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Guest mjames

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Hello, I need to rewire parts of my cars old cloth wrapped wires,which have dry rotted. It is a 6 volt system. I couldnt find any wiring harnesses so i figured i can do it myself. My question is this, how do i go about using the inline circuit breakers. there are several ranging from 30 to 10 amp. They seem to be directly wired inline with no way to reuse when updating wires.

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as far as the dry rotted cloth covering in the wires... you can brush on 'liquid tape' over and around the bad spots. it won't match.. but it covers the wires well. you can get 'liquid tape' at walmart, home depot, lowes, ace, true value...

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I never knew they made such a thing, thanks speedy...

Its a 52 chrysler,dog

I've had good experiences with YnZ's and Harnesses Unlimited. And I've heard others have had good experiences with Rhode Island. None of those will be cheap, but the quality is right up there. Generally you can have the customize the harness a bit too for things like turn signals.

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We've bought three wiring harnesses from Rhode Island Wire. They can sell you either part of a harness, or the entire wiring harness. If you have a problem, they also have a toll free tech line that you can call if you have a problem.

I hate to tell you to spend money, but if you're going to keep the car, it isn't worth taking the chance of burning the car up because of old wiring.

Rhode Island Wire builds wiring harness accordance to factory specs, and each of the three wiring harnesses that they've built for us have gone on to win Senior AGNM awards.

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Guest Silverghost

Beware of old wiring with hard, rotted insulation.

I have seen many great cars burn due to electrical wiring fires.

At least 10 over 50 years...

There was a 1959 Corvette that I saw burn to the chassis in the early 80s because of a bad under dash harness.

It was owned by a friend's girlfriend.

It wound-up as a parts chassis at Stoudt's Corvettes in Reading Pa.

Also a 1922 Rolls~Royce Silver Ghost started to smolder & smoke while the owner & his wife were in a diner with the entre Silver Ghost tour group.

He was lucky~

The car was saved..,

The old cloth-covered wiring was toast !

The car had to be hot-wired to get it home for repairs.

He then later replaced ALL the old cloth covered wire.

Edited by Silverghost (see edit history)
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Guest bofusmosby

If you don't mind me asking, what are the wiring harnesses going for these days? I know that every car is different, but can you give me some sort of an idea as to what kind of money you are talking about?

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If you don't mind me asking, what are the wiring harnesses going for these days? I know that every car is different, but can you give me some sort of an idea as to what kind of money you are talking about?
It's been 7 years since I bought one, and it was about $1,000 back then (our fire truck).

Of course in the case of our '37 Plymouth pickup, they had never done a Plymouth pickup before, so we only paid for materials and not labor. Now if someone calls Rhode Island Wire and needs a wiring harness for a '37 Plymouth pickup, they have the wiring diagram from our truck on file, so it's a matter of picking up the phone and ordering it.

Rhode Island wire use to set up on the Chocalate Field at Hershey. I miss not seeing them there, but they did their harnesses well enough to where we won't deal with anyone else.

Also, if you're looking to have your car point judged, they do their harnesses authentic with all of the correct connections. If you want to add a radio, turn signals, or other options, they can include it in the wiring harness as they build it.

You might save some money going with a wiring harness from somewhere else, but the toll free number and the quality of their work is well worth the price.

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If you don't mind me asking, what are the wiring harnesses going for these days? I know that every car is different, but can you give me some sort of an idea as to what kind of money you are talking about?

Let your key board do the walking. Google Rhode Island Wiring for a list of available harnesses and price...............Bob

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Guest bofusmosby

Thanks guys. It bit much for my budget. I might have to build my own if it comes down to it. My profession is Electronics, and I have built light systems for light shows before (the type that disco bars used to use). It would just be a matter of buying the correct length of wire, along with the proper guage. I guess I could use my ohm meter to find out where each wire goes to. Yes, it would be a lot of work, but most of the expense would be in labor, which doesn't cost my pocket anything.

Do the new wiring harnesses incorporate more fuses and such, or is it identical to what the car came with? Meaning, do the new harnesses use a large fuse box, and if so, does the judgeing look down on this?

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The harnesses I've used were correct as to color code, connector type etc as original. I suppose you could get the harness maker to add anything you wanted, for a price. BTW RI Wiring will sell you whatever color/gauge wire, by the foot, and whatever connectors you need. Additional BTW. Their wire is insulated with modern plastic but has a "correct" fabric covering for authenticity. Call them and ask for their "supplies" catalog..........Bob

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Guest bofusmosby

Thank you Bob, I'll give them a call. As to color-code,,, Houston, we have a problem. All the wiring is so faded, all the colors look the same to me.

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Thank you Bob, I'll give them a call. As to color-code,,, Houston, we have a problem. All the wiring is so faded, all the colors look the same to me.

The colors might reveal themselves if you cut the harness apart. RI wiring only lists one minor harness for your car so they probably don't know what the colors/gauge should be. My 56 shop manual schematics show the color/gauge of the wires. If you don't have a shop manual you should get one. You will need one in any event..........Bob

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Guest bofusmosby

Thank you guys. I never checked the actual service manual, go figure....

I have the 1937 shop manual, so I guess I need to check this. Gezzz, do I feel dunb.:o

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For those of you that have the skills to rewire your car properly if I'm not mistaken the wiring company's used to offer a service where they would take your homemade harness and weave a factory appearing cloth covering over it and it then appeared to be a factory made harness.

Howard Dennis

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