual car production, i will keep them in mind. On the main page, U/M said ea, which to me sounds like one... Nope.
Keefeperformance forces you to check out through pee-pal, so that ended that cold-turkey.

Getting them from junk cars would be a great idea, except around here, yards do not let you pull your own parts, and they never want to cut a wiring harness in case "someone wants to buy it whole". Heck I tried to buy a power door lock harness complete one time and the puller guy refused cause it would take to long to pull it. He ended up just hacking the ends off for me anyway... Go figure...