yea, i only have like a 15w or something shitty.



can anyone suggest a good type/model or whatever of soldering iron to get.

do you guys use soldering flux?





btw, I'm going to include the good replies from the same thread on the other RX forums so that there is one hell of a good wiring thread on the forums thanks to everyone who is replying w/ good information.

-Ben Martin

well i just finished installing my E8 last weekend and i say solder every thing. its really not that hard and is a stronger connection with less resistance, when done correctly. just go pick up the largest one from radio shack, 45W i believe. that 15W is much much to small. i have both and the only thing the 15W is good for is rechipping ecu's and soldering on circuit boards, from personal experience. where you dont want alot of heat to avoid melting other connections when you are doing it. i just used the 45W iron to install a stereo whos wires are the same size as the haltech ones and it worked great.



Jrat had a really nice once i used when i did my haltech https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png.

Ikarii, I beg to disagree as do NASA, BOEING, AIRBUS, General Dynamics and a few other people who do it for a living.....



"Crimping is an efficient and highly reliable method to assemble and terminate conductors, and typically provides a stronger, more reliable termination method than that achieved by soldering.



Crimp terminations are available in different styles, depending upon the design application and connectivity requirements.



This section details the generic accept/reject criteria of commonly used crimp termination styles. See 2.02 - 2.10 for specific accept/reject criteria applicable to individual crimp styles"



http://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp.../frameset.html

Home Depot will have a decent selection of irons. I personally don't like the trigger guns. They heat up fairly quickly but I like the iron that's hot all the time. A good size (45+ is fine) Weller is an inexpensive investment that should last many years.



Banzai, I'm certainly not saying there is anything wrong with a good crimp connector. They aren't fool proof either. Just like soldering a bad crimp connection is prone to failure. If you use shitty crimpers and butt splices you might as well throw a shitty solder joint on there. A poor connection is a poor connection regardless. I simply don't like the way crimp connectors look. It's more of an esthetics thing for me.

"Crimping is an efficient and highly reliable method to assemble and terminate conductors, and typically provides a stronger, more reliable termination method than that achieved by soldering.



"termination"

solder joints give a hardpoint, and if flexed enough right next to the solder joint they will break the wires.

this is the one thing ive observed from my own soldering experience

ombanzaitips

https://www.nopistons.com/forums/index.php?...3990&st=100

j9fd3s: um dont wrap the harness until the cars done and running for a while

ive done it a couple of different ways. this is all on the haltechs too



i cut out the haltech fuse box(s) and relays, as the fc/fd's have fuses and relays, for the same thing as the haltechs. this allows the use of the factory wiring diagrams, and eliminates the crappiness of the haltech harness.



i use a mazda firewall boot to pass everything thru. like ludwig, i like to wire it up with the most extra stuff, that way if i decide to add stuff later (efan, wideband, etc) then its no problem. i dont wrap the harness between the ecu and the firewall except for a few zipties/maybe a little anti abrasion covering, it doesnt see heat, or much movement.



i run the harness like ludwig, across the firewall, seems like it minimises heat exposure. i will tend to duplicate the factory wiring runs.



i like to solder the connections as i'm decent at that, and i dont have a crimper thats worth a crap.



i will get everything hooked up and run the car with minimal wrapping (zip ties to keep it a bundle) and make sure that the harness functions, and i dont need to make any changes.



once i know it works, i'll pull it out, and banzai wrap it, sensitive sections will get a currogated cover. i will use the factory mazda rubber grommets and "D" clamps.



basically my ideal harness is the factory harness with haltech plugs on the end....

Thats what we did on my car, about 4 years ago. The factory harness-hybrid has held up great, minus the pack rat a few weeks ago.



I didnt use any crimping, soldered all the haltech connectors and heat-shrinked. Then used gratuitous amounts of high-heat inlsulating wrap.