The other thing I did today was to clean up the wires that run down to the starter. I had put some heat shrink on the individual wires that I could get the shrink over the end connectors. wrap has a 3-to-1 shrink capability. I then had a 4-foot piece of heat shrink that I put over all the wires to maybe help protect them a bit more. I thought about how this might be an issue going forward if I had to do any trouble shooting on wires in that area, but if so, I'll just have to cut the wrap off.


Wires by starter heat shrinked together, next to battery cable and new alternator wire with

 

Hello Basque32,

That material is more commonly known as "Heat Shrink" tubing. You did a nice job with it cleaning up the wires and the connectors with it! It is always nice to have the wires color coded so you can tell what they are without breaking out a multi-meter. One thought for your future projects is to use a "Marine" Grade heat shrink on the wires as compared to the "Automotive" grade which shrinks 3-1. The marine grade shrinks 3-1 like the automotive grade and will last a long time. The only negative is that you will spend a lot more time getting it off a connection as the glue really sticks well. Both grades can easily be installed with a good Hot Air gun without burning the material like I used to doing it with a Flame.

The Marine grade goes one step further than the automotive type by having a heat activated Glue inside the heat shrink tubing. This prevents any oxygen or other contaminants fro getting inside the connection and can really make a difference when the heat shrink is exposed to water or oil or anything else. The Marine Grade is available all over including Amazon or any Boat supply store. I have boxes with all sorts of sizes and colors and I use it all over the corvette to protect the wiring.

Getting the wires around the starter can be very difficult when your exhaust system or headers are nearby. If they are close to any heat then I add a DEI Tube Insulation over the wires to protect them fro very high temperatures. The DEI insulation for tubes is able to protect the wires from getting burnt.

Keep up the nice work and your Corvette will really like it and in the end you won't have to work in that area for a long time!

Best regards,
Chris

 

Hey Chris,
Yeah, my brain went south as it does sometimes. Thanks for the correction. Yeah, I used the heat shrink that has the glue on the smaller wires that I could get over the connectors as I didn't want to redo them if I didn't have to. The larger heat shrink I put over all the wires does not have the glue. I have 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch of 4-foot lengths. It does clean it up nicely and I have small block with block hugger headers so the heat shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't before with the old small block engine. Thanks for the info on the marine heat shrink I'll look into that. The ends of the wires still have their colors and I have them tagged to that too shouldn't be a problem. And, yes, someday soon I'll have her back on the road again.
Thanks again.
Marc

 

The heat shrink with the glue is called double wall heat shrink.