Projects Hot rod wiring-crimp on or solder?

Well now that I have had my 40 sedan for a week or so I have started looking over the workmanship and have been real pleased until I looked under the dash and saw a wiring nightmare! I suddenly realized why my 40 had a fire extinguisher bolted to the drivers floor! It looks like every new owner or hot rod shop had added something to the mix and since they didnt build it and have any kind of wiring schematic, they spliced the new add-on to the existing wiring. It was a "birds nest" of wire nuts, butt connectors, tape, and wire ties. To make matters worse, the Vintage Air A/C evaporator took up almost all the under-dash area and you could see nothing but that.I could not even get to the fuse box. So...I ripped it all all out. I don't need A/C, I have a cowl vent, I don't need a CB radio, I don't need a Sirus radio, I don't need 4 speakers. What I do need is neat organized wiring that is easy to see and follow if I need to trouble shoot it.
So that gets me to my title question. I have always prided myself on my wiring and have always wired my hot rods from scratch. I have always used un-insulated connectors and have soldered them in place and used shrink tube over the solder. I have heard from other rodders that soldering is NOT good. So what's the scoop? Solder or no solder?

 

I would think that if there is a short, the solder could melt and break the connection, possibly saving the car from a fire.

 

I use both on all mine. Never had any wiring problems, just wire it like it was for a customer not you.

 

Soldering works if done properly, crimp connectors work if done properly.

If you want to take the time to solder all the connections, that's great. On terminal ends, a good way to do it would be to use uninsulated terminals, crimp and solder them, and cover with heat shrink.

Depending on the look of the rest of the car, heat shrink might look out of place, and plastic wire might look out of place. It depends on the car.

 

You were doing it right. Your critics are wrong. What does Chevrolet and Ford use?

 

Either works well...when properly done......aye...there's the rub!

Ray

 

Some may disagree, but either method when done properly will work fine. Just use a good quality crimper, and test the crimp by tugging on the wire to see if it grips well. If you solder, make a good mechanical joint first, use a good quality rosin core solder, and a clean soldering iron/gun tip. It's best to clean off any excess flux after you've made the connection. Alcohol usually works pretty well.
I think the method you are using is excellent. You should have no problems.

 

And use good quality solderless connectors. Some connectors are seamed and made of thin metal. I prefer the seamless ones that are thick as they hold the crimp and wire a lot better.

 

All of the comments are good. I think it depends on your experience and the car its used on.
Wiring gives me the hebee jebees. I put it off as long as I can or get someone else to do it for me. Seems strange since I can wire homes with no fear. Guess I would rather burn down the house than my truck. Go figure.

 

i do a lot of cutting the plastic from crimp connectors and then heat shrinking them after crimping

 

...... CB radio?.......hahahaha....

Quality crimps will work well in many instances, anywhere things will be taken apart in the future, or those areas where solder is not the best solution (i.e. solder dripping in your face under a dash).....I usually take each joint on its own merit.
Tom...

 

Try to get hold of a the Ron Francis Catalogue for 2012. In the back is an extensive list of tips for wiring your car. If you look around on their website, you can download the catalogus as a pdf file. On page 105, see tips 45, 47, 48 and 49. This should answer you solder questions. Have fun!

 

To save yourself a lot of time and get the best connections you can look for an "AMP"
ratcheting hand crimper. Their EXPENSIVE! (some in excess of $1000), when new and are used professionally in the aircraft industry. But if you look around you can find used ones for under $100. Different, specific crimpers for large, medium and small gauge wire connectors yellow/blue/red.
The biggest factor for me is not having to try to solder under dash standing on my head with solder dripping in my face. Do yourself a favor and check these out online.

Terry

 

A few thoughts...

If you are using modern connectors you will rarely have any use for the soldering iron.

But...

By 'modern' I do not mean the baggies of little ring and spade terminals that come from the chain store (these have their uses, of course, but get rid of the little plastic sleeves and get yourself a couple feet of properly-sized adhesive-lined heatshrink tubing.)

I mean Deutsch, Weatherpack, Metri-Pack, AMPseal, their Ford equivalents, etc. (weathersealed electrical connectors are one of the real advances in automotive reliability over the past 30 years.)

