[Jeff97FST/A]

Seems our model 86 Saab 900T is notorious for having wiring harness issues (85-87), especially in the engine compartment. The isulation gets brittle and cracks/disintegrates leaving sections of harness with exposed conductors and many resulting shorts. I've discovered many such spots on the wife's car.

Replacement harnesses are not easy to come by and a lot of discussion I've seen centers around doing a DIY replacement/rewire of the damaged sections of harness.

Can anyone recommend a wire (insulation type, thickness, gauge) that would be suitable to use in our application and a wire supplier? I'm not concerned about correct color-coding. We just need the car to live a little while longer.

Thanks!

[ProjectJ]

Painless swears by TXL for automotive applications (instead of GXL, which is used for most automotive wiring nowdays). If you can get ahold of any of that, I'm sure it would be a good choice. The Teflon stuff seems pretty good too, though. We do have a bunch of it in stock now (HERE).

[Dave Jones]

Painless swears by TXL for automotive applications (instead of GXL, which is used for most automotive wiring nowdays).

The only difference between TXL and GXL is the insulation wall thickness. For a given gauge, it's exactly the same conductor inside. SXL indicates standard wall, GXL is thin wall, TXL is extra thin wall. All are rated to a max temp of 125°C. The thicker wall is more durable, while the thinner wall stuff makes for slightly smaller bundles and weighs a little less, although you'd have to use at least several hundred feet of wire to amount to even 1lb of weight difference. The cross-linked wire is the only stuff I'll use on my cars anymore. Your typical parts store wire is PVC insulated, and at best only suitable to 80°C or so.

I normally buy TXL, since most everything gets covered in loom anyway, but implying that there's a big difference between TXL and GXL is somewhat misleading IMHO. Also, if you need more than just a little bit, my advice is to buy it in bulk, rather than from Painless...it costs a LOT less that way.

Edit: I get mine from Waytek (www.waytekwire.com) but they don't sell anything smaller than a 250' spool. I've also used KayJayCo (www.kayjayco.com) in the past, when I only needed a small amount in a specific color or gauge. They're more expensive than Waytek, but have no minimum order length IIRC.

HTH,
Dave

This post has been edited by Dave Jones: Nov 8 2006, 08:47 PM