Here's an ethical question I can't quite answer: Is it okay to restore a car with modern wiring connectors?
Those old, terrible, rusty, expensive, finicky bullet connectors look cool and all, but modern insulated and waterproofed connectors can make a classic car far more reliable.
What do you think? Personally, I like to keep the old stuff. It's just neat.
Ethical?
Yes, ethical. Not in the formal sense of the word, but in the "son, you better not be putting fiberglass in that car of yours" sense.
IMO it would only matter if you were going to concourse the car. For them it is all about originality not what works best. I personally would "upgrade?" them.
You're not going to find a lot of support for keeping failure prone troublesome parts in a restoration, especially ones that can't be seen, felt or heard, from this crowd. I think you have to be a few powers of ten higher than me in terms of income to start caring about that sort of thing.
Do you have a picture of what you mean?
When I made the harness for my GTV, I managed to find correct blade connectors that fit into the original housings. As long as they keep clean, they work.
I considered using modern pins, but could not find decent housings to put them into.
To get real, sealed, connections, you need both the right pins and connector housings before any sealers are even useful.
(on a side note- I'm aware that one can get vinyl covered wire that's also covered with fabric- so it looks old, but is very modern)
Kind of like changing from 6V to 12V electrics. Or from bias-ply tires to radials that look the same, but work way better. If modern electrical hardware makes it more likely that the car will actually be used regularly, I say go for it.
I have completely rewired my Spitfire and used new bullet connectors. It's fun soldering bullet connectors. I have no problem deviating from originality, but just felt like using the bullet connectors. I think they're just as reliable as anything else available when properly soldered. I also use shrink wrap wherever possible, and that isn't original. So as somebody else on this thread said, unless you're displaying at concours level, I would say use whatever you prefer.
Weatherpacks look out of place. Other than that, as long as it's period correct appearing, rock it. I have great success with packard gm connectors.
Renovating wiring is pretty easy, actually.
Get a Dremel with a small wire brush to clean the bullets and a straight abrasive attachment to stick into the female sockets for the bullets. Clean the corrosion off both and reassemble with a small dab of dielectric grease and you won't have any issues, probably for as long as you own the car. That last step is the one omitted by the factory. Obviously badly deformed or corroded connectors would have to be replaced.
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