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Main Bus Wire Through FW

rockitdoc

Well Known Member
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What is the best practice for ensuring the main bus wire through the firewall is secured from chafing. Mine wants to go through at an angle I am not comfortable with. And, I'm pretty sure filling the gap in the penetration with RTV is not going to cut it. No pun intended.;)

Main Bus Wire thru FW.jpg
 
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I believe the type of penetration fitting you have used calls for a short piece of fire sleave to be inserted around the wires and into the fitting. This then gets sealed with a high temp fire sealant. If you can fit the fire sleave around the wires and then into the fitting, the fire sleave should prevent chafing of the insulation.

Regards,
 
tie wrap

If it was me, I would put a tie wrap on the bundle just outside the fitting. this will pull the wires together and keep them from touching the sides of the penetration.
 
What is the best practice for ensuring the main bus wire through the firewall is secured from chafing. Mine wants to go through at an angle I am not comfortable with. And, I'm pretty sure filling the gap in the penetration with RTV is not going to cut it. No pun intended.;)

View attachment 37983

The fundamental issue is too many different cables in one penetration fitting. Worse, several branch off at an angle, which makes padding difficult...and it may just wear through the pad anyway.

Consider additional penetration fittings, with some in more appropriate positions. Vans sells the tubular fitting in the photo. I have them in multiple configurations, or you can make your own, and there are hardware store solutions too. And let's not forget the steel ball type, and other choices.

A tube fitting pumped full of an intumescent sealant is as gas tight/fireproof as anything you'll ever install. And it will never chafe.
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What I did was add a padded clamp arrangement to the motor mount to support the wire bundle when it exited the firewall pass-thru. I now know that my pass-thru could have been positioned more ideally, but we adjust and move on.

Your wire looks like it needs to be longer so that it can exit the pass-thru in a more aligned fashion and then loop around. BTW buy one of those tools for the padded clamps it really lowered my frustration level. Well at least related to the clamps. :D
 
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