1972 Granada Mk1 coupe build - Still going... 14-10-2024

I could use a little mojo boost to be honest...

I've been spending my evenings and quite some weekend time on the wiring again. I've finished tracing the ecu connections to their connectors, ground and power connections and am now working my way back from all the connectors to make sure I have accounted for each and every wire in the loom. This latter step is slow going as I want to use as much as possible the original ford connector numbers but they are not all identified in my documentation. This means tracing wiring diagrams to find the numbers. And although the ecu connector shows around 70 occupied wires of the 104 pins, when you start looking into all the connections between connectors there's quite a lot more to go through. But my understanding is ever growing, alas my resistance to getting on with this job is also ever growing. Even though I'm well on my way.

Only after completing the initial inventory I'll also have to streamline my analysis as the registration is just pretty rough. There were so many different situations that my initial setup that worked for the ecu pin registration is just lacking for the rest. So a little more work to be done there. But this should make me able to design a new power and ground distribution layout as well as determine all needed colours of wires and thicknesses to recreate the actual looms.

And I made another mojo killing mistake earlier this weekend. I pushed the car outside on the winch and had a look see if I could still make sense of all the wiring that was left in there and boy oh boy. Of course there has to be a situation where I can't possibly be sure of one wire. I have a picture of it that I just cannot reconsile with anyhing I see in the car at this time... argh... and I thought I'd taken enough precautions for just this but apparently not.

Add to that the non BOB related extra circuits that I put in for power seats, power windows, power sockets, the powered folding mirrors, bluetooth and audio and there's still a lot to dismantle and rearrange. To get things to a higher level of quality. Although I'm still somewhat in two minds over what constitutes better quality. Cutting all wires at both connector ends and splicing in new ones means two solder connections per wire but nice new flexible wire. Opposite this is my sucpision of a lot of wires that may look fine but feel somewhat rigid/stiff and may be past their best in that sense.

With every step I dread the increase in cost and the time I'll need to get it all done... I would really make the most of the warm weather before the cold sets in as my workspace is too small to work on this indoors... So I'm also feeling the pressure as well.

Kop op joh. Effe door bijten en je bent er. Je hebt een super gave auto.
Laat je je niet klein maken door een paar draadjes!!

Yes, crimp connections & heatshrink every time.

Where possible - yes. Sometimes soldering is the only way - but try to only solder a few mm of wire rather than a whole length of the joint.

For joints, THESE are excellent, crimp each end and a bit of heatshrink over them tp insulate. Adhesive heatshrink is my preference as its a little thicker and seals the joint completely.

Crimpers - not cheap for a full set but worth every penny, This Set is good, for the above ferrules you would use the 'B' crimps in the set shown.

The main reason manufacturers don't use solder for splices in harnesses is the time thus cost it takes there is also potential to fatigue where the solder ends if the outer of the cable is not supported, That said I have also come across several instances of the crimps they use failing as well. Soldering is of course widely used in the electronic modules where it can be automated supported and cleaned afterwards.

The crimps with the heat shrink outer and sometimes with solder inside are great but as you say can get very bulky, I would usually use solder and heat shrink tubing for something like this, then bind the whole lot together to make it stiff and less prone to vibration, just make sure you don't have any spikes of solder which could penetrate the heat shrink.

The negative issues with solder are a few;

The flux can creep up the wires and end up rotting them (look at old wiring and see the black copper strands extending up around 150mm from the original joint)

It introduces a hard part of wiring (soldered joint) and a weak point (end of soldered joint where wire strand start - potential fracture point).

Postives are;

Easy
joints can be small
permanent

The crimp joints - (I would always crimp crimpable connectors) are similar;
Negatives;

Can be bulkier - especially if jointing many individual cables next to each other (very good for joining multiple cables together though).

Positives;
Easy
Permanent
no cable rot
no weak point

As with most things - each have their place.

Thank you both for your views and explanation!! Really... Plenty to think about. You'll see when the time comes which approach I've taken.

These are what I use, very good crimps and the tool isnt dear either. Just stick a heat shrink over it and away you go

They are very close to what the oem's use with a bit of shrink wrap. Inside the car they all work fine, wet areas need something that seals like Blackpop suggested.