Wiring

[m408]

My next step in raising my skill level will be first attempt at engine wiring. Got a pin vise with tiny drills and scaled plug wires. Decided to practice on scrapes and now i'm stuck. Can't seem to get the drill bit started accuratly. Tried heating a pin up to use as a center punch. Still no luck. Also, what glue to use to secure wires?

[Jairus]

You will have better control with the tiny drill bits if you use your Xacto knife handle to hold the bit. Most new collets are cut with a cross so that even the tiniest bit will fit in the center. Then just place the bit, give a tiny bit of pressure and slowly rotate the handle between your fingers until it starts cutting.

Don't bother drilling out the nubs on a distributor cap. You will never be able to do it successfully all 9 times. Instead, sand the top down to the flat and then drill. Use paint around the base of the wire to replicate the rubber boots. Anything else will appear too thick. You can always add layers of paint to build up a definition but it gives you more control than trying to slip a tiny bit of rubber tube over to create a boot that will ultimately look way out of scale.

I use superglue to hold wires. Put a drop on a business card (small, generally worthless and most are printed on coated stock so the glue doesn’t soak in) and then simply dab the end of the wire in the glue and insert. You can also use a toothpick to dab the glue on the base of the wire if it is already installed. But never use the end of the bottle to apply the glue as it can... AND WILL come out too fast thus covering your subject and fingers with glue!!!

[Steven Zimmerman]

business cards are good for holding superglue; so are those dang cd's that AOL(and others) send out to join their service. These are all over the place if you know where to look;my local supermarket even has racks of them on their'free ads' bulletin board....just don't forget and put your elbow on one of these,when you're 'steadying your hands to apply that glue..(grin).......Steve Zimmerman

[LT]

Depending on how narrow the distributor cap is you may not be able to drill individual holes. For that situation I hollow out the whole cap, glue all the wires in at once with CA glue, then I fill any gaps between the wires and the cap with 5-minute epoxy. Once that has cured I paint over the hardened epoxy along with the rest of the distributor cap and it all blends in smoothly.

[MonoPed]

For wires, I use 30awg "wrapping wire" from Radio Shack. It's a single strand wire with a very thin jacket, available in red, white and blue (God bless the USA!), and can be painted. I use a #75 drill bit chucked in an X-Acto knife handle ti drill the holes, and a small drop of CA to glue the wires in place.

Here's the tools:

Here's an example of the wire un-painted:

Here's the same wire, painted black for the plug wires, and red for the positive battery cable. Also used larger wire insulation for plug boots:

Hope this helps...

Brian

[Modelbuilder1313]

thats exactly what I use and how I do it.

[Olle F]

One other thing ... Replicas & Miniatures Co. of MD offers resin pre-drilled distributors in a variety of colors. You get three caps and bases per pack for about 5 bucks. They're easy to use and far more realistic-looking than aluminum pre-wired distributors, IMO.

I usually sand down the top of the distributor and drill it, but I decided to cheat and ordered one of Arrowhead Aluminum's prewired distributors for my latest project. It looks great in the pictures so I hope it will look good once I get it as well. It has a realistic cap (as opposed to the aluminum tube you get on other pre-wired distributors) and it even comes with the vacuum canister, which of course can be fitted with a vacuum hose for an even more detailed and realistic appearance. Drilling distributor caps is tedious and kind of a hit-or-miss deal to me (seems like I never get the @#%$&* holes drilled where they need to be), so I'm really looking forward to it.

The wrapping wire Monoped is talking about is one of the best materials I have found for wiring distributors myself. It's very flexible, but will also stay put after you bend it which makes it very easy to make realistic looking ignition wires. I have a stash of black wrapping wire that I bought many years ago, and I'm still finding new ways to use it. If you strip some of the insulation off the end, it makes very nice throttle/kick-down/shifter cables, and the wire itself can be used for all kinds of small/thin parts like for example radio antennas, throttle linkages etc. You can also wrap it around a pin to make small springs and in short: It's a must-have in my tool box. You can even use it to clean out those tiny applicator needles on glue bottles with it, so I have sure put it to good use through the years.

[m408]

You will have better control with the tiny drill bits if you use your Xacto knife handle to hold the bit. Most new collets are cut with a cross so that even the tiniest bit will fit in the center. Then just place the bit, give a tiny bit of pressure and slowly rotate the handle between your fingers until it starts cutting.

Don't bother drilling out the nubs on a distributor cap. You will never be able to do it successfully all 9 times. Instead, sand the top down to the flat and then drill. Use paint around the base of the wire to replicate the rubber boots. Anything else will appear too thick. You can always add layers of paint to build up a definition but it gives you more control than trying to slip a tiny bit of rubber tube over to create a boot that will ultimately look way out of scale.