To do these PROPERLY means you've got to have all the proper terminal sizes for the different wire sizes you're using, and you've got to have the correct ratcheting mechanical crimping tool (once again, not the $10 plier-type) for the terminals you're crimping. There are a couple reasonably-priced 'generic' tools that'll do most of the stamped-and-folded terminals, wire and insulation in one crimp, mine is a different brand but it's a bit like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/390446891372 )

The Deutsch stuff with the solid mil-spec pins (and the associated AF8 w/TH1A turret crimping tool e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/251094781390 ) is a joy to work with but available only in a limited range of configurations.

The pin/socket terminals for most flavors of OE connector shell can be found if you know where to look (mouser.com and pcsconnectors.com for Delphi stuff, rjminjectiontech.com for many Ford pieces, there's a couple others I don't have handy right now.)

And never underestimate the utility of the pick-n-pull for building yourself an inventory of usefully-shaped connector shells.

 

You are not alone, I don't understand either system, but can connect household things, way too many fire starters in a car. Bob

 

What he said, soldering is for electrical continuity only, the connection must first be mechanically sound.

Personally I prefer crimped insulated connectors.

 

As an aircraft mechanic, soldering is definitely the best way to go, and with a high quality wire, tied with thread the old way. But in a pinch, crimping works well too, and has been used with much success by many. I just don't like the look of all those crimped terminals.

 

This is the best answer I have ever seen when this subject comes up, and it comes up pretty often. Both soldering and crimping have their proponents and neither side will ever agree that the other way works ok, but it does.

I only crimp because I worked in the marine industry and soldered terminals are not allowed on boats because vibrations can make them fail (soldering creates hard, brittle connections sometimes) but if a person knows how to solder correctly that is fine on a car IMO.

It is just like "I like steak, you like seafood"............who is right ?

Don

 

^^^^^^^^^ Ok on aircraft but not on boats, that's a conforting thought. Bob

 

unisulated crimp terminals, solder and heat-shrink. no crimps w/o solder. works fine, lasts long time...jack

 

All of the OEMs use crimping for their connections, with high-dollar crimp tools, for basically two reasons. It's way faster than soldering, and soldering is more prone to breakage.

I read a bunch about it before starting into an automotive wiring project, and am convinced there won't be any solder unless absolutely necessary in any of my cars.

Basically, the solder is arguably a better electrical connection (definitely is with an improper crimp), but the solder is fragile and brittle, and the vibrations in vehicles tend to break the solder over time. The solder travels up the wire and makes a significant portion of it prone to this fracturing.

Most of what I read said if you don't have the tools to make a proper crimp, go ahead and solder, otherwise definitely crimp the connections.

You'll likely have less voltage drop in soldered circuits, which can be fairly critical in some areas (headlights, etc), but it's hard to isolate the connection to make it vibration-proof.

However, this all might be a moot point on old hotrods mostly driven on weekends...

 

AMP also has one for a lot less known as the Pro Crimper. You have to order the die sets separately.

Another one I use all the time is the Daniels Corp HX4 crimper with the Y501 die set, it crimps almost any MS25036 style insulated lug.

On a budget, ACE hardware or Lowes has some good ones that will handle the task as well.

Bob

 

Spent 20 years in the AF as a Spark Chaser and instructor. Not many soldered connections except at Cannon plugs in the old days. Those changed to crimp pins in later aircraft. Terminal lugs and splices were usually flat crimped with crimper's that had to be calibrated periodically. Big feeder wire terminal lugs and splices were usually swedge crimped with heat shrink over them.

As far as car wiring goes I'm fine with crimp connections as long as quality connectors/splices and crimping tools are used. Have a friend who wires cars for others who swears by solder for splicing.

 

You can also get crimp connectors with shrink tubing built in from
WWW.McMaster-Carr.com

 

I do both crimp then solder I wrap the insulation on the wire with a wet rag to keep the heat from damaging the wire insulation, I then wipe down the solder joint well to remove any flux, and speaking of flux do not use acid based flux use the rosin flux.......then I cover it with haet shrink.

 

Several modern MIL spex require (MIL spec) crimped electrical connections and forbid lockwashers in mechanical/sructural joints.

 

crimp is good enough for the auto makers engineers say soldering can make the connection brittle and break

 

What does the SCTA have to say about Bonneville/Dry Lakes wiring? Bob

 

When possible I do both. Crimp it, then solder it. i soldered a zillion things working for GE. If the stuff wasn 't good, or more expensive, then why did they bother?