Just a couple of points from an electrical point of view.
Grease isnt a very good lube for electrical wiring.
It breaks down the insulation after a while.
Go to an electrical wholesaler and get a bottle of Slippery Lube.
Cheap and works a treat.
Solder isnt actually a good electrical connector.
Its purpose is for mechanical strength.
Just pushing the cores together like in the pic doesnt give a very good electrical joint.
And the solder just holds a bad electrical connection together.
Its not a given, but a possibility that a hot joint can be the result.
Make sure the cores are twisted tightly together before soldering.
Or, use a core strand from another bit of wire to wrap the joint tightly with a single layer before solder.
May not ever become a problem, but the possibility is there.
Still love your work.
Cheers
Rob
Hi Rob, I never knew that! thanks for that info. I love learning new stuff from you guys. Once I soldered it and while it was still soft I squeezed the join with pliers, more so to smooth it off but I think that will help with contact with the wires???
She's looking good. Silicon spray can be used to lube the grommet & not as messy to clean up.
Thanks Warren, yes it was messy. Had to wipe everything down again. My hands looked bloody with red grease over them.
Hydrogen peroxide shouldn’t make them brittle at all if you make a solution of about 6%-10% with water, perhaps use your street sweeper bristles to hold them beneath the liquid line (as they will float once the surface is oxidised sufficiently and enough bubbles form.) Place the container in a sunny spot for a week. Take your time securing the part below the surface of the liquid because If the item your whitening is allowed to float to the surface you’ll end up with a line etched in the part in the same plane as the surface level of the liquid. They’ll restore to the original colour whatever it was.
Disturbing the solder joint while it is still "plastic" almost ensures you will get a bad joint.
The solder crystallises for want of a better word.
Solder only is okay for bits that dont move.
Components on printed circuit boards for instance.
But for joins in wires, a good mechanical joint is really the first thing you need to get right.
That is where the electrical conductivity also comes from.
If you can easily pull the joint apart before solder, then it isnt really very good.
Soldering crimp lugs isnt the best option either.
Years ago I spent a week learning to solder properly.
It was a much shortened version of what NASA had developed for the space program.
From memory they saved tons of weight from the Apollo rockets by developing good soldering technique.
It also reduced the number of electrical/electronic failures.
It took something like an hour to do every solder joint.
Numerous practice attempts to perfect the technique on each and every joint.
Cheers
Rob
Rob, I remember doing the same course as part of my apprenticeship in the early 80's, I think it was called High reliability hand soldering, I still remember the good old Married Joint was the recomended way to join and solder cables.
Marty I am also with Rob when you said you moved the joint after soldering with your pliers. That will destroy the connection further and cause a hot joint.
Thanks for the wiring advice guys. Next question is how do I join the wires as not to make a bulbous join like when twisting wires together and folding it over?
I was thinking about using push bike tube between brackets and body. Is mastic a better option?. Cheers Ian
I used inner tube on the front of LJ, only for the purpose of not scratching the paint, theres not water ingress to worry about. The rear section where the brackets mount is not a high finished paint area, so Mastic only is my recommendation.
Thanks for the wiring advice guys. Next question is how do I join the wires as not to make a bulbous join like when twisting wires together and folding it over?
In an ideal world, replace the whole wire, from one end to the other, and put new crimps at each end.
There isn't really a great "low profile" way to join two wires in-line. Yours is low profile, but unfortunately as Rob pointed out, is not best practice for reliability.
In my High Performance Academy wiring course, it was made very clear that soldering should be avoided if there's a mechanical solution available. In my EFI wiring harness, everything is one wire terminal-to-terminal, apart from a few multi-wire splices, as demonstrated here:
You can do that as an in-line splice of two wires, of course, and then seal with Raychem SCL.
In the BODY of my car (wiring lighting harness etc.) I am guilty of using some solder sleeves, which are ridiculously convenient, but they're probably frowned upon a bit in a serious loom.
And when it comes to the end of the wire where it has a terminal... you can just buy new crimp terminals, and in some cases, the connectors themselves, from All Auto Recreations.
This is an old Torana connector with new wires and new terminals on a small harness I made for my car:
You just buy them in male & female, to suit different gauges.
Soldering into the old terminals once again is certainly not best practice. You really want to be using a fresh terminal with a fresh strain relief crimp as well:
I was replacing all the damaged wires in my loom, bridging and Y-ing off various connectors, changing where circuits got their power from in the fuse box etc. and used heaps of these replacement parts, with no soldering. They're like a dollar or two each, the only hard bit is knowing how many you'll need.
A bit out of focus, but a rough join ready to be soldered.
Most of the crimp terminals are still available with a bit of searching, so soldering ends on doesnt have to happen.
But. You need the right crimpers to do the job properly.
I think I have about 20 or more different types of crimpers. Some with exchangeable dies, others single purpose.
And I still dont have all the ones I want.
Those heatshrink/solder links should be avoided as much as the old wire splices that were popular with tow bar fitters years ago. You can get bare crimplinks that would be a lot better option. Again heatshrink over them.
I had a bit of a look at the HP Academy wiring course.
It does show some good practices, but a lot of it is overkill for a road car.
Even military helicopters dont go to that extreme, and they have set some pretty high standards in a lot of areas.
A mate was working on the Blackhawks wiring them up when they first came to Australia, and a lot of what he was instructed to do in regards to joining wires was not what I would have considered best practice even for a car.
Before you painted your bumpers with KBS did you clean them with the recommended KBS products?
I was concerned with mine that the chemicals may mark the chrome surface.
Graham.
Before you painted your bumpers with KBS did you clean them with the recommended KBS products?
I was concerned with mine that the chemicals may mark the chrome surface.
Graham.
Hi Graham, I used wax and grease remover then the KBS rust seal. Did this also on the LJ about 8 years ago, still rock solid and bumpers perfect. You need to tape up the bolt holes and will have to clean edges before KBS gets too hard.
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