|
sometimes you can attach a weak spring to the
harness inside the door to pull it in and out instead of having to kink when you
open the door, if you can visualize my idea..you cab "cement" a spring mounting
tab inside the dor somewhere to hold the other end of the spring and have the
harness slide in and out of the door through a loose grommet...just an
idea...
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 9:30 PM
Subject: Re: IML: '60 wiring harness
rubber at doors '61 '62 '63 '64 '65?
Hi All, Thank you for your thoughts. I added power locks to
my '60 and at the same time entirely recreated the harness where it goes from
firewall to door. I had spare harness from parts cars so was able to
retain factory color codes. These new splices were about 24" long and I
staggered the splices to avoid creating a giant mass of connectors. I
covered each individual splice with heat shrink tubing and then wrapped
everything in tape as original. Power windows and locks create about a
3/4' dia. bundle. I had bought Gary Goers reproduction but not only is
the hose diameter a little small, but they fold in half even worse than the
originals. Creating a sharp kink everytime the door is operated. I
may just go to a local salvage yard and do some "research". After all
the time I took recreating the harness I just don't want to see it get all cut
up again. Some of the suggestions I may look into. Have to retain
the stock harness as I have that much restored already.
Thanks,
Richard Burgess, '60 Crown
Joe Strickland
<jwstrick426@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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
Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out
tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV.
|
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network