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Harness Layout and attachment to a BJ7

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RAC68

RAC68

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A friend is in the process of doing a full restoration of his 1963 BJ7 with Overdrive. He has purchased new electrical harnesses and has documents that show what each connector it connected to but is looking for documents that shows how each harness is laid out and attached to the car. Does anyone have a document or knows where one can be secured?

Thank all,
Ray(64BJ8P1)
 
At least when I did my restoration there was no place I could look that was a one source stop this sort of information. Basically what I did with my BN2 was look at all the Healey restoration guides, anything I could find on the internet in the way of photos, and bought a couple of CDs that were being sold for the purpose of being an aid to restorers. British Car Specialists in Stockton, CA still probably sells collections of photos of concourse quality cars detailing many if not most of the things that a one time restorer or someone new to Healeys might find very useful. I used that extensively to glean details of where the wiring harness was routed. Each source had little bits of what I needed and eventually it all falls into place in that in some cases there are no options for how the harness is laid in. Asking the folks here on the forum to stick a camera under the dash or in the boot or engine bay and snap a few photos ( does anything snap anymore?) is also fair game. I'm sure many contributors already have mass quantities of just the pictures you need.
 
Along with what Roscoe has said I believe getting the main harness located in the engine bay helps to layout things along the firewall. Getting the branch harness from the main into the cockpit behind the dash helps to locate this main harness along the engine bay firewall. I will recommend the Anderson and Moment guide and the Graham Robson guide because they both have vast numbers of pictures which as Roscoe said can garner almost all of the harness at different locations.
 
It's laborious, but the harnesses were secured with P-clips usually anchored with sheet metal screws. Usually, you can locate the screw holes and work out from there. Not much help, but I did my BN2 largely with this process (and a few photos).
 
I replaced my main harness a couple of years ago. Thoughts...

--As usual (cue broken record), suggest use of Tom's Toys color wiring diagram is invaluable.
--I bought a cheap label-maker on Amazon and, using above color wiring diagram, labelled all the ends before installing the harness. This makes the install much easier.
--Once you've got the under-dash part through the firewall most of the wire-ends fall near the gauges, etc, where they are to be connected.
--Any lamp-holders etc should be attached prior to installation.
--I didn't trust the stock method of grounding gauge lights through the dash, so made a separate grounding wiring harness linking the gauges to a dedicated ground screw on the wiper motor mount.
 
Hi All,

Your replys have confirmed that, although we have a number of very nice wiring diagrams, there seems to be no overall diagram that lays out the attachment of the harnesses onto the cars.

When I renewed my Healey in the mid-1980s, there was little or no access for Healey information other then the service manual, so when removing my harnesses for re-wrapping, I knew re-install them would be a self-relying task and documented as best I could. As a first for me, my documentation efforts fell short and, logically speaking, I knew I was mostly on my own for this install.

However, since so many owners have done a full restoration or have replaced their electrical systems, I am a little surprised at the lack of harness layout diagram and though we can more conveniently rely internet pictures to provide some answers and direction, no one has documented the positioning (route) of the harnesses (not their wiring connections) and their attachment to the car.

I have often said that the Healey promotes perserverience, creativity, inginuity, patience, comoradity, as well as self relience and I applaud all for demonstrating these qualities in each post. My friend has done all you have suggested and, at some point, with the help and review of others, I will plan on creating such a simple document for those attempting to do a harness replacement in the future. I would appreciate being notified if someone find or creates such a document before I get the chance as I really don't need another project.

Thanks All for your replies and continuing help,
Ray(64BJ8P1)​
 
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