WIRED RIGHT

We’re rebuilding our old KW and want the wiring for the lights and switches to look and function as professional as we can. We deal a lot with magnesium chloride up here in Michigan, so the wiring has to be done right. Your suggestions? – Richard Iverson, Minneapolis, MN via the web

Richard, stay away from butt connectors! Use solder, liquid electric tape (Star brite or PlastiDip brands work well), and shrink tube at every junction point. The way we do it here is strip the wire about 1/4″ from the end where you wish to connect the wires on each side. Put on a 1-1/2″ piece of shrink tube. Slide to one side. Push the two wires together and twist the wire ends together in a manner so the wire looks continuous. Solder. Let them cool. Apply a generous amount of  liquid tape over the solderd area,  then slide shrink tube over the area and shrink the tube allowing the liquid tape to ooze out of the ends to create a water tight seal. There you have a mag-choloride-proof connection. On the light plugs use SL4 grease from CarQuest or a boat dealer. It’s marine-grade grease, which is waterproof. Apply generous amount to the two prongs. – Adam Martin (owner), Colorado Custom Chrome; (970) 284-6552