Man, soldering wires went out in the 80's. I don't know why everybody keeps thinking soldering a connection is the best thing to do. Every single one of the literaly millions of connections on a modern aircraft are crimped, because it results in a better electrical bond than soldering. Any repairs to aircraft wiring are also crimped, that's the way it's supposed to be in today's world. The last soldered connections I had to play with were on the old A-6 Bombers, back in '86 or so...

A PROPER set of crimpers is all you need. Screw that soldering iron crap

 

Um.. coincidentally, my car is an 86...

I'm not saying, I'm just sayin....

 

I agree, crimping is a better way to go. But, you have to spend the money up front on a good crimping tool (NOT a 6.99 Radioshack tool), a crimp die specific to the type of terminal you use (AMP, WeatherPak, uninsulated, insulated, etc), and quality components.

Then, you want to get quality materials to cover the wires and protect the connections. When I redid my engine harness, I wrapped it in non-adhesive silicone tape (sticks to itself to form a water proof covering that withstands high temperatures without cracking and stays flexible). In areas where the harness may rub against something, I used convoluted tubing. I also used heatshink at the crimped section to keep out moisture, and dielectric grease. Where possible, I went with heatshrink terminals.

http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page14.html

Connectors that were already sealed (like the fuel injector connectors, etc), I left alone unless they were damaged and made sure were wrapped with silicone tape. Unsealed ones I replaced with new ones with the heatshrink and grease. On the O2 and TPS sensors, I used weatherpak connectors.

Here's a pretty good explanation of how to crimp a terminal properly.

http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page7.html

 

Awesome link, thanks Cluosborne. I have the fourth style shown, not the mil spec one, but the one immediately below it. I'm understand that a crimp can be just as good as a soldered connection, but like I said, some of these seemed loose and corrored.. I'm not too concerned about it, as the car did last 20 years, but it still seems they should have soldered it or anti-corrosiveiededied it.. Either way, there won't be anything mission critical ran with the old wires this time around.

 

If you do a search, I had found a source for crimp terminals that are the same type and fit in the factory 1/4" housings (virtually most of the car's interior and a bit of the engine compartment). You use the AMP crimp dies (available from terminaltown or Summit Racing) to properly crimp them.

 

I would say to use marine grade connectors with built in heat shrink-Goo. Make sure everything is nice & shiny wire wise. Make good crimps with no cheese. Rust Never Sleeps(Or the Other Corollary - Corrosion Requires 3 things. Oxygen, Current Flow, Dissimilar Metals)

Ramses666

 

***************Man, soldering wires went out in the 80's.*******************


Beat up on Wayne Day: Sorry to report this 'ole boy, but on MODERN aircraft I'd say a good two thirds of the connectors are soldered and the rest fiber optics or crimp. Tell us more about the good 'ole days sometime. Tell us about the wind in your hair and the smell of castor oil and tri-motors etc.

 

Man, you can't go more than a day without having a civil discussion with me

Look, our airline is adding to the fleet of about 250 EMB-145 aircraft at the rate of about a new one a month, so you can't get any more "modern" than that. All glass instrument panel, fly-by GPS, CATII, the works...And no soldered connectors, to the best of my knowledge. The smaller microswitches and PTT switches are soldered, sure, but that's about it...

You be an F-16 flyboy, right? They probably have the canon plugs with solder cups in 'em, and backed up with potting compound, right? Yeah, I remember those. I guess you could call those "modern", if you're taking the entire history of aviation into account...

Now Cluosborne, he knows what he's talking about. True sparky in my book...

Even though you work on older aircraft than I do, you're still my hero, Hailers