Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

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Greg Carter
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Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#1 Post by Greg Carter »

I'm wondering if anybody has any tricks or thoughts on a way to possibly get the headlight wiring harness unstuck from inside the conduit without removing the conduit or damaging the wring harness.

The back story is: it appears the conduit was repaired or replaced and I believe it was welded back up with the wiring bundle still inside. I think the plastic covering is either now melted or rusted to the inside the the conduit. At some point an enterprising individual cut off the ends of the wiring harness inside the headlight to install a new headlight connection with pre-installed wire leads which I've now removed. I was trying to get back to original harness and avoid a bunch of soldered / spliced connections (voltage loss / resistance issues) and there's several inches of "extra" harness inside the spare tire well. If I can pull the wiring harness out a little more through the headlight bucket I could install the correct connector and have enough wire length for the connector to reach the back of the headlight bulb without any length issues.

In the absence of that, I was planning to carefully cut and remove the conduit since it was poorly reattached after some apparent body work on the left front fender. If I can't get pull the wiring harness out without cutting the conduit, does anybody know where I can find a new conduit pipe to weld back in place?

Thanks in advance for any help.

V/R
Greg

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Thomas Sottile
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#2 Post by Thomas Sottile »

I would think a lacquer thinner would do it.

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Mike Wilson
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#3 Post by Mike Wilson »

Stuck wires in the tube are a royal PITA. Lacquer thinner might help dissolve some of the plastic but the wire won't be affected. Are there any ends of the wire showing? If so, try lubing with vinyl dressing, soap, etc. and try pulling one wire at a time. You are dealing with a combination of sloppy welding, melted plastic and rust.

I had the same problem: old wiring and rust. I ended up replacing the entire brace as I managed to poke a hole in the tube trying to ream out the rust and wires.

Best of luck! Keep us posted.

Mike
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Greg Carter
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#4 Post by Greg Carter »

Gents,

Thanks for the replies.

There are wires showing inside the headlight bucket but they too refuse to budge. I've run some Kroil down the conduit, on the outside of the wire cover, to see if it won't at least dissolve any rust that might be there. I'll chase that with some lacquer thinner as suggested to see what happens. As of now, there is no Kroil draining out of the other end of the conduit inside the spare tire well which would indicate the wire cover is pretty much bound up and stuck. Hopefully the Kroil will eat through some of the crud and start draining and, if so, I might be able to make headway.

At this point I'm starting to lean toward buying the YnZ replacement harness that goes from the fuse box to the L/R headlights. I was hoping to avoid a "simple" wiring repair turning in to an $800 project but, if I want it done right, it may be unavoidable.

I'll keep you posted and let me know if there are any other ideas I could try.

Thanks again.

Greg

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Mike Wilson
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#5 Post by Mike Wilson »

Seems like I ran a long slender drill bit from inside and out trying to clear the wiring and crud but the tube was rusted in the lowest point and the metal was thin so the bit broke through. I was able to clear some wire and crud before that happened.

Mike
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Vincent Gillespie
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#6 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

This won't help if the wires are stuck due to welding but if it's just crud and age I found that one of those domestic steam cleaners was great at helping to move stuck electrical things when dismantling our car.
It softened and chased out all sorts of crud, the old wires became pliable and the water/steam acted as a lubricant. It was a great help to me in getting the headlight wires and horn wires moving and also allowed me to unscrew the horn wires without breaking the screws.
V
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Greg Carter
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#7 Post by Greg Carter »

Gents,

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Still no joy on my end however. It doesn't look like the Kroil has done much although it may take a few days to eat through the crud.

I'd like to get the car back together since it's pretty boring just sitting in the garage making engine noises....the wife does find it amusing however.

