Reuse wiring harness

I've pulled the entire harness out of my'61, after a lot of pics, notes and labeling. I did not find any hack jobs in anything, and the only damage seems to be to the original cloth covering in a few spots. All the connections seemed good and the wire insulation is still soft. The only questionable spot is a single crack right at the end of the positive coil wire. So, should I just re-tape the whole thing and give it a try? All the lights, horn, etc. worked. I'm just cleaning everything up and inspecting everything. If I do decide to replace the wiring, has anyone got any words of wisdom about the Walcks harness? I've not done any business with them yet.

 

heck yea maybe use an ohmmeter to see if they all have continuity then put it in.

 

Not a big fan of vinyl tape for anything permanent. Jeep used tape to hold the bundles together, but not as wire insulation. I would use heat shrink tubing to repair the insulation, or simply cut out the frayed wire and splice in new wire. The cloth covered wire is available from the places that sell car restoration hardware ... somebody may have a link for you.

 

I have several rolls of the cloth friction tape used on other vehicles. I thought about wrapping the harness with it. The wire that is damaged just has a crack in the insulation near the coil, the conductor is ok. I may splice in a new wire, since the first couple inches seem brittle and will most likely crack again. I am surprised that the wiring is in such good shape!

 

Could be oxidation; seems likely if the insulation is split. I recall the cloth covers and protects an inner layer of rubber insulation. These were the days before there was a wide variety of plastics, like the vinyl used for modern wire insulation. Or it could be work hardening of wire that flexes a lot - copper will do that. I think your best option is to cut out and replace any questionable sections of wire.

 

unless your going for a complete retoration a new harness would be better than reusing those old wires. speedway motors has a nice wiring harness for a lot less than painless or ezwire.

 

I always use old wiring harnesses. They always are dirty, but seldom beyond repair. Wiring harnesses have two main characteristics --- wire paths which one would expect, and also shape. The shape of the harness is more important than one might think when it comes to installation.

I've made ad hoc harnesses, I've made a jig to make a new harness and preserve the shape, but the best alternative that I've found is to re-use the old one; replacing any bad or burnt sections with soldered joints and a couple layers of shrink tubing over the joint.