IML: '60 wiring harness rubber at doors '61 '62 '63 '64 '65?

[Joe Strickland <jwstrick426@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard;

I have seen the methods that Mike mentions too.  It seems that the auto 
makers have never found a really reliable method of protecting wiring 
to/from the doors of cars and trucks.  I had a 1985 Dodge Maxi-van which 
had electric windows and door locks.  The electric door lock for the 
right rear side door and the back doors used the "button" contact method 
he describes.  I owned the van from new and kept it for 10 years.  On it 
the contact buttons were embedded in rather thick firm rubber wafers 
which would make contact when the doors were closed.  I don't remember 
having any trouble with them.  The one thing about this approach is that 
there is considerable pressure that needs to be applied to prevent 
arcing at the contact points.  The more contacts to make/break a greater 
pressure is required.  At some point there could be problems with 
stressing the sheet metal on the front face of the door and/or the body 
contact point.

I owned a '73 New Yorker for years and it had all power windows 
including power vent windows.  It had the "snake skin" sleeve that Mike 
mentioned.  This car I bought used and it already had problems with the 
electric windows.  I finally traced individual wires and replaced 
sections to/from the driver's door.  I used 3-M electrical tape and some 
heat shrink tubing to make the repairs.  The '70s series of Imperials 
and Chryslers all used the same window lift switches.  There were many 
more wires required for these models than the older ones in the '60s and 
previous.  The '70s models accomplished changing the direction of the 
motors in the doors by reversing the polarity of the applied voltage. 
The older cars window lift motors had two windings, one for up and one 
for down.  That reduced the number of wires needed to only 3 per motor, 
up lead, down lead and common ground.  I think the older models were 
more reliable in that respect.

As long as wire bundles are not rubbing against a surface, it is better 
to spread any flexing over as wide a length of the bundle as possible. 
It is similar to taking a solid wire a foot long and flexing it along 
the entire length many times.  Metal fatigue takes a long time to make 
it break.  Conversely if you concentrate the bending at a small area, 
say 1 inch, it will develop metal fatigue much quicker.  It would 
require experimentation to determine how much wire bundle could be in 
the area where the door closes and still not rub against something.

Another make/break contact approach might be to use beryllium copper 
springs mounted on some hard plastic which would touch when the doors 
close.  Beryllium copper makes a long lasting spring and has the right 
electrical conductivity.  It can be bought in flat sheets and formed to 
shape and then heated to develop the spring properties that it is 
capable of.  I don't know just how hot the metal has to be or for how 
long, so a metallurgist would have to be consulted.  Beryllium is a 
hazardous material (poisonous) so working with it requires precautions 
to avoid dust etc. and any waste material would need to be disposed of 
by recycling or other appropriate method.

I suspect that most of us will go the route of just replacing damaged 
wires as needed.  It is quicker, cheaper and easier.  It might be 
possible to get wires of the right AWG and color codes from some of the 
companies who make replacement wiring harnesses.  You might want to 
consider some of the plastic sleeving that is available in Radio Shack 
and electrician supply stores to cover the wire bundles.  It makes a 
neat way to cover them and flexes with the wires.  Many colors are 
available including black.  It wouldn't be OEM, though.  Neither are 
some of these other ideas either.

Good luck.

Joe S.


-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm