Re: Wiring harness wire
I have a Johnson from 1968 and did my repair this way- at first. Then I found out how brittle the rest of the insulation was and winded up just making a new harness- after I toasted the repaired one a couple months after the initial repairs. Mine had melted the main junction block when a 12v wire shorted to ground because of the sorry state of the insulation. It hadn't looked cracked or bad enough to cause a problem, or so I thought. Couldn't shut the motor off and the wires started burning. Just barely made it back to dock and got everyone unloaded pronto. Thankfully the damage was mostly limited to my pride and the wires. (I now have a battery switch on the boat!) Hopefully yours isn't as bad as mine was, but look very, very carefully at the rest of the harness. If the insulation is turning crumbly/powdery just replace everything you possibly can! I was too eager to get my "brand new" (to me) boat to the water. Live and learn. Could have turned out much worse; ended up being a valuable lesson. This may not be your situation, just proceed with care and you should be just fine.<br />The heat shrink tubing that has a self sealing adhesive inside would be desireable. I soldered in places, though used crimp type connectors also. Get the best crimp connectors you can find, sized for the wire being used. A really good crimp tool will do a much better job than a cheapie. A lot of stuff in the chain auto parts stores is inferior. I found out the hard way that there is no substitute for good quality when out on the water. Smoke coming from inside an outboards cowl is one of the last things you'll ever want to see especially if your family is aboard and you're a ways from land.
