Big Blue's Transformation

[kramttocs]

Looks good sir! I have done the same thing with larger wires, seems to work well.

Interesting about the yellow wire. Fuse link J has the note about alt size. Was it and fuse link M 16awg? Being 4 smaller, 12awg would make sense.

[Gary Lewis]

Interesting about the yellow wire. Fuse link J has the note about alt size. Was it and fuse link M 16awg? Being 4 smaller, 12awg would make sense.

Thanks, Bill.

Scott - That's an interesting idea! I'll see if I can figure that out tomorrow. It would make sense if the '85 had a 40 amp alternator and the '82 had a 60.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I ordered 3A fuses today. Thought that would be more useful than 1A and the wiring is plenty heavy enough to handle that.

Another thing I did today was to strip the tape off several harnii so I could get to wires to splice or strip out unneeded wires. Man, that is no fun. Somehow I always seem to be working on the tape that's under another layer.

And I got the alternator installed, the PDB mounted temporarily, the charge cable installed, and fuse links L & M cut out and replacement wires spliced in. You can see all of that here, with the splices shown on the right in the big yellow and black/orange wires.

Speaking of the big yellow wires, I discovered that there are at least two different sizes of them in our trucks. I have a harness out of 1985 F150 that had a 351W, A/C, power windows and locks, etc. So I pulled it out and thought I'd snag the yellow wire from Ckt 37. But it was smaller than the one in Big Blue. So I moved on to the harness out of Brownie, the 1982 F150 w/a 351 2bbl, A/C, but no power windows or locks. And it had the right size wire.

Here's a shot of the two, with the wire from from the '85 on top - it is a #12 wire. And the wire from the '82 is on the bottom and it is a #10. Also, note that the bottom wire is tarnished. That appears to be from being very close the fuse link. I cut farther down the wire and it wasn't tarnished. Apparently the fuse link got hot.

And then I found this:

As for how I did the splicing, and not to re-open the crimp vs solder debate, I did both.

I find that wrapping #10 wires over themselves to create a splice is hard to do and it makes a big lump in the wiring. But I have #10-12 butt crimps, so I stripped the plastic insulation off them, tinned the wires, put them in, crimped them with my HD ratcheting crimpers, then soldered them and put the adhesive-lined heat shrink on them.

Here's a shot of a crimped butt connector:

Here's the soldered crimp:

And here's the heat-shrink applied:

No one mentions pressure welding of splices, like done at the factory (or their supplier)?

Directing enough energy at a joint will absolutely have it fused.

I suspect, in this day and age could be more easily done with a laser.

[Gary Lewis]

No one mentions pressure welding of splices, like done at the factory (or their supplier)?

Directing enough energy at a joint will absolutely have it fused.

I suspect, in this day and age could be more easily done with a laser.

Yes, I do believe all of the "splices" were done with pressure welding. And they are NOT coming apart, even 30+ years on. But that's not in my bag of tricks, so I'll both crimp and solder the big wires.

One worry I had of using the butt splices was of them folding right in the middle between the two wires if the wires are bent much. But there's a hole in the middle on the ones I'm using and I'm sure with having pre-tinned as well as feeding plenty of solder in through the hole the center is now one solid mass of solder. It isn't going to bend.

And I will admit that the wires have solder wicked up them so are stiff. But they will be in a harness with plenty of other wires, will be wrapped with tape, will be covered with convolute, and will be secured to the fender liner. They aren't going to be moving.

[grumpin]

Yes, I do believe all of the "splices" were done with pressure welding. And they are NOT coming apart, even 30+ years on. But that's not in my bag of tricks, so I'll both crimp and solder the big wires.

One worry I had of using the butt splices was of them folding right in the middle between the two wires if the wires are bent much. But there's a hole in the middle on the ones I'm using and I'm sure with having pre-tinned as well as feeding plenty of solder in through the hole the center is now one solid mass of solder. It isn't going to bend.

And I will admit that the wires have solder wicked up them so are stiff. But they will be in a harness with plenty of other wires, will be wrapped with tape, will be covered with convolute, and will be secured to the fender liner. They aren't going to be moving.

Why are you crimping and soldering? Never done that or remember of hearing it done.

[Gary Lewis]

Why are you crimping and soldering? Never done that or remember of hearing it done.

I'm crimping to hold the wires in the ferrule long enough to solder them in. But, since I used my ratcheting crimpers meant for that size of wire, it is a good crimp and might be adequate. However, "might" doesn't fit with my plans, so I solder them to ensure they will be good connections.

[85lebaront2]

Why are you crimping and soldering? Never done that or remember of hearing it done.

I have done it quite a bit on my konvertible and on Darth. I will crimp a lug on, with a piece of heat shrink slid up the wire, solder it and then once it cools slide the heat shrink down and seal it.

 

[grumpin]

Why are you crimping and soldering? Never done that or remember of hearing it done.

I have done it quite a bit on my konvertible and on Darth. I will crimp a lug on, with a piece of heat shrink slid up the wire, solder it and then once it cools slide the heat shrink down and seal it.

Interesting! Thanks guys! I will have to remember that.

I like holding it to get a proper solder. I can be steady as a rock, then put a soldering iron in one hand and solder in the other and I start shaking like a dog passing razor blades!

[Gary Lewis]

I will crimp a lug on, with a piece of heat shrink slid up the wire, solder it and then once it cools slide the heat shrink down and seal it.

Luckily the terminal came out of the PDB w/o the retaining pin breaking.

I think I got about half of the wiring done today. This includes circuits 37 & 38 with their fuse links replaced by fuses, circuits 65 and 654 to the voltmeter, and circuit 904 (the light green/red wire) to the alternator. That wire goes to the Key On relay as well as the alternator itself, and since the charge cable had a connector on it for that wire, I pulled the mating connector off the across-the-radiator harness from the '96 CA-spec 460 and used it. You can see that in bottom-center of the pic.

Note that circuits 65, 654, and 904 run through C610, which you can see in the top-center of the pic. However, I cut the large yellow wire for circuit 37 off that connector.

Also, C610's blades were tarnished, so I improvised to clean them. (What you can't see is the drill turning that "tool".

[ArdWrknTrk]

I will crimp a lug on, with a piece of heat shrink slid up the wire, solder it and then once it cools slide the heat shrink down and seal it.

Luckily the terminal came out of the PDB w/o the retaining pin breaking.

I think I got about half of the wiring done today. This includes circuits 37 & 38 with their fuse links replaced by fuses, circuits 65 and 654 to the voltmeter, and circuit 904 (the light green/red wire) to the alternator. That wire goes to the Key On relay as well as the alternator itself, and since the charge cable had a connector on it for that wire, I pulled the mating connector off the across-the-radiator harness from the '96 CA-spec 460 and used it. You can see that in bottom-center of the pic.

Note that circuits 65, 654, and 904 run through C610, which you can see in the top-center of the pic. However, I cut the large yellow wire for circuit 37 off that connector.

Also, C610's blades were tarnished, so I improvised to clean them. (What you can't see is the drill turning that "tool".

Deoxit is made for stuff like that connector.