Oh joy....engine wiring harness fun begins, starting to wire up the LINK fuel inject Options

[Mueller]

sorry for the Andy-esque photo (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif)

Started to read the install manual for the Link fuel injection/ignition controller last night as well as the wiring for the Mallory CDI which will be used as well (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)

Man, wiring is never fun, the hardest part I think will be laying everything out and figuring out how to run the wires so that it looks like a clean install....I'm still not sure if I'll be shrink tubing the entire harness or use the wire harness specific cloth-type tape.

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (bowlsby @ May 2 2005, 11:52 AM)

The split tube casing really does not belong in an engine bay, as a permanent solution. Not only do it and its funky intersection pieces look cheesy, it really has very limited performance. It is not very heat resistant and does not seal out dirt and liquid contaminants. The casing is there to configure and protect the wiring. The boots or connectors preotefct the terminations and connections. Corrugated split tube is made for interior, protected uses not subject to open engine bay-type environments. It is accessible so wires can be reconfigured easily, but this should only be considered for temporary use. The sharp edges of the tubing can be a paint too. You really want to shrink tube this harness permanently for a couple simple reasons: The shrink tube adds insulation value (somewhere around about 200F protection) to protect the wiring from heat damage. As a casing it also effectively seals the internal wiring and connectors from contamination from oil and water, that will negatively affect the wire terminal connections.

A goodly number of OEMs disagree with your experience regarding the split harness tubes, as a glance into the engine bays in quite a few recently manufactured cars will attest. Perhaps there's higher performance split tubing in use now than whatever you're familiar with. Some of this stuff is now rated for temps over 250dC. There's one outfit that sells some reflective stuff that they claim will survive one inch away from a 500dC heat source, like an exhaust pipe.

I believe I indicated above that the ENDS of the wiring at the connectors should be heat-shrinked, so we agree there. I just don't like the idea of heat-shrinking the whole thing for serviceability reasons. I don't deny it will protect it, and perhaps will do a better job than the split tubing will. The tubing is mostly there to prevent chafing and to keep wires bundled and tidy. Since our engine bays are open, the sun can cause the insulation colors and labelling to fade over time without UV protection, which the tubing will also provide.