"The Big Three" Electrical Upgrade

[reznunt]

@reznut I may add one to my tool shelf later on down the road. Another reason I chose solder is for aesthetic reasons. Yes hate all you want but my OCD will not allow for ugly wiring. And IMHO crimps aren't the most attractive thing while a soldering job with heat shrink over it is nice, clean, and semi-professional looking.

Not at all hating, just prefer crimps to just a soldered connection. IMO crimped connections look beautiful. Here's one from today:

 

[TheForger]

Not at all hating, just prefer crimps to just a soldered connection. IMO crimped connections look beautiful. Here's one from today:

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I will say that is a beautiful connection you did there, props on thatThe good news is if I do decide to crimp them at some point all I need to do is take them off and blast the ends with a torch a little bit until the solder liquefies. Then I could just crimp them and let the solder harden again and slip another piece of heat shrink over it. Might so that when I do the alternator power cable, I will update this thread if I do.

 

[ihadmail]

When I get around to doing my alternator and cable upgrade all of my cables will be crimped. I work at a nuclear plant and have access to a calibrated hydraulic crimper though, so I'm kind of cheating there I suppose.

 

[hankinid]

Yes hate all you want but my OCD will not allow for ugly wiring.

"Hate" is not part of the discussion if I prefer crimping to soldering. You can get "pretty" wiring with the right kind of shrink tubing and a little practice with a heat gun.

 

[TheForger]

Finally finished everything. @hoser was spot on about the positive cable being accessible after removing the fender liner. I did jack the truck up a bit in the front to allow more room in the wheel well to work with. It required a 12" extension with a flex-head at the end. Here is the location where you can access it:

I did decide to follow the public's opinion and crimp as well as solder this time. I caved in and bought a cheapy hydraulic crimp tool from HF for about $50. I don't actually have any up-close pictures of the crimping but I cut a few small pieces of solder inside the terminal lug, crimped the wire inside it, and then heated it up and melted more solder at the joint. Added some heat shrink and then some flexible heat shielding and routed it. I would say routing the wire was the most frustrating part of it. If you have experience with bending or twisting 1/0 gauge wire then you will understand...If not then you will soon find out I routed it next to the factory power wire across the radiator all the way to the fuse block. One thing I did differently than the ground wires is that I REPLACED this power cable, I did not add on to it. The stud on the alternator was not long enough to capture both terminals and have enough threading to attach them securely. But since the power wire is not the only wire in the loom that leads to the battery, I just cut the factory terminals off of the end, put heat shrink over them, and pinched the top so it couldn't come into contact with anything (as seen in the pic below). I am not sure if this is the 'correct' way to go about this but it works for me. If anyone has a better option I am open to suggestions, I just did not want to split the loom all the way to the battery and pull those 2 wires out of it. I did the same on the fuse-block end of that wire. Anyway enough talk, here are a few of the photos I did manage to get.

I modified the cover for that fuse block so that I could put it back on over the thick wire. Oh and yes, I know I need to clean my engine bay...

 

[txtortoise]

Nice work, but for an OCD guy, I was kinda wondering about the engine bay.

 

[ryanougrad]

Tell me more about the ground from firewall area to engine block. How did you trace that wire? Better yet, how did you get back in the area. If I remember correctly in my 2000 LX that wire leads to a harness and then I can't see where that wire trails off to. I would like to do the Big 3, but the fact I can't trace that ground has stopped me. Also, did you do the short ground from battery negative to left fender?

 

[TheForger]

Tell me more about the ground from firewall area to engine block. How did you trace that wire? Better yet, how did you get back in the area. If I remember correctly in my 2000 LX that wire leads to a harness and then I can't see where that wire trails off to. I would like to do the Big 3, but the fact I can't trace that ground has stopped me. Also, did you do the short ground from battery negative to left fender?

The ground near the firewall to the engine was an interesting one. As you can see in my earlier pics it had a connector in the middle but when I disconnected it, there were no sensors or important looking bits inside. Just a normal male-to-female connector. It confused me for a bit because the ground that I had running near the oil fill tube did not such a connector. After disconnecting the firewall ground from the engine side first and testing it with a voltmeter it appeared to be a legitimate ground. I guess if you wanted to remove the engine you could just unclip the ground wire instead of unbolting it...?? Not really sure but I do know it is definitely a ground point because it terminates at the engine and at the body near the firewall.

As for the short ground that terminates near the front edge of the hood above the fender, yes that was all me. That was the very first wire I made and I initially made it about 1.5" too short to reach the factory battery-to-chassis grounding point by the large fuse box. I didn't want to go to all the trouble of unsoldering and I certainly didn't want to waste a perfectly good strip of 1/0 wire so I just found a stainless nut, bolt, washer, and open hole in the chassis. It does not interfere with the hood closing.

