Topic: 67 - GTA - VERT - SJ July build Correct taping of underhood electrical wires

[Hillary Noye]

Kind people

I am coming to the end of my engine / engine bay restoration of my 289 A code - GTA SJ vert and have looked on the forum for correct amount of "taping" of under hood wires.

I have seen lots of information on the correct type of tape and alternatives and the clips etc but I haven't found a great deal of information about what was and wasn't taped and the degree of taping of the wires or otherwise

Looking for Sagely advice from those that have considered this prior ..

Thanks in advance

Regards

Hillary from OZ

[ruppstang]

Which under hood harness are you asking about ? The blinker harness?

[67gtasanjose]

Which under hood harness are you asking about ? The blinker harness?

+1

Yours would be the 'later' version if the hood blinker harness but there are also many suppliers to the factories too so there can be subtle differences even if we had original examples from unrestored cars to closely look at.

[Hillary Noye]

Thankyou for your replies
 
As the entire engine bay and engine has been overhauled I believe it would be prudent to look at everything under the hood and in the engine bay from a tapping perspective and I cannot find any good resources so far to guide me on my journey.

Yes the blinker harness affixed to the hood would be one - but are their any good resources to assist me ?
 
Regards

Hillary from OZ

[ruppstang]

I have retaped a number of electrical harness. What I do is clamp one end and remove a few inches of the old tape noting how it was wrapped. Then I use Scotch brand 88 electrical tape and replace what I just removed. Working you way to the end. If you find some wire damage it should be addressed before proceeding.
Sometimes if there is a lot of damage or the wire is brittle it is better just to buy a new harness.
Good luck with your project. 

[J_Speegle]

Remember that if you wrap wiring with anything with adhesive (rather than just wire wrap) the exposed adhesive along the tap edges can and will attract and hold dust and dirt and in hotter weather can seep out from this edge to cover a larger part of the exposed surfaces

Just a consideration. Some will use the tape and make an effort to remove the adhesive before installing with some success

[tobkob]

Remember that if you wrap wiring with anything with adhesive (rather than just wire wrap) the exposed adhesive along the tap edges can and will attract and hold dust and dirt and in hotter weather can seep out from this edge to cover a larger part of the exposed surfaces

+1   In my career as a telephone tech we used 88T (probably the same as 88 tape referred to above)tape which is better than a lot of tape on the market  (adhesive not as sticky and gooey) but I ordered the tape from Jack Brooks for my Shelby wiring.
http://www.deadnutson.com/catalog/item/2965331/6122491.htm

TOB

[CharlesTurner]

The correct tape should be friction type, which is wrapped over at the starting end and then the final end taped with a small piece of cloth tape.  There is variance to how the ends are secured.

[jwc66k]

Here we go again. Ford's harness suppliers used a non-adhesive vinyl tape, not friction and not your run of the mill store bought electrical tape. 3M was one supplier Ford used. 3M recommended Temflex Flexible Insulation 2585 as a reasonable substitute. There may be newer products today. I got my roll about 20 years ago. The ends were tucked back into the wrap, no glue or adhesive was used. You can see a "pigtail" sticking out near the an end.
On the other hand, I've seen a few instances of friction tape on the ends of harnesses and assume it was an assembly line "patch".
Jim

[midlife]

Here we go again. Ford's harness suppliers used a non-adhesive vinyl tape, not friction and not your run of the mill store bought electrical tape. 3M was one supplier Ford used. 3M recommended Temflex Flexible Insulation 2585 as a reasonable substitute. There may be newer products today. I got my roll about 20 years ago. The ends were tucked back into the wrap, no glue or adhesive was used. You can see a "pigtail" sticking out near the an end.
On the other hand, I've seen a few instances of friction tape on the ends of harnesses and assume it was an assembly line "patch".
Jim

I've seen friction tape used consistently on 68 on up to keep the non-adhesive tape end in place on both LH and RH door jamb wires.  Friction tape was also used to keep untaped wire bundles in place: typically the headlight bundle, the wiper bundle, and the bundle going towards the firewall grommet.  This was not an assembly line repair, but a consistent design/manufacturing product.

[J_Speegle]

I've seen friction tape used consistently on 68 on up to keep the non-adhesive tape end in place .............

+1 Something found on allot of looms. I've also seen black sealer to do the same task. Believe there was a couple of opinions/methods based on who made up the loom since there were likely a hundred locations doing looms as sub contractors

[jwc66k]

I've seen friction tape used consistently on 68 on up to keep the non-adhesive tape end in place on both LH and RH door jamb wires.  Friction tape was also used to keep untaped wire bundles in place: typically the headlight bundle, the wiper bundle, and the bundle going towards the firewall grommet.  This was not an assembly line repair, but a consistent design/manufacturing product.

Note the title refers to a 67. I addressed that, and indirectly 64-66. I realize that late 60s Fords used different techniques but did not know when any changes were made.
Jim

[midlife]

I've also seen friction tape used on 67/68's holding the small bracket/tab near the dimmer switch or foot washer pedal connector.  Friction tape was also used on 67/68's to keep the pink resistor wire attached to the main harness on tach-dash cars. 

These are general comments about friction tape usage, and not specifically addressing underhood harnesses, which was the original thread.   I do not have enough experience with 67 headlight harnesses to describe friction tape usage off the top of my head, but it probably was not significant or used only on hood turn signal harnesses (even less experience!). 

Apologies to derailing the thread.

[tobkob]

I've also seen friction tape used on 67/68's holding the small bracket/tab near the dimmer switch or foot washer pedal connector.  Friction tape was also used on 67/68's to keep the pink resistor wire attached to the main harness on tach-dash cars.

Also used on 69's to secure wiper motor wires to the clip on lower cowl and to secure some of the vinyl ends on my '69.

TOB

[67gta289]

To me friction tape is synonymous with an adhesive cloth tape.  I double checked a few sources and that is what I'm seeing.  I do see cloth friction tape on one or both ends of all 67 harnesses I have or have worked on.  The non adhesive vinyl tape used for the long runs need something at the end to keep them from unraveling.   In a few cases I've seen cloth friction tape used to join parallel harnesses together with 12-18" spacing.  Most of this has been 1/2" wide with a few in the 1/4 to 3/8" range.  My experience.  I guess pictures will help, I will do that later.