Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a Christmas gift for my stepdad who has a 69 Camaro he is restoring. He's working on the wiring harness right now and from what my mom tells me he said he needs a pair of needle nose pliers for the connectors. I think she probably meant a crimper of some kind, but I'm not entirely sure. She said that he's using the old school connectors which is different from crimped ones in that he has to bend the end of the wire over to connect it. That makes no sense to me and I'm not all too familiar with older cars, especially Camaro's. I'm pretty handy around vehicles, but at a loss on this. Maybe it's just miscommunication. At any rate, just want to get an idea of what all that means so I can make sure to get him the right tool. Thanks!

 

You need a W-crimper
Look for brand name 'Daniels' and also King Electronics.
Mouser Electronics, Newark Electronics, DigiKey Electronics, and Allied Electronics are distributors for same. And they are expensive, aka, $200 - might find on ebay


Welcome to the Club, Fun.

 

For some reason I'm not able to find anything g specifically labeled as a W-crimper. Seems like a lot of different daniels crimping tools. Out of curiosity, what exactly is different between the "old school" way and newer crimps? Thanks.

 

W-crimp = Imagine an U
Place stripped wire into bottom of U
Squeeze crimp and dies on tool will roll the sides of the U into the middle - m - ends of the U meet in the middle.
Also, there is a bigger U and tool will roll them over crimping over the insulation.


Standard crimp = same U
Squeeze handle and dies will form sides of U into a o
Also, no capability for crimping terminal onto insulation.


Thomas & Betts might be another choice.

 

So is that really the only difference between the so called "old school" way and how it's done now, the shape of the crimp? Any ideas on what was meant about bending the end of the wire to connect it?

 

Don't know either - picture of his crimp?

 

Unfortunately I do t have a pic. I don't live with him and my mom doesn't seem to know what to look for.