Jim (jtc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) writes:
> I've just gone and spliced in a new piece of a wiring harness on my TR8.
> I used solder (and flux where necessary) to make all the connections. An
> old guy I know who restores old American iron (50's vintage) says he NEVER
> uses flux and tries to crimp everything. He claims you can never get rid
> of all the flux and it will weaken the wire around the joint and will
> eventually fail(!) Ack! He tells me this AFTER I've finished the harness
> and retaped it all back up.
Oh, please. This is one issue I won't compromise on: _properly_ soldered
connections will outlast crimped ones any day. I have spent countless hours
repairing goofball corner gas station repairs done with crimped connectors,
and restored decent sound to aftermarket stereo installations simply by
yanking out the crimpies and doing a proper solder job on the connections.
Note that the factory does use spade lug or bullet/torpedo connections
extensively, but these are machine-mounted terminals with a quality of
crimp connection (wire-to-connector) that is difficult to reproduce with
had tools. (Plus, of course, the factory has to make modular connections
from one assembly to the next, make it cost- and time-efficient, etc.)
> So, any auto/electrical experts out there? Should I redo everything?
Heck, no. If you're happy with your own work, leave it be.
> Is this guy just flat wrong? I do trust him and he does spectacularly
> good work.
I think he's wrong to generalize. If he does good crimping work, good for him,
but the sloppy stuff far outnumbers the good stuff that he himself puts out.
Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL 60610 FAX: (312) 266-4473
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