Its not as much about taking full advantage of, or desperately needing, but having at your disposal, cool new features that help you have the car running better.

Everyone was just fine on band aids like 10 years ago.

Everyone was just fine using pre-historic ev1 injectors and entry level ecu's 5 years ago (many even today).

etc etc etc

 

Wide-Range Crimper for Weatherpack and what not
Home » Shop » Tools » Crimp & Strip » Standard » Wide-Range Crimper - Excellent for crimping Weather-Pack ( Weatherpack ), Metri-Pack ( Metripack ), GT Style and most Terminal Types *RECOMMENDED*

Irwin 2078310 10" Crimper
Irwin 2078310 10" Crimper (Forged) w/Grips

Irwin 2078300 8" Self-Adjusted Wire Stripper
Irwin 2078300 8" Self-Adjusted Wire Stripper


For the uninsulated crimper I use butt splices and they are awesome. 6 cents each too aw yea
100 Uninsulated Butt Connectors Wire Splice 22 18 AWG | eBay

 

^^ Glad to hear I'm not the only one who does this.

QUALITY tools are ALWAYS worth the investment. I grew up using cheap *** Harbor Freight tools and there is nothing worse than fighting your project AND your shitty *** tools. I started buying old Craftsman, SnapOn and SK wrenches and sockets at garage sales and flea markets until I was able to afford to buy full sets outright. My favorite tool acquisition right now is my Wilton bench vise. Now I just need a quality drill press.

My kids will inherit these tools, can't say that about the cheap china ****.

 

yeah, I've had too many wires pull out even when I thought I did a stellar job crimping the **** out of them.

 

I never understood why it should be easier - if you're doing the same amount of travel - I bet that's it, I think the racheting ones you're swinging through a bigger arc.


I already have one of the first crimper shown - the ring terminal/ratcheting kind. I was looking more for stuff like Soviet showed (and the EB one)
That looks pretty awesome, seen it around. Grrrr, $12 shipping on a $36 tool.

I bought one of these:
Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is Free shipping SN-28B TAB 2.8mm2 terminal crimping pliers tool ( 0.1-1,1-2.5,4-6mm2 )
Took a while to show up, and the dies don't seem to be perfect, having just a little trouble deciding which is the perfect hole to use. The issue is the assumption it makes about the size of my insulation - it crimps the wire very well, but the secondary tabs just barely rest against the wire. If I had thick insulation, it'd be better - but it does do everything at one. I am debating just following that up (easy with the pin now crimped to wire) with old non-ratcheting style to get those bent perfectly on the insulation.

Could it be your judgement that sucks? Could it be you're hanging your seat off crimped wires?
I always end up tugging on the wires till I'm sure I'll rip it's constitute copper... Then worrying I've damaged the wire by tugging so hard. Either way, my $15 shipped crimper seems to actually be working well, it just looks funny without the insulation grabbed tight.

 

Maybe it does. I always tug on every wire I crimp/solder in place, but inevitably one eventually fails.

 

Because mechanical advantage. ratcheting crimpers you pull the same stroke but multiple times so it takes less force.

 

Mine reads like a Shakespearean tragedy:

-bought a beat 1990/1.6
-bought a Greddy set up
-bought JIM B PIPES
-abandoned miata for 7 years
-became nostalgic and decided NOT to sell it
-bought a pristine low mileage '96 ... drove it through the winter
-continues spending money on '90 while driving a vastly superior '96 into the ground
-competes with Hornet for 'best greddy based 1.6 build' (and loses)

-Zach

 

I do the above for a living, don't cheap out on the crimper, solder, wire or lugs/crimps. Cars make it much worse because of the vibration. Not saying you do.
Just my .

 

After racing my car for a couple of years.

Where I found not to skimp.

Reading the rulebook for the class you run in.
Brakes, fluid, pads. Or though Plain rotors I found the best as recommended on here.
Suspension
Engine mounts. I when through so many Mazda comp mounts.
Tires run the best you can afford.
Safety equipment. ROPs, good seat harness set up. The biggest one for me, was a HANs device. I crashed with out one. My neck is still not right.

I’m about to go turbo, reading all the great info data, on here, so you can learn from other peoples builds.

Beer, your friends are more likely to help if you supply the premium gear.

 

Good advice, but this was really hard to read.

Don't skimp on English class.

 

Practice makes perfect on this one. I strongly suggest you send me premium beer a few times a month for maybe half a year or so. I'll let you know when you've got it down.


Didn't think it was bad, um, "gear" aside.