Is splicing into the electrical system alot, a good or not so good idea.
i'm no electrician its just that i can see that people in the past who have put in gauges etc... into the car have. i wish to add a few more and am not sure what to do......
cheers

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

These are good - Get them at DSE or Jaycar

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

NO DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THOSE THEY ARE BANNED FROM AIRCRAFTS

The metal part eventually cuts the wire after excess vibration and can lead to shorting, and possible fire. But yes they are easy but is it worth it??? I recommend you use proper connections available at a good auto electrician.

I used to fit car audio and have seen them actually cut the wire after a client came in complaining his UHF wasn;t working

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yes its easy to add lots of things to the very simple electrics on the mini, the problem is when people do it half-arse, then you get this car with dodgy wiring and you end up having burnt wires or worse.. fire.

As for splicing, generally if it looks good to the eye, then it is a good job well done. Try to shy away from screw connectors (always messy, although convenient) and use auto electrical connectors and a proper crimper. Crimping with side cutters or the cutters found in pliers puts a lot of pressure on small parts of the wire which leads to breakage when it vibrates or is pulled on.

I personally like to run an extra wire (once again if it looks good to the eye, then it will probably be fine) all the way back to the fuse box if it is for a particular use like a stereo, or a set of spot lights. That way you can individually fuse the circuit, it looks good, and doesn't run the risk of stuffing up other circuits or causing shorts. It is a meter of copper wire to do this, that is all.

If you must splice, I like to solder it myself. You don't need anything other than a bit of solder and an iron, and you can heat shrink or tape it after that. With that bit of solder you can go at it all afternoon without relying on a auto store if you run out of those expensive little buggers.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Splicing is fine, just dont overload a single point or line.
Yes, clips work ok, but they are a quick fix.

Strip the wire, joint them, solder them, tape (or heat shrink) them... they will stay like that for years!!!

Pete.

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Click here for the Turbo Conversion Thread!

Interesting - I used to splice and solder and slip heat shrink tubing over the joint but got lazy and started using these little blighters. Guess I'll go back to the labour intensive way

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

just use those double addapter blade connections, you will see a female blade conection at the top and then a male on the side and another male at the bottom, dont forget to solder it made a difference when i was wiring my car, i dont remember what it read on the multi meter but it did make a big difference

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any parts for a 76 clubby pm me or ring 0405 329 326

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44717

interesting, thanks all. didn't know about the soldering part ... alll the previous splicing has just been strip the wire, joint the two, tape up... and there she goes...

should i be concerned and get them redone..???

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

fiji first thing i would do is replace the fuse box. when i started to put extra electricals i got two from supercheap rewired it made jumpers with solid pice of wire and soldedit across the terminalsthen made the feed from the other side and ran the wire to were it was needed ..
scotch locks are the work of the devil himself wombat , my old man was a electronics tech and i bought some to do some work on a old car of mine and he seen me useing them, i wont repeat what he said but he sugested strongly that i had something wrong with me and was a silly person. he said that they are knowen to be the cause of fires as brett has already stated
makka

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Anonymous moderation means the agro that is built up towards the mods isn't aimed at an individual (fewer "Makk" attacks). Less stress for mods means less moderator "retirements".

Yeah, they are the main source of mini electrical problems. Many people blame Lucas, but in most cases it is down to this sort of work. The copper unravels and causes poor connections which can also cause the wire to melt from hot joins. It's nothing to open it up, solder it quickly and replace the tape or heatshrink. Heatshrink is the nicer one to use as it is more permanant than tape, but the wire needs to be pulled apart.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

A diesel fitter I was helping one night had some brilliant stuff , it was a rubberish tape that you stretched on as you wound it , then applied a little heat and it shrunk on like heatshrink and made a waterproof wrap . No idea what it was called and it was his last roll , when it was used he couldn't find anymore

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The stuff is called 3M self vulcanising tape. It melts onto itself and forms a perfect seal agiainst all kinds of nasties. The only stuff to use!

We use this A WHOLE LOT on the ships. It doesn't allow any salt water through at all. It has to be cut off to remove it after it has vulcanised.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Cool , where can common people get it from ?

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I got a roll of it from Jaycar

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!