To facilitate this, I went to NAPA (standing by for spears) and bought a package of butt connectors and 12 AWG wire in brown, white and yellow. I also ordered brown, white and yellow heat shrink tubing to go along with this. I'm going to solder / crimp extensions on and then cover the joins in the correct color of heat shrink tubing for the time being. At least this way it will look a lot cleaner than the black electrical tape that was all over the place when I started. I really think the best answer is the YnZ front harness but I'd rather spend my pennies on new carbs and a brake system rebuild at the moment. I'll see how this "fix" works out and look for a better solution down the road.

With that, I'd like to try a set of the SMD Headlights for the Euro spec assemblies and need the old style bulb retainers (not the black plastic ones that are currently sold). If anybody knows where to find some please let me know.

Thanks again.

Greg

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Martin Benade
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#8 Post by Martin Benade »

A heat gun to get the outside of the tube pretty hot might help.
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Hugo Karasawa
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#9 Post by Hugo Karasawa »

Try poking with a knitting needle from both ends. If the plastic melted, should be closer to the ends where they welded the conduit.

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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#10 Post by Erik Thomas »

Greg:

I recently went though this exact problem on my 356 B T-5 coupe. Both of the headlight wire conduits were stuck with age old rust. Previous idiots had bypassed the original wires with ugly mismatched and too small wires. My headlight barely glowed. After attempted reaming with all sorts of drills, speedometer cables, and other items, ( failed ) I cut the metal tubes off at the joints with a thin cut off wheel. Then took them to the vice where I heated them with a torch and burned out all the plastic. Then reamed out and removed the debris with whatever tools to make sure the inside was smooth. Then welded them back into place.

I got the correct wires from RI wiring service, and the butt connectors. Soldered the new wires into the old harness in the area over the battery. Used shirk wrap and the repair cannot be seen now. Stagger the butt joints so the do not make a lump. Rewired the front of the car and all is again well with the front end of the car. Even wired for fog lamps.

Now need to undertake a similar project to the rear.

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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#11 Post by Rudy Bernhard »

For my T6, I tried an air gun through the tube at the headlight end, and was able to clear out some crud that blew through to the battery box area. I split the wrap about two inches from the wall in the battery box ares to see if the wires would move individually. I then tried multiple lubes, at both ends, and some down the original heat shrink tubing and was able to only move it a few inches each way, but just the wires moving in the original heat shrink. The heat gun trick on the tube was the key. The wires were not welded, but just stiff from being in the same position for 50 years. The now heated more flexible wiring came out, but left some of the original heat shrink in the tube, which was easy to remove. There was rust in the tube, also. In addition, be aware there is a factory splice about two inches from the end of the tube, INSIDE the tube, at the headlight end. This adds to the squeeze coming and going. There are other threads on this issue, with other ideas. For me, after many hours of frustration, The heat was the solution. Unmarked heat shrink tubing is available when you go to replace the wiring.
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Greg Carter
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#12 Post by Greg Carter »

Gents,

Thanks again for the additional suggestions.

At this point I've simply rewired the headlight buckets using the correct gauge and correct color of wiring with matching heat shrink tubing for each wire (white, yellow, brown, gray). I'll use this solution as a temporary fix for now since the connections should be a lot better than they were. Using solder and butt connectors I'm hoping I'll also have less resistance across the wire than the twisted and taped method that was there when I started. I'm also planning to order a set of Mr. Fellman's SMD headlight bulbs for more light and less power draw.

I'm with Erik on this one I think. I tried a heat gun, a propane torch (being careful not to melt anything) and various lubricants with no luck. I think I'll look to buy a YnZ harness that goes from the fuse box to the front end of the car and cut off and re-weld the offending conduit when I go to install it.

Greg

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Martin Benade
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Re: Removing Stuck Wires from Headlight Bucket Conduit?

#13 Post by Martin Benade »

Once you give up on the wires I would heat the tubes in place, even red hot, until the wire insulation was gone. Then the copper should easily pull out. No need to cut and reweld the tubes. If your pipes are bad Stoddard has new ones that are ok, altough mine were lacking the last inch going into the headlight bucket .
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