buying wire

[moparrr07]

where do you guy buy your wire (18 gauge), i have checked the farm and fleet and Napa, and other part stores but they are $6 for 40 feet and they dont have all of the colors- i have found Waytek Wire, and they sell all 14 of the Chrysler colors at $6 for 100 ft- where do you guys buy your wire?

[urchinhead]

You can go to an electrical supply house and buy wire. If they are wholesale only, you can always pay cash and give them a fake job number for a large contractor ( Rosendin Electric, Morrow Meadows, etc. ). You probably don't need entire spools though, and copper keeps getting pricier, so just talk to a friend ( or make a friend ) who is a commercial electrician.

[GTS225]

My local Home Depot has spools available, but I'm sure that it's not "primary wire".  If you go check them out, and like what you see, make sure you get "MTW".  That's machine tool wire, which is about the same as automotive primary wire.

Roger

[moparrr07]

ive checked a couple home improvement store but the dont have the colors, id like to keep the factory colors, for the most part, it gives me the feeling that my car is still a mopar and not just a universal parts car- i just used the term primary wire because thats what everyone list it as

[jimmyb]

You can go to an electrical supply house and buy wire. If they are wholesale only, you can always pay cash and give them a fake job number for a large contractor ( Rosendin Electric, Morrow Meadows, etc. ). You probably don't need entire spools though, and copper keeps getting pricier, so just talk to a friend ( or make a friend ) who is a commercial electrician.

  how much do you actually need? we throw away more short runs of wire than you could use on 100 cars. if you can't find what you need let me know I can help if you need it.

[moparrr07]

i was just kinda hoping to get a few 100ft spools, so i can rewire my entire car, cause things are intermittent, plus the left over i can use for other projects and stuff

[urchinhead]

If you need something specific, I'll toss some wire your way too. I just recycled a couple huge boxes of the stuff. What specific colors are you looking for? Don't worry so much about your car being a universal parts car - at least you're not one of those assholes putting a Chevy engine in a Mopar. I guess you could just grab some harnesses from 90's cars at the wrecking yard ( Lebarons and New Yorkers are plentiful ) if that does concern you.

[urchinhead]

i was just kinda hoping to get a 100ft spool or so, so i can rewire my entire car, cause things are intermittent, plus the left over i can use for other projects and stuff

You don't want one spool - you're going to need several different colors, and probably about 20' to 40' feet of each, depending on the color. You might want to just get a harness for each area you're working on a the time. Laysons sells individual harnesses, i.e. one for the engine, one for the front lighting, etc. If you start adding electric fans, fuel pumps, gauges, etc. It might be time to spring for a complete harness. Your engine wiring should be the only stuff that's really fried.

[NYrr496]

Painless makes some really excellent wire, but it's pricey.

[urchinhead]

14 AWG used for wiring buildings is much better than anything painless will sell you. They do have good complete harnesses though, but their fuse panel is a bit unsightly for a muscle car.

[jimmyb]

i was just kinda hoping to get a 100ft spool or so, so i can rewire my entire car, cause things are intermittent, plus the left over i can use for other projects and stuff

You don't want one spool - you're going to need several different colors, and probably about 20' to 40' feet of each, depending on the color. You might want to just get a harness for each area you're working on a the time. Laysons sells individual harnesses, i.e. one for the engine, one for the front lighting, etc. If you start adding electric fans, fuel pumps, gauges, etc. It might be time to spring for a complete harness. Your engine wiring should be the only stuff that's really fried.

I agree you need several colors and sizes let us know and it looks like you can get what you need.

[NYrr496]

14 AWG used for wiring buildings is much better than anything painless will sell you. They do have good complete harnesses though, but their fuse panel is a bit unsightly for a muscle car.

You're not talking about using solid wire, are you?

