Any Special Wiring loom Cover Available?

 

I recall a thread in the Haltech section,But I can't remember which one.It was Loom related though and had some links to where you could get the covering.
The cheap way is to Electrical tape it up and then plastic loom it( this stuff is available at almost any parts store).
The thread showed the "better stuff".!

 

I personally like the silicone self-fusing tape. But alot of guys like the friction tape too. Either way I don't think you go wrong. Both are moisture barriers and both stand-up to high temps pretty well. Friction tape resists abrasion better, but in areas of the harness that was prone to rubbing or resting on anything I used the plastic loom of appropriate diameter....or a little friction tape.
Looking really close to OEM was never a concern on my car. Little of the harness is all that visible.

 

All connections should be soldered and heatshrinked and then you can loom them up with TechFlex (check ebay for seller furryletters for all different sizes and colors). You can also order special high-heat TechFlex.

 

Looked this stuff up on eBay and must say it looks pretty cool. Wish I'd known about it when fixing up my engine bay last winter. I especially could've used this stuff: 1/4" CHROME X/C BRAIDED SLEEVING TECHFLEX 10ft | eBay since the description says it can act as an RF shield too. I ended up fixing the CAS cable with aluminum foil and standard heat-shrink tubing. Not as pretty, but it worked

 

NOTE:I'll let the above Ebay link stay as it is not for any commercial gain other than info for the members.

 

I wouldnt suggest soldering wiring joints, I've had a fair bit to do with race cars and motec management systems over the years, ive always found crimping and heatshrinking to be far superior.

When you solder joints it can induce stress cracks from vibration causing intermitent wiring faults.

If your worried about corrosion of the connections crimp the where you would do you solder joint and use heatshrink with the glue lining this will stop most moisture from getting in. combine this with some nice braided sleeving and some time and you will have a great looking very functional loom that will give you minimal headaches in the years to come.

Just my experiences feel free to add and correct if any of you feel necesarry.

Matt

 

Personally, I am of the mind that either soldering or crimping will work, provided they are properly sheathed and supported. Since I suck at soldering, I crimp most connections and give them 2 layers of heat shrink for support. The only exception to this are sealed connectors which are crimped anyway.

My general method for doing wiring is as follows:
Tape the wires together using common electrical tape
Route each group to their destination, cut to length and crimp on Delphi Metripack terminals for the group's subharness connector (everything gets a subharness for easy rework & upgrades later).
Add clips to bolt each connector to chassis sheetmetal in logical places.
Put the wires in split loom and tape it again
Wrap some colored electrical tape around the loom where the terminals are, leaving a ~4" gap between it and the next band of tape
Apply a label on the colored tape, detailing everything that runs through the connector.
Put some clear heat shrink tube over the label
Push the split loom back and insert terminals into their connector
Re-seat the split loom, and heat the shrink tube to seal the labels permanently into place

Here is the result of such a methodical approach:

Detail shot of harness's structure, vertical blue tube exits directly in front of the driver's side strut tower where all of the grounds attach to a dedicated bus bar

Close-up of one labeled & sealed connection


TechFlex sounds like an interesting product, but any braided sleeving is a pain to work with unless one de-pins every connector whose wires are to be sleeved using it. Every time you want/need to modify something, you'll be de-pinning every connector again. After 2-3 times, this will get old and you'll probably just say **** it and chop it right off as I did with my Haltech's flying lead harness.

Split loom is cheap, easy to work with, comes in sizes suitable for any circuit throughout the car up to 1" ID and can be found at any hardware store in the electrical department. 3/4" ID is large enough for a fully-outfitted Haltech harness. And should you need a greater length than the regular hardware store offers, specialty shops like Fastenal and McMaster-Carr offer it in 100ft+ lengths.