Wiring Harness replacement - Safety question

SkyDad

Hello friends - As the mechanical overhaul continues on my 57 Hudson Hornet, I am curious to get some expert opinions on wiring. While the vast majority of every item in my car requiring juice works well, should I be concerned about any safety issues? Is it recommended or necessary to change out the entire wiring harness? I appreciate any safety advice surrounding wiring. Thanks much! - Mike

coverton

My advice is to keep amperage low as possible under the dash and through old tired switches. If going 12 V then the amps to produce wattage is less so wire size although I recommend new should be adequate size.Do use relays everywhere you can. Use a solder connection and shrink wrap not jap wrap tape and compression connectors. Think it out in your head circuit to circuit and don't forget a redundant ground to the trunk. Old gr clips to rusty steel is never good. Gr wire is cheap too. Buy a small tube or squirt container of "NO OX" to keep moisture away. Its code for electricans ! Also cheap  Ha. Buy a Harbor Frt small wire brush - toothbrush size  and clean everything you see that juice runs through.

Do one circuit at a time with color multi strand wire.Try to keep 12V hi source amperage feeds the same color.I like red.Black for Gr. Yellow  Blue Brown are also easy to find I avoid green and white because those are house wire colors. If you are not a welder/solderer then buy a cheap iron n practice sweating a stranded scrap-piece of cake. If you get antsie run by the local Comm College automotive dept and ask the instructor to let you get a few min help at cheap $ from a good student.You will likely get some darn good help from some nice young students

Carroll O

SkyDad

Thanks much, Carroll. Appreciate the tips!

Ol racer

FYI
How does the wiring look where you can see it? If it looks good you can probably get buy, however if its frayed more than likely its frayed Iin places where you cant see it so a new wiring harnes and fuse box would be a great idea. Either way, a good battery Shut Off/On Switch is a good idea when the car is out of sight.(Not the cheap green twist knob switch though) I make the Switch operable with out opening the hoiod.

DavidC

Too much of my wiring was gone. To change to 12V modern fuse system, yet retain the loomed look, I went with American Autowire nostalgia kit. Only challenge to customizing this kit for a Hudson was that all the lengths had to be determined. Any critical terminals were soldered for safety, the rest crimped. Nice kit. Not cheap, but cheaper than any pre-cut kits for 6V. Love the exposed colorful loomed wires under the hood!

JasonNC

David, exactly which American Autowire harness did you use?  I didn't see one that called itself the nostalgia kit. Most seemed to be for Chevys, even the vintage ones.  

dwardo99

I can tell you that my Super Wasp almost burned to the ground going to the Orlando national meet, in a monsoon downpour yet. It was raining so hard that I turned the heater blower on to defog the windshield and a fire broke out under the dash. I remember that the heater control knob felt hot so I thing the switch had given up but it burned all the way down to the regulator under the hood and burned through the tubing that went to the oil pressure gauge (and then cauterized it so no oil spilled). Just by luck we had attended a car meet prior to that where they required a fire extinguisher and wheel chock for each car, or we would not have had one. There is no doubt that if we had not had the fire extinguisher that car would have burned. So ... the moral is, replace your wiring. 

DavidC

Jason, It was called Highway 15 Nostalgia Wiring kit.

JasonNC

Thanks David.

RL Chilton

I used the regular Highway 15 kit for the '52 Sedan.  Easy to install, just  takes a little time, if you don't wire cars for a living.  I didn't use the "Nostalgia" kit, but the standard one, with the single-color wires.  Nice thing about the step-downs, is that the wiring under the hood originally came from the factory not in a loom, but wrapped in black tape, so you couldn't see the wiring anyway.  These are great kits when properly installed.  Safe, reliable and utilizes modern day fuses.  

For the '52 Convertible, we went with a YNZ wiring harness for the originality.  MUCH easier to install, and if you tell them about any "extras" you have, they wire in the necessary wiring so it's basically hook it up and go.