Rewire!

[lockyer89]

Embarking on the big rewire. Old engine out, new pinto in. My question is what rating wire will I need? I'm off to grab some reels this weekend..

 

cheers

 

Simon

[speedtripledan]

Depends on the circuits you are wiring

[lockyer89]

All of them! What i meant was what reels of wire will i need to cover the lot? 8A , 15A, 30A reels will cover me?

[ibrooks]

I've built looms for cars from scratch and I wouldn't recommend it for the home mechanic. How much of each colour wire will you need? You don't really know until you've got it in place. So you end up making do with the wrong colour or having to go and get another metre of white with a brown trace and the job stops while you go and get it or while you wait for it to arrive. In a pro workshop where you are doing it regularly it's easy to have a real of everything and just use it as necessary but at home it's simply uneconomical.

 

It would probably be cheaper and easier to get a loom from the likes of Autosparks. They do generic ones for "seven" type cars that have pretty much all the circuits you'll need and the connectors will be in pretty much the right place to start with. All you then need to do is add any additional stuff you might have/want.

 

Iain

[lockyer89]

I completely understand this is going to be no easy task, but i'll only ever gain knowledge and the experience by doing it myself, even if i do come across some problems i am confident in the knowledge available to me i can crack it!

 

I bought the car complete, but until i take it all to pieces and put it all back together i'll never be able to say the car is actually mine! That's the fun part of it - the driving is the added bonus at the end!

 

Pictures below show what I'm up against, plugs which go nowhere, inch diameter bundled wires. The plan is to strip out exactly what isn't used, and start circuit by circuit replacing what's there...

 

Suggestions and ideas would be appreciated!

[brumster]

The MAJORITY of the loom you can do in 1mm^2 thinwall (I certainly do) and then just use some 3mm^2 for high-current applications (cooling fan, dip/main beams, maybe fuel pump to be on safe side). The problem as said is, realistically, to be cost effective you're probably buying 30m reels and you need a good cross-section of colour/strip combinations. If you get through wiring a fair bit it's no such an issue. Once you price up all the multiplug connectors, pins, a proper crimp tool, etc.... if you're just doing one loom, an off-the-shelf will be cheaper. You could always modify/add in any slight differences.

 

Making your own loom is all good if you've got the kit and can buy the supplies in decent quantities...

[steve in stockport]

Is there any slack in the wiring loom you have in place?

If there is and the wiring is in good condition, ie the insulation hasn't hardened and cracked you may be able to reuse your existing loom.

That way you'll have all the necessary coloured wire to reproduce the necessary circuits in the correct colours as per a haynes wiring diagram. You can omit all the circuits you don't need as you're doing the rewire.

I did this last winter, replicating all the sierra circuits that I needed and it only took a couple of days and didn't cost the earth. I used this fusebox and the relay box from the same people.

As said get a proper crimping tool and maybe a soldering iron and some heat shrink incase you need to entend or join any wires

[brumster]

That's a good point actually, reuse your existing loom or even better if you can find anyone stripping a donor car - or even a salvage yard - and just rip out wiring looms from production cars. If you can get the rear loom runs in the passenger compartment there's often a good length of various wire colours. Provided it's in good nick, of course.

[philshelton]

I used these to supply all the stuff i needed, http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php

[brumster]

RHOCaR discount too (except on the wire, unfortunately)

[speedtripledan]

I have rewired several kit cars now it usually takes a week or more, the loom I have for sale will defiantly save you money and a lot of time. You would be looking at approx £250 in parts if you went to vwp Ilkeston for a complete all new everything rewire

[Guest streetsy]

I have just recently re-wired my Exmo, as one of the posts above says,if your existing wiring is good then re-use it or parts of it, thats what i did as mine had a full sierra loom with loads of bis not connected, simply stripped the black loom tape and used the ford colours to rewire. I fitted a new fusebox with fewer fuses and new switches, lights, connectors and relays. Other than the new fittings I only had to buy shrink tube for the joints i soldered so all in less than £50 and it looks and works much better than it did previously.

[Guest Boost]

I have just chopped the spaghetti out of mine, and I'm planning on building a loom with lots less relays than the original Sierra!

I'm thinking of using 1.0mm² (dash gauges/indication) 1.5mm² (low power circuits) 2.5mm² (Higher power circuits) 6.0mm² for main power from Alternator to battery, Ign & fuse box and 16 or 25mm² for starter motor - Sizes are best estimates, circuit power will determine size when worked out . I'll be using Tri-rated panel wire.

I intend to produce a wiring diagram and ferrule each core with it's own unique number.

Just my thought's (I'm Elect by trade)

 

Pic of my spaghetti -

 

[Guest snowy2]

http://www.andersensmith.freeserve.co.uk/wiringloom6.pdf

 

An article on how to rewire your car from scratch, i have used this method about a dozen times and the oldest car war done in 1989, its still on the road with the loom in place. the whole thing can be completed in a weekend. it shouldn't cost too much if you follow it as shown.

some folks are not keen on some of the suggested ideas, but they are tested and work...besides you can do things differently. You do not need different colour wires....coloured wire markers will do ....or use the suggested method above.

You do not need to sacrifice any chickens or anything.........

[brumster]

some folks are not keen on some of the suggested ideas,

 

Let me guess - the statement that soldering is better than crimping ...