I use superglue to hold wires. Put a drop on a business card (small, generally worthless and most are printed on coated stock so the glue doesn’t soak in) and then simply dab the end of the wire in the glue and insert. You can also use a toothpick to dab the glue on the base of the wire if it is already installed. But never use the end of the bottle to apply the glue as it can... AND WILL come out too fast thus covering your subject and fingers with glue!!!

Already tried the drill in the x-acto and it works great. Thanks a bunch. While I'm here, how complete a wiring job do you do?I built a 33" Chevy street rod and did the wiring my self. Got prety complicated. I mean with the alternator, battery, voltage regular, connections into the interior etc... could get kind of messy.

[m408]

For wires, I use 30awg "wrapping wire" from Radio Shack. It's a single strand wire with a very thin jacket, available in red, white and blue (God bless the USA!), and can be painted. I use a #75 drill bit chucked in an X-Acto knife handle ti drill the holes, and a small drop of CA to glue the wires in place.

Here's the tools:

Here's an example of the wire un-painted:

Here's the same wire, painted black for the plug wires, and red for the positive battery cable. Also used larger wire insulation for plug boots:

Hope this helps...

Brian

On my way to RS in the morning. Thanks.

[m408]

Make sure that your wires drape over the engine in a realistic manner. Nothing looks sillier, IMO, than plug wires that come off the distributor in big, graceful arcs. Real plug wires are heavy and hang down in places where they're not suspended.

Not so. When I built my 1:1 33 chevy, all of the wiring was dressed with nice arcs, including plug wires. Made national magazines twice and numerous local awards. "Real" doesn't have to mean sloppy.

[Jairus]

Draping?

Smooth arches?

Carefully routed?

Or sloppy.... it all depends on what your replicating. That is something to consider at all times. A street rod builder will carefully, almost anal like, route the wires so that they do not touch each other or anything else as they run their course from distributor to each plug. Not so 99.9% of the other cars on the road depending on age. The older the car and the more maintenance that has been preformed, generally the plug wires are pushed this way and that in order to get to other failed bits and pieces.

Just something to keep in mind…. Along with good common forum courtesy!

[m408]

Did I use the word "sloppy?" Didn't think so. Look the pics of Brian's models for a couple of excellent illustrations of what I was talking about.

By the way, I know you're new here, but, for future reference, it's definitely considered bad form to come on this or any other forum and ask for help and advice, then berate someone who tries to offer it!

Sorry, didn't mean to berate anyone. I appreciate all of the help that I have gotten here. My point was that of all of the street rods that I have seen, special detail was paid to little things. Like dressing wiring, not just plug wires, but everything. Even to the point of laying wires in bundles parrell to each other rather than twisted. This was a low cost way of making your car a little special. My goal in model car building is to replicate, as close as possible, the cars that I would see at local, not national, shows. In the future I'll keep any comments to myself.

[m408]

I wouldn't go that far. My recommendation would be that you read carefully and make sure you have a clear idea of what a poster is talking about before you respond. In this case, what I meant was something totally different than what you understood me to mean. "Dressing" the wires on a street rod isn't the same as gluing plug wires on a model car engine in 180-degree arcs that would defy the laws of physics if the engine was 1:1 scale.

Perhaps the misunderstanding was my fault for not being clear enough in my initial post, and, if that's the case, I certainly apologize.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I guess I was overlly sensitive when my hours of painfully routing and dressing wires on my 1:1 was labled as silley and non realistic. I agree, looping plug wires all over the place is unnatural and no street rodder worth his salt would do it. Again, I appreciate all of the help you guys have given me and I hope that I haven't "P"ed to many people off.

[Jairus]

[m408]

No hard feelings whatsoever on my part ... if there's anything at all I can do to help, feel free to ask!

BTW, a friendly word of advice ... you might want to put your real name in your signature, as per forum rules, before "Officer" Watson issues you a citation!

Would be glad to. How do I do it? I mean other than typing it in each entry. Also, What is this stuff with me bieng an "advanced" member? Must be the number of logins. Can't be based on knowledge.

[Jairus]

The title is based on number of posts. Gregg should turn that off as some folks (not here currently) on some forums work real hard to build up their numbers just to become an: advanced member.

On another forum I belong to, you can change that to what ever you want to. But Gregg set it so that it is automatic.

But, you are right in that it has nothing to do with knowledge... except in my case of course (said with the most sarcastic voice possible)

[m408]

It's simple. Just click on "My Controls," located just below the banner in the upper right-hand portion of this page, then scroll down and select "Edit Signature" from the menu on the left-hand side of the page.

I think that I got it Ken, thanks. Now if I could only figure out how to bond metal wire to plastic.

[m408]

One other thing ... Replicas & Miniatures Co. of MD offers resin pre-drilled distributors in a variety of colors. You get three caps and bases per pack for about 5 bucks. They're easy to use and far more realistic-looking than aluminum pre-wired distributors, IMO.

Sounds great. Eyes are bad and hands shakey. Do they have a web site? Tried replicas&miniatures, but "not found".