[mikegett]

Just a word of advice. Soldering the power wire can actually cause more damage. You will notice that no wires in a car are soldered. This includes the high gauge power wires. Copper is very prone to oxidation. When you add heat to the joint for soldering the resin in the solder will clean the oxidation. This allows for a good joint. Unfortunately, the joint will now be three times as likely to oxidize. All soldered joints in a vehicle have to use a anti-humidity coating to prevent this. Our coating (PC1) is mixed in with the flux during the soldering process for the pcb boards. Without this coating your joint will be more likely to build up corrosion, reduce your voltage, and increase the amperage pulled. Possibly resulting in a fire. A soldered joint may also cause resistance and increase the amperage. If you do solder the joint, be sure to get a high wattage soldering iron. A 8-0 gauge wire will take alot of heat to solder efficiently. The copper has to achieve 700 degrees for proper joining, or cold solders will occur. If the sodler looks dull or pitted then get more heat and re solder the connection. It should have a very shiny, smooth appearance to it.
otherwise, invest the soldering iron money on a good crimp tool. They can be picked up at radio shack for uder ten dollars.