The BAD AST Project - Faze II

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I got the Gauge cluster wired up tonight. I put 12v's to the lites and they lit up without any arcing or explosions so I was happy!
They are kind of dim. I was running them off my cheapo battery charger so they probably aren't getting a full 12.

Full view

The back. I will get to the final bundling after I get the shrink tube finished. It's kind of sloopy looking right now but it'll look nice once it's all cable tied.

I finally got myself a good Molex style terminal crimper. This one came from Jegs.

I did all six wire and insulation crimps with zero defects. These crimpers make this a no brainer, really.
First, strip the wire.

Crimp the wire side.

Then move to the next bigger crimp and crimp on the insulation. These are strong crimps, they aren't coming apart.

I then shoved the connectors into the housing. You can see how I labeled the connector with the wire color. Probably not necessary but it helps when planning the connections.

All done..




I have done a lot of wiring before so I am very comfortable doing it. I know a lot of people are intimidated by the "spaghetti"... If you want to learn more I would suggest picking up two books. Both of them are by Tony Candela and are very well written.
He touches base on all of the basics in his first book

and covers some fairly in-depth projects in his second.

I have read through both of them a few times and everything I am doing here on the van I have either picked up through Tony's books or had my knowledge reinforced or changed for the better by him. The other thing I can tell you is, if you want to learn to do your own wiring, get out and do it. It's not that difficult and, with these books as reference, I think anybody could re-wire a car with little difficulty. Or just start small by tiding up all of those loose wires!
Thanks for looking
Mark