 

[ryanougrad]

I guess I have to dig around a bit more on that firewall to engine block ground. I gave up once I got to the harness. I couldn't follow the wire to the engine block. Guess I will have to climb up there to get a good look.

 

[TheForger]

I guess I have to dig around a bit more on that firewall to engine block ground. I gave up once I got to the harness. I couldn't follow the wire to the engine block. Guess I will have to climb up there to get a good look.

I have a feeling we're talking about different wires...LX's might be different but on my '00 LC that ground wire starts here:

And ends here:

I got back there the same way I did when I replaced my heater tee's - I took the engine cover off and used the top of the valve cover as a resting point for a knee/foot being careful to avoid the intake, radiator, or just about anything else. The art of climbing into an engine bay takes time, patience, and flexibility. Luckily I'm still young so I have all 3

 

[ryanougrad]

I got back there the same way I did when I replaced my heater tee's - I took the engine cover off and used the top of the valve cover as a resting point for a knee/foot being careful to avoid the intake, radiator, or just about anything else. The art of climbing into an engine bay takes time, patience, and flexibility. Luckily I'm still young so I have all 3

Same hose. I just need to do this bit.

 

[TheForger]

Sooo what do ya'll think about this setup on the fuse block..?

There is no contact being made with the terminal on the right. But:

1) Is this safe?
2) Could that cause a spark?
3) Should a layer of dielectric grease be applied to it?

I will upload pics tomorrow showing the modified cover for that fuse block.

 

[TheForger]

Here is the pic of the modified fuse block cover. Not a perfect job by any means but this project has been very time consuming and somewhat frustrating especially once I started on the alternator power wire. But the fuse block cover mod was the finishing touch so I was trying to get it finished as quickly as possible. Been working pretty well for me so far. And I still have not found the time to clean the engine bay so I don't want to hear anything from you @txtortoise

But no answers to any of those questions? I figured at least someone would reply in respect to the dielectric grease/silicon application since that is an exposed hot terminal...

 

[ihadmail]

I saw "liquid electric tape" at harbor freight. There may be a higher quality version of that available somewhere else?

 

[Bretthn]

I believe those two terminals are connected at the block anyway. Correct me if I am wrong but from the picture they look to both be connected to a wide copper terminal. If that is the case then it doesn't matter if the lugs make contact.

 

[TheForger]

It's about time I finalized this project. After replacing and/or upgrading all of the major ground wires I finally got my hands on a battery a few weeks ago. It's the X2 Power 27F and it was a perfect fit in the OEM battery tray. With 930 CCA and a 195min reserve capacity it's more than enough juice to power my lights, winch, and dual amps for my stereo. Today, I focused on installing the new military terminals and extensions that I got from Slee. This provides a much larger contact surface to power more accessories, as well as neatly dividing the wires among up to 3 different bolts instead of bunching them all on 1 for each terminal. Overall I'm glad I did this upgrade and with everything working the way I wanted it to (this rarely happens so let me bask in the glory), I'm sitting between 13.9 and 14 volts at a stand-still. It drops to about 13.6-13.7 while driving. If I remember it I will see what it drops to the next time I need to use my winch.

 

[txtortoise]

Here is the pic of the modified fuse block cover. Not a perfect job by any means but this project has been very time consuming and somewhat frustrating especially once I started on the alternator power wire. But the fuse block cover mod was the finishing touch so I was trying to get it finished as quickly as possible. Been working pretty well for me so far. And I still have not found the time to clean the engine bay so I don't want to hear anything from you @txtortoise

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But no answers to any of those questions? I figured at least someone would reply in respect to the dielectric grease/silicon application since that is an exposed hot terminal...

Dielectric grease wouldn't hurt, but I was also thinking plastic-dip to just seal it up.

 

[RootMeanSqr]

Also, there are a couple circumstances where soldered connections are used for military purposes. Granted, the majority of them are usually crimped, the DoD has developed military standards for soldering connections.

Standard Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies

Purely in the interest of
That standard was canceled in 1995 with the following directive: "Future acquisitions shall not cite any soldering process requirements."

That being said, I did plenty of solder splices when wiring up my new head unit. But power cables, or outside of cabin, crimp only for me.

 

[dogdaysindurham]

How long did your new alternator cable end up being? Were all your 3/8" sized lugs?

 

[TheForger]

How long did your new alternator cable end up being? Were all your 3/8" sized lugs?

Unfortunately I didn't get measurements of the battery-to-alternator cable as that was more of an after thought. I happened to have significant leftover cable after completing everything else so I decided to go ahead and do it. I would give a safe estimate of 6' and then cut anything you don't need, but that is dependent upon how you route the cable and the amount of slack you wish to leave in the cable itself. You can always route a piece of string exactly where you plan to route the cable and then measure that to get a good idea of the length. I ran it parallel to the factory alternator cable across the top of the radiator, between the airbox & engine, and then down to the alternator. All copper lugs are 3/8"