re wire the whole shootin match

squeeezer · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:48 pm Post subject: re wire the whole shootin match

Im gutting 100% of the electrical in the trans am
what have you used to do so
Looking at the following
Speedwire$$$$$$$ but nice
Spaghetti menders
Or go painless???

Id rather skip a season than run this rat nest

And no im not skipping a season!!!!!!

10sec.et · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:48 am Post subject:

Ron Francis 24/7 harness. http://www.ronfrancis.com/products.asp?dept=98

this is what we install in 95% of our cars.

squeeezer · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:31 am Post subject:

I like it
"We" meaning the shop you work at?

10sec.et · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject:

yes, the shop. technically, it should still be "me" but i dont order the parts, i just install them.

i do like the RF harnesses better than the other ones ive used. only thing i dont like is that some of the wires are pre-made and are very long. i cant bring myself to roll them up and stuff them under the dash so i have to cut them to length, solder and heat shrink. the three specific wires are the two power wires to the headlight switch and the power wire to the dimmer switch. i also remove the connectors, solder and heat shrink some of the other wiring simply because i dont like connections in the middle of the harness. Texas humidity is not nice to connectors.

clay · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:35 pm Post subject:

SMOKEmUP · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:52 pm Post subject:

When / if I ever get my 79 Z back on the road I need to re-wire it as well. Keep us posted how it works out.

clay · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:32 pm Post subject:

Some follow up on the bus bar failure. We actually just did the final fix yesterday which should eliminate the problem. The cause of the problem was the electric fan. We're using the 95 Thunderbird fan which as most of us know is one bad mother. Even though the wiring harness supplied a feed for it, evidently it was at the maximum it could supply all the time. I tested the fan in my buddies Mustang and it pulls about 11.5 amps once it gets up to speed. The Ford fan pulls right at 20. The harness only had a 10 ga. wire feeding everything - fan, lights, air conditioner, etc. and to me that was just undersized as we measured almost 40 amps with everything on. Yesterday we pulled the feed for the fan directly off the battery which should take the majority of the load off the harness and prevent any future problems. Clay

Big Dave · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:15 pm Post subject:

Clay starter relay switches off of a Toyota can be your friend depending upon the amperage load. I use the AutoZone cheap part for almost all heavy loads as they are rated at 120 Amps and I don't know of too many things other than a starter that draws that much current. They are like a Ford remote starter solenoid only more compact.

By using an oversized contactor the points do not burn up as fast as they are generally larger in size and have heavier gage wire inside the relay. I feed a direct line to the battery terminal bus which I mount on the inner fender, jumping to the other side of the relay to feed the load (fuel pumps, or head lights, anything that draws over 10 Amps continuous as measured by my Klien digital clamp on Amp meter from the big box hardware store.

Big Dave

clay · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:01 pm Post subject:

Actually I already had a relay because the A/C switch turns the fan on also in addition to the compessor clutch (which actually doesn't pull that much). Where I got power to supply the relay was my problem. The wiring harness had a circuit labeled "fan" so I used it. It was a 20 amp circuit but I know the fan pulled right at 20 amps so I think over time it found a weakness. Now it gets supplied directly from the battery as you mentioned so hopefully problem solved. I am going to keep the Toyota applicaition in mind for future use though - any particular year or vehicle? You know how parts stores are - beter tell me automatic, stick, what year, what color, with or without a/c, powersteering, etc., etc. Laughing

.Clay

squeeezer · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:20 pm Post subject:

i would never use a 20 amp circuit to operate a 20 amp item
the manufacturers dont either
a 30 amp would be more suitable in that application
as we know when motors get old or worn out they draw more

aka silverado fuel pumps Laughing

10sec.et · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:22 pm Post subject:

unless its a cheap POS fan, it will pull a decent ammount of amps. when i wire one (or two) up, i use a 40 amp MAXI fuse with the giant fuse holder. i run 12 gauge wire and use a 70 amp relay (from Ron Francis). i dont like connections directly at the battery because they always build corrosion with the humidity. i use a power stud that i supply power via a 4ga batt cable.

Big Dave · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:34 am Post subject:

squeeezer · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject:

Picked speedwire spendy but nice
Better start takin pics

10sec.et · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject:

all i see on SpeedWire's website is boards and extra wire. do they not have harnesses ?

squeeezer · Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 3:18 pm Post subject:

there is no "HARNESS" as we know it
its like running the #30 pin of a relay to the device
its a simple racecar wire job for "street legal" classes