Wiring and electrical work on your car can be a mysterious and frustrating thing to troubleshoot. When repairing or restoring the wiring in a classic it is sometimes better to take a bit of modern technology to give you a piece of mind. In the 1970’s Packard Electrical created the Weather Pack Connector for wiring systems. These utilized a special male and female plug that had rubber boots around each wire and were rebuildable. This style connector really cut down on wiring issues from corrosion and poor connections. With the addition of the Eastwood Crimp-Right Weather-Tight Connector Crimping Kit you now have the option to build weather pack style connectors yourself at home. Read below as we show you the process for building your first weather pack connector.
Start with opening your kit and picking the appropriate male and female connector and terminals that match the wire size you’re working with. You’ll need a green rubber boot for each wire you’re crimping.
You can then take the pliers supplied in the kit and begin stripping the ends of each wire. Only strip enough to match the area where the bare wire sits in the metal terminal. You can then slide the rubber boot past the bare wire, use a small amount of dielectric grease on the wire to help slide the connector on if it doesn’t slide easily. You can then slide the terminal over the bare wire, make sure the bare wire is seated nicely in the terminal and there aren’t stray wires sticking out from the terminal.
With the terminal seated onto the bare wire you can match the crimper opening to the terminal being used and squeeze the crimper shut. This will close and crimp the terminal to the wire. Give the terminal a light tug to make sure your crimp is secure and you can push the terminal into the plug until the green boot is fully seated into the plug. Again you can use a small dab of dielectric grease to help things slide together more easily. Repeat this process on each wire, giving the wire a light tug once seated in the plug to assure it is fully seated in the plug.
