DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Been through a similar process recently. If the wires are very stiff from aged insulation, then warming carefully with a heat gun helps soften so you can get the wires to straighten out. Brush “wonder wheels” onto the terminals to remove any tarnish (it’s very quick). Then flush with WD40 to wash it off.

Good tip about the wonder wheels.

Supplies arrived this morning

Vehicle Wiring Products - excellent supplier.

I rewired the 914 using all their parts, and visited them several times throughout. That little catalogue is ace!

Yes, they’ve got everything.
In amongst the fabric tape, braiding and heat shrink I’ve bought a number of fuse boxes and plan to make an adapter bracket so I can use the original mountings on the inner wing but with modern fuses.
I’m going to have to make a number of small jumper cables on the fuse box to replicate the original that has links underneath

That’s what I did with the dash fuse panel - started from scratch with blade fuses and modern relays. It’s all very modular as you know.

Plus, you can get lightweight wiring so you can offset the weight of the steel in your new heating / ventilation bulkhead adaptors

Upfront weight is a good thing

God I hate wiring.

First job (mechanical!) was to modify and mount the new blade fuse boxes. I made small adaptors to get the spacing right to the body brackets.



That went ok, then I tried re-soldering some joins in the lighting harness which was a real pain as both ends of the wire had tarnished inside the insulation which resisted most attempts to tin. Eventually by lightly sanding the flex I found some shiny copper and got it to take, but it’s far from ideal.

Two hours for so little reward! Luckily there isn’t much soldering to do now, mainly crimps.

Gary, like you mechanical is something I understand, electrics and wiring is a dark art. Wish my fuses boxes looks so good

My Dad was electrical engineer, those genes didn’t pass on!

I’ve googled a salt/vinegar followed by baking soda wire cleaning method. Probably should have done that earlier today!

I'm in the Hate Car Electrics club too, my 73 loom has never been disturbed from the fuse blocks since new...
Every March I rotate the fuses to clear any corrosion as part of the Wake-Up routine before turning the ignition key.
And I do the same just before the MoT test! (4th July)

I actually quite like electrics - strangely therapeutic - that is until the electrons stop doing what they're supposed to do for no logical reason of course. I like a challenge, but sometimes there's a challenge that's less fun.

PeterK wrote:I actually quite like electrics - strangely therapeutic - that is until the electrons stop doing what they're supposed to do for no logical reason of course. I like a challenge, but sometimes there's a challenge that's less fun.

Can I send you my loom
I’m hoping for the therapeutic bit to kick in. Right now it’s at the annoying stage.

My wiring is at the ‘now where the hell did I put that bit’ stage


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Gary71 wrote:My Dad was electrical engineer, those genes didn’t pass on!

I’ve googled a salt/vinegar followed by baking soda wire cleaning method. Probably should have done that earlier today!

So you haven’t tried Wonder Wheels yet (or any similar acid)?

A strong solution of Citric acid is very effective (but slow) as a de-rusting solution and may work. But I’m impatient and wonder wheels is very quick.
I picked up that tip from Darren’s 914 resto thread

Earth strap after a degrease & acid refresh.

Hi Gary,
I used the sal/vinegar followed by bicarbonate method too. We stripped the insulation and brushed the strands with a small wire brush. “Borrowing” your kid’s test tube rack and tubes from their chemistry set helps to soak a good few cm of the wire in the vinegar/salt solution. Remove and brush again with the wire brush. I have heard that brick acid works well too.

Kind regards
Gitesh
Ps loved your homemade heater box base. Ingenious.