Dr. Landry's Prescription for Electrical Dependability

["J. Michael Daugherty" <jmdaugh@domain.elided>]

Greetings,
        I haven't done the repair yet but I printed out a post from John
Landry dated 24 Mar 1997 in ihc-digest V3 #142 Subject: RE: Firewall
Connectors.  I tried to pull this off majordomo but could only get V6
digests[is that normal or am I doing something wrong?]  So I'll type
Landry's response to Grammer's request for the details:

"Your in luck Jim...  I mostly steered clear of the metal shelled ones for
just that reason... too expensive!  If I needed to buy only one connector, I
would have happily purchased a metal shelled type.  The plastic ones are
very high quality and work great.  They twist apart easily for service but
stay locked together securely... you'll never have one of these wiggle loose
during heavy four wheeling!  I believe they are rated to 13 amps, so they
can handle just about anything except the main charging circuit.  The
plastic connectors I used have 14 pins each, so you'll have lots of room
left over for wiring accessories and for future expansion.  Here's what I
did and what I used...

I replaced the three original AMP push-pull bulkhead connectors used by IHC
with 3 AMP Circular plastic connectors.  In addition to those, I also added
a larger mil-spec metal shelled connector exclusively for the 6 AWG charging
circuit wires.  The reason for the metal shelled connector is that the
smaller plastic ones simply aren't big enough to handle the size wire and
amperage I wanted to use.  As previously mentioned, I purchased the plastic
connectors from Digi-Key (www.digikey.com).  The large metal shelled
connector was purchased from Newark Electronics (www.newark.com).  I can
supply the info on the connector from Newark later if wanted.  I don't have
the catalog with me here at home, and their web site isn't much help unless
you know the part numbers.  The cost of this mil-spec connectors from Newark
was something like $30.00 complete.

Parts Used From Digi-Key...  

Description               Digi-Key Number          Cost          Quantity

Reverse Sealed Receptacle
   Square Flange, 17-14       A1677-ND             $2.60          3 each


Reverse Plug 17-14            A1358-ND             $1.85*         3 each

Pin Contacts, Pack of 10
   Crimp Type                 A1320-ND             $3.12          5 packs

Socket Contacts, Pack of 10
  Crimp Type                  A1321-ND             $3.67          5 packs

*The catalog indicates that this item should be $2.32 each, but they charged
em only $1.85 each, so maybe the catalog is in error.

You could also consider buying cable strain reliefs like pn. A-1332-ND, but
I don't think you really need them, unless you plan on yanking on your
wiring harness.

I used the original firewall holes to mount the flanged plastic shelled
receptacles.  You have to enlarge the rectangular hole in the firewall to
provide an approximate 1-1/8" diameter hole.  I borrowed a 3/4" conduit size
hole punch to do that job, although it punches a hole a little larger than
needed."

Sorry if there are any typos that John didn't make!  I'm out of time but
John expains that he soldered the connectors etc. but I thought the part nos
were the details of immediate interest.  I never did see the part no. for
the metal connector.

Have a good weekend,

J. Michael
Jamie and J. Michael Daugherty
jmdaugh@domain.elided