Wire

Automotive wire is one of the cheaper grades of wire out there. Any auto store quality will be fine. The problem will be if you require striped wire. Tougher, if not impossible to find in small quantities.

An electrician I know once told me something that I never forgot. He said that all copper wire is the same -- the only difference is solid or stranded; but not a huge difference between the two as far as performance goes. As far as what makes one wire better than another -- it is the quality of the insulation that everyone is talking about.

So yes, you want to get the best wire -- you want the best insulation you can get. I do not know the difference in insulation, you'll have to do a little research on your own for that.

Best of luck,

Mark

What ever you do, do not use solid wire unless you want fatigue and breakage. I doubt you could find it in an automotive type anyway. The insulation is a simple PVC.

Thanks. Yeah, I guess the toughest part will be finding the correct colors. I'm going to replace whole runs so I don't add splices.
I did think there was some "higher quality" wire, meaning heat resistant insulation.

Try this...

http://www.wiringproducts.com/

Thanks. Does appear the striped will be the issue. BTW, I'm attempting to attach a photo of what I found.

Here's another source for wire:

http://www.waytekwire.com

Thanks, David. Looks like Painless has a bunch as well.

I believe that our wiring harnesses were british sourced? If so, there is a great resource for the strange wire colours that only the british can supply. Here is a place that I have used for a couple of my british made vehicles, and they would have what you are looking for colour wise on your wire loom needs for sure:

British Wiring

Best of luck!!

Mark

Pops what steps are you going to take to avoid this happening again?

Off topic: I recently had a consultancy job at a major Danish offshore windmill developer. They had a project raising a 1GW windfarm, approx 120 km from shore. It was calculated that the amount of copper needed to provide the cable to shore in a diameter that would avoid major losses due to resistance, that amount of copper would equal the world production of copper in a year. The project is now "pending"

I should really put my name in my profile.
Chris, the photo I posted is what I found when I started pulling the dash apart. A previous owner spliced those wires together and then wraped it all up in tape. I'm planning to replace the entire lengths of wire that are melted and then route them properly. May replace terminal strip as I"m not sure why one of the terminals wasn't being used.
After that, I'll start with the solid state stuff. My car has original fuse box, etc. I also need to pull out a bunch of aftermarket radio stuff.

The chance of finding wire in all the colors you need are probably slim to none. Here's another idea that has additional benefits. Get a copy of Bill Taylor's "modern" wiring diagrams.
http://www.panteraplace.com/page107.htm
This page is a tremendous Pantera resource! I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned already in this thread.

Bills diagrams are modern in the sense that they are circuit and function based, just like they are for all modern cars. Then, as you replace a wire, mark down the new color on the diagram. Simple as that. BTW, there are multiple std. Pantera wiring diagrams which are available lower down on the page.

For wires with black stripes, use a black felt tipped pen to create the stripe. Or, you can do as the factory did to my early '71, add black tape at the wire end (I prefer the pen). Note that there are two types of striping that are used: spiral and parallel.

John

quote:

Originally posted by DeMopuar:
I believe that our wiring harnesses were british sourced? If so, there is a great resource for the strange wire colours that only the british can supply. Here is a place that I have used for a couple of my british made vehicles, and they would have what you are looking for colour wise on your wire loom needs for sure:

British Wiring

Best of luck!!

Mark

What a great website, they have every coloured wire with stripe you could possibly imagine. Straight to favourites, thanks Mark.

Indeed, that is a good source!

Since I haven't looked at everything yet, so far I only need standard colors. Considering replacing the terminal block at the steering wheel as well since I don't know why the PO stopped using one block and spliced these wires.
I assume I can find a suitable block?
Or, I suppose I can just test mine. :-)

Just a note about wire, the wire does not come in stranded or solid.

It comes in solid (avoid due to work hardening and breakage in vibrating environments) but comes in various amounts of strands per wire size and varying insulation strenghts. In the USA market thhn is a standard type wire multi stranded and it comes in gas and oil insulation.
There is highly flexable SIS type wire, something like small welding cable it has a insulation temp rating of 105 degrees c. Just my two cents, I deal with wire all the time in my job.

Replacement terminal blocks as close as your local radio shack.

quote:

In the USA market thhn is a standard type wire multi stranded and it comes in gas and oil insulation.

THHN ALSO comes in solid (i.e. ONE strand).

John

Where can I find out what gauge the different wires are? I have yet to find that info although I'm sure it is out here.
There is the bigger wire (red and green) at the steering terminal block, and the infamous pink wire as well that is a smaller gauge.

I am a fan of Waytekwire as was posted earlier.

http://www.waytekwire.com/prod...ive-Cross-Link-Wire/

Prices and quantity are affordable and easy to order but I would also point out it is a good quality cross-linked wire. The insulation is built for cars, durable and resistant to heat.

It is worth making sure you get wire designed for cars instead of generic spool.

As far as gauge, if you google it you will find a dozen web sites which give you gauge of wire and fuse requirements for most equipment.

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THHN wire is not flexible enough, IMO. I would use TEW.