Anyone know a good source for buying the GM terminal ends that slip up into the plastic housings and lock in place? Most places either sell a huge amount for a reasonable price, or just a few for an outrageous price. I only need about 10-15 of them. Thanks.

What year?
68 and later use the flat blade style, they are the GM 56 style.
I got some from
http://www.madelectrical.com/index.shtml
Look in the Catalog, third from the bottom.

I believe the terminals you are looking for are made by Packard. The OEMs have P.E.D. stamped on them. I got mine from a specialty hardware store here in Austin (Capitol Nut and Bolt). I just grabbed about a dozen female and male terminals. They were pretty cheap.

I can't find them anywhere around here...and when I do find them online they want an arm and a leg for just a few and shipping is usually just as much. I bought some at a swapmeet reasonable...but I lost the guys card. I am still trying to get in touch with Mad Electrical.

The packard 56 series can be purchased at Napa. It's in one of those "big" books.

Last time I went, a store nearby had a box of 50 that they would not seperate. So I ordered them from american auto wire, which should be a sponsor for this site.

Lastly, after recieving the terminals, I could not crimp them w/o the proper crimper. I ended up buying a pre-made HEI power wire (I was going to make my own).

Matt

The nearest NAPA is about an hour away from me...we have Advance, AutoZone, and O'Reilly's, but no NAPA...it closed some time ago.
I might give American auto wire a call. Thanks.

I just tried American Auto wire...just like every other place they want like 10 dollars to ship a part that weighs nothing and cost about 5 bucks. Not sure what I am going to do on this one.

MAD Enterprises is a good source. You can get 10 for about $3.00 plus $3.50 shipping, which makes them about .65 each. Is that cheap enough? If you need a bunch of other good electric type stuff try Waytek, Inc. They do have minumums, so not so good for just a few parts. Maybe a place called Affordable Street Rods can help. They are on the net and in Kansas.

That sounds cheap enough...I called them today and never got an answer. I will try them back. Thanks for the help guys.

How are you going to crimp them?

http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/images/AutmotiveElectricalConnector-Packard56.jpg

I could not find a cheap crimper whose die was thin enough to clear the tangs on the male terminal. One guy bought a die and milled it down to work.

I'm asking because if you have a good solution, I want to know!

Thanks,
Matt

Having the right tool is a problem. I have used needle nose pliers and a small punch before. But it always helps if you have the right tool. Perhaps you could use that crimper that wasn't quite right after teasing the tangs into position before using the crimper.

Aside from buying the correct crimper, which runs $150, I found this thread over at the chevelle site:

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55386&highlight=terminal+ideal

At the time, I needed to make one wire (2 crimps for HEI power wire) that was available through any resto site. Not worth the hassle IMHO. I know one day I'll need that crimper, though.

I have crimped lots of these with your basic Klein crimper. There is a bit of a technique to it, but you do not need a specific tool. MAD enterprises has info. on how to do this and more in the form of an inexpensive book that has tons of info. in it.

I crimped tons of those when redoing my elec. wires. I used tiny needle nose pliers first to start the tiny tabs to roll over, then used the crimper on my household elec. wire cutter/crimper. Worked just fine. Best advise is GO SLOW it will be fine. :thumbsup:

This Klein tool:

http://www.mytoolstore.com/klein/1005.jpg

I do have this one.