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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ What gauge wire?

Posted by: Kerrys914 Feb 4 2005, 08:38 AM

I am making an engine bay harness for my SIX and need to order some colored wire. I want to be sure to order the correct size. Is it 16 or 14 gauge?

Cheers

Posted by: Series9 Feb 4 2005, 08:43 AM

It depends on what it's for, but the majority of wiring in a 914 is closer to 18 ga.

Posted by: scruz914 Feb 4 2005, 09:05 AM

Right, it depends on what the wire is powering. I do believe though that bigger can be better but the engineers did a lot of work to size the wires right the first time. Even the gound wires are different sizes. Fitting a group of wires through existing grommets or protective casing can be a hassle if you go too much larger than OEM.

Posted by: Kerrys914 Feb 4 2005, 09:08 AM

Thanks..

Looks like 16 gauge will be fine.

Posted by: Dave_Darling Feb 4 2005, 02:13 PM

With wiring, it is always better to err on the side of wires that are too large, rather than too small. (Unless you get so large that the wires won't physically fit where you need to route them, at any rate.)

Check the wiring diagrams. They will have little numbers on the wire lines. Those numbers are the diameter of the wire (the metal part, not the insulation) in millimeters. There are mm/gauge conversion tables around somewhere, and those will tell you what sort of gauge the original wires were.

--DD