[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
On 20 Sep 2005 at 23:36, J. Jonik wrote: > * No matter how well one treats an "antique" VW...or even if it's not driven > and kept in a garage, the vital WIRES will dry up, age, and crack. You can > barely touch them w/out cracking the plastic/rubber covering. This is just > info from experience. Nothing techno or expert. I don't think age has much to do with it. It's mostly heat. NOS wiring parts look just as good today as they did when they were new. The wiring under the back seat and the dash is still pliable. Just to be clear, it's only the insulation which deteriorates. The copper and brass will be fine, as long as they aren't abused. A LOT of these parts get abused, however. The insulation in the engine compartment gets the most heat and abuse. > * Haven't seen anything in ads or catalogues about plug covers at > connections. Would love to replace all the rotted covers. HOW?..without > clipping the wires and plugs? Some of the rubber boots are available, some are not. You can replace some with similar/identical boots which you can cull from newer cars at the junkyard. You can pull the wires out of the connectors if you make a small tool to release the catch inside. Never clip the old crimped connectors except as a last resort, because they are the best connectors you'll ever have.. > * Re/ Mystery crumbled non-metalic washer falling from distributor while > cleaning (71 T3 FI), yes...the book shows a "washer" below each centrifugal > thing in distributor. Doesn't say what kind of washer though. Will check. > Looks like a replacment might be easy via undoing a c-clip. At least it > doesn't seem to have electronic implications. (Do all these non-metal > washers/gaskets etc have a life-span that's long over?) In some cases they will slowly wear thinner and thinner, and get more fragile in the process. I find that they don't often break in use, but sometimes the most careful handling will finish them off when taking something apart. I don't replace them as long as they are still good. They seem to be stamped from a brown phenolic plastic with linen cloth embedded in it. This is a rather common electrical insulating material, but I don't know where to just buy cheap washers made from it. I should look around and buy some stock. I've been substituting with commonly available nylon washers. BTW, the nylon washers are a good substitute for the alum washer that is under the head of the screw that you take out to measure fuel pressure in FI cars. The nylon seals readily and actually lasts longer than the alum. > * Re/ wires. Is soldering always superior to Solderless scrunch-on > Connectors? In some places yes? In others no? Then...do shrink-wrap tube > coverings do the trick to protect...or is that for non-hot/oily electric jobs? The factory crimps are of extremely fine quality; in most cases we can't duplicate that quality at home unless you have the CORRECT $200 tool. The $20 tool doesn't even come close. I don't know anyone who has the correct $200 tool. Those tools are connector-specific, so it would take at least 4 different crimp tools just to crimp all the small wires in one of our cars. If you have to do a home repair, I think a careful solder/heat shrink job is the best bet, BUT there ARE some things to be careful of: Use a small soldering iron, and don't try this until you are already a skilled solderer. Use some flux or HCl to clean off the copper wire then tin it. Solder the wire to the connector quickly to avoid heating up the working end of the connector. If you get the whole connector up to soldering temps this will be hot enough to actually anneal the connector, and the connector will become worthless. After the soldering is done, crimp the the back end of the connector around the insulation of the wire. Then slide the heat shrink up onto the joint and shrink it in place. If the connection is in a place that sees weather, I always smear some ordinary grease in it before I plug them back together. The grease helps keep air and water out of the joint and retards corrosion. Heat shrink works fine in hot oily places. You'll need a small variety of sizes, because it only shrinks in diameter by about a factor of 2. Some people get by shrinking it with a propane torch, but this is risky for a number of reasons, so I prefer an electric heat gun. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~