Wiring up the stock car. other than the battery to the main cutoff then to the starter which are large welding cables, for general wiring (alt/reg/ignition) is it acceptable to crimp on the terminals or should I crimp & solder them? these are 10 gauge (alt to battery) & the rest are smaller (alt field/reg/ignition) & the crimp on terminals are cheap overseas ones which is all I could find at the time. thank you for your time. RR

Crimps work fine as long as they are properly done. Its a personal preference

When I wired our 70 Charger, I soldered any wire larger than #16.

I figured if they needed to be that large, they carried enough current to justify soldering.
Maybe a good mechanical termination would suffice, but I felt more safe with soldering, weren't that many anyhow.

Joe

No argument with the above.
There are billions of crimped terminals out there working fine, as they were properly done.
I'm not a fan of the crimp terminals that have those big plastic "sleeves".
I use the metal ones - or remove the plastic - slide some shrink-wrap over the wire end, crimp them, and of course heat the shrink wrap.
Must be hundreds I've done that way with no problems.

yes that is what I did, removed the plastic covers. I did start to solder em but my small soldering iron is not hot enough & I would have to go get one

I should have mentioned that I buy non-insulated terminals; easier on the hands than cutting those plastic covers off
My local hardware store has them, if I don't need a bulk amount from McMaster-Carr or wherever.

I Crimp/Solder and heat shrink with adhesive lined tube...every size. I use non insulated connectors from Del-City but there are other suppliers.

i use the marine grade heat shrink tubing with the adhesive as well.
when crimping, make sure you have a good, correct style crimping tool for the connection you are making. not those ones that come with the eleventybillion piece terminal kit from [insert the country of your choice here] available at all wally worlds and hobo fright.

Yes, save yourself headaches and get one of the "ratcheting" crimpers. I got a pair off Amazon for about $30.

Another vote for Del-City non insulated connectors and good quality shrink sleeve. I crimp, solder, and shrink all terminals.

Gus

Why not do both
Do you have the proper crimping tool for your terminals ends? If not buy one now before starting
I'm a little anal when it comes to wiring repairs, crimp, solder and heat shrink them all

Uninsulated terminals, crimped, heat shrunk. I haven't soldered any of it in years.

2 ga battery cable, tops. Once the engine starts, anything bigger is just dead weight,

This.

Good comprehensive info! I will make some changes. thanks guys. RR

Tin the wire and then crimp it.

Do not solder. Not a good idea. Ton of info on the net for reference. Tinning the wire is fine, but not a full solder joint.

A quality lug properly crimped will be the best solution. Non-insulated lugs are best.

What is your reasoning about not soldering?
Corrosion affects many electrical circuit throughout our country that have humidity levels above 35% most of the time
Soldering eliminates that

Corrosion is an issue with soldering. Very difficult to remove all the flux from a solder joint. The left over flux will cause corrosion over time. Proper crimp with a proper heat shrink (sealant filled heat shrink is best) addresses the corrosion issues.

Biggest problem is cracking. The solder does not do well in vibration environments and a car is a vibration environment.

Bad connections have caused my company millions of dollars in failures over the past decade. We put a team together that addressed the connection problems . The conclusion is a proper sized good quality lug properly crimped is the solution.

Crimp it .
as mentioned do a good job and use quality stuff. It would have to be in a poor atmosphere for a long time for a crimp to fail .

FWIW I order most my wiring supplies Del City as well. I also use Duetsch connectors for all my stuff.