[moparrr07]

im sorry i can see liked it seemed like i was going to wire my car with one color, , but no, i was just talking in one case at this place online, the smallest size you can get is 100ft, for $5, same as napa for 40ft

i was looking to get all 14 colors chrysler used, lets see if i can name them

black, red, brown, blue, lt blue, green, lt green, gray, tan, yellow, white, pink, orange and violet

hey what do you know, i can

im going to be doing alot of custom locating of switches on the console and stuff plus im on a budget so i really dont want to go for a whole kit, im going to get the Ron Francis fuse block, i love the look of that rather than the painless one

i also have stuff like rear lights that i have to jiggle the wire to get them to work, so i will rewire most of it

[cu440da]

Check out this site. Dirt cheap kits. www.ezwiring.com

[urchinhead]

No, I wasn't talking about using solid wire, but that will work just fine. You can even use solid wire for speakers.

moparrr07 - the wire you saw online is likely aluminum - which cracks after a short time - or made in China. Just make sure you get some good copper wire with a nice coating. The construction wire that I've been pushing you to use is well insulated, with an outer composite coating, alcohol, gasoline and oil resistant ( it says right on the wire ). Good luck!

P.S. If you want to be that anal about the chrysler colors, you should probably carry samples with you, and color match. But finding correct pink wire with a black stripe, etc. will take luck ( or a miracle ) above all else.

[NYrr496]

urchinhead, I've never seen anyone use solid wire in a car for any purpose. Stranded only. I've replaced tons of solid wire on stationary generators after it broke from vibration.
Automotive wire has very different insulation than other types of industrial wire. I wish I could remember what I used to buy when I had my diesel shop, but I used to just tell the salesman to give me the same stuff. We never dealt with what it was once we found something good.
Gas and oil and heat will ruin cheap wire.

[AAOUTLAW]

good FRICKEN god

[AAOUTLAW]

A short note on car wiring here............short...thats funny
Anyways..never use solid wiring or even THHN from houses in a car for 3 reasons that quickly come to mind here...vibration, insulation compatability with automotive liquids and availability of terminal ends.
generaly wire for automotive use comes in 4 readily available grades.........and i mean GENERALY speaking.
GPT , SXL , GXL , and TXL  i don" like the GPT though it's not as resistant as the other 3 to liquids and crap like that.  The more wire strands the wire has the more flexible it is ...unless it's some cheap import crap.  AND....always use braided ground straps, that's a whole nutha story though

[NYrr496]

 

[ls23h8b]

maybe these guys?

http://www.narragansettreproductions.com/general-supplies-primary-copper-wire.html

[urchinhead]

 ctfgtI've used solid wire in certain applications in my 4x4s, and never had a problem, but I'm not doubting it cracks under extreme circumstances - so does stranded and stainless! Anyway, while looking for an engine harness for my Dart, I found these guys:

http://evanswiring.tripod.com/index.html

The last link looks pretty good too though, if you want to build your own harness and are willing to spend the extra buck.

[hydro]

I'll take a shot at this one. I used to be the wiring product manager for an industrial cord and cable manufacturer and from memory here is what you folks are looking for:

AWM Type 1015 hookup wire, 600V, PVC insulation, general purpose, -20C to +105C temp rating

For high temp applications I would use this one;

AWM Type 3271 hookup wire, 600V, XLPE insulation, -20C to +125C, non-melting insulation

If you do an internet search on these you will find the proper vendors.

[b569rr]

A short note on car wiring here............short...thats funny
Anyways..never use solid wiring or even THHN from houses in a car for 3 reasons that quickly come to mind here...vibration, insulation compatability with automotive liquids and availability of terminal ends.
generaly wire for automotive use comes in 4 readily available grades.........and i mean GENERALY speaking.
GPT , SXL , GXL , and TXL  i don" like the GPT though it's not as resistant as the other 3 to liquids and crap like that.  The more wire strands the wire has the more flexible it is ...unless it's some cheap import crap.  AND....always use braided ground straps, that's a whole nutha story though