Using crimp connectors in wiring O.K.?
 

Hi,

just another question about the MS wiring.

Is it a problem if I install a crimp connector in the ground lines to the head ground? (To be able to do a real plug and play harness)

Same with the wire to the WBO2 ground, as well as the wires to the CAS and GM IAT. Are there electricel losses or changes in the signal voltage of the said sensors?

I was just wondering, because ground connections seem to be such a huge issue with the MS.

Thanks

Sven

crimp connectors MIGHT be OK but you're running the risk of having shitty connections later on if not right away. I'd recommend just soldering them so you know you're getting a good connection.

What I like to do in this case is go to a junk yard and grab a nice underhood connector from another vehicle and solder it inline. Plug and play, factory quality, looks good. No worries about crap crimp connectors.

Well yes, I usually do this with old computer power connectors. Gives you the ability to do 4 connections at once.

But as I will be using quite big ground wires I will do the with crim connectors soldered.

Thanks

It's funny that the FM turbo install manual says to use crimp connectors.

Have you ever noticed that 99% of the OE connections are crimped?

Yes, because it's much faster and cheaper than soldering. And when you have the proper tools, a crimped connection is almost as good as a soldered connection.

But most people don't have the proper tools, hence, crimped connections are usually inferior to soldered connections when performed in a shade-tree environment. Comparing a plastic insulated, barrel-shaped crush splice done with a $10 hand tool to a multilevel foldover-style terminal put on with a $7,000 pneumatic crimping machine that gets calibrated twice a week with feeler gauges and a micrometer just ain't proper.

Everyone pretend I said that. I was gonna say that in response as well but looks like someone beat me to it. ;) But yeah same applies to a lot of things. For example making your own sparkplug wires. To do the connections I used some regular pliers and electrician pliers and did my best. But it wasn't pretty and not perfect by any means. Summit racing sells the correct tools but they are 50-300 dollars, depending on if you want good, better, or best. But even the 300 dollar ones don't compare to the the machine made ones.

I dunno Joe- the word I've had from more than one race car builder was it's virtually impossible to prevent solder instigated corrosion in most automotive environments (outside a sealed case). Every single one of my ground wires has crimped ring terminal on the end and there's a lot of them, all intact, all crimped with a $20 crimper. Of course there's lots of solder from reusing old OE connectors and harness building too. But I don't think there's an issue using a good crimp vs. solder in his case.

I use crimp on insulated blade terminals stuffed with dielectric grease, hasn't given me a lick of trouble so far.

False, false, and false. When the correct fluxing agent is used, there is nothing about a soldering process that makes a joint or interconnection more prone to corrosion than any other type of interconnect. Quite to the contrary, a properly soldered connection is a genuinely "gas-tight" interconnect, much unlike the cheap plastic barrel connectors that most of us (myself included) usually use.

The one area where a wire-to-wire soldered joint can be inferior to a crimped connection has to do with strain-relief. With a solder joint, it is up to the installer to relieve the actual joint area of the stress of flexation. This can be done with simple chemicals such as RTV or Liquid Electrical Tape and heat shrink tube. If this is not done, and the joint is subject to repeated flexing, the wire will show an increased tendency towards fracturing at the terminating point of the solder flow.


Mine too. I use a ratcheting crimper that I bought from Tech America about 15 years ago for something like $50, and it does nearly as good a job as can be done with plastic insulated barrels. I'd prefer to have a proper Panduit tool, but could never justify buying one at work.

I have no illusions however about my crimped plastic barrel connections being anywhere close to the level of quality of those in the OEM harness. Wherever possible, I try to use Molex 062 connectors as opposed to plastic barrels, as these have a proper strain relief, give a much more serious wire retention, and I have the proper tool for them.

Incidentally, you want to see some soldered wire-to-wire connections in your OEM wiring? Open up your fuel injector sub-harness. It's filled with soldered connections. Given that this is probably one of the most severely abused harnesses on the whole car, I wonder why Mazda chose to solder it?



Incidentally, forget Summit. If you want proper crimp tools, get 'em from DigiKey, Mouser, or Newark. Note also that most high-end tools are specific to one particular connector. Eg: the tool for a Molex 062 will only do Molex 062. Same for Amp ModIV, same for WatherPak, same for ELCO, etc...

I've never had either fail. You bunch of girls over think this shit too much. I don't even use a proper crimp tool, I just bash at it with a hammer and squish 'em good.