Well my 1971 Corvette is porgressing nicely.
Finally fixed all the rust, I mean all I guess there is always some hiding somewhere, an now I'm at the fun part of puting everything together.
The "issue" I have is that with my car having all optional equipment (almost) there are a lot of wiring and managing it all is challenging to say the least.
How did you guys manage all the wiring under the dash and in the engine compartment so that it is somewhat neat and organized?
AIM is a good reference, of course, but are there ways of routing the wires more efficiently?

Some pictures of my work....

 

Hello,
From looking at your photos it appears you're already doing a good job of running the wiring as neatly as possible.
What bothered me most was wiring that was a little short (so the wire needed to be pulled tight in order to make the connection) or a wire that was too long so there was extra wire to deal with.
Again, I think you're doing o.k. .
Regards......

Here are 2 that have raised some comment over the years.

 

There’s no “one-size-fits-all” answer to that question. It’s much more a matter of personal preference and common sense (which I have no doubt you have). Avoid sharp radii, contact with metal surfaces, secure at reasonable intervals, etc. Where you have multiple exposed wires, especially when different colors are visible, you can wrap with electrical tape and/or install sheathing.

 

I’m very OCD when I do wiring.
I don’t want to see any of it.
I go to great lengths to hide wiring and always use shielding or split loop conduit over my wiring.
It adds countless hours to the installation but when I’m finished you will only see wiring where it connects to a component.
Its a lot of extra work to solder additional length or shorten wires but at the end of the day, you can make your wiring into a masterpiece.

 

I try to be as precise as possible as I hate seeing dangling wires or not organized ones.
That is why I spend way too much time routing wires and rerouting wires to get the best "result" as possible.
I research like crazy but I like to see how others have done it so I can steal some good ideas.

 

Yes, looks like you are doing a very nice job.
If you don't mind modifying your wiring, this method above will make things behind the dash neater and easier to install dash and gauges.
Pre-wire your gauges first and then use a single connector to connect to the harness. Connect all your gauges lighting wiring into a single wire chain.

 

Do you have any pictures or how to on how you did the wiring for the gauges?
The wiring looks very neat and I don't mind doing that to the harness. It will still be new and original just way easier to wire.
Does the dash harness still go over the gauges after this modification?

 

I believe I left the center gauge wiring as factory did, except I linked the gauge lighting into one wire. It has been awhile, no pics.

No, I routed the main dash harness under the steering column bracket. Anything you can do to make that harness smaller and more flexible by eliminating wires and combining wires will make your life easier when you re-mount the dash.
Also converted my tach to electric to eliminate the big drive cable.

If I were to do over again, I would go to electric head lamp doors and wiper door, to eliminate all the vacuum tubing and valves.

 

Been doing some work. And as Alan71 said some wires are short and some are abnormally long.
I hope this setup will work with the dash harrness tucked under the dash.

 

Sometimes you just need to solder in a length of wire and sometimes you need to cut a section out if you want the wiring to fit just so.

 

FWIW - All of those screws holding the harness and going into the Green birdcage up under the dash may need to have sealer on them if they penetrate into the wipercowl... if they penetrate the cowl and are not sealed you may get water leaks and not be able to trace them.
EVERYTHING looks good as far as your neatness!

I love Mulsanne Blue over Blue guts...

 

Thank you for the heads up. I have a very good sealer for these kind of purposes.

 

OP, if you want to tidy up the engine bay harnesses, I would suggest cloroplast tape.
Elliot 935 tape, is freely available online. I believe I paid around 8 bucks per roll.
The more you buy, the better the deal.
It reminds me of the friction tape of old.
I would discourage plain black electrical tape. In short order it will loosen, crack, look like crap.
I would also discourage any plastic convoluted tubing.
The ridges will wear themselves into the insulation of the wires. And, to me looks wholly out of place on anything prior to 1980.
If you are going to tape, you need a double layer, with about 1/2 width of overlap.
You can start any where, wrap to the end the go back past where you started to the other end, the return to start. When you come to a branch of the harness, tie the branch in with tape like the factory did.
Also, if you have the harness out of position, try to follow the learned curve of the wiring, otherwise, it may not lay flat once installed.
Don't kink the wire. If a lead is too long, grab the excess in the middle and wrap it around the harness and tape.
PIt a couple wraps of tape here and there to keep everything in place while I wrapped the harnesses.
Love the color of your cruise.
Just some suggestions.
Hope it helps.
Jeff

 

I use plenty of P-clamps and this stuff:

https://a.co/d/5movl2n



I cinch the ends up with shrink or fabric electrical tape....


I actually route the wires first....taping them every 12" or so with the fabric tape....to hold the bundle....then sheathing over it and P-clamps to nail it down....

Jebby

 

That's some good stuff.

 

Wow Jebby,
Thanks for the awesome tip on the Alex Tech sleeving.
Their website shows it’s available from 1/8” to 1.25” diameter and has a melting temp of 446 degrees.
With it being a split loom, how well does it stay closed together with both long and tight bends??

I’ve seen the use of the fabric tape in other cars and I’ve always liked it better than black electrical tape.
Now I know where to get it!

Thanks again, Greg

 

The split loom is molded tight....once you lift the lip over the other....it is not coming out.

Jebby

 

That makes it all the better.
Thanks again!

 

For my 2¢…

Sometimes wiring can only be as neat as it’ll allow; sometimes a lil extra effort goes a long way.

A co-worker and I agree that it’s a huge pain, and we tend to cut way too long or just a bit too short - no matter how much we measure.

But I look at it this way: if I do it right the first time around, when will I have to do it again?
Ounce of prevention, pound of cure.

It’s not like oil changes, brakes, tires, belts, etc… which get done on a schedule. It’s closer to 1-and-done, so take a little more time to make sure it’s:
Clean
Neat
Routed properly
and you can be proud of what you’ve done.

FWIW, when I pulled my [Dad’s] gauge clusters, I added redundant grounds. After all my years as a mechanic, it never hurts to ‘over-ground’ … it’s better than a loose/bad ground.

Pics for ref:




I was flabbergasted when I saw this - it’s a bad contact waiting to happen.


So I cleaned up the cabin & cluster wiring (so far), and added to the speedo/tach grounding like so:





New female-spade terminal on headlamp switch.

The ‘service loop’ of wire got its own disconnect for the next time I have to pull the cluster.

 

Does anyone have any photos of how the wiring "should be" around the radio/center console?