EnnEssEnnKAT

Work smarter, not harder. Definitely should have labeled them and now it's not going to be easy at all and there will be problems..

KAT-PWR

Don't be foolish now.
Does solder work? Yes.
Is it better than proper metal crimps? No.
OEM manufacturers use crimp connections, they are less effected by external factors.
You said butt connectors so thats a bit vague.

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MRP Manufacturing

Cpreston

There is a time and place for each. No I don't think butt connectors are a bad idea, but they're also not the best for every situation. The only real advantage of a butt connector over a properly soldered joint is the time it takes and how easy it is.

I have never once had a properly soldered wire become a problem at all.
What are the external factors you're specifically talking about?

Also, I'm not sure this is true but I have heard that a butt connector is more likely to change the resistance of the wire.

shawn1331

I do ALOT of wiring in my trade and I can tell you a butt connector is the superior method of wiring for a cars harness as compared to soldering. The main reason solder kinda sucks in car wiring is because the harness moves and has the possibility to break the connection. Albeit very rare it has been known to happen. As long as you crimp properly the wire will never come out nor will it break and they are also better insulated from the elements (water,salt etc.)

With that said, my entire sr20 harness in my car was soldered by me, then hot glued and insulated and taped because I didn't have any crimp connectors at the time. It's been working fine for 2 years with 0 wiring issues.

So I really don't think it's a big deal, if you have crimp connectors or access to them use them, but I wouldn't feel weary of soldering AS LONG AS you know what you're doing while soldering.

Fun fact: Solder creates more resistance in a wire, especially the more you use (obviously)

KiLLeR2001

Been wiring for around 8 years now. I use to be die-hard on the soldering, then I started looking at OEM harnesses and how they are done. Now I'll use butt connectors/crimping w/ adhesive-lined heat shrink 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time I'll use solder.

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Cpreston

Yeah I shouldn't have said solder is better than butt connectors, Becuase they each have their own advantages. Personally I prefer to solder small wires and crimp large wires. I think what it comes down to both ways being completely acceptable if done properly.

But I'm the same way as you, I've soldered countless amounts of wires and have yet to have one fail for any reason. So I guess I'm just biased to solder because of my experiences. I have barely ever used butt connectors but I will probably look into them next time I do some wiring.

AzS13hatch

^^ +1 on the adhesive-lined heat shrink, that stuff is awesome!

Sills

Even with a diagram youll have problems figuring out which is which as they are still the same color no matter what. Jdm Legion has good wiring diagrams that I used for my S14 Silvia's Rb swap.