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Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:47 pm
by skullduggery
Does anyone know of a good source for the wiring harness sleeving/covering for a narrow case single? I am nearly finished restoring my 1965 Diana Mark 3 and would like to cover the wiring harness with a close match to the original covering. I am trying to avoid electrical tape and spiral sleeving if possible. My guess is that the factory used some kind of cloth or cloth reinforced plastic for the sleeving.
Any help would be appreciated...
Best regards,
Jim

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:17 pm
by JimF
I believe that Ducati used a shiny black plastic sheathing. I used heat shrink tubing that I bought from McMaster Carr.

The heat shrink tubing is dull black in appearance.

I have seen companies that cater to electrical restoration by providing cloth wrapped wire and such, perhaps they would also carry wire sheaths that would be authentic to both the 1960s and Italian industry.

Jim

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:21 am
by graeme
Jim's suggestion is good.
Also maybe ask an auto electrician.
What part of the world are you?

graeme

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:52 am
by Jordan

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:24 pm
by skullduggery
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I live in the US if that helps. I have used shrink tubing before but thought there may be other options. My list to finish the bike is short but as many of you know the the first 80% of the restoration takes 20% of the time and the last 20% takes 80% of the time.
best regards,
Jim

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:02 pm
by JimF
This is the sort of company that I think you should be looking for:

http://www.britishwiring.com/

...though I don't think this particular one offers shiny black sheathing.

Once again, my relatively small amount of experience with what I think was original wiring discovered on the couple of singles I have owned leads me to believe the wiring harness sheat was not heat shrinkable tubing (I suspect heat shrink was not invented at that time) and it was just a black platic sheath, large enough through which the wires could be passed relatively easily.

Jim

Re: Wiring harness sleeving/covering

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:19 pm
by skullduggery
Hi Guys,
I just needed to answer my own post with an update. I wanted to pass this info on for others in with the same need. I purchased the sleeving I wanted from McMaster- Carr. The price was very reasonable and they sell 5-10 foot at a time depending on the size. I purhcased the fiberglass reinforced black plastic stuff and it looks great. It is both thick (protective) and flexible (easy to work with). I bought 4 different diameters but really only used 3. I also puchased bullet and blade connectors from http://www.vintageconnections.com/. Their crimping tool works great too. My wiring harness came out way better than I thought possible by someone with so little experience. It really looks like late model OEM and should give no trouble due to the protection of the sleeving and quality of the connectors.
Cheers,
Jim