lol @ title

But pretty soon I'll be starting on cleaning up my engine bay, removing anything unnecessary or moving anything necessary. Lengthening & shortening wires (I'm trying hard not to use the term "wire tuck"). I'll be using uninsulated butt connectors similar to these:

(also 14-16g as well as 10-12 gauge connectors for larger wires) and then covering with heatshrink similar to .

The problem is I'm having a hard time finding a nice crimper that will do 10g through ~22g uninsulated terminals. All of the racheting crimpers I find only do insulated ones, your typical red/blue/yellow butt connectors. I'm trying not to use those cause they're big and bulky and don't look clean at all.

Any suggestions?

 

I've been really happy with this one:




Also, Ballenger Motorsports sells those uninsulated butt connectors and they also sell a nice adhesive-lined heat shrink. I really like the adhesive-lined stuff so that the joint is completely sealed.

 

Klein D213-9NECR 9" High-Leverage Side-Cutting Pliers - Connector Crimping

My go-to crimpers for butt connectors. Don't buy a cheap pair, the $40 ones are worth the extra money.

 

Really? You guys don't use ratcheting style? I just recently got a set and I'll never go back to the old side cutter pliers.

This is what I got for insulated connectors. I have not made a single bad crimp with them yet.

Not sure if they have one for non-insulated.

 

Huh. Interesting to see the old school style being suggested twice. I thought a lot of people were using the ratchet style like 240_to_miata suggested. Maybe I'm overthinking it - after all it really just has to squeeze a bit of metal together.

 

I use a ratcheting style similar to what 240 linked and it is amazing. Never a bad crimp and now I don't hate wiring.

 

You can buy the jaws for the ratcheting ones to crimp the uninsulated connectors. Amazon is your friend. Paladin/Greenlee's are a good place to start. They should swap right into the insulated one's frame.