Recommend a tape for wrapping wiring harness?

I started work on fixing my wiring harness today and when it is time to wrap it again, I want to use some kind of tape that will not just get glue over everything when it sits in a hot engine compartment. Something like electrical tape but without the glue. The harness had some kind of fabric 1" wide tape wrapped around it that seemed to work pretty good but I have no idea what it is. Shrink wrap is out of the question unless it can be wrapped around and not slid over the wires. Any suggestions? 

They do have self-vulcanizing tape,  forget what it’s called when you buy it.  But it’s got no obvious adhesive so it really does not stick much at first.  Give it time though and it cures to itself and you’ll never get it apart.  No glue either.   

Otherwise get some GOOD electrical tape.  3M Super 33+ is quite good.  I don’t have the part number for the high temp fabric stuff.   Any discount brand just falls apart after a year or two.  

In reply to hhaase :

Harness wrap. Awesome stuff

but I’d also look into other options. I’ve found a lot of the corregated harness cover for super cheap or the braided harness cover works well,too. Both of which make it easier to edit the harness in the future. 

Would convoluted tubing work?

Braided split loom. Easy to add or remove conductors

In reply to alfadriver :

Amazon sells a few different kinds of wiring harness wrap, it looks like the stuff I need. I'll get a few rolls and see. Thanks for the heads up

In reply to loosecannon :

Don’t use ordinary insulation tape, even the high quality ones - as you commented they just go blecch over time.

Self amalgamating is also good to avoid - great for waterproofing but if it is applied correctly you end up with a loom that is encapsulated in rubbery stuff that has to be cut off with a sharp knife.

Some of the proprietary spiral and split wraps are "OK" for tails and protection but not really for the whole loom.

I would strongly recommend proper loom tape which is basically insulation tape without the glue. Use glued tape to assemble your loom at junctions, splits and kinks and then wrap the thing starting by doing each "branch" from the trunk to the end and then the main loom starting from the thick end. You can use glued tape or heat shrink (get the stuff with glue in it) or just tie the loom tape off neatly.

Funny story but back in the day I was re-wiring the team BDA Escort rally car after a loom burn up and went to a local electrical wholesaler for some tape, explained what I wanted and the manager gave me a monster carton for free because it was on the way to the dumpster - he had written it off because he thought it was a manufacturing error on ordinary tape.

RichardNZ said:

I would strongly recommend proper loom tape which is basically insulation tape without the glue. Use glued tape to assemble your loom at junctions, splits and kinks and then wrap the thing starting by doing each "branch" from the trunk to the end and then the main loom starting from the thick end. You can use glued tape or heat shrink (get the stuff with glue in it) or just tie the loom tape off neatly.

Agreed.  You can get it in both vinyl and cloth versions, depending on what you want.  It can be hard to find - I bought some years ago from Eastwood Company but I don't think they carry it anymore.  I did find one source for the vinyl stuff here: http://www.wiringharness.com/harnesstape.htm but I'm sure there are others, just do a search on 'wire harness tape'.

I ordered two different kinds of harness tape from Amazon and alfadriver is sending me something to try as well. Between the 3 wraps, I should find something that works.

fwiw I've found in the past that the 3M electrical tape in colors stands up significantly better than the same grade in black.

I'm a big fan of braided split loom and heat shrink. Failing that, split loom and F4 tape works well. Any kind of tape with adhesive makes a mess eventually.

In reply to The0retical :

My back up if I'm unhappy with the wraps was going to be split loom with tape wrapped around the ends

I got two rolls of this Dry Tape from amazon and I was very happy with how easy it was to use. It stays together really nicely with just a 4" piece of regular electrical tape when you're done. I also made a mistake or two and had to unwrap a section and since there is no adhesive, it comes apart just as easily as you'd expect. 

What is the best method for wrapping the harness? Should I lay it out on the car and wrap in place or try to estimate where everything is placed and do it on the workbench?

Lay it out on the car, sticky tape all the junctions, if the main loom has sharp bends tape some coat hanger wire to hold the curves and then back to the bench for wrapping. Each branch first and then the main loom thick to thin. Don’t forget to remove the thick wire :)

cheers

R