Should I send original wiring for repair

[John M.]

Has anyone sent Steve Hack there old wiring harness for repair and restore? He said they would rework all wiring if in a repairable condition. Mike is at http://www.easterncorvettes.com/ I’m sure he is a good source for this job, just wondering if it is worth repairing the old wiring or to buy new.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

John,

Keep in mind it's a 43 year old harness. If the damage is not extensive you may try fixing the harness yourself. On my 63 the harness was hard and had some damaged ends so I replaced it with Lectric Limited main harness and never had any problem, glad I did it.

Depending on what he charges you may want to consider a new wiring harness, check archives for some discussion about M&H and Lectric Limited.

[William C.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

As the wiring ages, plasticizers that are used in the wiring insulation to make it more flexible tend to outgas into the air. That makes the insulation less tolerant to vibration and the stress applied when installing and removing the wiring harness from the car. If the car was a low mileage original without significant exposure to heat cycles, I'd think about re-use, but in that case it wouldn't likely need an "upgrade". I respect Steve's work very much, but if my car, I'd think hard about a new replacement harness. (Retired, Packard Electric division of GM, the folks who built the stuff originally)

[John M.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

Replacing the wiring was my original plan, until I spoke to steve and he said they use original all the time. The car has 38k on her, I think you guys are correct and complete new wiring is less then $1500. I do plan on sending Steve my wiper motor and PW motors for rebuild.

[William C.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

At 38000 miles, I'd probably take a second look at the original pieces, If the wiring is still flexible , I'd really ask what needs to be repaired? On a low mileage unit, it all depends on what kind of storage it had, cool and dry is great, Hotter is bad for the plastic coating on the wires (Plasticizers leak out of the PVC making cracking of the insulation more likely) Damp environment can cause problems with connections, pay special attention to the condition of the clips that retain the fuses, These parts are heat treated steel, copper plated then silver plated over the copper. Big area to look for corrosion removing the plating. I cannot say if replacements are available in that configuration today.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

I agree with Bill, at 38000 miles tell us what the damage is on your harness. I would think the original is fine to use.

On my 63 the wires were was noticably hard to move along with the cars hard life the harness had some modifications. It worked fine but I knew a replacement was in order..

IF you think it's OK I promise you will find other things to spend $$$ on..

[Pete B.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

I replaced the front harness on my low mileage 71. Nothing had been cut into or spliced but the engine bay harness was much harder and had lost flexibility.
The others harneses, I set on a bench and insppected every inch, and cleaned the terminals with contact cleaner. Everything lit up perfectly.

[Alan S.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

Hi John,
I agree with Pete. I checked, cleaned, and re-wrapped as needed, the harnesses for my 46k, 71; except for the engine harness. It was much more deteriorated than the others, especially right behind the distributor and in the area of the starter. So I replaced it. I think the heat and engine compartment environment is pretty hard on it.
The only other problem I had was breaking 2 of the gauge light wires right at the light socket.
Regards,
Alan

[Paul J.]

Re: Should I send original wiring for repair

I've looked carefully at the harness on my 64 and it looks pretty good, although there's a little stiffness. However, I never considered reusing the original harness because the car is apart and I don't want to have replace the harness down the road after the car is back together.