Help me protect my new wiring harness.
 

Hey Guys,

I got a new wiring harness (bling, Bling) from Mr. Ray Crowe to go with my new motor street ported motor, and along with shit loads of other new things. I would like to protect my new wiring harness as best as possible. For those that have done it, what type of tape, wiring loom, method used, and where to purchase these items? Needless to say, I have totally blow my budget right out of the water and would like to keep this affordable as owning a FD can be. Right!

A search was done, but I couldn't find any thread that dealt with new harness.

http://cableorganizer.com/thermo-flex/

http://cableorganizer.com/electrical_tape/#prices

unfortunately your harness is already made... this is what you would use if you were to redo your old one

I used Summit Racing Xtreme Tape. However, it doesn't seem they still sell it. DEI Fire Tape is basically the same thing:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

see https://www.rx7club.com/race-car-tech-103/protecting-wiring-harnesses-heat-745090/

McMaster-Carr sells self-fusing silicone tape at 1/3 the cost of the DEI stuff:
www.mcmaster.com item # 7643A75

It's what I've used with good success.

So, you can still order a new wiring harness? From what I gathered, that was one of the items that you couldn't get anymore.

How much do they cost? Approximately.

Scooter :)

are these heat *reflective* products or are they can just withstand high temps before failing? im building a harness now and this thread should come in handy ;)

Silicone tape is not considered heat reflective. Its a good insulator that can withstand operating at higher temps.

In my experience, the biggest issue with crispy wiring harnesses is the vinyl sleeves that Mazda ran over a number of the wires. These get rock hard and break, leaving sharp edges that rub through wire insulation. Especially when you're working on the car. If you cut these sleeves off (or in most cases, crush them to pieces with your fingers) and re-wrap with silicone, not only does the wiring last longer it becomes a lot easier to work with.

There are a lot of sections wrapped with plain electrical tape. This stuff always works loose especially if any oil gets dripped on it. Wrapping in silicone protects these sections much better.

The rest of the plastic on the harness (connectors, insulation, and conduit) will eventually get brittle but the harness as a whole will hold up better and longer when rewrapped with silicone.

Dave

Silicone tape all the way. The only thing I would recommend in addition would be regular 3M elec tape over parts where abrasion might occur, since the silicone is not very abrasion resistant

One of the main problems with old harnesses is also where the bare wires are exposed on the connector end. It roasts the wire with no tape to protect it and the insulation cracks. Wrap the wires all the way up to the connector with the silicone to prevent that.

Go with silicone tape. Its a bit spendy but the protection it provides will in the long run eliminate problems inherent with the stock wrappings.

I have taken all my wiring harnesses under the hood of the car and done a re-wrap using silicone tape. Its very heat resistant and remains flexible. It has no sticky adhesives. When it wraps and adheres to itself, it forms a watertight seal around your wires.

If I got a new harness, knowing what I know now, I would probably take off the electrical tape and plastic sleeves and re-wrap with the silicone.

-Chuck

If it's a new harness, why not just wrap over the existing tape and shrouds? It's perfectly routed and doesn't need to be removed to clean the wires of oil like an old harness.

Yes, I had to bite the bullet and just purchase a new harness. Expensive? Yes. That is the reason why I want to keep it from premature aging. I do plan to keep this car for a very very long time, and maybe one day my son could mod it for Mr.Fusion Power!

Plain electrical tape sucks, they can only handle up to 170 degrees. I found some silicone tape at Home depot today but it was kind of expensive. 10 feet for $6.00. I think this is money well spent.

Should I wrap the harness with this silicone tape then run a wire loom over it? The wire loom is only rated for less than 200 degrees? Is it pointless to use a loom? My main concern is under the UIM since it gets soo hot.

I do plan on cutting the plastic sleeves that are on the new solenoid harness portion, they are sort of loose fitting and don't seem to protect much. On my old harness they just crumble to a touch. On these portion of the harness, I do plan on wrapping them with silicone tape and some kind of high temp looms. That way, they are protected from the heat and chemicals exposures. The rest of the harness will just get the silicone treatment?

Thanks, jay

Those wire looms IMO suck. Unless you are going to get something like fire sleeves, I wouldn't bother. The silicone tape will be more than enough.

I just found some nylon looms at mcmastercarr that are rated at 300. How hot does it get under there while driving?

There was a company that made a harness wrap that is silver in color. I have used it when making harnesses before. I'll try to find the link.

http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/cool_foil_tape.php DEI makes one too.

Get silicone tape from McMaster as everybody suggests. I completely rewrapped harness with this tape this winter. I also replaced injector wires (portions) and connectors. Total in materials about $100. Works perfectly

One problem with wrapping over the existing wrap is that the additional increase in diameter may make routing of the harness more difficult. I dont know how well the plastic and electrical tape will fair even with the silicone tape wrapped around it. I can tell you for sure that removing the old wrappings is a major pain in the ass.

-chuck

This is why I went with a new harness instead of trying to wake the dead. Yeah, the old one was still usable but I didn't want to take the gamble.

Some of the lame (loose) wrap around the solenoids plugs will be cut off and replace with silicone tape. This still should retain some of the flexiblities.

Well, this has certianly been a really informative thread.

Thank you, Jay

Just be careful wrapping the thick section that runs alongside of the injectors. This is a tight fit and if you go adding layers and layers it will fit worse. Just a single wrap layer is all you need here.

Dave

Dave,

Will do, there will be many trail fitting before the mummy wrap.

Probably true. It would probably get pretty stiff too. It was just such a headache on my old harness I thought maybe someone could avoid it with a new one.

i wrapped my harness with a heat wrap and yes it a tight fit

you need to keep an eye on your vacuum lines, connectors, and somehow manage to fit the harness.