I have never brought it up before, because to me it comes down to each his own, And honestly, I really, really don't have the kind of patience that would allow me to solder all of those connections. I will admit that I havent really looked, but I don't remember seeing any soldered connections in the 40 year old wires that I removed from the 66.....

But you can trust me when I tell you, my crimped connections will stand up well past the pointwhen 100% gasoline is no longer available.... Sometimes,,, "good enough" is good enough.

 

- If you use a good crimping tool, not the stamped sheet metal type with the built-in screw cutting feature, you will far exceed soldered connections. This is a Mil-Spec fact. Note - a good crimping tool equals a 'forged' type.
-Soldering has several drawbacks: wicking, solder goes up the wire and stiffens it; insulation melts exposing portions of the wire; poor connection due to contamination; excess solder on terminals that will 'cold flow' and loosen.
Jim

 

I went out and bought a soldering gun but I am thinking like JMD above - man, that is alot of work - thinking to do the crimp plus shrink wrap. I have never soldered anything before but I was doing minor things like bypassing a short, wiring a stereo, inserting an electric fuel pump - lots of "one-off" but never the whole kit.

JMD, where did you put your fuse box?

 

I removed the drivers side vent assembly, made a block off plate, (have a/c), and mounted the panell on the kick panell, close to where the original fuse box was, but just a little lower for better access, like I said I am lazy..

66GTKFB is right about the crimpers, do not use one of those cheapies,,, they do suck, they are really not easy to use, and I do not trust the connections that these make.

I used a common tool for an uncommon use, I was going to take a picture of it, but it seems to be missing at the moment. I have a pair of needdle nose pliers with really, really, really long handles. I use the flat spot just behind the area where the two pieces hinge together to crimp the connections, I do not use the area forward of the hinge area. I can lay down some incredible pressure with these things.

 

JMD, I was thinking about doing the same thing and as I held the fuse box up there, it made me think - maybe I should use the block off plate to mountthe fuse box (this would keep it higher and more out of the way, maybe I wouldn't have to cut or drill the kick panel)

What did you do with the kick panel - did you screw the fuse box to it or drill through the kick panel and secure the fuse box to the metal? I was thinking to just drill through the kick panel and into the metal panel?

 

All I did was to drill four small holes in the kick panel, it would be all but undetectable if removed. I would think that hooking the panel to the block off plate would be a viable solution as well, and I did consider it.

I have installed 3 Ron Francis kits, and for me accesability is important, so when installing the latest kit I cut a comprimise in the location of the panel because like I said, I am basicly lazy....

[IMG]local://upfiles/59032/E9A7F3D6E21743C68292CAA6B4EBF9E2.jpg[/IMG]

 

Another thing I was thinking was to put the fuse box sideways so that it would fit flush in the indented area and it might make working on it a little easier. We are going to give it a shot this weekend.

 

It is a great kit, I think you will be extremly pleased with it. The best advise I can give you on the instalation is to be very sure of your routing, think it out very carefully before cutting the first wire, and every wire thereafter. You will have plenty of legnth on all of the wires (except for the gas guage wire when using the traditional routing) this extra legnth is gone as soon as the wire is cut!!

Run the wires, route them perfectly, then cut and attach. Give yourself plenty of slack at attachment points, but not so much as to be a PIA.

I got way creative in the routing to make the wires as unobtrusive as possible, in other words, with the exception of the wires to the back of the car we abandoned the traditional routing entirely. Also, we used a lot of those little metal hoops wrapped in rubber to secure the wires into place.

I will post up some pictures this evening showing some of the routing etc.I think you will need a GM style dimmer switch (three prong in a "triangle" formation), and you will need to retain the section of the old harness that runs from the wiper switch to the wiper motor, and the section that runs from the heater switch to the heater box and to the fan motor. These sections can be easily removed from the original harness by simply unwraping them from the harness and hooking the "power" wire up to the right wire from the kit.

You should also retain much of the original fuel sender wire and it's gromets, and plug, as I mentioned earlier, you will be a little short on this wire, I did not save enough of it, so I will need to splice this twice, but it will be my only real splice.

I also elected to have my front running lights burn when the headlights are on, this option requires a deviation from what is provided in the kit in it's stock form, but it is explained on the instruction sheet provided in the bag.

Good luck, and if you have any questions you can post them here or PM me if you prefer.

 

I think i am going to buy the kit and maybe even the Safe-N-Sound Remote Power Disconnect from Ron Francis. What kind of kits did you guys get?

 

i bought a full car painless wiring for $600, and i can easily say, that the only hard part in with this kit is the removal of the old wires, and the initial routing of the new, also and mounting the fusebox