should i shorten them all?

[HarmalloyX]

theres a lot of extra feet of wire in there. Do yall think i should i shorten them all and use 100 or so splice connectors, or just leave them be as they are? anyone been here before and have some sage wisdom?

[SkinnyG]

I shortened everything in my Locost, and my idea was if I kept it all "original" (but shortened) wiring, it would be easy to diagnose and repair.

When I redo the car, I will strip everything out except the bare essentials, and be as simple and efficient as possible.

[dhempy]

I did mine. Not only shorten it, but eliminate lots of abandoned circuits, like ABS, radio, etc. Perhaps best of all, it really forces you to _understand_ the harness. Removes a lot of mystery.

That said, it's a big undertaking. Check your work frequently and ring out all you connections. You're sure to make a few bad crimps along the way.

[dhempy]

My '93 harness lost about 25 pounds through the process. Not bad, but there was a _lot_ of time invested to get that reduction. Unless you're building a race car, it is of dubious value just to save weight.

viewtopic.php?p=75472#p75472

[HarmalloyX]

My '93 harness lost about 25 pounds through the process. Not bad, but there was a _lot_ of time invested to get that reduction. Unless you're building a race car, it is of dubious value just to save weight.

viewtopic.php?p=75472#p75472

i also would a lot less trust in it. a spliced wire isnt as good as one that has never been cut.

[horchoha]

I stripped/shortened all my harnesses to just what was needed.
I don't crimp, all my splices are soldered and shrink sleeved which gives me peace of mind.
As said it is a big undertaking but the payoff is that you get very intimate with your harness which is a good thing when building your own car.

[dhempy]

If you solder, make sure both sides are securely supported near by. A soldered wire will break just outside the solder when subjected to vibration due to the stress riser of the rigid solder next to the flexible copper. Solder joints are not allowed in aircraft -- crimps only.

Regular heat shrink problably helps. A stiffer, sealing butt joint like this probably does better:
https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Haiss ... B08F46WKCZ

But either way, make sure the wire is supported on both ends and its not moving around.

And agreed with @harmalloyx , that reliability likely goes down when modifying the harness. You *could* remove pins from connectors and re-pin them to avoid splices...but I feel like any homebrew job would be less reliable than a factory pin job, so strike your balance.

[SkinnyG]

20 years and 20,000km street use and three seasons of autocross - no soldered connections have failed yet. And I've always soldered my connections in all my vehicles.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

[tibimakai]

I'm planning to solder all my wires as well.