Tabres Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 What companies/sites are you all sourcing your OEM quality wire from for your projects? Looking at a mild wire tuck and battery relocation this winter and I'd like to use a wire of better quality than is available in local chain stores. Before anyone suggests it, I'm not terribly interested in hitting a salvage yard for a used harness to salvage wire from. The closest one to me with any decent cars is 1.5 hours away. Thanks, gents! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95opal Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Not sure what you mean by OEM wire. As for battery relocation and all grounds I use 1/0 welding cable. As far as the wire tuck, no need to source a harness. If you need to extend a wire just go with one gauge thicker than what your working off of. Make sure everything is soldered and shrink wrapped. Other than that its a no brainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabres Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Nicer wire in general, better jackets, etc.. Everything I have local to me is basically cheap speaker wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttocs Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 I just did a complete wire tuck that included extending more then a few wires/harnesses. I am pretty anal about my wiring and do not like to get cheap materials that will end up screwing me years down the road since I am not selling this car. For example the RCA cable and ends I am using are 9mm thck per channel and the ends are pure silver I have seen cable sell for $10ft for the cable and the silver ends for $40/pair. For my wire tuck I just got my wire from autozone. When it comes to wire there are a few different types. I was just happy to find a real copper wire there and that was all that was needed. The alternative to this is that some companies have started to cover their wire with aluminum called CCA, copper clad aluminum. This wire has been shown to not be able to carry as much current as a copper wire and can start to build heat when it reaches its limit. This should really not be to big of an issue though as this was mainly for the thicker gauges of power wires for amps. The only really upgrade you can get on the wire is to look for something called oxygen free copper. It tends to be a little shiners and does not corrode as fast as regular copper. But again for extending my harnesses under the hood I just made sure I matched the gauge or went thicker on the wires and it was all good. The connections are more important then the wire that is between them honestly as that is normally what fails if there is a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-Oh Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Not sure what you mean by OEM wire. As for battery relocation and all grounds I use 1/0 welding cable. As far as the wire tuck, no need to source a harness. If you need to extend a wire just go with one gauge thicker than what your working off of. Make sure everything is soldered and shrink wrapped. Other than that its a no brainer. This is what I did when I extended all of mine. I had to shorten and lengthen some harnesses with where I mounted certain parts but I just saved the wire I cut out and reused it. For anything else I just went up a wire gauge using wire I got from Home Depot or Auto Zone, should be plenty fine for a 12v system. Make sure the wire is soldered properly and shrink wrapped like Rich said and you should be golden! Bryan @Det_Riot also extended his wires way further than anyone that I can think of and his car works just fine. I can't attest to mine as the car hasn't been in running condition since I did my tuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmage Posted October 26, 2015 Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 when i did my tuck I also used napa brand wires. everything is hidden so i dont need to worry about colors looking out of place, and they are even resting between the block and the intake without issue (albeit wrapped in techflex). So i dont think you're going to have heat issues unless you are running them across the exhaust manifolds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 I use wire out of old harnesses I take out of vehicles. So my wire IS OEM. However I realize not everyone has that optionSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttocs Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 I have to agree with the idea that the insulation can get old enough to just peel off and I have also see wire inside of what looked like good insulation that had corroded and broken. Use new wire and try to match the gauge to as thick or thicker and you will be find as long as you solder/shrink your connections. Extending a harness can seem like a huge project but its really not that bad. Start off by measuring how long you need to extend it(give an extra inch or two) with a piece of wire and then count how many wires you need to extend. Prep for it by cutting how ever many pieces of wire you need to the length you measured and have them all ready to go, wire color will not matter the way I do it. From here just pic an area you want to cut the wires at, and cut one wire, solder both connections(don't forget to put the shrink wrap on at least before you solder the 2nd connection but don't worry you will) and then insulate them both. Then cut another wire and do it all over again. By doing this you will not have to worry about mixing up wires as well as be able to extend the harness so all the wires are the same length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwilight Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 I have to agree with the idea that the insulation can get old enough to just peel off and I have also see wire inside of what looked like good insulation that had corroded and broken. Use new wire and try to match the gauge to as thick or thicker and you will be find as long as you solder/shrink your connections. Extending a harness can seem like a huge project but its really not that bad. Start off by measuring how long you need to extend it(give an extra inch or two) with a piece of wire and then count how many wires you need to extend. Prep for it by cutting how ever many pieces of wire you need to the length you measured and have them all ready to go, wire color will not matter the way I do it. From here just pic an area you want to cut the wires at, and cut one wire, solder both connections(don't forget to put the shrink wrap on at least before you solder the 2nd connection but don't worry you will) and then insulate them both. Then cut another wire and do it all over again. By doing this you will not have to worry about mixing up wires as well as be able to extend the harness so all the wires are the same length. I'd still like to use wire colors that matched to make it easier tracing problems in the future. That way if you forget what's what you can still refer to a schematic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttocs Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 well yes now if its only a couple of wires and the colors are simple then yes its nice to do. From what I have seen in many cases the wire indicators(stripes) have often long since rubbed off of one another. Not to mention the wire colors/indicators are often so strange that the possibility of matching them up with out using 20-30 yr old stock wire is slim/none. Again its great to save wire, match colors and all but if the idea behind this post is to get and use the best possible wire that he can then recycling 20-30 yr old stock wire would never be recommended in the groups I frequent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 when i say "old" harnesses... keep in mind these are out of 2015 and 2016 vehicles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmage Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 when i say "old" harnesses... keep in mind these are out of 2015 and 2016 vehicles... which is even more reason to hate you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
