[Z06vette]

What style crimp pliers are you using? I have the ratcheting type with interchangeable jaws. Mine has 3 different sizes per jaw. I mostly used the med & large for the AAW. The single wire terminal used medium & 2 wire used the large. You really need a heavy duty large set of crimpers for the some of the heavy crimps such as the ALT eyelet. It took me a while to figure this out the first time. One the small brass connector above, I found it necessary to bend the flat tabs so they line up with the others. Also, opening them up as you did will make it near impossible to crimp correctly. If anything they need to be closed slightly. I fit the termninal in the crimpers & sqeeze just one click. This holds the terminal in the pliers so I can insert the wire & hold it with my free hand & sqeeze the crimpers with the other. I also found it necessary to slide the terminal as far out of the jaws as possible or the end would get squashed or bent. On my 69 I installed all those plugs for the taillights as shown in the directions. I'm wiring my 68 firebird now & I did not use all those plugs. I used butt connectors with heat shrink already on them. It simplified everything & made for much cleaner install. I dont see the point of unplugging the sockets when they are easily accessible & come out of the taillight housing in seconds. Sorry for the long reply. Scott